Talkback: High fat diets for endurance

Rob Jones 2

Did my first low carb high fat marathon earlier this month. As I was far better fat-adapted, I didn't require any gels during the race or carb loading and knocked 17 mins off my PB!

One of the big benefits of not requiring in-race carb-fuelling is that its much kinder on the gut meaning far fewer GI symptoms during races. I'm a total convert!

alex90

Let´s put things into perspective here, you are indicating that your marathon pb is solely down to your change of diet. Can we at least get a little more insight into your training and the course you pb´d on, before this turns into a "carbs are the source of all evil" thread...

EddieM

I always have better marathon times when I have Bacon, eggs and baked beans for my breakfast on a marathon day, I feel stronger and have more energy throughout the day

Rob Jones 2

Bournemouth marathon 2013 3hrs 34

Bournemouth marathon 2014 3hrs 17

Possibly slightly more focused training the second time around and obviously had the advantage of knowing the course. Main difference though was the change in diet to low carb. Didn't take any nutrition/gels on any of my long runs. Was my fourth marathon in total and the only time I've not hit the wall or had major GI issues. It somehow just felt a bit more natural plus I'm carrying a couple of less pounds which definitely helps.

Absolutely don't think carbs are the route of all evil and I wouldn't advocate anyone making the switch too quickly but for me it really worked. 

RicF

It was written 25 years ago that on the morning of a marathon its better to eat a meal high in protein instead of carbohydrate, which should already be on board.

Nayan

I like the idea of train low(carb) run high (carb) to try to encourage your body to use fat not just sugar. 

but id always top up carb with a little protein after training. Seems to help recovery.

i cant see the point of a high fat diet. Unless you are a as cut as a competitive bodybuilder You have more than enough fat reserves to burn.

And running performance isn't the only important thing- I'd worry what high fat would do to your heart. 

Rob Jones 2

I think having unlimited fat reserves is the whole point of switching. Your body can only store so much carbohydrate as glycogen which is one of the reasons people can hit a wall on longer runs. Having a metabolism that is adapted to utilising all that fat can help to avoid this. 

As for heart problems? The number of people with premature coronary artery disease due to raised cholesterol is absolutely dwarfed by those who have it due to diabetes or insulin resistance.

I guess the real answer lies somewhere in-between and everybody needs to find that balance that works for them. I'm just very wary of the excessively high carbohydrate consumption that is sometimes advocated in long-distance running and have a nagging doubt that sports energy drinks/gels makers have a vested interest in maintaining that dogma.

Doylie 2

I have run 19 marathons and experimented with many things, however over the last year I have kept all my training predominantly water based and avoided any artificial sugar/gels etc. This took some getting used to initially but I believe it has contributed to my body becoming better at using it's own resources. The last two marathons (Valencia and Berlin) I have managed a slight negative split (Valencia) and lost only 90 seconds (in Berlin-second half compared to first half).

In both cases i used gels every 25 mins throughout and really noticed difference. To put this in context I believe I generally pace my marathons nquite well but have suffered signicant second half drop off in the past despite my pacing.

Cheers

Doylie

Nayan

Robert Jones 2 wrote (see)

I think having unlimited fat reserves is the whole point of switching. Your body can only store so much carbohydrate as glycogen which is one of the reasons people can hit a wall on longer runs. Having a metabolism that is adapted to utilising all that fat can help to avoid this. 

As for heart problems? The number of people with premature coronary artery disease due to raised cholesterol is absolutely dwarfed by those who have it due to diabetes or insulin resistance.

I guess the real answer lies somewhere in-between and everybody needs to find that balance that works for them. I'm just very wary of the excessively high carbohydrate consumption that is sometimes advocated in long-distance running and have a nagging doubt that sports energy drinks/gels makers have a vested interest in maintaining that dogma.

 

 

I'm not saying you should be eating vast amounts of carbs and nothing would would persuade me to go high fat. in both cases I don't think I'm in the risk area for diabetes and obesity but avoiding a high fat diet can't be bad for lowering risk of heart disease. 

In any case the folks for whom eating carbs makes diabetes a worry are not the ones who read about diet changes as the way to eke out tiny improvements in their 5k PB. conversely even a well trained athlete should avoid choking his or her heart with cholesterol. 

And yes I know some docs now debate that too.

Iain Love

This article just popped into my feed and I gave it a good read before I noticed that it was nearly 2 years old...It is quite apt though as I did my first low carb high fat marathon this year (VLM 2016). I didn't increase my training, in fact, I decreased it and over the 12 weeks prior to the race I averaged around 25 miles per week. Being fat adapted has been a great experienced and I was able to take 2 min off my PB and crossed the line in 2:56:53..

My next test on the advantages of LCHF and fat adapted endurance running is a 6hr timed ultra marathon where I hope to run aprox 46 miles.