Long Run Nutrition - How To Fuel And Not Feel Exhausted

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Learn to carb load like a pro and level up your running 👉www.nutritiontriathlon.com/carb-loading-plan-run?(run)&

[@marccarlton2163]

This is fascinating @NutritionTriathlon and I am grateful for your insights. It is a complicated subject though. I am prone to blood sugar spikes and crashes if I eat white bread, cakes, potatoes etc and I used to find this quite disruptive. I found that by going for a low sugar lower carb diet I felt much better and on an even keel. I emphasise lower carb, definitely not keto. But I have to balance this with proper fuelling before longer runs and races. I'm still working on it...

[@DominoGersak]

This video is goldmine. Before watching this, I struggled a lot, not just when excercising, but also in my daily routine at warm days. Before, I had a lot of headaches and couldn't even do my easy runs and everyone told me that it's because I don't drink enough water. So I started to drink more and more (plain water) and guess what: it only got worse. Once I tried and added just a tiny bit of sodium, I feel much much better, hydrated and when I drink it before my run, I face much less from cardiac drift than before, even with less water intake in total. For carbs, I always believed that when I add carbs, I need it only when going for very though sessions so I either took them for these or none at all. But never on easy, long runs. Now, lower intensity with carbs fueling, I can definetely say that I can sustain longer than before. I am still nowhere close to my full potential yet and I need to learn it, but the difference is massive.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Hey, thank you for this comment. So pleased to hear this because it sounds like things have really improved for you. Super glad I could help you, and good work on putting so much effort into your nutrition!

[@simstander5471]

This has been the best video on nutrition

[@NutritionTriathlon]

So cool to hear that! Thanks for the kind words 😀

[@Tony-ew8vx]

I come to know my nutrition during my long run, say 1-2 hrs, because it feels eternal to me. But then I hear 4 to 6 hrs or even above! How the heck can people run for sooo long! But anyway a very detailed video, I listen till the end simply to understand the science behind. Your explanation is clear and structured! Thank you very much!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it! And yes, some people run for a very long time 😅

[@lizethzabala7476]

Wow I'm amazed by the quality of content in this channel. I found it and have watched 3 videos already and subscribed!!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

😊 Thank you, really glad to have you here!

[@ijaz8888]

Great content supported by scientific facts and figures - Keep up the good work 👍

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thank you! My pleasure :)

[@HenryKlosok]

Thanks, a game changer. I am really athletic but never took feeling importantly during exercise and really pushed myself. I always feel bad after sport with awful brain fog and confusion, I have starred to take carbs and it’s helping and sodium 😎

[@NutritionTriathlon]

That's fantastic! Really pleased for you 😃

[@cgarrett1974]

Fantastic content, thank you!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thank you! :)

[@pedallinraw]

Same as fuelling long cycling rides….high carb low fat 🙂👍🏻

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Yep, pretty much!

[@RC-qf3mp]

Scientifically proven that low carb high fat yields much much higher fat oxidation and is bonk-proof.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

@@RC-qf3mp Sure it leads to higher oxidation, but in broad terms it also leads to worsened performance 😉

[@RC-qf3mp]

@@NutritionTriathlon higher fat oxidation leads to improved performance for endurance athletes. Proven by Phinney and Volek. Their work on fat oxidation is ground breaking and requires all the textbooks be updated and rewritten. The ceiling of fat oxidation for high carb is totally different from the ceiling of keto adapted endurance athletes. Huge difference. Astounding. Eye popping. If you get somebody on a keto diet for two weeks, no, it won’t improve their performance. 8 weeks? Maybe. 12 weeks, probably 6 months almost certainly. A year? Definitely.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Except... It's not. Most recently, Noakes and colleagues demonstrated that fat oxidation could support exercise up to around 85% of vo2 max, which by their admission was the highest ever seen in research. But that's still 85% of vo2max and because of basic physiology it will never support exercise the way carbohydrate can. And again, so what if fat oxidation becomes better? Because of efficiency, even with significant improvement in fat metabolism it cannot match carbohydrate in efficiency, and as such it will never be better for performance in a broad overview. And your argument about timeframes is kind of laughable. First of all it was 1 week for ketogenic improvements. Then it was 1 month. When this was matched in research, the low carb proponents moved the goalposts again. So then it was 6 months. Then a year? How far do you want to move them until it fits your agenda? In the meantime, you follow a diet which has clear increased links to cardiovascular disease based on current evidence, comes with other health risks associated with low carb intake (see RED-S and low carb links) and is incredibly hard to support high volumes of training. For what it's worth, I'm NOT discounting the fact that fat metabolism IS important for everyone, for health and sport. But not via low carb approaches and instead a balanced, healthy diet and regular endurance exercise

