Big day tomorrow, I start to try and eat 700g of carbohydrates for three days on the trot. This in itself is a bit of a marathon as for the next three days you feel if you’re not eating something or drinking something you’re doing something wrong.  I explained my strategy in a post earlier in the week and the Australian Institute of Sport has a similar outlook. Lots of toast with honey, orange juice and pasta. Repeat for three days while also consuming as much water as my bladder can handle, and then a bit more !

This can lead to weight gain apparently (no kidding!) but allegedly the benefit outweighs the negatives. (one of which is looking like Jabba the Hutt as already discussed!)  The weight gain is mostly water retention so don’t be too afraid of a few extra pounds. As you tuck into your 4th round of toast for the day just think positive thoughts, carboloading done right is good for 3-5 minutes I reckon.

Points to note of course is you need to avoid too much high fat and sugar if possible, just low fat and carbohydrates. Protein is still ok as it will help with muscle recovery and everybody loves protein. Not sure where the go-to meal for runners, the humble muffin, fits into this diet but we can always find an excuse to scoff down a muffin.

So far this week I am feeling remarkably relaxed which is a two edged sword as I feel you should be nervous as this will focus the mind on the challenge ahead. Too relaxed and you won’t be focused enough. I’ll try and get nervous tomorrow, I’ll make a mental note to self to get nervous.

I’ve tried to avoid thinking about the heat but mentally have already written off a PB run due too the predicted temperature. Of course on the day I will re-evaluate but currently I’ll be aiming for position first and time second. When I say position I am targeting top 3 for my age group and/or top 3 Australian (age group) to go with my 2nd fastest Australian in the 5k last weekend. It will be difficult to see who I’m racing against on the day as I’m assuming all the race bibs will be similar ? In the end you run what you run and we’ll see how the cards fall, most important piece of advice is to run your own race.

Over the next few days it’s time to dial in a pace to hit your target finish time. This is your first goal. Next it’s time to dial in ‘plan b’, if you can’t make your target what would be your next target time, finally ‘plan c‘, this could be as simple as finish ! I’ve mentioned the different goals before and if nothing else they keep you busy over the remainder of the race, and it’s always nice to achieve your goal, no matter what it ends up being.

So one last article on carboloading from my main man on just about anything running, Matt Fitzgerald.   ( http://mattfitzgerald.org ) It seems you have 3 options. The good old fashioned 3 day binge (my favourite), or the Western Australian 3 minute of VO2 max exercise and then binge the day before (risky) or ignore the whole thing and eat carbs on the run using Carboshotz etc..

No one said this running lark was easy….

You aren’t still putting yourself through a depletion phase, are you?

The practice of carbo-loading dates back to the late 1960s. The first carbo-loading protocol was developed by a Swedish physiologist named Gunvar Ahlborg after he discovered a positive relationship between the amount of glycogen (carbs stored in the muscles and liver) in the body and endurance performance. Scientists and runners had already known for some time that eating a high-carbohydrate diet in the days preceding a long race enhances performance, but no one knew exactly why until Ahlborg’s team zeroed in on the glycogen connection.

Subsequently, Ahlborg discovered that the muscles and liver are able to store above-normal amounts of glycogen when high levels of carbohydrate consumption are preceded by severe glycogen depletion. The most obvious way to deplete the muscles of glycogen is to eat extremely small amounts of carbohydrate. A second way is to engage in exhaustive exercise. The stress of severe glycogen depletion triggers an adaptive response by which the body reduces the amount of dietary carbohydrate that it converts to fat and stores, and increases the amount of carbohydrate that it stores in the liver and muscles as glycogen. Ahlborg referred to this phenomenon as glycogen supercompensation.

Armed with this knowledge, he was able to create a more sophisticated carbo-loading protocol than the primitive existing method, which was, more or less, eating a big bowl of spaghetti.

Ahlborg came up with a seven-day carbo-loading plan in which an exhaustive bout of exercise was followed by three or four days of extremely low carbohydrate intake (10 percent of total calories) and then three or four days of extremely high carbohydrate intake (90 percent of total calories). Trained athletes who used this protocol in an experiment were able to nearly double their glycogen stores and exhibited significantly greater endurance in exercise lasting longer than 90 minutes.

