Carbing up before half marathon

jb290978

First half marathon coming up mid June. I know of I need to get my carbs in before hand but the problem I'm having is that I'm away in Ireland the day before. We don't fly back until late, so eating is going to prove difficult..

Does providing a carb powder shake provide the same benefits incase I can not fit a proper meal in.

xcalygrl

To carb-load properly, you should increase your carbs over the 3 days to a week leading up to your run. Just eating a bunch of carbs the night before probably won't give you the results you're desiring.

MeanderingMammal

For starters you don't really need to carb load for a half, but I'd suggest eating at maintenance for a few days, and that should do you.

Personally I'd go for something lighter the night before anyway, to avoid having to carry the undigested mass.

brendak76

MeanderingMammal wrote: »

For starters you don't really need to carb load for a half, but I'd suggest eating at maintenance for a few days, and that should do you.

Personally I'd go for something lighter the night before anyway, to avoid having to carry the undigested mass.

Yes. This. I just make sure I drink a lot the day before and eat a sensible dinner the night before with carbs. Too many carbs and too much food can backfire during the race the next morning. Even with full marathon training I don't "carb load" until I start running 18+miles for long runs.

scottacular

Worth a read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_loading

kristinegift

You can get carbs in while travelling by eating pretzels, eating pasta/rice, etc. Fairly easy to do, as many people travel the day before races. Biggest thing will be staying hydrated, especially while in those dry airplanes! Not sure where you're flying home to, but if it's more than 1-2 time zones away, I'd be more concerned about jet lag than carb loading, if I were you.

csman49

Guinness is carbs

scottb81

Whether you need to carb load or not for a HM depends on how long it takes you to run it. If you are going to be out there 2 hours or more then carb loading will help. But as was mentioned above you need to start at least 60 hours before the race. Eating a lot the night before doesn't do the job.

RoyalMoose11

You're going to get mixed feelings/opinions on this. Since your race is mid-June you're longest training run should be coming up soon so you can experiment in advance.

My plan is based on my work, lifting/running routine, and goals I have around fitness and isn't meant for everyone. I'm also not a doctor, nutritionist, or have any training that merits my opinion as better than anyone else.

For my half marathon Memorial Day weekend I'm eating at maintenance level this whole week before my Sunday 13.1. Today (three days out) I changed my macros so carbs were at 75% and I went slightly higher protein to fat for my other 25%. Depending on how I feel and what workouts I do between now and Sunday I'll eat a little more or increase the carbs on Saturday. I'm a tall hockey player who also lifts (6'5, 235) and I'm trying to PR at sub-1:50 so I am carb loading. I bonked on a training run (8 miles into a 13 mile run three weeks ago) and looked at my food over that week and realized it wasn't sufficient. Carb loading, like any form of eating/dieting/meal planning, is trial and error and really dependent on the person doing it. For example, see every post above this one and how they do/don't approach it.

If you haven't tried carb loading don't go too intense. The first time I did it the day before a 20-mile training run months ago I made my my GI system explode during my run. I just made a box of pasta and ate it over two meals. I've never been so happy to see a public bathroom. Some studies talk about increasing carbs (increasing carbs and carb loading are different) if running more than 90 minutes. Since this is a half and not a full marathon, I'm not going to eat over my maintenance level. For my marathon I ate above maintenance during race week.

Stick with the running mantra of nothing new in or on you the week before your half. Don't eat something because you read on someone's website it's a wonder food. If you've never eaten it before running don't add it now. Also, know what your body does and doesn't like. For me, I know which vegetables make me more bloated, gassy, or make me cramp up if I run with them in my system. Which leads to the discussion about fiber. Make sure you know what your body likes/doesn't like with running + fiber. You'll see below that I took two days to get to my 75% carbs macros to not just up too quickly. Also, knwoing my own diet (I tend not to eat white bread, white potatoes, regular pasta/rice, I slowly added them back in as to not through off insulin levels. Again, this is my plan and not universal (and more for my head rather than knowing if, scientifically, it's the right way to do it).

My week was/will be:
Saturday 9 mile run
Sunday: regular meals
Monday: gym workout with regular meals (carb/protein heavy after gym to replace glycerin level)
Tuesday: 4 mile run (2 at race pace) then slight increase in carbs in overall macros and added more high gylcemic carbs into my diet (with big boost of carbs post run)
Wednesday: 3 mile easy run with another increase in overall carbs in macros and sticking with low glycemic carbs for the most part
Thursday: interval run day with an overall total run between 3-5 miles carbs at 75% and a mix of low/high glycemic carbs
Friday up to 4 miles easy run 75% carbs and mix of high/low glycemic carbs
Saturday: 20 minute slow jog with mostly mix of high/low glycemic carbs and my largest meals being breakfast and lunch to have time for them to digest
Sunday: I ate some whole wheat pasta 3 hours before my marathon started and it felt good so I may wake up early and do that again or do some other high glycemic carb meal in the morning. Then run like hell.

My go to foods include sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, brown rice, white rice, pasta, whole wheat pasta, other "mixed" pastas (the gluten free pastas have corn, quiona, or other mixes that are helpful, breads (all different kinds), gatorade powder (I find it easier to dilute that more and drink it over the course of an hour and slowly add it in and the ingredients are far better than prebottled gatorade), bagels (like bread, all sorts), bananas, tomato sauce (I make it so I know how much fat/ingredients are added), low fat vanilla regular yogurt, berries, oatmeal, pretzel rods, swedish fish, low fat cheeses, and tonight's dinner: homemade pizza! Nailed it.

jcow84

scottacular wrote: »

Worth a read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_loading

I'd caution that none of the footnotes/web sites cited are reliable on this page.

brandiuntz

scottb81 wrote: »

Whether you need to carb load or not for a HM depends on how long it takes you to run it. If you are going to be out there 2 hours or more then carb loading will help. But as was mentioned above you need to start at least 60 hours before the race. Eating a lot the night before doesn't do the job.

^^This.

Sam_I_Am77

xcalygrl wrote: »

To carb-load properly, you should increase your carbs over the 3 days to a week leading up to your run. Just eating a bunch of carbs the night before probably won't give you the results you're desiring.

She's right. Carb super-compensation is actually a lot more than just the night before. One method I saw was... say your event was on a Sat, then something like Sun - Tue are lower carb days and then Wed - Sat is very high carb. Try and find some peer-reviewed studies or meta-analysis on "Carbohydrate Super-Compensation".

jb290978

Thanks. I didn't just mean the night before.
I havnt altered my eating at all. It's my first one and I'm still eating normally and sorry to say with the odd cake and biscuits etc. I work shifts and some days have good runs other bad but as I work shifts I can go without food for a good while and have a good run next morning. Other days not so... I am yet to distinguish a pattern. My next half I will definitely be upping my game and getting more serious about food intake etc but for now it's just about getting round... I'm hoping for around 2 hour 30 is at the very best.

Guess a few normal meals with the odd bagel, bananas thrown etc over the week is sufficient and a light meal the night before.

shrinkingletters

Um, potatoes?

shrinkingletters

The week before my last half I tapered my runs and sort of just slightly increased my carbs. The day before, I had a nice tuna burger with lots of french fries and a good pint, and I felt just fine the next morning.

glevinso

jb290978 wrote: »

First half marathon coming up mid June. I know of I need to get my carbs in before hand but the problem I'm having is that I'm away in Ireland the day before. We don't fly back until late, so eating is going to prove difficult..

Does providing a carb powder shake provide the same benefits incase I can not fit a proper meal in.

This struck me a little. Make sure your race allows for morning-of bib pickup. Many races require that you collect your bib the day before!