[@chrismelikian]

Thank you, that was clean, informative and palatable! Subscribed!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thank you, really appreciate that!

[@Persistence_run_444]

Another good video brother!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thank you! 🙂

[@soniad9326]

Thank you 😊

[@NutritionTriathlon]

My pleasure!

[@joshgraham1662]

Has anyone experienced reactive hypoglycaemia throughout the day following early morning workouts (also in a calorie deficit for weight loss) I don't have the problem when on a caloric excess but have tried so many different pre training fuelling strategies to no success. Any tips is appreciated

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Sorry to hear this! What's your recovery nutrition like? Adequate carbs after your morning sessions? Including some complex, slow digesting carbs? If you're still struggling then it would be worth chatting with your family physician or a dietitian to try to improve it

[@pedallinraw]

Have you tried high carb low fat though? what have you tried and what are you eating? vegan/plantbased ?

[@darshenjason3164]

can these be applied to cycling as well? thanks :)

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Yep! 🙂 I am going to do a dedicated video on this though so do subscribe and make sure notifications are on! 🙂

[@darshenjason3164]

@@NutritionTriathlon Thanks! :D

[@RobGotlieb]

Super helpful and informative. Nice one. Thanks!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

My pleasure, thank you too!

[@joemoya9743]

Nicely done. Best video - yet.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thanks Joe, appreciate that!

[@uknownuknownn8507]

Do a how to fuel for hyrox 😅

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Hah I'll consider this for the future! It's slightly outside my norm but let's see ;)

[@nickc5682]

dropping knowledge bombs!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thank you! 😊

[@eldinbechar]

this is gold

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thank you! 🙂

[@mikedtran]

Thank you so much!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

You're welcome 😃

[@oliviagreen8853]

Great video!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thank you! 🙂

[@Gilo_147]

My god I needed this video! Subscribed 👍

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Awesome, glad to have you along! Thank you 🙂

[@rasher331]

Whenever I do a run over 12 miles my fingers start swelling and I cant make a fist with my hands anymore. Would this be in relation to lack of electrolytes?

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Possibly, if you're drinking a lot of water without any sodium. If you don't drink fluid with sodium then it's worth checking but I would also speak to your family physician to run it past them

[@samadhistrength]

If you fuel properly you'll go far longer and burn way more calories, far more than you could reasonably take in in carbs while training. You will utilize fat even with carbs in your system. You will also achieve better body composition if you're strength training and not binging after training.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Correct! This is why it's so important to fuel up well

[@brianmaschewski8782]

Dam i get it know ty sir.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

You're welcome!

[@SandyWhisker]

I’m registered with a nutrition professional. I’m in ketosis and fully fat adapted. My performance and overall mental and physical health is better than when I ate carbs. My long run yesterday was fuelled by fat, no carbs whatsoever. You are being too categorical and promoting a prescription for Type 2 diabetes with respect to all these ultra processed sugars.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Glad to hear you're feeling good on it. Some people can, especially if it's well managed. But it's not the recommended diet for the majority of the population; sorry. What I'm promoting is NOT a prescription for type 2 diabetes, that's complete rubbish. If carbohydrate intake is managed appropriately with exercise there is no issue.

