Many of us use a low carb diet to lose weight and it’s hard to lose the fear of carbs, even when exercising. Context is key.
Also, you previously wrote about carbs for recovery. Does the amount of exercise similarly scale to the amount of carbohydrate intake required to optimize recovery?
Yes, David, I would suppose so. If your output during a workout is greater, you would need a larger amount of carbs post workout. But the difference is probably less than I expect, and I think the key is just getting in something within a reasonable amount of time.
Probably the best article yet on this topic! Although, it presumes that the athlete is chasing an optimized time rather than an optimized experience. At $2 plus per gel imbibing on the regular can be expensive.
The periodization framing is the right correction, and the line that carbs are still king for endurance while not every session needs maximal intake is the nuance the internet flattens. The transporter detail is the fun part: pairing glucose with fructose recruits SGLT1 and GLUT5 separately, which is why dual source fuels absorb so much better than pounding straight glucose past the single transporter ceiling.
Where I think readers go wrong is exporting this into general health advice. The carb needs of someone going four hours at threshold are a different physiological universe from a sedentary person reading the same headline, and the metabolic flexibility that lets a fueled athlete stay glucose dominant is not the same flexibility a metabolically impaired person is missing. Same word, opposite context. How do you keep the fueling science from getting laundered into one more reason for the average person to eat more sugar?
(You are 100% right...it's the shoes!!) it would be nice, if both WERE interchangeable, fats and carbs, but like you mention, it is not the case. I agree with those targets that bring up in the article, but the gut needs to be adapted, during a high key session. But, like many things, this could also be considered in an spectrum. If you are running a 45min recovery session, I don't think you need 30gr of carbs during that time. Instead, focus on a good nutrition during the day for example. There are many ways to look at this and many great conclusions to be taken from this post. But, if you wanna experiment with 120gr of carbs, go ahead for sure!
Super useful article! Thank you!
Many of us use a low carb diet to lose weight and it’s hard to lose the fear of carbs, even when exercising. Context is key.
Also, you previously wrote about carbs for recovery. Does the amount of exercise similarly scale to the amount of carbohydrate intake required to optimize recovery?
Yes, David, I would suppose so. If your output during a workout is greater, you would need a larger amount of carbs post workout. But the difference is probably less than I expect, and I think the key is just getting in something within a reasonable amount of time.
Probably the best article yet on this topic! Although, it presumes that the athlete is chasing an optimized time rather than an optimized experience. At $2 plus per gel imbibing on the regular can be expensive.
The periodization framing is the right correction, and the line that carbs are still king for endurance while not every session needs maximal intake is the nuance the internet flattens. The transporter detail is the fun part: pairing glucose with fructose recruits SGLT1 and GLUT5 separately, which is why dual source fuels absorb so much better than pounding straight glucose past the single transporter ceiling.
Where I think readers go wrong is exporting this into general health advice. The carb needs of someone going four hours at threshold are a different physiological universe from a sedentary person reading the same headline, and the metabolic flexibility that lets a fueled athlete stay glucose dominant is not the same flexibility a metabolically impaired person is missing. Same word, opposite context. How do you keep the fueling science from getting laundered into one more reason for the average person to eat more sugar?
(You are 100% right...it's the shoes!!) it would be nice, if both WERE interchangeable, fats and carbs, but like you mention, it is not the case. I agree with those targets that bring up in the article, but the gut needs to be adapted, during a high key session. But, like many things, this could also be considered in an spectrum. If you are running a 45min recovery session, I don't think you need 30gr of carbs during that time. Instead, focus on a good nutrition during the day for example. There are many ways to look at this and many great conclusions to be taken from this post. But, if you wanna experiment with 120gr of carbs, go ahead for sure!