![]() Anyone who has hung out at the finish line of a marathon will relate to that description.Īt the Boston marathon the following year, 17 athletes (including those who raced the previous year) were asked to eat a high-carbohydrate diet for 24-hours before the race and to start eating candy after about 24 kms (15 miles) into the race. They described it as “a picture of shock not unlike that produced by an overdose of insulin”. In 1924, yep 100 years ago, Sam Levine and colleagues at Harvard Medical School found that runners completing the Boston marathon had lower blood glucose levels than when they started and noted that the “condition” of the athletes at the end - symptoms of physical weakness, pallor, and collapse - was associated with their blood glucose levels. Consequently, if you want to increase carbohydrate availability during a race, you need to add some carbohydrate into the mix. Although some evidence in endurance-trained athletes shows that, during prolonged (~3-hours) low-intensity cycling, glycogen resynthesis can occur in inactive type 2 (aka “fast-twitch”) muscle fibres when carbohydrate is consumed, the amount is small and resynthesis does not occur in the type 1 (aka “slow-twitch”) fibres being used. Unlike our canine companions, who can rapidly replenish muscle glycogen levels during prolonged exercise even when carbohydrate intake is low (see here and here), we are not blessed with glycogen replenishing powers when on the go - when we move for prolonged periods, we deplete glycogen. The obvious missing component of your race day performance nutrition equation is.Ĭan you maintain high carbohydrate availability during your race? So far you have learned that a high carbohydrate availability can be established before your race with a high-carb diet on the days before race day and a carb-full breakfast on the morning of your race.
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