Carb cycling and running

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Anyone else out there carb cycling and distance running? I'm doing Chris Powell's fit cycle and need help determining when my splurge day should be. Should it be my long run day, or a different day so I will actually go over my caloric needs?

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  • chiccam
    chiccam Posts: 239 Member
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    I'm also interested in this. In the past I've always had my splurge day on my longer distant days.
  • heroeslegend
    heroeslegend Posts: 44 Member
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    Good question, and i'll answer based purely on a nutritional basis, not from a 'splurge' day. To me that sounds like throwing the diet out the window for the day :P

    So if you're doing either activity, to a fairly strenuous level (say zone 3 on a HR monitor / 75% max HR ish) you'll be expending approximately 2-3 times the amount of energy running than you will cycling.

    The 'rule of thumb' for cycling would be to eat 30-60g of carbs per hour. Be it fruit/gels/sweets etc. Combined with this, you'll want to be drinking around a 1L of water/electrolytes.

    Fats contain approx 4 times the amount of calories gram for gram over carbs. So consider this for your longer endurance events (peanut butter, for example)

    So the bottom line is, if you havent drunk within the first our of exercise, prepare to bonk by the end of the second hour.
    If you havent eaten within 1.5 hours, prepare to bonk by the end of the third hour.

    The last little bit i'll say is that eating stuff that is carb heavy isn't the kindest on your guts in the beginning. Over doing it will no doubt end up in explosive episodes on the toilet, vomiting, or both. Work up slowly.

    HTH!
  • heroeslegend
    heroeslegend Posts: 44 Member
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    Lol re read this and my post so doesn't help! Doh!
  • Supasteca
    Supasteca Posts: 2 Member
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    Maybe the day before your long run day so you have the energy for it? Either that or the long run day itself...not very helpful but I'm just thinking of my own experience.
  • nicoleeoff
    nicoleeoff Posts: 17 Member
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    Thanks anyhow!
  • nicoleeoff
    nicoleeoff Posts: 17 Member
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    I tried the day before and dealt with some unpleasant GI issues. ????