Forums >Health and Nutrition>How much sugar is OK during carb-loading
Overweight per CDC BMI
I know sugar on race day is fine/needed as long as it doesn't upset your stomach. I have a carb-loading regiment coming up for a race this weekend and will be eating mashed potatoes, rice, pasta, pretzels, etc. but what about sugar in foods?
Sugar is a form of carbs so is there any harm in mixing in processed carbs with sugar as part of carb-loading? I'm not talking ice cream and frosted cake but Honey Nut Cheerios, gram crackers, vanilla wafers, waffles with some syrup, etc.
My normal diet is lots of meats so I get very tired of bland carbs during carb-loading and need to mix it up. Is there any particular target ratio of simple carbs vs. sugar in food?
Memphis / 38 male
5k - 20:39 / 10k - 43:48 / Half - 1:34:47 / Full - 3:38:10
Problem Child
I've never focused on sugar content when/if carb loading for a race. I'd expect most of it to be burned off well before race day. MY understanding is sugar is used on race day as a fast burning source of energy so your carb storage isn't depleted as quickly.
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
Is this for a 10 miler? If so, there is no need to carbo load.
Yes, 10-miler this weekend and half marathon two weeks later. I thought the rule was anything below an hour of racing did not need carb-loading? My time for the 10 miler would be around 76-77 minutes. I don't go crazy with carb loading since my my max race distance thus far is the half but I definitely increase carbs starting two days before the race.
You do not need to carb load for multiple days for a shorter distance event. Getting quality carbs in the day before the event is probably plenty.
Honey Nut Cheerios, waffles and syrup and vanilla wafers are not quality carbs. Avoid processed stuff if possible. Wholegrain foods are best.
3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)
10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)
* Net downhill course
Last race: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
I don’t even carb load for half marathons. Professional athletes on a YouTube channel called VO2MaxProductions convinced me I don’t need to fuel for a half marathon.
I've had plenty of fruit juice before and after runs, and also during a (lot) longer than usual bike ride. On the bike ride I also drank quite a bit of mineral water.
I haven't done this over time, so I can't say what actually works, but for example orange juice has some electrolytes in addition to water and sugar, in one nice, easy to drink and digest package.
If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say the body is able to make use of fast and slow carbs at the same time.
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Rick
Just eat normal or you will be bloated and sluggish for the race. Body will retain water to get rid of the extra sugar.
All this fueling and supplements are overrated. You can do everything perfect and only see marginal gains. Big improvements come from consistent and high mileage training.
12-22 Last One Standing - dnf 37 miles
1-23 Sun Marathon - 3:53
3-4-23 Red Mountain 55k - 7:02
4-15-23 Zion 100 - 27:59
Hm, sugar and salt both.
Just eat normal or you will be bloated and sluggish for the race. Body will retain water to get rid of the extra sugar. All this fueling and supplements are overrated. You can do everything perfect and only see marginal gains. Big improvements come from consistent and high mileage training.
Mmmm Bop
Just make sure to have a healthy non spicy diet the day before....there’s no need to start binge carb-loading 2 days before a 70min race.
When I race a half I’ll have a normal diet, but will also have complex carb drinks the day before as I never eat much on the morning of any distance race. Breakfast is usually a small bowl of cereal, a banana and 1 litre of Lucozade Sport and I’m ready to go.
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Hi Andy,
A couple of things:
Sugar is not a good thing on race day. Your body clears the overabundance of sugar in your blood. The problem is that until levels are regulated your body continues to clear the sugar placing your blood sugar levels far below where they were prior to ingesting any sugar. So, really you should not have sugar within three hours of a race.
On the subject of carbo loading. The other posters are correct in saying you do not need to load up on it for a 10K. It's certainly important that you take in carbs as your major fuel source but I wouldn't do anything that you do not already do prior to a good training run.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructolysis
Hm, is there some article otter1 that describes how this works exactly? When somebody says sugar, I think in terms of regular sugar, fruit sugar etc.
I've performed a lot better than expected when ingesting quite a bit of fruit juice, and that has a lot of fructose in it.
The Wikipedia article above says clearly that fructose is metabolized and used differently than glucose.
Coasting Carter
Avoid processed food as much as possible. Brown rice, yogurt, dried fruit, blueberries, whole wheat pasta are all favorites of mine that are good for running if you eat them the night before or day of the race.