HeOw - Fiona is right - you should take on the nitrates for 3 to 6 days leading up to the race. One easy way is to buy beet-it shots (can get from Holland & Barrett), and take two a day. On the other hand there is no solid proof that it makes any difference at all, so you could just not bother at all. I have both beet-it shots and the SIS nitrate gels, and actually prefer the beet-it shots.
Lit - drink some sports drinks. Snack on rice cakes and malt loaf. Eat dried fruit (not too much on saturday evening!). Eat small bowls of cereal/muesli/porridge every now and again.
I am back in the carb-loading game! Sort of. In that I just had a chewy granola slice as a snack. That's got to have been good for another 30g, right? Can't drink sports drink as it tastes too vile, but I've got some oat digestives somewhere in my office. Does fruit juice count because of the sugar?
Fiona, that's good, as I've had two apples and a glass of orange juice too. I suppose since I'm not using up all the sugar doing much running it makes sense that it would help.
NP - unlike you most of us are not used to running a million miles so don't usually have to eat that many carbs. I guess if you just eat your normal amount you should carb load beautifully.
Bit of info copied and pasted from wikipedia's entry on carb loading, which indicates it's better not to rely on fructose for carb loading:
Most dietary carbohydrates consist of varying proportions of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose. Fructose may be metabolized into liver glycogen, but it is ineffective at raising muscle glycogen levels (which is the objective of carbohydrate loading). Consequently, sources of high-fructose carbohydrates, such as fruit and sweets, are less than optimal for the task.
OK, I'm a big girl with a healthy appetite but 200g of pasta just beat me . I had half. Will leave the other half for tea.
Need to reconsider my nutrition. I had hoped to get 150g of carbs in for lunch. Now I only managed 75 . Together with brekkie and my mid-morning banana I'm now at roughly 180g of carbs. I'm supposed to have 440g per day . Guess I need to stock up on sports drink or fruit juice!
Like NP says, I wouldn't go overboard with the carb loading. You can eat a bit more than usual, but don't eat so totally stuffed and uncomfortable. You will hopefully be topping up your carbs during race anyway with either gets, sweets or sports drinks.
Wow, loads of posts on here, considering there's next to no running going on
The wind was back with a vengeance this morning and now it's raining, but it's looking good for Sunday. I've got Sky+ all setup in case the kids drag me out I've told them we'll go to the Zoo on Saturday, so hopefully I'll have Sunday to watch the coverage and stalk you all.
The Brighton Marathon highlights are on Channel 4 on Saturday morning at 7:05am, if anybody wants to start getting into the spirit of things while keeping their feet up.
Al - Dont put Al behinf Gore as Goreal sounds like a STD No fruit means breads, spuds n rice n pasta and nowt much else then? Bugger that, stickin with raisins n fig rolls n stuff.
I have just noticed from my stalking on other threads that you are going for 7g per kg bodyweight, Men - sounds more manageable than the 8-10g I read somewhere. On that basis I am prepared to believe that it is the One True Formula for optimal carb loading, and I only need 393g.
Most studies of glycogen storage have been conducted on male athletes. However, some studies suggest that females may be less responsive to carbohydrate loading, especially during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. This appears to be, at least partly, because they have difficulty consuming the larger amounts of carbohydrate required for a complete CHO load. Further research needs to be conducted specifically on females.
Just dropping in to say good luck to everyone on Sunday.
I haven't had the ideal race build up, sadly my father in law passed away last week after being ill for a while, I wasn't sure whether to pull out of the race or not but everyone wants me to do it.
We've got the funeral tomorrow then I've gotta get my head ready to race on Saturday. Not sure what to expect on Sunday now but I'm gonna give it my best shot to break 3 hours.
Not sure if ill get chance to post before Sunday, so I hope everyone has a great race and can't wait to hear about the results and all the great pb's afterwards.
Sorry mark. Hope you are ok. Now go do what you have to do and come and smash 3 hours on Sunday. Hopefully the emotion will carry you through.
My mum, who shows no interest in my running whatsoever, just delivered me a bread and butter pudding to carb up. And took the kids out so I could get some sleep. I am touched. She still thinks running is stupid though!
(((Mark))) very sad news indeed. Maybe Sunday will help to take your mind off it? but totally understand if you are not in the right frame of mind and give it a miss.
Lit: 7g of carbs sounds better! I had 8-10g down and went for the lower end. With 7g I only need 385g of carbs. I probably only get to 300 but that'll do me. Like others said, no need to stuff ourselves silly. I have a box of sugary cereal at my desk for grazing
Thanks everyone, I was worried about leaving my girlfriend at home while I went to London but she will be with her family and they all want me to race so I'm definitely going to do it.
