Marathon Training as a Low Carb Runner
Complex Carbs Help Runners Avoid The Marathon's Infamous Wall
© John Wu
Oct 27, 2009
A runner with a low carb diet will never win a marathon. It will probably impede one's effort to run a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon as well. However, most seek to merely survive a marathon with a decent finish time. By consuming complex carbohydrates and keeping the pace aerobic, it's possible to finish a marathon comfortably without ever hitting the dreaded wall while maintaining a low carb diet.
On the other hand, if a marathon training run at mile 18 results in a pace of 9 minutes, a 7:30 minute pace during the first mile of the actual marathon usually results in disaster involving the infamous wall.
Energy Gels for Low Carb Runners
One of the most important part of marathon training is to test the drinks, food, and energy gels to be used during the actual race. In most cases, the nourishment given by the race will be inappropriate for a low carb runner, especially the energy gel.
Low carb runners need to stick with gels that are predominantly complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates take longer for the body to digest, thus giving the runner a longer lasting source of energy. They also support the low carb diet by not introducing simple sugars that make them prone to cheating during meals.
Two excellent energy gels for low carb runners are Hammer Gel and GU. Some of the best features of complex carbohydrate gels include:
- No MSG
- No refined sugars
- Gluten Free
- Lactose Free
- Maltodextrin - easy to digest complex carbohydrate.
Steve Born's 2005 Badwater Ultramarathon article titled "Proper Caloric Intake During Endurance Exercise" mentions that any gel that has an ingredient that ends in "ose" (eg. dextrose, sucrose, etc.) has simple sugars and should be avoided because they cause a fast and big spike in blood sugar. Even those who do not subscribe to a low carb lifestyle should avoid gels that have fast acting sugars which cause runners to hit the wall.
Marathon's Infamous Wall
According to Jeff Galloway's Galloway's Book on Running (Shelter Publications,1984) most runners have hundreds of miles worth of fat stores in their body. Unfortunately, they don't power the body fast enough to sustain the pace of a competitive runner's marathon race. This would not happen if runners held the pace back to their aerobic marathon training pace. For each burst of speed, the body's limited store of glycogen decreases. If the deficit is large, the temptation to consume simple sugars becomes overpowering.
Many runners make the mistake of consuming simple sugars such as regular Coke or candy to push them through the race. What happens is that blood sugar spikes for a while giving the runner extra energy to maintain their overly quick anaerobic pace. Later on, blood sugar levels crash causing the runner to run out of energy. Then it's a slow, embarrassing walk to the finish line.
Slow Down to Marathon Training Pace
A runner who exclusively consumes complex carbohydrates will not have optimal sprint speeds, which are needed to help make him shave a few extra minutes off the finish time. Nevertheless, keeping a comfortable aerobic pace allows the runner to finish the race without the need for a big spike in sugar to avoid the wall.
The proper strategy is to take complex carbohydrate gels to compensate for minor pacing errors that occur during the late stages of a marathon. As long as the runner keeps his pace aerobic and adjusts the pace slower due to heat and other conditions, he should be able to run the entire distance.
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