Beginners and Beyond

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What do I eat before this HM tomorrow? (Read 127 times)


Mmmmm...beer

    BTW, there is some good evidence that few recreational runners do an adequate carb load the day before the marathon.  The amount you need to load for optimal performance is fairly staggering.  A couple of recent studies show that runners who carb load more heavily the day before a marathon run faster and fade less.  It turns out that you need 6 or 7 grams for every kilogram of body weight and that's a shitload of carbs.  We're talking about something on the order of 500-600 grams of carbs.

     

    How to Carb Load for a Marathon

     

    So around 600 grams for me, that's over 16 cups of pasta, wow.  Might have to find a more concentrated source of carbs. Smile

    -Dave

    My running blog

    Goals | sub-18 5k | sub-3 marathon 2:56:46!!

    GC100k


      How much do you weigh GC?  The number of calories burned is a function dependent almost exclusively on only two factors - weight and distance traveled.  The only thing that can throw much of a kink into that calculus is elevation change.  Beyond that, two people who weigh 150 pounds will burn almost the same number of calories in 26.2 miles regardless of whether it takes them 5 hours or 2.5 hours.  Without looking it up, I'm guessing someone would have to weigh around 250 pounds before they'd burn 5,000 calories in a marathon.

      I'm 270 lbs.  On RW forums in 2008 we had a similar conversation and a guy, assuming I hadn't actually done the calculation and the 5000 calories were an exaggeration, said that I must be "one fat dude".  I embraced it and took the moniker "Wan Phat" for awhile.  It does make some difference how fast you go, but it's in the neighborhood of 5000 calories.  Of course those calculations can't take into account an individual's efficiency, so it's a rough calculation.

       

      Based on the carb suggestions in some articles linked in a RW forum carb-loading thread, I would have needed like 40 potatoes to properly load.  So they suggested sports drinks (sugar) or special products.  The medical carb product I mentioned was from an Australian study cited by a forumite that used that to super-carb load with good results.  Basically the more you can get the better.  The limit is how much you can handle without feeling like crap or puking.

       

      Those threads are all plucked now, huh?  There was a lot of good info there.

      LRB


        So around 600 grams for me, that's over 16 cups of pasta, wow.  Might have to find a more concentrated source of carbs. Smile

        If only it were that easy!

         

        Oski, you are funny!

         

        I have done the marathon carb load twice.  I think I did something like 670 grams of carbs the first time, and a little bit less the second time (like 620 ish).

         

        When spread out over a 12 hour period, it really is not that bad.  One would not need to do that for a half marathon however, and some may argue it is not needed for a marathon.  But the science is there to back it up, so I did not mind stuffin' my fat face the day before the big event.

         

        I will add that I practiced it pretty regularly in the weeks leading up to my marathon.


        Hip Redux

          600 grams of carbs is like 1.3 pounds of sugar!

           

          Even over 12 hours, holy crap.  lol  

           

          What did you eat, LRB?   I'm curious!

           

          LRB


            What did you eat, LRB?   I'm curious!

             

            I looked for it but cannot find it at the moment.  I have it stored somewhere though, I will post it when it comes to me.

            LRB


              CHARLEVOIX


              Endurox 54 grams

              Coffee 10 grams

              Pancakes/syrup eggs 110 grams

              Blueberry/cranberry bran muffin 51 grams

              Banana 24 grams

              Nectarine 16 grams

              Sweet potato 24 grams

              Vegetable fried rice 150 grams

              Mango juice (fortified with protein) 8 ounces 30 grams

              Black beans, lentils, wild rice and sesame crackers 100 grams

              Powerade 64 ounces 105 grams


              Total carbs: 674

               

              FREE PRESS

               

              Mango juice 30

              Coffee 10

              Pancakes 110

              PowerAde 52.5

              Rice 100

              Asparagus 5

              Spinach 7

              Banana 23

              Sweet potato 24

              Muffin 50

              Hash browns 75

              PowerAde 52.5

              Beet juice 10

              Peach 15

              Pb/j 50

               

              Total carbs: 603.5

               

              I drank 8 ounces of mango juice and ate half of a bagel with strawberry jam the morning of the event. Along with my usual coffee, that totals 75 grams of pre-race carbs.