I'm sure the excitement will kick in when I get to London, think I've missed too much to properly catch up on the thread now, but is anyone else in the blue start area? I wondered if I might bump into anyone else at the start line.
As for carbo loading I think I've just ate as normal in the build up to recent events which has worked ok. I don't think we need to eat too excessively because too much glycogen will end up being stored as fat.
Mark, very sorry to hear your news. I think you should run too, and I think if everyone in your family wants you to it's not just them being nice and saying what they think you want to hear, but will also keep up a feeling of normality that I think is helpful to lots of people in difficult situations.
15W, I had to look up 'follicular phase' but obviously it turned out to be exactly the phase I am in. Grr.
Chick, you are not allowed to call yourself a 'big girl' when you are clearly at least a kilo lighter than me.
So, sorry to interrupt all the diet and taper discussions, but I went for a RUN. I was planning to do 4 miles with the middle 2 at MP as pacing practice. However, the first MP mile came out at more like LT pace, a good example of a thing I must not do on Sunday. I'd been thinking it was a bit hard. The second one I made a conscious effort to slow down and managed only 15 seconds too fast. I think the moral of the story is that marathon pace is quite a lot easier than I think it is, especially at first.
I also had a quite sweet encounter with the local youth. I'm running along by a playing field where two teenage boys are hanging out. Kid #1: you doing the London marathon? (possible sarcasm detected) Me: yeah. (pause) Kids #1 & #2 (in unison) good luck!
Comments
HeOw - Fiona is right - you should take on the nitrates for 3 to 6 days leading up to the race. One easy way is to buy beet-it shots (can get from Holland & Barrett), and take two a day. On the other hand there is no solid proof that it makes any difference at all, so you could just not bother at all. I have both beet-it shots and the SIS nitrate gels, and actually prefer the beet-it shots.
Lit - drink some sports drinks. Snack on rice cakes and malt loaf. Eat dried fruit (not too much on saturday evening!). Eat small bowls of cereal/muesli/porridge every now and again.
+1 for spud+beans for lunch.
I am back in the carb-loading game! Sort of. In that I just had a chewy granola slice as a snack. That's got to have been good for another 30g, right? Can't drink sports drink as it tastes too vile, but I've got some oat digestives somewhere in my office. Does fruit juice count because of the sugar?
Don't worry NP, I already think having a sandwich counts as carb loading!
Lit - yes fruit juice counts as does fruit. Even fizzy pop would count although I try to at least derive some nutritional benefit from carb loading.
Fiona, that's good, as I've had two apples and a glass of orange juice too. I suppose since I'm not using up all the sugar doing much running it makes sense that it would help.
NP - unlike you most of us are not used to running a million miles so don't usually have to eat that many carbs. I guess if you just eat your normal amount you should carb load beautifully.
To make myself feel a bit normal on the diet front, I am currently consuming half a bag of sugar snap peas at my desk
Bit of info copied and pasted from wikipedia's entry on carb loading, which indicates it's better not to rely on fructose for carb loading:
Most dietary carbohydrates consist of varying proportions of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose. Fructose may be metabolized into liver glycogen, but it is ineffective at raising muscle glycogen levels (which is the objective of carbohydrate loading). Consequently, sources of high-fructose carbohydrates, such as fruit and sweets, are less than optimal for the task.
Ah, bugger it, thanks Al. I'd better have another flapjack.
OK, I'm a big girl with a healthy appetite but 200g of pasta just beat me . I had half. Will leave the other half for tea.
Need to reconsider my nutrition. I had hoped to get 150g of carbs in for lunch. Now I only managed 75 . Together with brekkie and my mid-morning banana I'm now at roughly 180g of carbs. I'm supposed to have 440g per day . Guess I need to stock up on sports drink or fruit juice!
Like NP says, I wouldn't go overboard with the carb loading. You can eat a bit more than usual, but don't eat so totally stuffed and uncomfortable. You will hopefully be topping up your carbs during race anyway with either gets, sweets or sports drinks.
Wow, loads of posts on here, considering there's next to no running going on
The wind was back with a vengeance this morning and now it's raining, but it's looking good for Sunday. I've got Sky+ all setup in case the kids drag me out I've told them we'll go to the Zoo on Saturday, so hopefully I'll have Sunday to watch the coverage and stalk you all.
The Brighton Marathon highlights are on Channel 4 on Saturday morning at 7:05am, if anybody wants to start getting into the spirit of things while keeping their feet up.
Al - Dont put Al behinf Gore as Goreal sounds like a STD No fruit means breads, spuds n rice n pasta and nowt much else then? Bugger that, stickin with raisins n fig rolls n stuff.