After these results were published, endurance athletes across the globe began to use Ahlborg’s carbo-loading plan prior to events anticipated to last 90 minutes or longer. While it worked admirably, it had its share of drawbacks. First of all, many athletes weren’t keen on performing an exhaustive workout just a week before a big race, as the plan required.

Second, maintaining a 10 percent carbohydrate diet for three or four days carried some nasty consequences including lethargy, cravings, irritability, lack of concentration, and increased susceptibility to illness. Many runners and other athletes found it just wasn’t worth it.

Fortunately, later research showed that you can increase glycogen storage significantly without first depleting it. A newer carbo-loading protocol based on this research calls for athletes to eat a normal diet of 55 to 60 percent carbohydrate until three days before racing, and then switch to a 70 percent carbohydrate diet for the final three days, plus race morning.

As for exercise, this tamer carbo-loading method suggests one last longer workout (but not an exhaustive workout) done a week from race day followed by increasingly shorter workouts throughout race week. It’s simple, it’s non-excruciating, and it works. Admittedly, some scientists and athletes still swear that the Ahlborg protocol is more effective, but if it is, the difference is slight and probably not worth the suffering and inherent risks.

Note that you should increase your carbohydrate intake not by increasing your total caloric intake, but rather by reducing fat and protein intake in an amount that equals or slightly exceeds the amount of carbohydrate you add. Combining less training with more total calories could result in last-minute weight gain that will only slow you down. Be aware, too, that for every gram of carbohydrate the body stores, it also stores 3 to 5 grams of water, which leads many athletes to feel bloated by the end of a three-day loading period. The water weight will be long gone by the time you finish your race, however.
A friendlier carbo-loading strategy was devised in 2002 by scientists at the University of Western Australia. It combines depletion and loading and condenses them into a one-day time frame. The creators of this innovative protocol recognized that a single, short workout performed at extremely high intensity creates a powerful demand for glycogen storage in both the slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibers of the muscles.

The researchers hypothesized that following such a workout with heavy carbohydrate intake could result in a high level of glycogen supercompensation without a lot of fuss. In an experiment, the researchers asked athletes to perform a short-duration, high-intensity workout consisting of two and a half minutes at 130 percent of VO2max (about one-mile race pace) followed by a 30-second sprint. During the next 24 hours, the athletes consumed 12 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of lean muscle mass. This resulted in a 90 percent increase in muscle glycogen storage.

Runners have cause to be very pleased by these findings. Doing just a few minutes of high-intensity exercise the day before a competition will not sabotage tomorrow’s performance, yet it will suffice to stimulate the desirable carbohydrate “sponging” effect that was sought in the original Ahlborg protocol. This allows the athlete to maintain a normal diet right up until the day before competition and then load in the final 24 hours.

The Western Australia carbo-loading strategy works best if preceded by a proper taper — that is, by several days of reduced training whose purpose is to render your body rested, regenerated, and race-ready. In fact, several days of reduced training combined with your normal diet will substantially increase your glycogen storage level even before the final day’s workout and carbohydrate binge. When you exercise vigorously almost every day, your body never gets a chance to fully replenish its glycogen stores before the next workout reduces them again. Only after 48 hours of very light training or complete rest are your glycogen levels fully compensated. Then the Western Australia carbo-loading regimen can be used to achieve glycogen supercompensation.

An even newer carbo-loading protocol calls for athletes to eat a normal diet of 55 to 60 percent carbohydrate until three days before racing, and then switch to a 70 percent carbohydrate diet for the final three days, plus race morning. As for exercise, this friendliest carbo-loading method suggests one last longer workout (but not an exhaustive workout) done a week from race day followed by increasingly shorter workouts throughout race week.

Having said all of this, I would like to note finally that carbo-loading in general has been shown to enhance race performance only when athletes consume little or no carbohydrate during the race itself. If you do use a sports drink or sports gels to fuel your race effort — as you should — prior carbo-loading probably will have no effect. But it doesn’t hurt to do it anyway, as insurance.

Day three of the final week is normally when ‘self doubt’ rears its ugly head.  By now you’ve had a light previous week and the odd day off and suddenly you start to feel flat. You’ve not been running as much as normal and all that free time plays on your mind.  Runners are normally pessimistic people and any excuse to question themselves is normally embraced. Taper time gives runners too much idle time and rather than use this time for good they ‘worry’, a lot ! I’m as bad as the next runner and even with all my experience I question myself. I’ve posted so many times about ‘trust your training’ but typing the phase is a lot easier than living it.

