Low Carb for Runners?

The results were spectacular. After five months, he lost 15kg, was at his lowest weight in 30 years and was running faster than he had in 20 years. -Tim Noakes discussing his new low carb diet.

Carbohydrates have always been a staple food for runners, but According to Noakes, he's all but eliminated the following from his diet (from Runners World New Zealand):

Sugar
Bread
Rice
Pasta
Potatoes
Porridge
Breakfast cereals
Some high energy fruits like bananas
Cakes and sweets and other desserts
Artificial sweetners and products containing these products

Noakes is careful to explain that he believes a low carb approach helps him control a condition called carbohydrate resistance (CR- his body does not metabolize carbohydrates properly leading to higher body fat) so may not apply to everyone.

Remember, this is an observation by one individual, not a research study.  Food for thought though.

Intensity of Exercise Increases Body Temperature- Not Dehydration!

You shouldn’t relate overheating to dehydration. You overheat when you run too fast. That’s the key. You don’t overheat because you become dehydrated. The brain’s too clever. If you’re not going to drink, the brain will slow you down, and that will lower your body temperature, not raise it. So, we’ve got some great studies where we look at people running half marathons, marathons, short ultramarathons, and long ultramarathons. The longer the race, the lower the temperature, because they are running slower - Tim Noakes in Outside Online.

MY COMMENT:  Noakes is stirring up a hornets nest.  I didn't realize 4 of the 6 researchers who published the ACSM Guidelines on Dehydration had ties to Gatorade.  According to Noakes,  "Of the six authors, four – Drs. Maughan, Burke, Eichner and Stachenfeld – have direct and longstanding involvement with Gatorade and the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI), but only three (Drs Maughan, Eichner and Stachenfeld) deemed it necessary to disclose in the Position Stand the existence of that relationship. The two remaining authors – Drs. Sawka and Montain – are employed by the United States Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine (USARIEM)"  -sweatscience

Waterlogged! Everything You Think You Know About Dehydration But Don't!

"If fluid loss leads to thirst, why do some of the best competitors finish endurance races in quite advanced states of fluid loss? Time and again, studies, even those by researchers expecting different outcomes, have shown that the runners who are the most dehydrated, as measured by percentage of body weight loss, run the fastest. " - Waterlogged excerpt in Running Times MY COMMENT: Tim Noakes is generally recognized as the leading authority on dehydration and endurance performance. I can't wait to read this new book!

Drink According to Thirst During a Marathon

The three groups, by time, and their weight loss:

Those who finished under three hours averaged a 3.1% body weight loss.
Those who finished between three and four hours lost 2.5%.
Those who took more than four hours to finish lost 1.8%.-Weight Loss During Marathon Improves Running Time

MY COMMENT: Ok, this is exactly the opposite of you would expect, but Tim Noakes, an expert on hydration and heat related problems, has been on the trail of optimal hydration during marathon and ultra events for several years and knows his data.

What I'm wondering about is what the runners weighed just prior to the start of this marathon compared to their normal weight (I assume when you are optimally hydrated and carb. loaded you are a 2-3 pounds heavy, which makes this finding even more amazing! I'd also like to know the average body weight of runners in each group- my guess is the faster runners were lighter, yet they lost the highest percentage of total weight. (note: I'm too cheap to pay for access to the orginal article published in the British J of Sports Med)

Noakes is clear on this: "Drinking either more or less than to thirst impairs exercise performance".

The 15 Laws of Training

according to Tim Noakes MD, a South African and author of the thickest book on running you'll ever see - The Lore of Running



1. Train frequently, all year-round*

2. Start gradually and train gently*

3. Train first for distance, only later for speed*

4. Don't set your daily training schedule in stone*

5. Alternate hard and easy training

6. At first, try to achieve as much as possible on a minimum of training

7. Don't race when in training or run at race pace for distances above 16 km*

8. Specialize*

9. Incorporate base training and peaking (sharpening)

10. Don't overtrain*

11. Train with a coach

12. Train the mind*

13. Rest before a big race*

14. Keep a detailed logbook

15. Understand the holism of training

source: coachr.org

MY COMMENT: Lots of valuable information in the article. I like his take on the Science of Sharpening

so runners' bodies tell them when they are sharpening correctly.

◙ During the speed-training sessions, the body no longer needs to be forced through the session. Rather the body "surges forward at its own will" and "thirsts to accelerate."

◙ In the hour following training, the runner feels supreme vigor, quite unlike the normal post-exercise feelings of mild fatigue.

◙ Everyday physical activities, such as climbing stairs, become easier.

◙ The runner becomes increasingly sensitive to everyday situations and is mildly irritable as the body is "prepared for action and is ready for the fight."

◙ As the body becomes flooded with previously latent energy, a heightened sexual awareness is often evident.

Vary Your Key Workouts

"Within four weeks [the body] has probably made all the adaptations it's going to do. I never understand why people train every day the same way and expect to improve. Within a few weeks, or certainly a month or two, you're going to hit a plateau, and the only way you can break out is to change your training in some way." (runningtimes.com)

-Tim Noakes

MY COMMENT: Food for thought. I am probably guilty of spending too much time doing the same workouts.