Training fasted or fed?

[Alecmcq]

Ok guys
Question most of us have probably wrestled with: do you prefer training when fasted or fed, and why?

My preference is fasted: I just feel better, lighter, calmer, faster. What about you?

[charlie3]

I get home from work at 7:15 pm, prepare food, work out, eat, go to bed immediately. Some times I get up an hour early, 4:00 am, work out, go to work and first meal is lunch. Hard to work out on a full stomach. I think “nutrient timing” is only important to gyms who make money selling protein shakes. Regardless I have few options, one way or another I’m going to get my exercise.

[KevinB]

Fasted, especially for intense exercise. I often have gastric issues otherwise.

[Ordka]

I usually eat something small before I go for a longer run. Maybe fasted would be better and my habits are just a carryover from my pre-keto days.

[Anniegirl9]

Definately fasted. Before Keto, my preferred pre-run meal was Special K Red Berries with unsweetened Vanilla Almond milk. It was the carbs I needed to fuel the run but not too heavy.

I mistakenly though I needed to fuel before running after starting Keto. Big mistake. I nearly lost my fatty snack 5 minutes into the run. Now I ONLY run fasted.

And I’ve read from distance runners who ran marathons and even ultras either completely fasted or just bringing along a small baggies of nut butter or something similar.

I’m loving Keto, but fat in the tummy and running don’t mix.

[Anniegirl9]

Question: how do you find this topic page? It’s not listed when I try to start a new thread and even using the search doesn’t get it to come up.

There’s Exercise - Bicycle, Exercise-swimming and several others, but I can’t find the running page to use.

[Alecmcq]

Strange. It’s there for me. Not sure. Have you tried exiting the software and coming back in?

[Anniegirl9]

Bingo. Thank you.

[GME]

Fasted unless I am going 8ish+ miles. For longer runs I’ll make a smoothie with Ucan, frozen berries (helps with the chalky taste) and macademia or almond milk. I don’t feel much different during the run, but the Ucan keeps me from being starving the rest of the day.

[Alecmcq]

I am interested in Ucan, what are the ingredients and macros?
Cheers
A

[amc2007]

I’d also like to know more about Ucan. I am new to keto and have yet to do a fasted run. I have a half marathon this weekend and I can’t decide what to do. I think I’m too new to let my body go without fuel for 2 hours. Running is not easy for me, so it’s a strenuous exercise with or without food!

[Alecmcq]

Amanda
STRONG recommendation; run your HM as a carb runner not a keto one. Ie do make sure you have plenty of carbs on board. Forget keto in your build up, make sure you are carb loaded.

Why? Because if you only just started keto, it is very unlikely you are fat adapted yet. Meaning it will be tough for you to use fat as fuel, and if you don’t have fully glycogen loaded muscles, I think you may struggle. So my suggestion is get carb loaded, burn off your carbs during your HM, then go back to keto after the race.

Then train in the keto state, see how it feels, get fat adopted, then do another HM in 3-4 months time, and I bet you will beat your carb loaded time. . That’s my forecast anyway.

Good on you for doing a HM, and remember to enjoy it!
Cheers
A

[amc2007]

Thank you! I didn’t fully understand what i was getting into and should have waited until after my half to start keto, but I’m in and I want to stay in! I will take my usual carb snacks that now seem so silly and just do that for the race. Should I carb fuel afterwards too or start keto as soon as I’m done running?

[Alecmcq]

Amanda
I think after a HM (and any long race) it is important to listen to your body carefully and do what it is telling you to do. If you are craving carbs and sweet things after the race, have some. If not, don’t.

But do refuel on something, and listen to your body for a day or 2 after the race ie if you are hungry for something, whatever it is, eat it! Your body sends you these signals for a reason, and it is wanting something in that food. What that something exactly is may not be immediately obvious. So trust it, and just eat!

Then, when things have settled down after a day or 2, go back to keto and KCKO!

I have raced in both carb and keto states. Keto is better, but only when fat adapted. When I am keto, I just don’t run out of fuel!

[Shortstuff]

I admire people who can train fasted but really for me, I just can’t. Best for me to not eat for a couple of hours before training, but actually fasted for 16+ hours and I really struggle. Once I tried training legs on day three of an EF and almost passed out.

[Vampire]

I train fasted in the mornings, but I’m also training MAF the majority of the time now so that makes fasted running super easy.

[GME]

I use the unflavored variety, so it is just corn starch that has been processed in some super-magical way to make it absorbed verrrrrrrryyyyyy slowly. It was originally invented for kids with glycogen storage disease who were forced to eat every 2-3 hours (even through the night) or their blood sugar would drop too low and put them in a coma. Someone thought to sell it to runners.

They have flavors, some with added electrolytes, bars (that I don’t much care for), but oddly enough, no gels. The is a whole corner of the internet devoted to talking about Ucan gels, asking the company to make them, discussing how great they would be, and instructions on how to make them yourself.

[Anniegirl9]

22g carbs per serving?

That’s more than my whole day. At this point in Keto, that feels like carb loading to me.
If I won’t touch a banana before a run now at 26g carbs average, I don’t think I’d do this.

[GME]

In theory, the carbs fall into one of those magical categories like fiber and sugar alcohols.

I haven’t tested my bs or ketones or anything (just because I don’t), but I don’t get any ‘carb feelings’ with it. The biggest difference it makes for me is I don’t feel like eating everything that isn’t nailed down in the hours following a long run.

[Anniegirl9]

But it says 0 dietary fiber. I’m confused.