Running - more important carbs or proteins?

I eat carbs and protein in a nice balance =D i ate two ounces of flank steak, a mini naan bread and a tablespoon of hummus and waited 1.5 hrs and then ran seven miles =D You will know what you need by the way your runs feel.

Pretty much everything immediately above, although I'd note that the idea of Carb Loading has moved on from having a huge bowl of pasta the night before the long run, to repleanishing the stores over the length of the taper.

If one is training for a long race then it's likely that the glycogen stores are never all that topped up, the reduction in volume during taper gives an opportunity to properly fuel, although as noted in a long duration race there is still a need to keep that store running through use of carb heavy consumption.

Personally I've reached the stage where I don't need to specifically fuel for anything less than 10 miles, more than that I'll have porridge, banana and fruit juice, but I think that's mainly psychological.

After anything more than 6 miles I'll throw a carb/ protein recovery drink down my throat, otherwise I don't get too worked up about the mix and stick with the MFP standards.

I pretty much eat anything and everything in massive quantities.

"Carb Loading" is certainly a good idea if you have been doing ridiculous miles ahead of a taper. But a proper carb load has nothing to do with a big bowl of pasta the night before a marathon. That sort of thing can be detrimental to a good race.

Carb loading takes at least a week to do right - and pretty much looks like your typical glycogen rebuild. IE - you just eat a larger ratio of carbs than you might normally in the 7-10 days ahead of the race.

Both... Carbs are the fuel source, protein helps reduce amino acid breakdown.

glevinso wrote: »

cheshirecatastrophe wrote: »

it is advantageous to keep your body running on fat-as-fuel at ALL times (a la ketosis).

This sounds like a terrible idea for any sort of endurance athlete. Fat is way too "slow" to be utilized as a primary fuel source for long-distance events.

Worked pretty good for me during my last marathon. I finished in 3:46, and fueled my entire race with 6 caffeine/electrolyte capsules, a couple mouthfuls of Gatorade, 2 Gu chomps (not 2 packages, just 2 chomps - and only because I was feeling a little hungry). Definitely didn't consume enough calories to cover the 3500 I burned.

Both are important depending upon your goals. I do a low carb diet mostly and I do pretty well. It keeps me lean. I will however have more carbs on the days I have a long run planned.

You need a certain level of protein intake to maintain nitrogen balance-- beyond that, protein is an expensive source of fuel for an endurance athlete. The current consensus is about 1.2-1.4 G protein per kg body weight. The recommend levels of carbs range from 4-7g per kg body weight depending on volume of training.

Keep in mind that many of these recommendations are geared to more serious competitive athletes. Someone who runs 10-20 miles a week and runs a few 5Ks now and then probably doesn't need a specialized diet plan.

There were also some rather odd comments about the use of carbs and fat during exercise. During exercise,one is always using a mixture of carbs and fats. The ratio is primarily determined by intensity, i.e. your percentage of maximum effort. Lower intensities will burn a higher percentage of fats, higher intensities a higher percentage of carbs. Someone who trains regularly and has an adequate carb intake will have quite a bit of stored glycogen. For an extended event like a marathon, the trick is to be able to "ration" your glycogen stores to maintain your competitive effort--you need carbs to do your best. That optimization is achieved with quality training, diet preparation, intelligent pacing, and in-race supplementation.