I have just noticed from my stalking on other threads that you are going for 7g per kg bodyweight, Men - sounds more manageable than the 8-10g I read somewhere. On that basis I am prepared to believe that it is the One True Formula for optimal carb loading, and I only need 393g.
I know there is plenty of example like this on internet, here is one I found though:
From http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/factsheets/competition_and_training/carbohydrate_loading
The following diet is suitable for a 70kg athlete aiming to carbohydrate load:
Breakfast
3 cups of low-fibre breakfast cereal with 11/2 cups of reduced fat milk
1 medium banana
250ml orange juice
Snack
toasted muffin with honey
500ml sports drink
Lunch
2 sandwiches (4 slices of bread) with filling as desired
200g tub of low-fat fruit yoghurt
375ml can of soft drink
Snack
banana smoothie made with low-fat milk, banana and honey
cereal bar
Dinner
1 cup of pasta sauce with 2 cups of cooked pasta
3 slices of garlic bread
2 glasses of cordial
Late Snack
toasted muffin and jam
500ml sports drink
This sample plan provides ~ 14,800 kJ, 630 g carbohydrate, 125 g protein and 60 g fat.
That's quite a lot isn't it?!?
That would be 9g of carbohydrate per kilo though. I guess I'd have to eat 500g. I did have a second flapjack.
on that website it recommends 7-12g/kg.
it also says this about female runners:
Most studies of glycogen storage have been conducted on male athletes. However, some studies suggest that females may be less responsive to carbohydrate loading, especially during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. This appears to be, at least partly, because they have difficulty consuming the larger amounts of carbohydrate required for a complete CHO load. Further research needs to be conducted specifically on females.
I haven't had the ideal race build up, sadly my father in law passed away last week after being ill for a while, I wasn't sure whether to pull out of the race or not but everyone wants me to do it.
We've got the funeral tomorrow then I've gotta get my head ready to race on Saturday. Not sure what to expect on Sunday now but I'm gonna give it my best shot to break 3 hours.
Not sure if ill get chance to post before Sunday, so I hope everyone has a great race and can't wait to hear about the results and all the great pb's afterwards.
Sad news Mark - sorry to hear that. Good luck on Sunday if you make it....
My mum, who shows no interest in my running whatsoever, just delivered me a bread and butter pudding to carb up. And took the kids out so I could get some sleep. I am touched. She still thinks running is stupid though!
(((Mark))) very sad news indeed. Maybe Sunday will help to take your mind off it? but totally understand if you are not in the right frame of mind and give it a miss.
Lit: 7g of carbs sounds better! I had 8-10g down and went for the lower end. With 7g I only need 385g of carbs. I probably only get to 300 but that'll do me. Like others said, no need to stuff ourselves silly. I have a box of sugary cereal at my desk for grazing
I'm sure the excitement will kick in when I get to London, think I've missed too much to properly catch up on the thread now, but is anyone else in the blue start area? I wondered if I might bump into anyone else at the start line.
As for carbo loading I think I've just ate as normal in the build up to recent events which has worked ok. I don't think we need to eat too excessively because too much glycogen will end up being stored as fat.
Mark, very sorry to hear your news. I think you should run too, and I think if everyone in your family wants you to it's not just them being nice and saying what they think you want to hear, but will also keep up a feeling of normality that I think is helpful to lots of people in difficult situations.
15W, I had to look up 'follicular phase' but obviously it turned out to be exactly the phase I am in. Grr.
Chick, you are not allowed to call yourself a 'big girl' when you are clearly at least a kilo lighter than me.
Mark, Sorry to hear your sad news.
12g carbo loading??Not a snowballs chance in hell. I am struggling to get anywhere near 7g without resorting to shite sugary drinks and mars bars.
Heres the link to the article I have decided is correct;
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/nutrition/ask-the-experts-carbo-loading-and-race-day-nutrition-with-nick-morgan/5078.html
Bit I think with all the work you have put in you will still go sub 3
Had a message at the expo, the full 30 minute job. Quite painful as had a lot of knots. Will have a cold bath tonight and tomorrow to ease my legs.
So, sorry to interrupt all the diet and taper discussions, but I went for a RUN. I was planning to do 4 miles with the middle 2 at MP as pacing practice. However, the first MP mile came out at more like LT pace, a good example of a thing I must not do on Sunday. I'd been thinking it was a bit hard. The second one I made a conscious effort to slow down and managed only 15 seconds too fast. I think the moral of the story is that marathon pace is quite a lot easier than I think it is, especially at first.
I also had a quite sweet encounter with the local youth. I'm running along by a playing field where two teenage boys are hanging out.
Kid #1: you doing the London marathon? (possible sarcasm detected)
Me: yeah.
(pause)
Kids #1 & #2 (in unison) good luck!