Runner...Adding Carbs...Tired??

Equus5374
Equus5374 Posts: 462 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm a distance runner tapering for a half marathon this weekend; I've been adding carbs to my diet (not necessarily calories, just increasing carbs) steadily over the taper because I've bonked on a few long runs recently (my RD said I'm eating way too few carbs for my training program). Over the course of adding the carbs, I've been feeling very tired. Does this make sense, or could it be just tiredness from my training?

Replies

  • slowbubblecar
    slowbubblecar Posts: 91 Member
    I'd just try different things to figure out what works best for you. If you think more carbs would help, try it. I have only done one half marathon, but didn't really train for it-signed up about a week before. Before the event I was regularly running 6-7 miles daily, but I decided to try a 10 mile run just a week before the event which was the longest run I have done aside from an OCR. My 10 mile road run the week before dragged, and wasn't as good as I would have hoped for. Come race day, I was able to run the half marathon at half a minute mile pace faster than my 10 mile run. You could be tired from all of your training, but hopefully the race environment will help you pull through and do better than anticipated as it did in my case.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Equus5374 wrote: »
    I'm a distance runner tapering for a half marathon this weekend; I've been adding carbs to my diet (not necessarily calories, just increasing carbs) steadily over the taper because I've bonked on a few long runs recently (my RD said I'm eating way too few carbs for my training program). Over the course of adding the carbs, I've been feeling very tired. Does this make sense, or could it be just tiredness from my training?

    Could you be? Sure, but it's hard to offer any real advice with so little info.

    I'd consider the following, in this order -
    - Overall cals could be too little.
    - Rest (both recovery and sleep) could be too little.
    - Macros could be off.
    - Micros (especially electrolytes) could be off.



  • filovirus76
    filovirus76 Posts: 156 Member
    Could be a lot of reasons. Usually when a person tapers, they are bouncing off the walls with extra energy.

    Have you been refueling after runs?
    Replenishing electrolytes?
    Stress outside of running?
    Sickness or allergies?
    Heat wave in your area?
    Enough sleep?
  • Equus5374
    Equus5374 Posts: 462 Member
    Judging from your replies, I'm think it's not enough sleep and probably just not fueling adequately overall. Oh and heat wave...yes! 91 degrees in 'ol New England today! Crazy.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Equus5374 wrote: »
    Judging from your replies, I'm think it's not enough sleep and probably just not fueling adequately overall. Oh and heat wave...yes! 91 degrees in 'ol New England today! Crazy.

    What's your calorie goal at the mo?
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    Carb loading makes me very tired as well. I think it's because, like you, I do not usually eat a lot of carbs so my body is not used to it. I definitely experience that afternoon crash. The only solution I have found is to slowly ramp my carb intake up starting about 10 days out from my race. I still experience the tiredness to some extent, but not quite as bad. Adding carbs too quickly also causes me GI distress.
  • Kimo159
    Kimo159 Posts: 508 Member
    When I eat higher carbs I usually try to work the majority in within a time frame of 60 mins before - 60 mins after my workout. I'll have a few carbs at other times but I keep the portions pretty small (i.e. whole wheat pasta with dinner but only 50g of it...which is actually kind of sad to look at). If I eat a lot of processed carbs I'll feel tired, if I load carbs at any time other than around a workout, I feel tired.
  • Chargunshow
    Chargunshow Posts: 60 Member
    You probably need to fuel during your runs...Gu, Chomps or whatever. But unless you have a long training run I wouldn't mess with that now. You don't want to add something so close to your race.
  • Elise4270
    Elise4270 Posts: 8,375 Member
    Judging from your diary, you're not eating enough. If it reflects accurately, that needs to be addressed.
  • Djproulx
    Djproulx Posts: 3,084 Member
    One race week approach that I like was suggested by my running coach. During the week before a race such as a half marathon, we generally focused on two areas of the diet. 1) eating lots of salad greens (arugula, spinach, etc) for the purpose of helping athletes to eliminate waste effectively during the week and 2) building up our carbohydrate reserves via healthy choices, such as baked sweet potatoes, bananas, etc.

    Then on race day, athletes would eat a solid breakfast 2-3 hours before the race. (oatmeal, whole grain toast/nut butter,etc. usually about 400 calories in my case) So if the starting gun went off at 7am, breakfast would be consumed around 4:30am in order to allow time to absorb the nutrients and "process" the meal, including elimination, prior to the starting gun.

    For feelings of tiredness during a training week, I would guess that inadequate rest and/or inadequate fueling/hydration may be at work. Good luck.
  • monelai2016
    monelai2016 Posts: 8 Member
    You have a certain degree of insulin resistance. What this means is that you have trouble processing more carbs. You have to find your personal limit of carbs = how many carbs you need to give you energy. Once you pass that limit you will feel tired. I hope I made myself clear.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    monelai2016 wrote: »
    You have a certain degree of insulin resistance. What this means is that you have trouble processing more carbs. You have to find your personal limit of carbs = how many carbs you need to give you energy. Once you pass that limit you will feel tired. I hope I made myself clear.

    And you know this about OP how?
  • monelai2016
    monelai2016 Posts: 8 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    monelai2016 wrote: »
    You have a certain degree of insulin resistance. What this means is that you have trouble processing more carbs. You have to find your personal limit of carbs = how many carbs you need to give you energy. Once you pass that limit you will feel tired. I hope I made myself clear.

    And you know this about OP how?

    Well this is how insulin resistance manifests itself for anyone(being tired after eating carbs).

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