Long run nutrition/energy food? (Read 1664 times)

In the old days, before the big sports nutrition industry, folks ran marathons with water only. Water. On average, marathoners back then were faster than most marathoners today. At no point during my 42 miler yesterday did I feel like I was going to bonk. I took in probably no more than 300-400 calories. I ate more because 8 hours is a long time to go without food more than because I felt I needed to fuel my miles.

Trent: Did you eat differently leading up to those eight hours? What makes a mile stupid? Now your "long" runs in your log look kinda short. Good work on that.

Sorry, my answer above was a touch on the short side. Some points. 1. If you are running at a near maximal effort, you will need to consume calories on the course when racing over about 18 miles. This is because at high effort, your primary energy source is glycogen and you can store only enough glycogen to power that distance. Anything further requires exogenous carbohydrates such as energy gels and sports drink. 2. If you are running at a low intensity, as JK and I were yesterday (note how our pace compares with most of our running) then your body will use fat as its primary energy source. Every pound of fat can fuel about 30-45 miles. I have on me at least one pound of fat . Of course, all running still burns some carbs, but they are less important at lower efforts. 3. I ate loads in the days leading up to this long run. I concentrated on proteins and carbs. 4. These miles were stupid cuz 42 miles is just too dang far, especially in a week that already include 4 laps around a very very hilly course.

Perhaps because of pace? I am sure you burned a nice hunk of fat during that puppy.

Exactly!

Also, back in the old days, marathoners would practice different methods of glycogen depletion as part of their training. Another thing they would do: practically go on the Aitkins diet during their taper to get super glycogen depleted, and then 3-4 days before the race they would gorge themselves with carbs. The theory was their muscles were so starved for glycogen that they would store extra. Alberto Salazar preaches it in one of his books.

I have read of this method but I have never read any literature to support it. You can only store so much glycogen. Period. Going full empty before filling up doesn't increase the amount one can store. But I could be wrong.

But I could be wrong.

I don't think you are. From what I've read, the "I'll intentionally bonk" approach in training doesn't help physiologically, at least not much. It also sucks. I've tried it, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. Even if it does help somewhat, I think its outweighed by the fact that it takes longer to recovery from those training runs ... and did I mention they suck? Nowadays I hydrate and fuel well on long runs. I think the benefits of running well and feeling good and happy in training pretty much trump anything else. I guess painful bonk runs are good for getting used to the feeling, but I wouldn't do it very often.

In the old days, before the big sports nutrition industry, folks ran marathons with water only. Water. On average, marathoners back then were faster than most marathoners today..

Not entirely a valid comparison. The average marathoner is slower today because more people run marathons including many people who simply arent ...well...trained or naturally talented. People like me didnt run marathons then. The fastest runners today are faster than before. Now, I'm not saying a gel pack would have made the difference

Not entirely a valid comparison. The average marathoner is slower today because more people run marathons including many people who simply arent ...well...trained or naturally talented. People like me didnt run marathons then. The fastest runners today are faster than before. Now, I'm not saying a gel pack would have made the difference

I agree, and I was aware of this risk before I posted. But today's top runners in most small marathons use both energy products AND come in slower than the ole time runners who used water if anything at all.