Carb loading before a race, when to do it?

Raasy

I am running my first half marathon in just about a week and I am looking for some advise on when all you runners out there do your carb loading?
I tend to be prone to GI issues on some runs and since I have not really been able to pinpoint the causes of my GI issues, I am a little timid on what to eat the day before the race. I am not big on fueling during the race since the only other times I have have left me incredibly thirsty with no water source near by. I know on race day there will be water stations so that might make it a little easier.
I have done some reading on how to prepare for my race but I have conflicting information as you can imagine on when to carb load. Some articles say to load up the night before the race and others have said to do you loading up several days in advance of the race and then trickling down the day or two before.
Any advise you can give on when to carb load and what kind of things to eat for the best type of loading will be appreciated.

ATT949

I am running my first half marathon in just about a week and I am looking for some advise on when all you runners out there do your carb loading?
I tend to be prone to GI issues on some runs and since I have not really been able to pinpoint the causes of my GI issues, I am a little timid on what to eat the day before the race. I am not big on fueling during the race since the only other times I have have left me incredibly thirsty with no water source near by. I know on race day there will be water stations so that might make it a little easier.
I have done some reading on how to prepare for my race but I have conflicting information as you can imagine on when to carb load. Some articles say to load up the night before the race and others have said to do you loading up several days in advance of the race and then trickling down the day or two before.
Any advise you can give on when to carb load and what kind of things to eat for the best type of loading will be appreciated.

Carb loading for a Half? Even Runner's World can't justify doing carboloading for a Half - have a look at this recent article:

http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-for-runners/how-to-fuel-for-a-half-marathon

The author avoids a conclusive answer and responds with "Honestly, I think it can't hurt."

I won't get into the science of it but, assuming that you eat a decent % of CHO in your diet, there's no need to carbo load for a half assuming that you've eaten a diet that relatively high in CHO (50% at least). If you want best performance, you should be willing to fuel.

If you consume sugar-based fuels, you need a lot more water to get the CHO into your bloodstream so look for a gel that uses higher order CHO. This may be why you have problems with GI issues.

While GI issues can ruin a race, we also know that we perform endurance events best if we consume 80 grams of CHO per hour so fueling on the fly is something that you might want to expirement with. Have you tried a variety of gels?


Best source of info I've found for energy info (it's in layman speak) is energygelcentral.com I'd strongly suggest that you review a the pages on their site - it's very straightforward, very informative, and the BS level is 0. Can't say that for Runner's World.

I've used the energycentral.com mix for a few months now and it seems fine (I have no way of "testing" it :-) ). They process orders very, very quickly and I've traded some email with their staff and they appear to be "good people".

I wouldn't load up the night before because I'm a believer in "Train like you fight." (US Army). It would be a very bad thing if you loaded up on Saturday PM and had GI problems for the race. :-(


Here's a link to my schedule for my most recent Half. It contains my timeline as well as the calculations I use to determine my eating schedule. Perhaps it will be helpful:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtCsYuXopoFadHBfZ0wteWo2OHFZekRudExKSlRlS0E&usp=sharing


I get the fat % from measurements from my HRM and FirstBeat Athlete software. The fat% trace for my most recent Half is here:

http://cbeinfo.net/running/images/fat_percentage_half_marathon_20130818.gif

My vitals for that race - 56 years old, 6' 1", 175 pounds, and i ran the race at 90% HR Max and just over 80% VO2 Max

According to the folks at FirstBeat, my fat% trace is "pretty normal". What it tells me is that, for about the first hour, I burn about 75% CHO but, after that, my body switches to about 50-50 CHO vs fat. You'll see that the numbers on my spreadsheet are conservative - I'm planning on burning 70% CHO instead of 75% for 1 hour and 50% for the second hour. Also, my actual energy expenditure is right at 14 cals/min but I used 15 cals/min in my calculations. Those two "fudge factors" ensure that I take in a little more CHO than I thought I'd need.

As it turned out, the estimate were off by quite a bit. My estimates indicated that I'd need 315 grams but, when I run the "actuals", it turns out that I only burned about 210 grams of carbs in the first 120 minutes!

Yup, 210 grams of carbs was all that I needed to run a Half.

Carboload? No reason.
Fuel on the move? Most definitely!


PS - 3 tbsp of honey is a LOT of honey!

schmenge55

As the previous poster said, you really do not need to carbo load for a half, or fuel more than sports drink for a half. Ido go higher on carbs, but eat a normal diet before a half

amandamurdaugh

With just a week left, I wouldn't try anything new. Just do as you normally do before a long run.

KeithAngilly

I found the book "The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition" by Matt Fitzgerald to be very helpful. There are lots of good tips and ideas in the book. What I find especially helpful is the way he breaks down race day, giving the reader a schedule to follow on race morning. As the other posters have noted, I don't think there is a need to anything special, in terms of carb loading. If you are tapering properly, then glycogen levels will just come up naturally, due to the lower level of activity. Just do you thing and trust your training. :happy: