CARB Loading for
a half marathon?? (Put in the most simple words possible)
Truth is, it isn’t absolutely necessary to carb load for an
event this long BUT from my experience I’ve always run and felt better when I
have. Most importantly EVERY ONE IS DIFFERENT so the more experienced you are
the more likely you are to know what suits you etc.
First thing you have to do is forget about that devil in
your head that’s telling you ‘I’m going to get fat by doing this!’ – You’re
NOT!! Instead what you will get is a feeling that your muscles are full of
glycogen, fatigued muscles WILL feel better (Injuries won’t ;) and come the day
you should be feeling great and with all the training (or lack of J ) done and dusted you
will be fully recovered to run for longer before the body want’s refuelling.
The Best approach?
The answer is there isn’t a one
size fits all policy with Carb Loading. In fact some people swear its unnecessary
and you could argue it is (for a half marathon), especially if you’ve tapered
(rested up in the build-up). Though, most of us haven’t got the luxury of being
able to do nothing at all in the week building up – We have, jobs, a life and
things that just have to be done so from my own experience and trial and errors
truly believe carb loading to be a big help on the day.
The method many beginners use is
just to eat a hell of a lot the day before. Whereas it will work I’ve found there
is a finer margin for error. If you get it wrong, eat too much, eat something
that hasn’t agreed with you and you can wake up on the half marathon day
feeling sluggish, have gastric problems and all in all just mess up the day. It’s
risky, you can get away with it and feel great but if it goes wrong then you
feel awful. However, I say ‘awful’, you’ll still get around the course and
complete the challenge if your stomach is a little uncomfortable it just won’t
be as fast as you wished or as comfortable! If you don’t care about this then
by all means just try a big days eating the day before. It might work but don’t
say I didn’t give you the heads up.
A more sensible approach is to
just eat a steady increase of carbohydrates in the 3-4 days building up – This is a more sensible approach
but again I found it didn’t give me the energy boost I needed. Mainly because
some days even without training would become very active just from living your
life so all of a sudden a couple days later you’re still tired so haven’t had
the benefits of loading up on the carbohydrates.
Though, with this you can adjust
by eating according to how active you are so still eating a little more each
day, maybe a 100g-150g extra a day only but
for 3-4 days.
Finally, what I’ve learned works
best for me (Not everyone) is to cut training out completely after Monday
(Providing the run is Sunday) then Tuesday and Wednesday usually involves a
serious amount of Carbohydrates – Counting carbs/calories isn’t necessary at
all. I simply eat until I can no longer eat anything else for two days. You DO
feel bloated and it’s not comfortable on the stomach which is why I do it
Tuesday and Wednesday then Thursday becomes a ‘normal’ day eating, just like
you would on any other day (No cutting carbs or eating next to nothing just a
steady intake, carbohydrates with every meal).
By Friday you are full of energy,
totally recovered from all the training and pretty much just waiting for the
day to arrive. I’d do a run this day
maybe 2-3miles with some 30 second intervals at half marathon pace just to wake
the legs up after the inactivity. This day would again involve a steady intake
of carbs with a tough more than you normally would like an extra couple
sandwiches or something.
Saturday then would involve a
2mile run just to stretch out then another day eating like Friday, a good
dinner Saturday night but nothing bonkers! Have faith, your body is ready from
the huge intake Tuesday and Wednesday.
Sunday – Normal Breakfast!!! Then
that’s it we run!!
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Please
note this is just advice/methods I’ve tested and ways I’ve found best suits me
it’s not a one way fits all policy.
