i’ve carbo-loaded before. a three-day focus on building up my carbohydrates stores in advance of marathons has worked well for me – and truth be told i like gobbling down all of those muffins, breads, pastas and sports drinks. it’s kind of a treat.
but this is a first.
i’m fat-loading.
after having read several articles about this recently highlighted approach to distance event competition preparation (some in favour – like here, here and here – and some not so much – like here and here), i decided to give it a go in advance of the waterloo marathon on apr. 26.
given that i’m a hack at everything i do, i thought that it would be best to consult somebody who is (a) experienced in fat-loading, (b) a high-level athlete and (c) well-studied in sport sciences. so without a second thought i reached out to my friend stan ong for advice.
gracious as ever, stan was quick to say that he was glad that i’d asked, and then probed just a bit to find out how to best craft a fat-loading plan that would meet my specific needs (including finding out what a typical meal would look like for me, my current weight and foods that i won’t/can’t eat). factoring in all of this info, stan came back with an outline of a daily menu that i could riff off of and use to map out the week’s grocery store trip.
if you’ve followed along with my blogventures then you know that i can’t leave well enough alone – i like to tinker. the beauty with this outline that stan’s provided is that it has some flex to it – he even makes concessions for the occasional ‘carb craving’, allowing for a piece of toast or fruit here and there. with that in mind, i was keen to launch into this new dimension of race readying.
i’m now a day and a half into it, and so far i’ve noticed a few things:
- stan provided advanced warning that fats don’t provide that ‘full up’ feeling like carbs do – and i admit to feeling noticeably hungrier after each meal yesterday and today.
- so far it looks like fats lead to less weight gain than carbs – maybe because carbs trigger greater water retention.
- it’s already painful to stare at the loaves of bread and bags of potatoes on my kitchen countertop.
but i will see this thing through – and trust that there will be a pay-off come race day in terms of efficiently metabolizing fat as fuel, and staving off the vaunted ‘wall’.
fat fingers crossed!
Intersting article. What next, Patrick? Do you still eat 65% carbs the last 3 days before the race and the ability to store fat is a B source once glycogen is gone? Or do you actually run the race on fat?