carb loading the day before a long run or a 100 mile bike ride

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Permalink Reply by Ryan on April 8, 2009 at 4:03pm

no info on the carb loading but that is AWESOME you are biking 100 mi!

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Permalink Reply by Louis on April 11, 2009 at 9:54pm

I just did a 63 mile ride last weekend. I'm T1. Supper was steak and crab.
I reduce my basal rate 2hr prior to elevate my BG to about 120 to 130, eat and drink alittle 2 hours prior about 30 carbs total.
Then I keep my basal rate reduced and eat around 100 to 150 carbs per hour.
Important check BG every 30 minutes. Supplement with Dex Tabs if low.

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Permalink Reply by Andy on May 16, 2009 at 6:59am

I don't carb load before a long ride. I don't see the point anymore. When I was younger I would rely upon energy drinks and foods to take during the ride but they now ( and then ) play hell with my stomach afterwards. Now I just ensure I have a decent breakfast before the event and then fuel correctly throughout.
The only proprietary energy product I use is Torq gels. I can feel them hit and they don't give me bad effects afterwards.
I don't need to carbo load if I use them.
Depending upon the distance of the ride depends upon how much proper food I stop to eat. Your metabolism will shut down on a ride if you don't keep nibbling away, so a bacon sandwich or beans on toast etc at 50 miles in is ace.
On a 200 km ride I will stop probably 4 times to eat and will take gels if I feel low.
On a 300km ride I will stop 6 times. On 400 to 600 km rides you have to listen to your body more and more and stop when you need to stop. Invariably you are a long way from home so getting it wrong is not an option.

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Permalink Reply by John Sangdahl on July 19, 2009 at 6:12am

I did get my century ride in yesterday.My ave speed was 16.5 I feel great today. I used two water bottles. One with water and the other I used G2 mix that was low cal. and 7 grams of carbs. I drink 2 water bottles of the G2. It took me 6 and 1/2 hours. I ate 3 cliff bars. One at the start of my ride and I bolus for 1/2 of the carb. I also had 2 Gu Roctane. My Basal rate was set at 60% and my bg ranged from 90 to 150.

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Permalink Reply by Mike on November 9, 2009 at 11:16am

I ran my first marathon last year and am in training for my second. I did not participate in the Pasta dinners or any other sort of carb loading. I ate a banana half an hour before the race.
I've been wondering about this too. I didn't feel out of energy but I don't have much to compare to. I way too scared of waking up before a race or a long run with a high orgoing low while asleep the night before.

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Permalink Reply by Joe on November 17, 2009 at 6:13pm

I'm pretty sure this practice isn't recommended as much as it once was. There is a very finite amount of glucose that can be stored in the muscles and liver, and "loading" can't really add more.

I went to a seminar sponsored by the Diabetes Exercise and Sports Association last spring. The guest speaker was very familiar with diabetes and endurance sports - she was from the Colorado University School of Sports Medicine. The gist of her talk was that the athlete should intake as pure a form of glucose as possible, water, and insulin to match.

Roughly, 45 grams carb per hour, 24 ounces water per hour, and a reduced insulin basal rate. I'm not sure how that translates for T2. But the idea is to take in almost exactly what you will burn. This is for intense exercise.

I trained this way all year with good success. I completed a century in Death Valley in just under 8 hours. I thought this was pretty good for a 50 yr old T1.

Joe

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