To get over this ‘self doubt’ continually remind yourself of your previous training block distances and all the work you’ve put in over the last few months. The ‘hay is in the barn‘ so to speak and you’ve worked damn hard to put it there. As I have mentioned numerous times running is an honest sport and if you’ve put in the time you will be rewarded on race day.

Running marathons is a large part mental, especially after 32k, so you need to start to prepare yourself for the challenge ahead. Self doubt has no part to play nearer race day and certainly on the start line you need to be ‘bursting’ with confidence. Please note ‘bursting with confidence’  does not then mean running a 5k PB for the first 5k of the marathon like my good friend Jon recently did at the Geraldton Marathon  and then had a walk break to recover.  This coming from a man who has run over 40 marathons ! Even he couldn’t explain his enthusiasm on the day. Another friend of mine, also called Jon funnily enough, insists on running his fastest few kilometers in a marathon at the start  and is often in the lead at the 500m mark.  I would certainly not recommend this practice.

Another way to contain self doubt is to play back all the positive experiences you’ve had from previous races. (I’m assuming you’ve had some positive experiences, if not then they will come, trust me.) Also look at your training for the race and take confidence from the work you’ve put in. For the World Masters marathon I’ve certainly trained harder than I have ever trained before and been rewarded with PB’s and good times in a number of lead up races. This is another way to fight off self doubt, lead up races at shorter distances. The World Masters will be my 5th race in 6 weeks and although I probably wouldn’t recommend that many for all runners it does give me a good base for positive thinking. (assuming they all went well of course) I have highlighted racing before as a great way to break the monotony of training (sometimes it’s monotonous ?) and also as a way to boost confidence. You never work as hard as when you have a racing bib on your chest, or timing chip on your shoe. (or for my local club both!)

So to sum up todays post on my old friend ‘self doubt’ , trust in your training, take confidence from your training block and start to prepare yourself mentally for success. On race day you want to be standing on that start line ready to ‘explode‘ into action and for the last 10k you want to changing gear from 5th into 6th and accelerating into the finish.  I can’t emphasis enough how important your mental preparation will be at the start and when you really need it at 32k onwards. Noakes talked about the ‘central governer’  and I have attached an articel from my old favourite Runners Connect by coach Jeff explaining this. It is worth a read as this will be invaluable at 32k when you start to feel fatigued. Think back to this article and it may be enough to get you over the line.

‘Bye bye ‘self doubt’, hello ‘over confident’……?

As runners, we spend countless hours focused on the physiological aspects of training – VO2max, threshold, aerobic development, etc.  And for good reason. There is no doubt that improving these biological systems will help you run faster.

However, when it comes to racing, are physiological limitations all that matter or is there a mental component involved as well? What role does the brain play in our attempt to race as fast as possible?

According to exercise scientist Dr. Tim Noakes and a growing number of colleagues, the brain may play a more important role in race potential than runners have typically considered. Noakes’s hypothesis suggests that the brain acts as a central governor when racing, limiting our ability to push beyond perceived fatigue to ensure self-preservation.

In this article, we’ll look at the central governor theory in more depth, explore why it matters to those racing for personal bests, and outline some specific strategies you can use to overcome your own central governor.

What is the central governor theory?

In short, the central governor theory is based around the premise that the brain will override your physical ability to run and “shut the body down” before you’re able to do serious or permanent damage to yourself.

Noakes believes that the point in the race when you think you’ve given everything you’ve got is actually a signal or response from the brain to slow down to preserve health, rather than a physiological reality. In actuality, Noakes believes you have more to give physically when this happens.

Runners experience this during almost every race they run. At mile 8 of a half marathon, goal race pace is extremely difficult and the thought of running faster, even for just a minute, seems impossible. Yet, when you get within 400 meters of the finish, you’re somehow able to summon a kick that finds you running minutes per mile faster than goal pace.

Once your brain realizes it won’t die if you pick up the pace (because the finish line is close) it opens the biological pathways to run faster.

That’s not to say that the physiological demands of a race aren’t real. Rather, the central governor theory posits that racing is a balance between: (1) physical preparation and biological systems; (2) emotional components, such as motivation and pain tolerance; (3) and self-preservation. The exact combination of these factors is what leads to how hard you’re able to push during a race.

Why does it matter? Does this mean you don’t have to train?

