April from Run the Great Wide Somewhere, Erika from MCM Mama Runs, and Patty from No-Guilt Life. This week's topic is Distance Training and Maintaining Weight.
I have been pretty lucky is that the more I run, the less I weigh. I do not seem to gain weight when distance training but I do think I know my secret: Intervals! Yup, back to the great Galloway intervals again. Why do I think this? I run a 5k every Tues and Thurs before work and when I do intervals, I don't notice a difference in my hunger level. When I run a 5k straight (I have only done this a handful of time because my time is faster with intervals), I am STARVING!!! Like I can't stop eating. I don't like that feeling.
What is the exception to the rule? When I am carb loading of course! I have slowly starting to carb load for the LA Marathon this week (I can't believe I am FIVE days away from running my 2nd LAM, 3rd marathon overall and my 2nd marathon in bit over 2 months) and I already feel like I am bloating and retaining weight. This is definitely a good thing as that means my body is retaining water and it should all come off after the marathon. Right now, I am just adding a carb (whether it is rice, more fruit or a snack of tortilla chips, or a snack with added sugar like the fantastic butterscotch Dannon yogurt I had last night) to every meal until Friday and Saturday where I am aim for 350 grams of carbs a day.
I have found that carbloading works for me and I follow this basic outline: 1 day for a 5k, 2 days for a 10k, 2-3 days for a half and 3-4 days for a full. In conjunction with that, I also have adapted my fuel strategy to taking shot bloks or clif shots every 2 miles instead of every 3.
When I am not carbloading, I am trying to stick to low carb eating by just getting my carb sources from natural sugars, fruit, vegetables and avoiding grains and potatoes. By alternating, I am doing a modified version of what Chris and Heidi Powell call carb cycling and what Mark from Mark's Daily Apple refer to as training low and racing high. It seems to work for me.
I am still trying to figure out the kinks of carbloading and how to best fuel my runs but also maintain my weight. I am always down to try new things as well.
How do you usually carb load? How do you maintain your weight while training for long distances?