Carb Loading before the Baltimore Marathon

The first thing to know about carb loading is when to use it! It’s not for every athlete and won’t be beneficial in every sport. After doing some research complements of power bar and Nancy Clark I learned carb loading is most beneficial for endurance athletes such as runners and swimmers during a competitive event lasting more than 90 minutes.

With that said a marathon definitely passes for the excuse to carb load! Bring it on Baltimore J  It’s recommended to consume 3.6-5.0 g/ kg of your body weight in carbohydrates for example I’m 113 lbs so a on carb loading day that means a minimum of 406 grams of carbohydrates a day!  The idea is to tapper meaning minimize the intense workouts and begin carb-loading a week to 3 days before a big event.  This because studies have shown that endurance improves when the muscle is jam packed with glycogen stores. The scientific term for this scenario is “glycogen super compensation”. During carb loading you may end up adding for lbs of weight t yourself so its important to determine whether carrying that weight will help or hinder your performance! No worries though it’s mainly due to the water that’s stored along with the glycogen with your muscles and won’t last long.

My reality with school and work and life I have definitely completed the tapering component of carb loading and have been consciously consuming higher carb foods such as bagels for breakfast and pasta for dinner but haven’t spent much time calculating my carbohydrates to ensure I’m consuming 400 grams per day.  I will have ever do so today! Here’s my meal plan, I’m aiming for 400 grams knowing that I’ll most likely under report some!

My meal plan:

Breakfast:

2 slices of toast: 62 g

1 Tbsp peanutbutter : 4g

½ banana: 16g

1 orange :18 g

1 low fat yogut: 10g

Lunch:

2 slices of toast : 62 g

2 egg whites : 1 g

½ cup steam vegetables : 18 g

1 orange :18g

Dinner

1 bowl Pasta 4oz: 82 g

¼ cup marinara sauce 6 g

Snack

1 serving pretzels: 20 g

16 oz gaterade: 32 g

1 luna bar : 26 g

Total = 399

Power bar carb loading