Perhaps the biggest misconception of the central governor theory is that if we could just teach ourselves to push harder or somehow turn off this central governor of the brain, that we could run faster. However, as mentioned above, racing is a combination of three important components: physical, emotional, and mental.

As an example, if you asked an Olympic-caliber runner to run a 7-minute mile, they would do so easily and be able to carry that pace on for 26 miles or more with little effort. Ask a four-hour marathoner to run a 7 minute mile and it will be an all-out effort they can only maintain for a mile. The physiological differences between these two runners means that even if the central governor was turned off, the four-hour marathoner couldn’t run with the Olympic-caliber runner. That’s pretty obvious.

However, if that same four-hour marathoner can learn to push the boundaries of their central governor, perhaps by adding motivation, like a Boston qualifier, or improving their mental fortitude, then they can tap into this extra performance reserve.

How to overcome the central governor

So how do you do that? How do you push the boundaries of your central governor? While you can’t completely overcome the central governor, you can improve your ability to tolerate physical discomfort and prepare your mind for the physical demands you plan to place in it.

Workouts

The problem many runners face is that the experience of trying to push themselves beyond their comfort zone when their mind is telling them it can’t go faster only occurs on race day.

Typical interval workouts and tempo runs are performed at a consistent pace and the recovery between repeats allows you to recover to a state that is very unlike the corresponding point in a race. During workouts, you simply get to a certain fatigue level and then stop pushing.

This is great for building your physiological systems, but does nothing to teach you how to push the central governor and prove to your brain that you can in fact run faster, despite how bad you might feel.

One workout that trains this specific aspect of racing is called a hammer interval session. Succinctly, a hammer interval session is traditional interval workout except that on the third or second to last interval, you break from your goal pace and simply focus on running that specific repeat as fast as you can – hammering it.  An example hammer workout for a 5k runner might look like: 8 x 800 meters at 3k to 5K race pace w/2mins rest, hammer (run as fast as you can) interval numbers 4 and number 7. Maintain the 2-minute rest after each hammer and do your best to get back onto 5k pace after each hammer.

The specific pace of the hammer repeat isn’t the important part of this workout. Rather, it’s the ability to chip away at the mental constraints late in a workout or race that tell you that you can’t go any faster.

Mental training and visualization

Running a PR is tough! No matter how well rested or prepared the body is, racing hurts. If you toe the starting line thinking that somehow you’re going to feel good or that pushing during the last miles is going to be easy, then you’ve already set yourself up to let the brain override your physical abilities.

Prepare yourself mentally. Don’t head into a race telling yourself that somehow this race is going to be different. Be prepared for it to hurt, but remember that you’ve trained yourself to push through this exact situation. Visualize the race during your training runs or while meditating and picture yourself hitting that point in the race when your body starts to hurt. Recall those feelings from your last race or hard workout and then visualize yourself pushing through that moment. By preparing yourself mentally, you’ll be ready to face the realities of the race.

Pacing

Finally, work to improve your sense of pace. Pacing is one of the ways the brain self-regulates the central governor. The brain “anticipates” all the known variables of a race – distance, topography, temperature, etc. – and then calculates an optimal pace that will get you to the finish without dying.

When you deviate significantly from your optimal physiological pace, the brain reacts by reducing the level of muscle activation in order to force you to slow down. By going out too fast during a race, you kick in the central governor early and even elicit physiological changes by the brain designed to slow you down.

Armed with this new understanding of the central governor theory and how the brain impacts your ability to race, implement these three simply strategies into your training plan and start to push yourself harder than you think you can.

There are times when being a runner can really be an excuse to eat great ‘tukka’ and carboloading is one of those times. Three days before your goal race, which should be a marathon distance or more (so don’t think this applies to 5k races, sorry !) , you try and eat 10g of carbohydrates for every 1kg of weight, i.e. me being 70kg , I need to eat 700g of carbohydrates for 3 days pre-marathon. It is actually quite hard to get this right unfortunately. A lot of runners just end up eating junk assuming all food is good food this close to the race or don’t hydrate enough. (You need to properly hydrated for the carboloading to work properly)

So what does a 700g day look like. Breakfast,  weetbix and honey with orange juice. Brunch, 2 slices of toast with honey and another OJ. Lunch, pasta with chicken and some yoghurt. Maybe another round of toast pre-dinner of more pasta. Add in another OJ somewhere and a late night yoghurt or toasted muffin and you’re pretty close. Best thing is to google ‘carboloading’ and you’ll get the general idea. What did we do before ‘google’? Maybe I’ll google ‘what did we do before google’?

