Hi,
I’ve been doing Keto for about 8 months with a few breaks in between, where I fell off the wagon (about a week at a time). Anyway, I’ve been in training for the uk 3 peaks challenge, essentially 3 mountains within 24hours. I’ve stayed on the keto diet throughout training, done two mountains in a day no problem. People are telling me I should carb up, anyone got any advice on what I should eat? Worried I will run out of steam halfway through. Currrently lost 61 pounds
Keto is great for endurance if you’re fat adapted, so I don’t know why anyone would suggest carbing up.
If you perform normally, there’s no need to change. If you start experiencing metabolic effects and performance decline, then you need to decide on carbs for that reason. It took around two years for that to happen to me. But, eating some carbs on the Weekends certainly won’t hurt you.
Is that a bicycling ride? You might want to listen to the podcast with @ianrobo and what he did after becoming fat adapted.
Episode 86 with cyclist, Ian Robathan
Ah, climbing not riding. Some of the same info might apply.
I think once fat adapted keto gives you an advantage over the carb burners. In my opinion carbing up can only hinder your performance. I am training for my 4th half marathon but 1st as a fat burner and can’t wait to see what happens race day. I run for fun but I still gotta look at the clock at the finish line. Good luck!
Because the strong conventional wisdom amongst athletes is carbs are critical for performance. There are a few fat adapted athletes, but they are few and far between.
Andy
You are fat adapted, trust that your body will feed you during your gruelling event. People are telling you to carb up because they don’t understand what fat adaption is and how it works.
First, fat adaptation is a long and gradual process. Low intensity exercise and exercise in the fasted state (overnight minimum) go a long way to speeding up the transformation. Still, even in the perfectly fat adapted athlete there are times when an extra boost of readily available glucose will be useful. I’m thinking specifically of a sprint or maybe heavy climbing situation. Adding an appropriate amount of carbs at the right time will aid glycolytic exertion in the “zone 5” of performance.
That’s not to say “carb load” as traditional performance training would do.