209. Fueling Endurance Sports: Mistakes We See & How to Reach Your Potential

Run4PRs

www.run4prs.com Running is an endurance sport. All endurance sports will require fueling in order to reach your performance potential. Don’t leave your fastest times sitting on the table because you neglect fueling! Can you run long distances without fuel, yes, but physically will you perform better when you are fueled properly? YES! When you put in hundreds of hours into training, shouldn’t we also make an investment into our nutrition/fueling to ensure that we are able to allow our fitness to shine though on race day? One of the biggest limiting factors in races over 90 mins is fueling! It tends to be one of the number one reasons why people DNF 100 mile races. However, we live in an area of ‘diet culture’ and ‘biohacking’ where we might see counterproductive advice on the internet like ‘fasted workouts’. We want to remember that these so-called ‘experts’ are not advising endurance athletes to do these things fast. Endurance athletes are generally focused on performance, so we want to make sure we use that as our primary goal when discussing this. Why is it important to use fuel vs use nothing? The science of how carbs help boost performance in endurance events Carbs help delay fatigue by raising blood sugar levels and protecting your muscle glycogen stores allowing exercise to continue for longer at higher intensities. 30-80g per hour of carbs in events > 1 hour Especially important when going more than 2 hours By ingesting carbs during endurance events it helps reduce the stress placed on your immune system. When blood sugar drops, your brain increases Cortisol and epinephrine - two key hormones Can you run without fuel? Antecdolte advice: “I ran without fuel and I was fine” Why do some people claim ‘fasted’ workouts are good Why is it not beneficial for performance outcomes The ingestion of carbohydrates can have a significant effect on exercise performance During prolonged or intense exercise, the body breaks down and depletes muscle glycogen stores. Eventually this reaches a point of reduced carbohydrate availability. And may negatively affect fat metabolism, increase rates of fatigue, and increase muscle protein breakdown. By ingestion carbohydrates, we can maintain blood sugar levels, preserve muscle and liver glycogen stores, reduce muscle breakdown, lower cortisol levels, maintain immune function and enhance exercise performance History of running without fuel/history of gels What if your stomach hurts when you use gels? How often should you be using gels? Every 30-45 min a gel water/electrolytes every 15-30 min (4-8 oz) How much sodium do you need? 300-700mg Practice how you want to do this on race day! Also practice carb loading How do you carry your gels? How to experiment if something doesn't sit right?