Also make sure you aim for high carbohydrate , low fat food; avoid the high fat food.

So carboloading, a good thing if done correctly and I’d say worth 4-5 minutes. C’mon,  what other sport gives you such a return just by eating. Gotta love running……

This article written by AIS Sports Nutrition is worth a read on the subject.

‘Carbohydrate loading’ is probably one of the most misunderstood terms in sports nutrition. People commonly think anyone involved in sport needs to ‘carb up’ and the way to do this is to eat ‘flat out’ in the days leading up to an event. Read on to get the facts on carbohydrate loading.

What is carbohydrate loading?

Carbohydrate loading is a strategy involving changes to training and nutrition that can maximise muscle glycogen (carbohydrate) stores prior to endurance competition.

The technique was originally developed in the late 1960’s and typically involved a 3-4 day ‘depletion phase’ involving 3-4 days of hard training plus a low carbohydrate diet. This depletion phase was thought to be necessary to stimulate the enzyme glycogen synthase. This was then followed immediately by a 3-4 day ‘loading phase’ involving rest combined with a high carbohydrate diet. The combination of the two phases was shown to boost muscle carbohydrate stores beyond their usual resting levels.

Ongoing research has allowed the method to be refined so that modern day carbohydrate loading is now more manageable for athletes. The depletion phase was demonstrated to be no longer necessary, which is a bonus for athletes as this phase was very difficult. Australian marathon runner, Steve Moneghetti has described the depletion phase as making him feel like “death warmed up”. Today, 1-4 days of exercise taper while following a high carbohydrate diet (7-12g/kg body weight) is sufficient to elevate muscle glycogen levels.

Does carbohydrate loading improve performance?

Muscle glycogen levels are normally in the range of 100-120 mmol/kg ww (wet weight). Carbohydrate loading enables muscle glycogen levels to be increased to around 150-200 mmol/kg ww. This extra supply of carbohydrate has been demonstrated to improve endurance exercise by allowing athletes to exercise at their optimal pace for a longer time. It is estimated that carbohydrate loading can improve performance over a set distance by 2-3%.

Who should carbohydrate load?

Anyone exercising continuously at a moderate to high intensity for 90 minutes or longer is likely to benefit from carbohydrate loading. Typically, sports such as cycling, marathon running, longer distance triathlon, cross-country skiing and endurance swimming benefit from carbohydrate loading. Shorter-term exercise is unlikely to benefit as the body’s usual carbohydrate stores are adequate. Carbohydrate loading is generally not practical to achieve in team sports where games are played every 3-4 days. Although it might be argued that players in football and AFL have heavy demands on their muscle fuel stores, it may not be possible to achieve a full carbohydrate loading protocol within the weekly schedule of training and games.

What does a high carbohydrate diet look like?

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.

Are there any special considerations for females?

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.

What are the common mistakes made when carbohydrate loading?

Research indicates that many athletes who attempt to carbohydrate load, fail to achieve their goal. Common mistakes include:

Carbohydrate loading requires an exercise taper. Athletes can find it difficult to back off training for 1-4 days before competition. Failing to rest will compromise carbohydrate loading.
Many athletes fail to eat enough carbohydrate. It seems athletes don’t have a good understanding of the amount of food required to carbohydrate load. Working with a sports dietitian or using a carbohydrate counter can be useful.
In order to consume the necessary amount of carbohydrate, it is necessary to cut back on fibre and make use of compact sources of carbohydrate such as sugar, cordial, soft drink, sports drink, jam, honey, jelly and tinned fruit. Athletes who include too many high fibre foods in their carbohydrate loading menu may suffer stomach upset or find the food too bulky to consume.
Carbohydrate loading will most likely cause body mass to increase by approximately 2kg. This extra weight is due to extra muscle glycogen and water. For some athletes, a fear of weight gain may prevent them from carbohydrate loading adequately.
Athletes commonly use carbohydrate loading as an excuse to eat everything and anything in sight. Consuming too many high fat foods will make it difficult to consume sufficient carbohydrate. It may also result in gain of body fat. It is important to stick to high-carbohydrate, low-fat foods while carbohydrate loading.