Carbo-loading for Fun Run

What is Carbo-loading?

If you research it in Google, Wikipedia will tell you that it is a strategy used by endurance athletes. Carbo actually means Carbohydrate food. This would be fruits, sweets, soft drinks, breads, pastas, beans, potato, bran, rice and cereal. Loading means you have to eat plenty of Carbohydrates because this is a source of energy in all living organisms. This means that Carbohydrate is our very own fuel for running or any physical activity.

When we run a full marathon which is 42.195 kilometers our body burn both glycogen and fat. Glycogen is the carbohydrates stored in our muscles. We first consume the glycogen since this is the most available energy that our body consumes. But latter on when we became fatigue in long run our body will use up all its stored glycogen in our muscle this means we have hit “the wall”. When this happens our body has to slow down as it converts fat into energy, another available energy use by our body. Fat is only use by our body as a backup, that is why we have to store more and more glycogen as possible.

How do we store more glycogen in our body?

Your body can’t fill your muscles with glycogen from just one meal. Event organizers in Cagayan de Oro usually have a carbo-loading session the night before the race but we have to be careful not to eat too much at one point in time. Carbo-loading should be done 3 to 2 days prior to a race as suggested by professional runner. Let the glycogen accumulate in your muscle for 3 to 2 days since you will be running fewer kilometers during training.

At the start of the race day expect that you will gain a few pounds on your weight. Usually you will gain about 4 pounds or even more.