                600 grams of carbs is like 1.3 pounds of sugar!

                 

                Even over 12 hours, holy crap.  lol  

                 

                What did you eat, LRB?   I'm curious!

                 

                That is one Snickers bar every 30 minutes for 12 hours. That's probably what he did.

                Dave

                  OK, I didn't post my smartass comment in time. But my way would have added up to the same number, and much easier to keep track of.

                  I cannot believe you actually logged that info LRB, and could find it so quickly. Is there a carb-tracking section on the RA Training Log I am not aware of?

                  Dave


                  Hip Redux

                    LRB - you certainly got your USRDA of fiber too,  lol.

                     

                    DaveP- I think my pancreas just cried a little with that thought.  :P

                     

                    LRB


                      That is one Snickers bar every 30 minutes for 12 hours. That's probably what he did.

                      Ha-ha!  You could do that you know?  The study showed the body does not care what form the carbs are in.

                       

                      I generally do not eat a lot of sweets or sugars, but trying to get the requisite number of carbs in whole foods would be impossible!

                      GC100k


                        "I've been carbo-loading for twenty years for this race"

                         

                        -Me, every race I've run.  Some jokes never get old.

                        Love the Half


                          Here is a copy and paste from the old forums of my carb load:

                           

                          Here is the carb load I did for the marathon.  I paid attention to the study from the 2009 London marathon that showed that runners who consumed more than 7 g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight ran much, much better in the latter parts of the race.  

                           

                          On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I ate extra protein.  On Thursday I ate a normal diet although it was carb heavy.  On Friday I ate a carb heavy diet but still just a normal diet (although I did substitute a couple of 20 ounce Gatorades during the day for my typical Diet Pepsi).  The key was Saturday.  Here is what I took in on Saturday.  (I should also note that I deliberately spent most of the afternoon doing nothing but sitting on the hotel bed watching basketball).

                           

                          Breakfast - 3 slices of Texas toast French bread loaded with oodles of syrup (20 g carbs per slice.  Don't know about the syrup)

                          Snack - Milky Way (41 g carbs)

                          Lunch - Grilled chicken with rice.  (about 40 g carbs)  2 glasses of southern sweet tea to drink (23 g per tablespoon of sugar so about 45 g of carbs)

                          Dinner - Capelinni Pomodoro at Olive Garden (141 grams of carbs).  1 bread stick (26 g carbs)  Dark Chocolat Cake Dolcini (25 g carbs)

                           

                          Additionally I had six Gatorade powder sticks that were 36 grams of carbs each.  That's 216 g of carbs.  Plus I had 1 quart of regular strength Gatorade.  That's 56 grams of carbs.

                           

                          Total - 563 grams of carbohydrate and that didn't count the syrup so let's call it an even 600 grams.  I weigh 70 kg so I'd need 490 for 7 g of carbs per kg of body weight and 700 g of carbs for the 10 g of carbs per kg of body weight they recommend for elite athletes.  Given how good my legs felt for the last few miles compared to how they felt in my first marathon, given how I only faded by about 10 seconds per mile rather than the 20 seconds per mile for Miles 21-24 in my first marathon, and given that this race was brutally humid, I am sold on the extreme carb load.

                           

                          I felt like a bloated, stuffed pig by the time I went to bed on Saturday but the results speak for themselves.

                          Short term goal: 17:59 5K

                          Mid term goal:  2:54:59 marathon

                          Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life.  (I started running at age 45).

                          baxdaddy


                          just another runner

                            I went looking for the LTH post a few weeks ago and couldn't find the blasted thing.  Copied and filed away, thank you very much.

                            The first step is to get up off the couch!

                            Half Fanatic #889


                            Hip Redux

                              Correlation isn't causation.   LTH - so you didn't do anything else different training-wise between your first marathon and your second to warrant the better results?

                               

                              GC100k


                                Correlation isn't causation.  

                                True that our anecdotes don't prove anything, but there have been many peer-reviewed solid research studies over the decades that have shown that carb-loading works.  The details, like when to start, what exactly to eat/drink, deplete or not, what to do the day before, etc., are still being worked out, and each person needs to find what works for their gut, so I think personal stories help.

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