A few days into Keto, running a half marathon in 13 days. Need tips!

(George Medrano) #1

Hi guys! I’m 5’8 190 lbs male pescatarian who’s new to Keto! Running a marathon in 13 days and only had very little training. I started a 10 week training regimen for this 1/2 marathon but after week 3, I lacked sleep because our new born baby all of a sudden became nocturnal. Stopped training after week 3. Now it’s 2 weeks before the marathon and I decided to do Keto yesterday. I decided to still run/walk it. My 4 mile pace in week 3 was 13:45 so I’m just hoping I could maintain that for 13.1 miles. Any tips as to what to eat before the race? Of course carbo loading is not the Keto way. Any tips would be appreciated!

(Carl Keller) #2

Hi George. I think a lot depends on how long you have been doing keto. It’s likely you will struggle to find proper energy if you are not fat adapted and that could take 6-8 weeks.

You can find a lot of good info in our running sub forum which is where I moved your thread to.

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/c/exercise/running

This is my favorite thread to reference when people ask about running long distance:

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #3

You are likely to struggle because your body does not have an efficient fuel source while transitioning to Keto.

Either stick to Keto and know that you won’t have the best performance or go backwards and eat carbs to find your energy through the race.

I’d pick the first one :slight_smile:

(Bunny) #4

6 month keto adaption (27 weeks) vs. an endurance athlete just starting ketogenic diet e.g. 3 months in (in your case 2 weeks in) vs. the need for carbs when it comes to speed, endurance and strength?

From what I’ve seen people are breaking their own speed and endurance record on keto! (you never know if they are cheating with carbs though?)

From the strength, speed and endurance angle it seems like what would take 2 men to complete a task only takes 1 man with much greater speed, endurance and strength; all of the big three’s double on low carb compared to high carb after 6 months or 27 weeks of doing long-term keto!

Endurance Athletes and Ketosis: Dr. Berg discusses the debate on what should be eaten during exercising. Go no carbs? Do high carbs? High fats? Somewhere in between? Dr. Berg strips away a very common false datum and gives some insight in this subject.

Note: all the research links Dr. Berg mentions posted underneath this video were dead and I cannot track them down without the titles…

Related:

[1] The Secret Weapons of Endurance Athletes

[2] Low Carb Training:

THE ISSUE

In the running community, the concept of exercising when the body is low in available carbohydrate (i.e., glycogen/glucose) has been promoted as a means to encourage adaptations that favor the use of fats for fuel. In theory, the development of fat utilization pathways will ultimately lead to a sparing of the limited glycogen stores for energy and reduce the need to eat as many extra calories. While some recent research has shown that exercising when carbohydrate availability is low, following approach ‘b’, does enhance fat utilization, there is no evidence yet that this leads to longterm improvements in endurance. But, this field of research is young and there remains much hope that periodizing carbohydrate consumption during exercise training can lead to improved endurance performance.

With that goal in mind, there are two methods of training low * with respect to carbohydrate (i.e., glycogen/glucose) stores. An athlete may either train a) first thing in the morning without eating breakfast or b) after depleting stores through a prior workout. In the later case, an athlete would perform a high intensity workout, then not eat carbohydrate until after a second workout; the two workouts would be performed approximately 10-12 hours apart (e.g., early morning/late evening or late evening/early morning).

It’s important to appreciate that these two methods are very different with respect to their bioenergetics. Let’s evaluate each in turn.

a) Running first thing in the morning, after an overnight fast and without breakfast, is a hepatic (liver) challenge because only the liver becomes depleted (or very low) in glycogen stores over night. In this case, active skeletal muscle will rely on it’s own stores for the glucose it needs during the morning run (which it prefers anyway); it will run out of it’s own stored glycogen a little sooner than if the liver was supplying it with additional glucose. But, the muscle is energetically fine. The stress in this scenario is placed on the liver, which does not have the reserves to respond to the energetic needs of the body.

b) Engaging in a high intensity workout (or a long run) to deplete muscle of glycogen, followed by a null-carbohydrate diet for 10-12 hours, will put greater stress on muscle energy metabolism. Working muscle will have to rely much more on blood glucose (supplied by the liver) and on it’s own fat reserves. During the interim, between the depleting bout and the subsequent workout, the liver will secrete glucose to maintain blood glucose levels. When you start the second workout, both muscle and liver will be low in glycogen reserves, you’ll feel fatigued and weak (at least, not strong), and muscle will be forced to rely much more on fat for fueling your run.

A CAUTION

From this evaluation, it may seem that depleting muscle glycogen through prior exercise (approach ‘b’) is the way to go if you want to really stress muscle fat utilization and promote subsequent adaptations. But, be careful and considerate of the fact that the first workout places a substantial stress on muscles. It’s a depleting workout after all. Your immune system infiltrates skeletal muscle for repair and adaptation. By depleting carbohydrate and not replacing it, these repair and adaption systems are unable to function properly. The second bout of exercise, where the goal is to stress fat utilization, comes with the added consideration that the muscle is already functionally compromised. So, the second bout should be of low intensity and carbohydrate feeding should begin immediately upon completion of the bout. Moreover, this should not be performed very often or symptoms of overstress/underrecover will ensue…probably no more than once every 10-14 days for most runners. …More

[3] ”…In endurance athletes, ‘foot strike’ damage to red blood cells in the feet due to running on hard surfaces with poor quality shoes leads to iron loss. …” …More

(Scott) #5

I came home from a run one Friday morning and saw a half marathon in the paper and thought “I can do that”. I did it, my first race too.

Now the back story. I had been running 30+ miles a week with one 10 mile run each week. That was before keto. After starting keto it took me three months to adapt and feel good on my runs. Due to weather and life I am struggling to get my miles in. I want to do my fourth HM and my first full.

Now back to you. You don’t have your miles in and haven’t been keto long enough to adapt. I would eat something like a half bagel with cream cheese or peanut butter the morning of and carry some gummy bears to pop every couple of miles. Restart keto the day after the race. Plan on doing some walking and have fun.

#6

I would definitely echo the above. You’re not trained or adapted to run/race a half as you are. But absolutely go out there, run/walk it enjoy the scenery and restart keto the day after. One of the things with keto is definitely forward planning. Don’t cram too much training into this last 2 weeks and injure yourself. Take it steady and enjoy. It’s possible to do. I’ve just done a fasted 20 mile run. You’ll get there.

(Kay) #7

Credit to you to even consider this run with a nocturnal newborn in the house! Obviously poor sleep is tough to deal with along with the adapting to keto, be kind to yourself even walking this distance is amazing in my opinion :star:

(Scott) #8

I remember driving to the start of my first HM and they were setting out cones to block a lane of traffic. I started getting nervous because I live close to the center of town and I was driving to the next town. Man, I thought, this is a really long way. I felt so good when I finished.

(Ron ) #9

Very impressed for you even thinking about doing a HM with little sleep and just starting Keto! Been on Keto for 7 weeks and only now just starting to get back to some reasonable shorter run times. Having done quite a few HMs, and knowing how Keto affects running in the early stages, I agree with the comments above. Do your HM, and then start your Keto journey.
All the best!