[@christophergiles7657]

Great video. 👍 Shame about some idiots who have commented on this.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thank you, appreciate it! I'll just try my best to continue educating and take it as a positive that they're so interested!

[@samadhistrength]

Gels are totally overpriced. Buy Gatorade powder and use less water than normal. 40-50g of carbs worth, 20 mins before you begin running. Carry a shaker bottle with an additional 40-50g of carbs worth, take it halfway through your long run. Works because it's fluid, glucose and electrolytes. If you don't use too much water your body will learn to absorb it better, long run performance will get much much better. If you're also lifting weights throughout the week, take 40g of whey protein 30 mins before you run.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

I'd agree that you don't have to use gels. You could even use normal table sugar and salt, which is far cheaper than anything. But you need to be fuelling before halfway through a long run because it's too late. And you won't get better at absorbing your nutrition without water. If you need fluid for hydration then you should drink - it will actually help you to absorb your nutrition, not the other way around. Also, I would not recommend routinely consuming 40g of protein before running. That's a recipe for stomach upset and not required. I'm a bit advocate for getting enough protein but that's unnecessary!

[@dyingpentas]

When running out of carbs, does your body start burn protein aka muscles to get energy?

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Hey, great question. It might a little bit, but it's not the primary energy source. As your body runs out of carbs it increases its fat metabolism instead. Protein is a poor energy source and your body prefers to use this for other functions such as building and repairing muscle tissue, and heavily involved in all your hormone signalling.

[@aliasgharkhoyee9501]

​@@NutritionTriathlon Fat metabolism sounds like a great thing, as fat stores are nearly unlimited and unlike carbs it's a stable energy source - the sugar spikes and crashes are minimised. So would it be best to try to maximise it by adapting our bodies to it over time?

[@NutritionTriathlon]

@@aliasgharkhoyee9501 Hey, good question. It's awesome in theory, but the reality doesn't hold up. As I mentioned in the video, the best way to increase your fat metabolism is to train consistently over time. Current evidence suggests that a carbohydrate rich diet is the healthiest to support an active individual and also contributes to better performance. Because of the basics of energy metabolism, there is never any scenario where fat metabolism is going to be more efficient than carbohydrate metabolism, simply because of the amount of oxygen required to liberate energy from fat. This is the reason why you'll usually see worsened performance on low carb diets, despite increased fat oxidation rates.

[@aliasgharkhoyee9501]

@NutritionTriathlon I realise fat burning won't get athletes the highest performance (maybe apart from endurance) but for the rest of us who are looking for improvements in health and fitness (rather than records), would you say it's a good way to do so? By getting adapted to increased fat burning over time, for example by fasted running, the health benefits seem to be immense.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

I'd put this back to you here and say what do you mean by "The health benefits seem immense"? Because there's a huge amount of evidence to show a diet like the Mediterranean diet is probably the healthiest, which includes a balanced amount of carbohydrates (not low carb). So using carbohydrate in training simply supplements what's required from exercise. Another point is that the biggest fat burning improvement you can get is by training consistently over time. Fasted training on the whole does not show significant health benefits and conversely can be incredibly risky for a lot of athletes. In short, no, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone unless they had a specific, clinical/medical reason

[@jsmith1754]

Barrier to fueling long runs... 💸 for food! Cost of food in uk is a sick joke!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

I hear ya! Not easy is it?

[@zerorayne4782]

11:25 8-10g of carb per day? I think you meant to say PER KG per day. Important correction that needs to be made.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Hey, thank you for highlighting this! You're absolutely right, unfortunately this managed to slip through. In my carb load videos and the free carb load guide it's per kg per day!

[@harrywood702]

Trouble is the gels, sports drinks/bars are ultra-processed food and terrible for your long term health.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Any evidence to support this in a sports context?

