Carb Loading

There are many misconceptions on what exactly carb loading is, and how it should be done to ensure your body has the most amount of fuel easily accessible in your body for performance on your big day. Whether its a race day or you’re playing a weekend tournament, your carbohydrate consumption leading up to the event will influence your performance.  

In this blog I’ll outline some general guidelines for proper and healthy carb loading, so that it doesn’t turn into an unfortunate ‘crap-loading’ instead! 

An athlete only needs to carb load for an intense athletic event that lasts longer than 90min on a consistent basis.  Assuming you’ve been maintaining a heathy diet to date, your body has adequate carbohydrate energy reserves for activities lasting up to 90min.  So for games or workouts that last only an hour you don’t need to alter your diet. Just keep your water bottle handy and you’ll be fine.  If you’re playing on a sports team (e.g. ultimate frisbee, flag football, hockey) where the games may last up to 2 hours, but you find that you’re only playing every other shift, then you don’t need to carb load in this situation either, as you’re really only moving for half that, e.g. 60min. 

However, if you you expect your race to take 2 hours or more to complete, or you’re playing a weekend sports tournament where you have 4 games/day, then carb loading would be an excellent strategic move to improve your performance. 

Before we begin, what exactly is carb loading? To be clear, carb loading is the super-saturation of your muscles with carbohydrates.  To do this you want to ingest 7-12g carbohydrate/kg body weight. For example, an athlete who weighs 55kg (120lbs) would want to ingest 385-660g carbohydrate in the 36 hours before the big event.  Any carb loading earlier than the 36 hours before the event will most likely be stored as excess weight, or fat, since you are most likely tapering before the big event (for more info on tapering see my blog on that topic - April 2014).  And as we all know, excess weight slows us down on race day, and just plain makes us fat. Which no one likes. 

Be smart about the carbs you choose to load up on, as not all carbs are created equally. 

Stay away from overly processed and chemically loaded carb dinners. If you’re not sure, read the ingredients listed on the package, if you can’t pronounce most of the ingredients its not fit to be eaten in my opinion, and most nutritionists and dietitians would also agree. 

Stick to whole grains and complex carbohydrates, such as breads, pastas, rice, cereals, potatoes, carrots (the root vegetables); beans, legumes, fruits; milk and yogurt are fine, but avoid excess cheese as it can constipate you and make you feel lethargic. 

Its recommended to avoid high fibre foods the day before the race, or it might get a little gassy and crampy during the big moment, and thats no fun for anybody there!  

Its fine to eat some lean protein and essential fatty acids during your carb load, as your body still needs these macronutrients for optimal performance. So go ahead and throw in that can of tuna in your pasta salad if you want to.  But try to avoid overly fatty meats and greasy foods in your pre-race carb load as it can often make you feel slower and lethargic afterwards.   Save the Hero burger for your post-race or after tourney protein reward.  At that point you’ve earned it. 

Now if for some reason you forgot to carb load, or did not have access to proper nutrition before your race/tournament, there are certain event day foods that can assist your performance. Easily digested carbs such as cereal, bananas, a bagel or toast with jam and peanut butter can quickly fill the glycogen void that morning or during a snack break.   There are also easily digestible energy drinks and gels that provide quick carb blasts during your event.  That being said, its not recommended to try any new foods or products on race day, in case your tummy disagrees with the product, and that could lead to a truly disastrous performance.  Give new products a test during a routine workout to be sure it works for you. 

One last item I wanted to discuss in relation to carb loading is the affect alcohol has your body’s ability to store energy.  We all know that running hungover can be a truly awful experience, but its affect on our body goes much deeper than that.  When you consume alcohol your liver has to work hard (or expend energy) to clear it from your body.  The energy that your liver uses to clear this alcohol is taken from the glycogen reserves that would otherwise be saved for your big race/game.  Basically, when you drink alcohol during your carb load you’re inhibiting the very glycogen storage that you’re eating in order to improve your performance.  You should realize that each drink will decrease your performance on race day.   Its best to avoid alcohol 36 hours before your race for optimal performance.  Why not save the bottle of champagne for a celebratory drink afterwards?  It’ll taste that much sweeter when you can bask in the memory of your fantastic performance. Trust me! 

It would be a shame to ruin all that season long training and prep work with some poor dietary choices just before the big day.   Eat smart and eat well to ensure you'll kick butt at your next tourney!