Need Carbs for Running Energy

[icecold]

My post doesn't mention regular potato or brown rice being better than white.

I also think the fruit thing is something there is plenty of on-going research on and being put in a bad light by fad diets looking at GI and claiming all sugars are bad and put your metabolism into a state it is stored by fat. Also if the thinking behind recommending pasta is that the carbs will be burned off in a marathon then I don't think fruit will be any worse.

Well why did you specify them then?

Also, I didn't say "sugar" would not be optimal, I said "fructose". Fructose is metabolised almost completely by the liver.

Of course Brown pasta/rice/bread is (1)better it (2)full of fibre and (3)digests slower so the energy release is slower.

Don't think that I'm criticising you for thinking that, it's common knowledge after all, but that is:
1) Wrong
2) Kind of irrelevant
3) More irrelevant

Do you think a meal of brown rice is going to be releasing energy the next day? More importantly, if that were true, would carbs being released by your gut be useful?

The thing you are trying to do is fill up your glycogen stores.

Having a jacked up insulin sensitivity and poorly up-regulating lipolytic enzymes might change how well this all works though.

 

[Somnambulist]

In terms of what your body actually aborbs from the food, brown rice is no better than white (Google brown rice antinutrients).

 

[smit101]

Regular Marathon running and long distance running is IMO the completely wrong thing to do in terms of improving health/fitness anyway, it stresses the body way beyond health giving levels and demands a way of eating (constant carb loading) which is completely un-natural.

Why is it hardcore endurance athletes always look like unhealthier versions of Gollum!? We have an endurance type athlete where I work who runs marathons and other long distance events etc throughout the year, he's the same age as me but literally looks 20-30 years older. He's got barely any muscle mass, just that gaunt Gollum look, he literally looks like he's consumed all of his skeletal muscle and body fat. ****ing freaky!

 

[King85]

Regular Marathon running and long distance running is IMO the completely wrong thing to do in terms of improving health/fitness anyway, it stresses the body way beyond health giving levels and demands a way of eating (constant carb loading) which is completely un-natural.

Why is it hardcore endurance athletes always look like unhealthier versions of Gollum!? We have an endurance type athlete where I work who runs marathons and other long distance events etc throughout the year, he's the same age as me but literally looks 20-30 years older. He's got barely any muscle mass, just that gaunt Gollum look, he literally looks like he's consumed all of his skeletal muscle and body fat. ****ing freaky!

Are you going to provide any decent evidence for this?

Elite endurance athletes are tiny because its easier to run carrying less weight obviously.

 

[BennyC]

I'd be eating a **** tonne of carbs in the days leading up to the race.

Regardless of where you would prefer to source your carbs from on this occasion I would ignore your values and fill those glycogen stores.

Trying to run a marathon with carbs obtained from fruit and vegetables is going to make the process more unpleasant than necessary.

 

[Jonny69]

As mentioned, you need to get carbs into your diet. Rice, pasta, potatoes, porridge, couscous, bulgar - take your pick. You can keep everything else, but your diet HAS to be carb heavy as well for you to get any energy.

You need to refuel during your longer runs to make sure don't run out of energy. On a marathon I think it's unlikely you'll finish it if you don't take on board some kind of energy. You need to use your training runs to gauge how many calories you need, when you need them and in what form your food is. Some people prefer to use energy gels and, as mentioned, others prefer normal food, others prefer it in drink form. For example, I don't like gels and I work great on jelly babies during my longer runs.

Why is it hardcore endurance athletes always look like unhealthier versions of Gollum!? We have an endurance type athlete where I work who runs marathons and other long distance events etc throughout the year, he's the same age as me but literally looks 20-30 years older. He's got barely any muscle mass, just that gaunt Gollum look, he literally looks like he's consumed all of his skeletal muscle and body fat. ****ing freaky!

I think that's him. We've got scores of endurance athletes at my work from fun runners up to full Iron Man and I wouldn't describe any of them like that.