[@harrywood702]

@NutritionTriathlon Read Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken. This is a fully referenced book to all the studies done at the time of publishing. Particularly the important Carlos Monteiro and Kevin Hall research. Dr Sarah Berry's research on nutritional intake from mastication is worth reading as it shows how pointless the UK's food traffic light system is.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

I'd say the same thing: any evidence to support this in a sport specific context? Current guidelines for endurance sports and governing bodies is to consume carbohydrates in similar quantities that I've suggested. Sometimes, there's no good way around that unless you consume easy to absorb carbohydrates like gels. And I'm not aware of anything to say that it's detrimental to use these in sport specific scenarios!

[@harrywood702]

@NutritionTriathlon sweeteners are a problem because they still spike your insulin, but your body doesn't receive the sugar it expects, so sweetness are worse for you. Natural flavourings added to food cause a mismatch between the taste receptors in your mouth and the nutrition your body receives, which causes your body to react inappropriately. Emulsifiers, preservatives, and modified starches damage your gut microbiome and cause inflammation. These are just a few examples in a sports context because they're added to sports supplements. It's consuming these products long term and the spikes in your body that it produces that causes problems. This is all fully cited by unbiased peer review studies in Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

This is the exact problem. You're saying it like it's black and white-its not. Not all artificial sweeteners cause a rise in insulin, and in those where it does, this rise has not been proven to cause issues in the long term. The food additives you've mentioned have also not been categorically shown to cause problems with the gut microbiome or cause inflammation. I appreciate what you're saying and I'm all for being cautious and eating as much fresh food as you can. But we need to be careful not to demonise food groups when there is not enough data to be clear on the long-term outcomes, especially at the expense of potentially harming your health through omission. By that I mean that fuelling appropriately during exercise with "processed foods" is still the greater good until proven otherwise

[@zachbrown5279]

30g within an hour..... good luck with the double effect of insulin and exercise hypoglycaemia

[@NutritionTriathlon]

I mean this is just fearmongering. Your body is very capable of taking in way more carbohydrate during exercise than this. And rebound glycaemia does not occur with everyone, when it does is usually only at the start of exercise and is also not noticed by the majority of people.

[@scratchandwinner]

Is this A.I. ?

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Haha what makes you think that?! No 🙂

[@jedreston]

@@NutritionTriathlonbecause you have a relaxing, somewhat monotonous but not boring way of delivering your message. Hhaha… This is a compliment by the way.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

😂 thank you!

[@richardmiddleton7770]

You're going to feel exhausted doing longer and longer runs regardless of what you eat. Practice feeling exhausted, it trains the body (and mind!) to be more efficient and self reliant. Practice increased fuelling when you're NOT 'training', i.e. racing!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Of course you'll be tired, but why make it harder than it should be and risk poor performance in training, which is actually then going to negatively affect your racing? And suggesting practicing in racing and not training is a very poor approach to nutrition - you're so much more likely to run into problems during your race if you take that approach!

[@joemoya9743]

That is like saying you will at some point crash on a bike... so, practice crashing.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Love the analogy Joe!

[@pedallinraw]

This guy sounds a danger to himself 🤷🏼‍♂️needs to carb up….🤗

[@MrElectricSkittles]

Just straight up bad advice mate 😂.. have you ever done long distance before?

[@gooner1248]

Good video but jesus you’re long-winded. This video could be done in half the time maybe 1/4th😂

[@NutritionTriathlon]

😂 Sorry not sorry! I feel like I've got to make sure I get all the necessary info in 😉

[@RC-qf3mp]

Why not just follow Phinney and Volek’s research that shows, when keto adapted , fat oxidation gets maximized and the ketones prevent the brain from bonking? No, you don’t need to hire a professional to be successful endurance athlete on keto. Perhaps your carb loading scheme should seek guidance from a dentist to see what all that sugar does to teeth. And look into the inflammation caused by sugar. And look into the GI problems of marathoners having to poop during a race. What did Phinney and Volek get wrong?

