Low carb and running- advice please?

[thenewaveragebear1983]

I wondered if anyone could share some advice please? Apologies for the long post!

I am doing a LCHF diet and have started running on our treadmill; i started January 1st. I have never really exercised, and after years as a smoker and generally unfit, I focussed on improving my cardio fitness and being able to keep moving rather than running technique or distance. I am now after 5 weeks managing 4-5k a few times a week, at a steady pace of 9k/hr without stopping. This is amazing for me to achieve, and I’ve caught the running bug!

Unfortunately, I am now finding that while originally I was impeded by my inability to breathe, I am now finding that in order to do the distance/time my muscles are noticeably tired, and occasionally I feel as if I just cannot get my legs to run (like my feet are dragging, and it becomes a real chore). I think this is due to the low carb diet. I’d like to gradually increase my distance, but I think I need more energy to do so- but the diet I am following is relatively low carb (ie. less than 50g a day) and I am worried about increasing this too much as then I won’t lose weight.

So I suppose my question is- should I eat something carby before I run, and if so what, and how long before? Or should I just work through it (bearing in mind that 5 weeks ago I was so unfit I thought I would pass out after running 1k!). Or, as I have read/heard online, should I eat carbs after a run?

How long have you been doing HFLC? Are you fully fat-adapted?

I've been doing HFLC for 8 months now and don't find it impacts on my energy levels when doing exercise.

Thanks prettybird, I’ve been doing it on and off for several years, although this last phase has been really since January 1st. I’ve been very strict on the diet side since then. Do you think it could be a case of just waiting it out?

As an experiment, today I had a shake made of avocado, almond milk, maca powder and 50g frozen raspberries about 30 minutes before my run, and I did feel that I ran well (as in steady speed, and I did 5k) although there were times i felt I wanted to stop. I suppose my concern is that, as I’m totally new to this, that I’m putting my body through a gruelling workout that actually isn’t going to be beneficial if I don’t fuel it properly.

Are you having enough fat? That might be what is lacking for your fuel.

Why not try asking on the current Boot Camp thread (we're on Week 4)? There are a few on there who exercise regularly and who are more knowledgeable than me about physiology.

Have a read of 'The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance', by Drs Phinny and Volek.

Once you're fat-adapted, there's no reason why your performance shouldn't be as good as, if not better, than before you were low carbing.

I feel better running fasted when doing LCHF - I would struggle to exercise 30 mins after that shake due to the sloshing weight in my stomach!