Carb Loading?

stelid
stelid Posts: 60
edited October 1 in Food and Nutrition
I am going to run my first 5K on Saturday morning and I was wondering if anyone knows if eating a meal high in carbs the night before is a good idea?

Replies

  • CakeFit21
    CakeFit21 Posts: 2,521 Member
    No, not for a 5k. Just eat normally and eat a good breakfast.
  • KimertRuns13_1
    KimertRuns13_1 Posts: 702 Member
    For a 5k it is not necessary to "carb load." I would just eat sensibly. If you were running a half or full marathon it would be okay to "carb load," but it's typically a better idea to do it a couple of days before since you will likely be resting the day before. You will find varying opinions on this though.
  • jgranger221
    jgranger221 Posts: 48
    I'm interested to see the answers as well. I've tried reading up on it, but most sources seem to be aimed at serious, hardcore runners. I plan to run my first 5K in the fall, so I'm nowhere near that category yet.
  • moylie
    moylie Posts: 195
    I've read that a 5K is a short enough distance, where carb-loading is not required. I usually just eat a regular meal. Nothing new, since you never know how your stomach might react, and my biggest fear was always being able to take care of the bathroom habits before the race. If you like pasta, then enjoy, but not necessary to go crazy. The morning of, I have a cup of coffee and a something light to eat (PB on toast, a banana, or a half a bagel) at least a couple hours before race time. Best of luck, and HAVE FUN!!!!!
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
    I wouldnt think about loading until i'm doing a half..
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
    Can someone cite a source that says that we should carb load at all?

    As a "returning runner", I've done some reading on, well, lots of things about running. Carb loading used to be needed for miles 21 and further (that's biology). With the advent of gels, we can put glucose in our system in measured amounts and get it there in 30 minutes (+/-).


    What is the advantage of consuming carbs "the night before" (which requires conversion to and then from glucose to glycogen and back) when I can just take it in as glucose?



    BTW, I use a 70 OZ Nathan backpack with homemade replenisher drink:

    1 Crystallight packet
    1/4 tsp Morton Lite Salt
    1/4 tsp sea salt
    Heaping 1/2 cup sugar
    2 quarts water

    http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Your-Own-Damn-Sports-Drink/
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
    Going back to high school biology…we have "energy" stored in glycogen in the muscles and in the liver (that's where carbs go when they die…). As we exercise, the glycogen is converted to glucose to fuel the muscles. When muscle glycogen is depleted, the liver secretes it.

    We have quite a bit of glycogen in our body, generally speaking. Enough that marathoners would "hit the wall" (no more glycogen in the liver or the muscles) usually at mile 21+. At that point, the body had to metabolize fat to get glycogen. That's a much slower process and leaves runners feeling "out of energy" ('cause they were out of energy).

    A 5k is only 3 miles so there's not enough time to deplete the glycogen stores assuming you had "normal" amounts of glycogen at the start of the run.
  • Rompa_87
    Rompa_87 Posts: 291 Member
    Well I've heard we can store up to about 2000 calories worth of carbohydrate in the body as stored liver and muscle glycogen. So if you were exercising really intensely you might use about 70ish % carbohydrate in terms of energy. The less intense you exercise then this % goes down slightly and alarger portion is used from stored fat. But someone of my weight of about 74kg and at a level of fitness that I have completed a few half ironman triathlons would prob only carb load for a half ironman/marathon and greater distance. I wouldn't even carb load for a half marathon assuming I ate normally the previous day.

    If you are someone who for some reason likes to go running on a low calorie/carbohydrate diet then you might need extra carbs than usual just because you will have less than normal stores in your muscles. But definitely not some athletes carb loading regime. Rule of thumb is if your event will take more than 90 minutes it helps to be loaded on carbs. Less than 90 minutes doesn't really require anything more than a normal diet.
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