Marathon training

[missfliss]

Can anyone help me fuel and low carb for an upcoming marathon in April?
Got no idea how to tackle this

That is because low carb and marathon training is utterly daft.

It’s like saying

”how can I drive 100 miles with 70 miles worth of petrol in the tank?”

Low carb and marathon training do not go hand in hand.

Last time I training for a marathon, I used MFP to check I was getting enough calories/protein/carbs. You burn so many calories on those long runs, you really do need to fuel them.

Ok.
I appreciate the candor and will absolutely be open to not low carbing if that's the case.
I need to understand how to eat to lose weight sensibly whilst marathon training then - is that better? Maybe it needs to be around managing / limiting carbs perhaps?

It just needs to eat healthily (and you don’t need to know what constitute healthy and not healthy)

and ensure that you fuel up on carbs before the run (leaving time to digest), and then ensure eating protein soon after finishing - eggs and chicken are superb.

lay off the booze. And keep sugary treats to a minim.

focus your efforts on protein and good carbs.

Go ahead and try low carb if you want

you will very soon see how incomparable it is with Marathon training - if you are genuinely serious about doing it

Incompatible

Can I just say:

1. I have ran a marathon previously 2018 thanks

2. there is actually a school of thought around becoming fat adapted which reduces reliance on carbs.

Now the reason I'm asking is because since then I have started going through the menopause and previous diet advice no longer effective. I have said in my reply that I'm actually open minded and perhaps it's about limiting carbs as part of managing a macro mix - and yes, 100% sugar is the biggest issue I have . That's my number one focus to be honest.

It's a serious question I have - I'm not naive or stupid, but I am looking for advice on losing weight ( approx 1.5 stone) whilst training

If your marathon isn't until April, you're not in marathon training yet. So why not try and lose weight now (if that's what you want to do) before you start a 12/16/20 week training programme.
You have plenty of time to establish new/healthy food habits before the proper training kicks in.

Yes I agree @ReviewingTheSituation - I think losing all the weight before full on mileage build kicks in won't be realistic but headway could be made.

I've totally got confused with all the newest advice re managing glucose / IF / insulin blood sugar etc and how to reconcile it with marathon training and fueling.

I didn't ever think I would sign up for another marathon TBH as even though I enjoyed the actual day of the previous one, the winter training on top of a full time job and young child with SEND was very very hard.

However we have recently had a bombshell regarding my dad ( not long to live ) and so this is kind of in honour of him, for his chosen charity ( Amnesty) and also, bluntly, to help me focus the grief.

I'd recommend reading Stacey Sims' Level up for recommendations on training and fuelling through (peri)menopause. Women are generally much more fat adapted than men so benefit less from trying to increase fat adaptation and in peri your cortisol levels can get out of whack very easily which is made worse by fasted exercise. She's also a big advocate of resistance work to counteract muscle loss.

I'm also interested by Jessie Inchauspe's ideas on how to reduce glucose spikes while still having carbs. A key point of hers is that the body uses carbs differently pre and post exercise. So I am very relaxed about pre- and post workout carbs and have more moderate amounts of high quality carbs with plenty of veg and protein the rest of the time.

Finally the Coach Parry team do webinars and marathon training plans specifically for women in menopause which you might want to check out.

Cross post - for your Dad

I stick to only eating carbs once a day. That keeps my weight in check. Surprisingly what has helped lose weight is weight training. I switched to one weights session a week and drop a run. I had a coach so had three very specific runs (paced and distance) in specific days. So even though my mileage was less my performance still increased. I had my fastest time ever. Not fast for other people but my PB.

Thankyou - there is some excellent advice there

Sending good thoughts for your training and your dad. I'm running London in October for my mum, who cared for her during her final days in February. When the cause means something very specific to you, there's a whole level of motivation that comes with it. My last (only previous) marathon was for Amnesty, and they're a great charity to run for. But this one, well it's personal and is helping me with my grief too. Sending

*for the hospice who cared for her ... FFS! I'm so tired after todays run that I'm making no sense at all!

I do half marathons and have been low carb for over a year now.

Admittedly, the distances are NOTHING like marathons so I can manage them whilst still staying low carb.

However, if I were to look at this, I would stay low carb unless I had a 10 mile plus run the next day. Then I'd try to include a decent amount of food quality carbs the day before.

I'd also use carbs that day.

Then back to normal the rest of the time.

But as with anything to do with long distance running training, you will need to experiment and see what works for you.

I would suggest cutting out refined sugar and processed food/ carbs as much as poss.
Then a portion of brown rice or pasta or potatoes the night before and morning of a run when you hit longer distances.

Volke and Phinney's research Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance https://amzn.eu/d/8QzzB2o suggest that it is possible to perform endurance sports on a low carb diet but you have to be fat-adapted and that process might take three or so months to complete enough. I would bear in mind that any carbs you consume before or during training/events will be used up during the course of the run so they shouldn't have an impact on your overall diet. So if you want to pre-load carbs or use gels during your run it won't necessarily disadvantage you from a diet/weight loss perspective. With sufficient time you will probably find that you don't need the carbs however you might still decide to use them in order to get the best performance during your marathon.