Carbohydrate Loading
Over the weekend a chap in a tri forum requested some advice regarding the benefits of carbohydrate loading. Being a rather interesting topic I give him some advice and thought I’d share it with Trispace readers. May be useful to some of you in the run-up to Ironman UK.
Carbohydrate loading is a technique originally devised in the 60’s to increase the muscles glycogen stores above normal levels. With more glycogen available, you may be able to perform longer before fatigue sets in. This is especially advantageous in endurance events lasting longer than 90 minutes which makes the technique ideal for triathlon’s and duathlon’s. It is unlikely to benefit if your event lasts less than 90 minutes as muscle glycogen depletion would not be a limiting factor to your performance.
The classic 6 day regime involves 2 bouts of glycogen depleting exercise separated by 3 days of low carbohydrate intake and followed by 3 days of carbohydrate intake and minimal exercise. The theory behind this is that the glycogen depletion stimulates the activity of glycogen synthetase, the key enzyme involved in glycogen storage, resulting in above normal levels of muscle glycogen when loading up.
This could have a number of drawbacks and could leave you feeling week, irritable or tired during the low carbohydrate phase.
The info below give’s you an example of what the classic regime looks like.
Day 1
Normal Training
Normal Diet
Day 2
Exhaustive Prolonged Exercise
Low Carbohydrate
Day 3
Taper Training
Low Carbohydrate
Day 4
Taper Training
Low Carbohydrate
Day 5
Taper Training
High Carbohydrate Diet
Day 6
Taper Training
High Carbohydrate Diet
Day 7
Taper Training
High Carbohydrate Diet
Day 8
RACE !
If you decide to try carbohydrate loading, rehearse it during training to what works best for you. Never try anything new before an important race. You may need to try the technique more than once, adjusting the types and amounts of foods you eat.
The simplest way to plan your daily food intake is to divide the day into ‘windows’; before, during, and after exercise, and between training sessions. You can then work out how much and what type of carbohydrate to consume during each ‘window’ to optimise your performance and recovery.
A typical days intake should be along the lines of;
Before exercise aim for 2.5g of carbs per Kg of body weight.
During exercise lasting longer than 1hour, aim for 30 – 60g of carbohydrate per hour.
After exercise aim for 1g carbs per Kg of body weight.
Between training sessions aim for 5-10Kg of carbs per Kg of body weight, or 60% of energy.
The glycaemic index and carbohydrate food types is another topic in itself that I intend to cover which will help you determine you meal ‘window’ food types.
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Tags: Sports Nutrition
