Carbo Loading

[Ted Leblow]

A very good article on the best method of carbo loading before a marathon. I have never seen this technique but it seems like the best one I have ever seen results wise. Worth trying out.

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0974.htm

[Sasha Pachev]

My concern about that - glycogen levels in the muscle influence performance but do not completely determine it. So the 3 minutes hard the day before the race + carboload technique could potentially break something somewhere else. It has not been proven that this would actually lead to better performances. I would just follow my regular taper, but give this idea a try in training or prior to non-key races. On the other hand, I did get good results with a hard effort (VO2 Max test) 15 hours before TOU followed by serious carbo-loading, so I can say from my own experience that a brief hard effort shortly before a marathon followed by carbo-loading is at least non-disasterous.

[Kory Wheatley]

I think this technique is would be a worth while experiment on a unimportant marathon.  It reminds me of reading that taking caffeine 15 minutes before a marathon fuels the energy levels.   This would be another test to determine the results.

[Paul Thomas]

While this new carbo loading approach sounds interesting, I don't feel comfortable trying it this year. I'd be very interested in the "traditional" carbo loading strategies of the bloggers, and also in your strategies for "on the go" refueling (sports drink, energy gels, etc.).

I'm interested in all strategies, but a specific question I have is does anyone currently carbo deplete prior to carbo loading, and if so how?

I ran my first two marathons 25 years ago at age 22. The first was Deseret News in July. I was on a sub-3 hour pace and feeling pretty good. I stopped at mile 20 for a drink and an orange slice and when I went to start running again and my legs refused. I remember looking down at my legs in shock as I commanded them to run and they refused. I was pretty embarrassed as I walked most of the last 6 miles along the parade route, with tens of thousands of spectators watching, to finish around 3:20. I had never heard of carbo loading or energy gels (which probably didn't exist yet).

A couple of months later I ran St. George. During the summer term at BYU I had to write a term paper and chose "Hitting the Wall in a Marathon" as the topic. During my research I discovered carbo loading, which included carbo depletion. If I recall correctly, I ate little or no carbs for a few days then loaded up on carbs for a few days. I ended up running St. George nearly 30 minutes faster (2:52, 6th in my division I think) and felt great the whole way.

When I returned to marathon running in 2004 (22 years later) I asked some running buddies about carbo loading and depletion. They basically said they carbo loaded the day or two before the race and took energy gels along the way. That's what I've done the last few years. I've recently heard of some runners who still deplete before loading. I'm considering trying it again because it seemed to be so successful for me "in the old days".

I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this topic. I hope I haven't waited too long.