Conventional marathon training nutrition tells you to consume plenty of carbohydrates before, during, and after your long runs. You are, in fact, burning lots of calories, so you’ll need lots of fuel to carry you through your training sessions.
Did you know the average twenty miler burns well over two thousand calories?
So, it makes a lot of sense to eat many carbohydrates as you can.
You would be crazy not to, right?
Well, not really.
You have to differentiate between marathon training and the actual marathon.
You also have to remember the original purpose of carb loading, to give you an edge on race day. You dampen that edge if your body becomes accustomed to having carbohydrates readily available.
It’s like caffeine tolerance. Do you remember drinking your first cup of coffee? Your mind was sharper and you were in the zone. But the effect dampens with each subsequent cup that you have. Now your body and mind need it just so that you can operate normally.
Marathon training is not just about building your cardiovascular endurance. You also have to train your body to perform in an extreme state of stress and fatigue. To do this, you have to train in a carb deprived state, that is, with low glycogen stores. This way, you force your body to utilize fat and protein for energy, something that the average person does inefficiently.
That is why you see lots of runners hitting the wall during the last six or seven miles of a marathon. Their bodies have run out of glycogen and are struggling to convert fat and protein to energy. By training in this state for weeks before you marathon, you will have a competitive edge. It is during the two to three week taper, and the days and hours leading up to the marathon that you are suppose to carb load.
Your body, in it’s carb deprived state, will create, store, and most importantly, utilize glycogen more effectively. And when you have used it all up during your race, you are primed and ready to finish strong in your carb deprived state. This is the proper way to carb load.
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