Repost from newsgroups...

I ran a half marathon today, in Quad Cities. Some highlights:

  - next to no carbs eaten yesterday and today (due to eating no vegs to avoid
    "runners trots" that I had on my previous extended run)
  - No Gatorade
  - No bonking
  - Ran without stopping even for a second
  - 2:08:50 running time
  - Feeling very good afterwards

The weather was absolutely fabulous, fresh and sunny. The road was
mostly flat, with some long but very gentle hills and bridges. Lots of
music bands, kids, "Go daddy go" signs etc. One woman was running with
a child carriage designed for running, with a kid in it, in fact
running quite well despite that handicap! She also ran half
marathon. Everyone was in a great mood. A very enjoyable setting.

The purpose of my run was to perform an  experiment and see how well I
could  perform  running  a serious  (for me)  distance  of 13.02 miles
without eating carbs. I tried to  be conservative and basically jogged
through the run at 9+ minutes per mile (closer to  10 but below 10). I
do not think that I could run it  substantially faster though, perhaps
I could gain 4 or so minutes, had I  known better how to distribute my
efforts.

The result of this experiment is that LC did not make me "bonk". In
fact, I ran steadily throughout. Not terribly fast at 9+mpm, but, I
think, being a little better or close to the median running time is
not bad for the first timer with little relevant training. Since I ate
low carb for quite a while, it is my supposition that for the most
part, I ran using fat as fuel.

After the run, I measured by blood glucose. My blood sugar was 59
plasma calibrated, which is not terribly far from my normal level
these days (70). I was functioning fine at that level, went to a farm
supply store in that town and bought stuff. I felt fine and was in a
great mood. Then I drove home, picking up 13 90 lbs concrete patio
blocks at menards. The point of this is that I was not, by any means,
exhausted and still am not exhausted.

I replenished my energy reserves with cooked bacon (smoked pork
belly), and nuts. No carbs or fruits after the run, again, somewhat
for experimental purposes as my diet does actually allow fruits. I
just did not eat them lately due to wanting to take it slow to see if
the diet works in its conservative form, without fruits. Maybe, if by
the end of OCtober I do not start regaining, I will allow myself to eat
some fruits. Picked a bag's worth of free fruits and cookies for my
wife, but have not eaten any yet. Will probably eat some later today,
as the experiment is basically over.

What's most amazing is that my knees are basically fine and I could
easily run more today. Before, I would be all in pain, having hard
times going upstairs or the 3rd story of our house, whereas today it
was not the case.

My conclusions.

1. Saying that I cannot run an extended distance without carbs is
baloney. Even though I am not, by any means, a highly trained athlete.

2. I would like to, tentatively, train for next year's Chicago
Marathon and try to run under 4 hours. That's a major commitment of
time, as I realize -- a marathon is a whole different animal -- so
perhaps I will abandon that idea.

3. I definitely function better on a high fat diet. For a
non-athletic-freak, recreationally running dufus like me, LC helped me
to run the whole thing steadily. And my knees are also better.

4. Female runners are beautiful regardless of age.

5. While the max speed on LC, for a great athlete, may be not better
than with carbs, endurance for the more average person is pretty
unbeatable. I am still full of energy and have big landscaping plans
and generator repair plans for tonight. I ran for 2 hours many years
before, and was basically disabled for a few days due to knee pain,
and was wasted for that day. Now, I am okay -- feeling the effects, but
basically functioning well.

6. training runs on LC, if we accept that my glycogen stores are low,
are using fat as fuel from the beginning. Ie, I run for 30 minutes,
probably mostly using fat as fuel. (it is purely a speculation and I
want to read more articles about this). So, I am training my fat
oxidation energy system at every training run. A carb eater runs on
carbs first, and does not train the fat oxidation system. So, once he
runs out of carbs, he bonks since the fat oxidation system is not
trained. That's instead of continuing running, but more slowly.

Again, this is a pure wild assed speculation, but it makes some sense
to me.  I will read up on it. The implication of this speculation is
that I could train for good performance on long runs, while running
shorter traiing runs, as long as I eat LC.

A very trained athlete eating carbs, would, of course, not bonk
either. But I am not one.

7. I had no "electrolyte" issues. I drank a tiny bit of water with
"lite salt" before the run, and drank water provided at the tables.
Thanks to all who suggested to take this issue lightly.

8. I recommend to low carbers to run and ignore suggestions that
running using fat as fuel is going to destroy them. (ask your doctor,
YMMV, etc)

I want to thank all rec.running participants who gave me their
suggestions.

What a great day!

i


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