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Getting marathon ready with the taper and carbo loading, process or outcome driven, and what does failure and experience lead to?

💭What I'm thinking:

I. Endurance sport, marathons, etc. are in a really strange place since the rise of influencers/popularity. It now seems super normal to be racing all the time, back to back massive events. Whats been lost is really taking your time building up and properly training for these..

II. Most running books/guides: “Here’s how to train for a marathon.” Emphasis on the process, evolution of the runner and the joy along the way are being missed.

III. Underneath the outfit of a runner is a Human.

IV. "My problem is, I want to be the only one at the gym when I go." Running solves this.

📖What I'm reading:
Nutrition strategies for the marathon : fuel for training and racing

"Muscle glycogen provides a key fuel for training and racing a marathon. Carbohydrate ‘loading’ can enhance marathon performance by allowing the competitor to run at their optimal pace for a longer period before fatiguing.

For the well trained runner, this may be achieved by tapering exercise over the final days before the marathon and ensuring carbohydrate intakes of 10–12 g/kg/day over the 36–48 hours prior to the race.

Sports nutrition guidelines recommend that the runner consumes sufficient carbohydrate to promote restoration of muscle glycogen between training sessions. This strategy should allow the runner to ‘train harder’ and recover optimally between workouts. A recent hypothesis suggests that runners might ‘train smarter’ by training with low glycogen stores, since this might promote greater stimulation of the training response.

However, there is no evidence that a low carbohydrate diet enhances the outcomes of training or provides benefits as a depletion phase prior to carbohydrate loading. In fact, a low carbohydrate diet may even impair performance if carried out for extended periods.

If there are benefits to manipulating glycogen stores for some workouts, this is likely to happen as the natural outcome of the periodisation of the high-volume programme of an elite runner."

DOI: 10.2165/00007256-200737040-00018

(Burke LM. Nutrition strategies for the marathon : fuel for training and racing. Sports Med. 2007;37(4-5):344-7. doi: 10.2165/00007256-200737040-00018. PMID: 17465604.)

Click here to read full article

🤍 What I'm liking:

I love this visual so much

🎧 What I'm listening to:

The Fuelled Runner Podcast: Carb Loading and Taper Tantrums

0h18mins - The Fuelled Runner Podcast: Carb Loading and Taper Tantrums

Tapering and Carb loading- it’s all about getting you in the best possible position for race day! I’m here to reassure you that you’re going to be great, it’s totally manageable and give you my top tips

In this episode I’m discussing: