Low Carb (Paleo) Half Marathon Report

This is a great experiment. Thanks for sharing the results with us Ig. It
makes me feel more confident in the way I eat, hearing about your good
outcome. A lot of my friends that are against lo-carbing don't believe that
it's possible to run that far without eating high carb. Although an
experiment of 1 is not proof, at least I know for myself that it's not
harmful.
Tom
210/180/180

"Ignoramus12690" wrote in message
...
I ran a half marathon today, in Quad Cities. Some highlights:

- next to no carbs eaten yesterday and today (due to eating no vegs to
avoid
"runners trots" that I had on my previous extended run)
- No Gatorade
- No bonking
- Ran without stopping even for a second
- 2:08:50 running time
- Feeling very good afterwards

The weather was absolutely fabulous, fresh and sunny. The road was
mostly flat, with some long but very gentle hills and bridges. Lots of
music bands, kids, "Go daddy go" signs etc. One woman was running with
a child carriage designed for running, with a kid in it, in fact
running quite well despite that handicap! She also ran half
marathon. Everyone was in a great mood. A very enjoyable setting.

The purpose of my run was to perform an experiment and see how well I
could perform running a serious (for me) distance of 13.02 miles
without eating carbs. I tried to be conservative and basically jogged
through the run at 9+ minutes per mile (closer to 10 but below 10). I
do not think that I could run it substantially faster though, perhaps
I could gain 4 or so minutes, had I known better how to distribute my
efforts.

The result of this experiment is that LC did not make me "bonk". In
fact, I ran steadily throughout. Not terribly fast at 9+mpm, but, I
think, being a little better or close to the median running time is
not bad for the first timer with little relevant training. Since I ate
low carb for quite a while, it is my supposition that for the most
part, I ran using fat as fuel.

After the run, I measured by blood glucose. My blood sugar was 59
plasma calibrated, which is not terribly far from my normal level
these days (70). I was functioning fine at that level, went to a farm
supply store in that town and bought stuff. I felt fine and was in a
great mood. Then I drove home, picking up 13 90 lbs concrete patio
blocks at menards. The point of this is that I was not, by any means,
exhausted and still am not exhausted.

I replenished my energy reserves with cooked bacon (smoked pork
belly), and nuts. No carbs or fruits after the run, again, somewhat
for experimental purposes as my diet does actually allow fruits. I
just did not eat them lately due to wanting to take it slow to see if
the diet works in its conservative form, without fruits. Maybe, if by
the end of OCtober I do not start regaining, I will allow myself to eat
some fruits. Picked a bag's worth of free fruits and cookies for my
wife, but have not eaten any yet. Will probably eat some later today,
as the experiment is basically over.

What's most amazing is that my knees are basically fine and I could
easily run more today. Before, I would be all in pain, having hard
times going upstairs or the 3rd story of our house, whereas today it
was not the case.

My conclusions.

1. Saying that I cannot run an extended distance without carbs is
baloney. Even though I am not, by any means, a highly trained athlete.

2. I would like to, tentatively, train for next year's Chicago
Marathon and try to run under 4 hours. That's a major commitment of
time, as I realize -- a marathon is a whole different animal -- so
perhaps I will abandon that idea.

3. I definitely function better on a high fat diet. For a
non-athletic-freak, recreationally running dufus like me, LC helped me
to run the whole thing steadily. And my knees are also better.

4. Female runners are beautiful regardless of age.

5. While the max speed on LC, for a great athlete, may be not better
than with carbs, endurance for the more average person is pretty
unbeatable. I am still full of energy and have big landscaping plans
and generator repair plans for tonight. I ran for 2 hours many years
before, and was basically disabled for a few days due to knee pain,
and was wasted for that day. Now, I am okay -- feeling the effects, but
basically functioning well.

6. training runs on LC, if we accept that my glycogen stores are low,
are using fat as fuel from the beginning. Ie, I run for 30 minutes,
probably mostly using fat as fuel. (it is purely a speculation and I
want to read more articles about this). So, I am training my fat
oxidation energy system at every training run. A carb eater runs on
carbs first, and does not train the fat oxidation system. So, once he
runs out of carbs, he bonks since the fat oxidation system is not
trained. That's instead of continuing running, but more slowly.

Again, this is a pure wild assed speculation, but it makes some sense
to me. I will read up on it. The implication of this speculation is
that I could train for good performance on long runs, while running
shorter traiing runs, as long as I eat LC.

A very trained athlete eating carbs, would, of course, not bonk
either. But I am not one.

7. I had no "electrolyte" issues. I drank a tiny bit of water with
"lite salt" before the run, and drank water provided at the tables.
Thanks to all who suggested to take this issue lightly.

8. I recommend to low carbers to run and ignore suggestions that
running using fat as fuel is going to destroy them. (ask your doctor,
YMMV, etc)

I want to thank all rec.running participants who gave me their
suggestions.

What a great day!

i

"Tom" wrote in message
news:huT5d.526276$M95.488811@pd7tw1no...
This is a great experiment. Thanks for sharing the results with us Ig. It
makes me feel more confident in the way I eat, hearing about your good
outcome. A lot of my friends that are against lo-carbing don't believe
that
it's possible to run that far without eating high carb. Although an
experiment of 1 is not proof, at least I know for myself that it's not
harmful.
Tom
210/180/180


It may all be dumb luck, though. Please do not follow his horrible example.
As a past distance runner, I know the correct way to train and the incorrect
way. He did it all wrong. He could have been terribly injured, and may still
find some unfortunate after effects.

He only ran 6 miles a week (!!!!) and very, very slowly. He did not ease up
to longer mileage over an extended period of time, which is what one should
do. And now he says he'll run a marathon. That's like saying, 'well, I walk
10 miles a week on flat surfaces, I think I'll now climb Everest'.

Please go to www.runnersworld.com for more reliable, intelligent and factual
information.

Martha

On 2004-09-27, Ignoramus16074 wrote:

I am kind of at crossroads now, on the one hand, I am considering a
full marathon, on the other, it is a huge personal effort. Maybe I
will concentrate on achieving much better performance at half
marathons.

Any good marathon training program will include at least one half marathon
race. In other words, the two goals are compatible -- while you're preparing
for the marathon, use half marathon performances to measure your progress.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

On 2004-09-27, Ignoramus16074 wrote:

I am kind of at crossroads now, on the one hand, I am considering a
full marathon, on the other, it is a huge personal effort. Maybe I
will concentrate on achieving much better performance at half
marathons.

Any good marathon training program will include at least one half marathon
race. In other words, the two goals are compatible -- while you're preparing
for the marathon, use half marathon performances to measure your progress.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

It may all be dumb luck, though. Please do not follow his horrible
example.
As a past distance runner, I know the correct way to train and the
incorrect
way. He did it all wrong. He could have been terribly injured, and may
still
find some unfortunate after effects.

He did it all wrong? Ig stated he is not a highly trained athelete. He
did finnish the race though and then continued to work around the house
afterward. I realize that lo-carbing before a half-marathon is not the
conventional method, but neither is the diet style itself to a lot of
people. Ig mentioned he didn't bonk. Part of the experiment was to see if a
bonk would occur doing lo-carb. After a certain period of time, it is
thought that the body switches to fat instead of glucose. Highly trained
runners may make that transition more smoothly through years of training. If
your body is used to using fat for fuel already, smaller distances at a
slower pace should pose no problems. Lots of people run marathons on high
carb and is probably the best way to do it, but it was not the point of the
run.

He only ran 6 miles a week (!!!!) and very, very slowly. He did not ease
up
to longer mileage over an extended period of time, which is what one
should
do. And now he says he'll run a marathon. That's like saying, 'well, I
walk
10 miles a week on flat surfaces, I think I'll now climb Everest'.

This is an exagerated analogy, but I know what you mean. Some people
have no clue what they're getting themselves into. But I do think that if
you can walk 10 miles without problems, you should be able to walk 40 miles.
And if you can run for a half hour, 2 hours is quite a bit longer, but not
unattainable. A girl at work(not a lo-carber) ran the Canadian Death Race,
125km. Her knees were sore for 5 days and some of her toenails fell off. She
trained for a total of 5 months. She is not a marathoner. Only running 10km
at a time and 20km once while training. She does do a fair amount of sports
and rock climbs as well. Everyone told her she was crazy, me too. Shows you
though, what some people can accomplish when you tell them they can't do
something. She doesn't plan on doing it again.
Tom

Please go to www.runnersworld.com for more reliable, intelligent and
factual
information.

Martha

"Ignoramus16074" wrote in message
...
In article , Donovan Rebbechi
wrote:
On 2004-09-27, Ignoramus16074
wrote:

I am kind of at crossroads now, on the one hand, I am considering a
full marathon, on the other, it is a huge personal effort. Maybe I
will concentrate on achieving much better performance at half
marathons.

Any good marathon training program will include at least one half
marathon
race. In other words, the two goals are compatible -- while you're
preparing
for the marathon, use half marathon performances to measure your
progress.


Makes sense. Maybe I will train with the goal of running a better half
marathon, and when it becomes a piece of cake, I would perhaps be able
to run the full marathon.

i

Should a person on a low carb use the phrase "piece of cake"?

What a horrible example, a guy ran his first 1/2 marathon without
stopping...
i

I thought it was a good experiment and think you did very well. Who cares
if it was slower or not as far as the best in the world. Your still going to
whip 95% of the population anyway. This is a good example of a myth about
something that couldn't be done on lo-carb. It's not scientific evidence and
it wasn't meant to be. I'm glad you made it to the end without stopping and
not feeling any bad effects. I see the whole thing as a good learning
experience. Thanks for sharing.
Tom