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Originally Posted by climbergrl
Hey,
To answer your question, yes there are long distance runners here who follow lowcarb plans.
I've done Atkins for over a year, and I have been a runner for about 15 years. I favor the longer distances, race 10K's nad half marathons regularly and just did my first marathon in June.
Carbs are really overrated among runners. Many runners eat only carbs, sacrificing protein and not eating enough fat! When I ate the typical low-fat, high carb way my performance and energy levels were not so great. After adjusting to the lower carb lifestyle, I am much stronger and fitter and a better runner. I eat very healthy, non processed foods with high nutrient values. My msucles are like rocks! Dietary fat is a great fuel, andt he amount of protein involved in a lower carb lifestyle is muscle sparing.
It is going to be hard at first to adjust to the lower carbs. If you are going to do a lower carb plan I would suggest not doing any of the induction phases which most palns start out with. If you are going to do Atkins or South Beach, you would probably want to start in their pre-maintenance phase.
I eat very low in carbs, getting my only carbs from veggies (okay, and from dark chocolate as well, but hey, why run if you can't eat any chocolate). At first I was totally ZAPPED in energy, but I eventually adjusted to the lower carbs. In my marathon training, I found I HAD to eat some carbs before my long (15+miles) runs and I would take GU during the run.
Hope that helps some!
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Congrats on the marathon!
Believe me, I know that some runners have a carb-fetish. I've read some interesting stuff, to say the least, on runner's MBs!
Most seem to go along with idea of an increased protein intake being important - muscle recovery after quality runs (long, speed, hills, etc.). I confess that my intake of protein from actual meat is not too high, but I do try to go with a lot of other protein souces to make up for it. The fat content of my diet is about where it should be - not low, but not high either. I do know that fat is important for long-distance energy, so I've never gone with the low-fat idea. I've just always gone along with "everything in moderation", including carbs, but now want to decrease that a bit. I'm pretty good about keeping added sugar out of my diet, but the natural stuff, well, I don't know that I would want to (fruits).
Yah, my boss and her husband have done Atkins for a few months now (It has done wonders for them!), but she did say that I probably would not want to do the induction. And quite frankly, even though I've always had incredible willpower (except for when those bloody hormones go out of wack), I don't know that I'd be able to do it - it sounds so hard! She suggested South Beach to me, as did my doctor. I'm going to look into that, but I'll have to set aside some $$ to get the book, I guess (I'm always on a budget, it seems! LOL).
Oh, and I'm with you on the chocolate, except for I prefer the more healthy version as a special treat now and then - milk chocolate!
Besides, chocolate
is a vegetable - it comes from the cocoa bean and beans are vegetables. Please don't tell me I'm stretching it a bit!
Marcia
"The miracle isn't that I finished...the miracle is that I had the courage to start" - John "the Penguin" Bingham