The Truth About Carb Loading: 5 Myths Busted!

Carbo loading tips for you

Is carbo loading effective? Is carb loading worth doing? Should you carbo load before a marathon?

Yes, to all of them! Carb loading is an invaluable tool for endurance athletes because of the impact it can have on performance. Through it, you have a chance to improve your performance somewhere in the realms of 2-3%. That might not sound like much, but that's the equivalent to 8 minutes over a 4 hour race.

So if you're wondering how long to carb load for, whether carb loading can help you run faster or any other carbo load guide questions, by the end of this video you should know the truth!

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00:00 Introduction
00:45 Myth #1 - Carb loading doesn't help performance
01:40 Myth #2 - You have to follow a low carb diet first
02:35 Myth #3 - You have to carb load for a full week
03:28 Myth #4 - Don't carb load for long distance
04:33 My carb load strategy for a 70.3 triathlon
05:19 Myth #5 - Any carb is fine
06:43 Using a carb loading plan

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The aim of this channel is provide free nutrition advice to triathletes and any other athlete who might find it useful. That won't change, but if you want to help me to create these free videos then I would really appreciate it :)

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Hi! I'm James. I'm a Sport and Exercise Nutritionist and I make videos on nutrition to give people simple, clear and easy to use information on a range of subjects. I focus on triathlon and how triathletes can use nutrition to help properly fuel their training and racing.

In my day job I work as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in General Practice, or Family Medicine for those of you not in the UK, and work in a busy NHS GP practice. I'm a Specialist Paramedic by background and have full independent medicine prescribing rights.

Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Family Medicine, BSc, PGCert
Registered Sport and Exercise Nutritionist (SENr)
MSc Sport and Exercise Nutrition
Nutrition Consultant for Hurry The Food Up
Great Britain Age Group Triathlete
Qualified L2 British Triathlon Coach

I am not affiliated or sponsored by any brands, companies or products that I mentioned or show in my videos. My aim is to make these videos free from any sort of bias!

These videos shouldn't be taken as direct, personal advice on medicine or nutrition but more for information purposes based on the latest research and evidence. Unless otherwise clearly stated, this information is more suited to adults as under 18s have different requirements and considerations. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have as an individual though!

Website:

[NutritionTriathlon]

The carb loading guide can be found here:


Let me know what you think!

[Persistence_run_]

Thanks man! Great video! Definitely doing carb loading for Chicago!

[RobE]

Thanks James. Your presentation style is great and really easy to listen to. I’ll be using some of your tips for my forthcoming HM.

[conradburdekin]

Thanks James. Used your plan for my second marathon and it was great (the plan. Not the race 😂). Gonna be using it again this weekend ready for the Yorkshire marathon on Sunday

[jeanines_channel]

I think I consume plenty of carbs, but I still need to fine tune my "loading" days.

[chloebenn]

Thanks great info & I'll be trying your plan this weekend fir my half marathon 🤞
Have recently been learning more about carbs for sport after following a lower carb diet (not strict, but more low gi & fats & protein based)
I realised I was eating a lot less (maybe half) of requirements on a daily basis for moderate training
So even getting to baseline has been a challenge!
Carb load on all those white carbs seems intimidating!

[allancox]

Just completed my first Standard Tri (Dorney) and followed your 36 hour carb load plan. With regular carb and electrolytes (bottle of each) on the bike I felt great for the run. I'm sure it would've been quite a different experience had I not carb loaded. Thanks for the great advice and I'm now seeing its possible to train for a half IM next year!

[SNOO]

Another great video James! What are your thoughts on creatine. Should we use it for training and come off a few days/weeks before race to reduce water weight? Or is this course dependent?

[Krilin]

Hey - random off topic question. I'm currently experimenting with lower GI fuels like MCT and isomaltulose to see if I can turn on my internal fat oxidation more for when I'm just training around LT1. My idea and goal is to get away with taking on less cals in training to shed some weight while not suffering the consequences of training on a calorie deficit as badly by enabling myself to better use my internal fat storages for energy. As an example I did a 30k 8x10min easy interval run session, fasted start and had 1L water / 30g mct / 50g isomaltulose / 1500mg sodium / 300mg caffeine (5h window) and had suffiencent energy throughout, altough I recon I would've felt fresher towards the end on a maxed fast carb protocol. I'm not currently doing any high intensity training and recovery seems normal - being able to maintain my normal volume at about 10-15h / week at a ~250-750cal deficit/day. What's your experience and thoughts on targeting fat oxidation during LT1 training to enable weight loss like this?

[xpowege]

Bro…try ketones. No crash. No loss of strength. Best fuel for the human body.