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Hey, thanks for stopping by! This is a big topic and it's hard to distil it into a few key points, but I'll try: - Regardless of how fat adapted you are, fat is always less efficient than carbohydrate and carbohydrate [glucose] is the preferred energy source of your brain - Peak performance is fuelled by carbohydrate, shown multiple times in multiple studies. The best current evidence we have shows a clear worsening of performance for the majority of people when following a ketogenic diet compared to carbohydrate rich diet (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32497061/ - Sugar as a broad term does not cause inflammation, this is misinformation. Especially when used in an exercise capacity, sugar/carbohydrate is simply used by the body for energy - GI issues can happen regardless of diet, and fat is much harder to break down and digest = higher risk of GI issues. When a nutrition strategy is followed properly, you can minimise this risk. The world record marathon holders are carb fuelled as seemed to do ok...! - Long term safety data of low carb high fat diets is lacking. Typically these diets are high in saturated fat which is positively correlated with increased cardiovascular disease risk. However, balanced diets like the Mediterranean Diet show clear benefit in various health markers. In short, there is no good evidence to show that as a broad approach a ketogenic diet should be encouraged above a carbohydrate rich diet. Sorry!

[@RC-qf3mp]

@@NutritionTriathlon Fat isn’t an energy source for the brain - ketones, produced by fat burning, are. Ketones are extraordinary for the brain as shown in brain scans of people with Alzheimer’s (comparing ketones to glucose in the brain). Ketogenic diets were invented for epilepsy - why? B/c ketones are great for the brain. And reduce inflammation. The very process of using glucose for energy creates reactive oxygen species - inflammation. Ketosis as primary source of fuel is anti-inflammatory - and one of the main reasons, again, why ketogenic diets are great for Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, autism, Parkinson’s, ADHD, etc. See Dr. Ede and Dr. Palmer at Harvard for their extraordinary research on this. Palmer cured the son of the tech billionaire of his extreme bipolar depression and has now gotten a ton more funding to continue this work. So maybe look at the research. but the research on epilepsy goes back about 100 years. And the kids who went on a keto diet to stop their seizures kept that diet throughout their lives. Scientists looked at their brains in old age and couldn’t believe how ‘young’ the old brains looked. A better way to think of it is that a ‘normal’ brain has had a lifetime of inflammation and junk from carbs. Too many elite athletes (among the very small pool of athletes who even try keto) do keto. It works. You know the names. Sugar absolutely causes inflammation in excess…and a ‘normal’ diet has sugar in excess. The body needs glucose, but the liver can produce it. I’ve done multi day fasts and I always had glucose in my body, despite going on hikes fasted. How can I have glucose in my blood if I’m consuming NO FOOD, let alone no sugar or carbs? The liver. This has all been studied in depth. GI issues can happen on any diet, tha’ts true, because people need to adapt. But the ultra processed high sugar junk in a high carb athlete diet (most of them at least) is junk food. GI issues should have a Whole Foods anti inflammatory diet. On keto, you only poop once every 3 days or so - why? B/c the food you eat isn’t wasteful food. Poop is waste. There’s not much waste in a steak or eggs or fish. Your body uses it up, which saves the bowels a lot of trouble. Countless people had GI issues cured with carnivore. I’m not saying people can’t do well on carb-fueled diets…there’s a huge bias in that 99% of athletes are following the bad ‘conventional’ wisdom that you were perpetuating. The real question is how well would THOSE athletes had performed if they had a higher fat oxidation rate? Long-term safety data of low carb high fat is plentiful - look at the Inuit. NO heart disease. Everything we know about the heart, now, is that cholesterol was overrated, and inflammation was underrated. Pretty much all chronic disease leads to chronic inflammation. The most anti-inflammatory diet is a clean keto diet, and among those, a fish-heavy keto diet (sardines, salmon, cod liver). 1+2=3. Less inflammation, the better. This kind of keto is the most anti-inflammatory. You get all the nutrients , esp Omega 3 (the good omega 3 found in real fish, not supplements, not chia seed, not flax seed - that’s the weak ALA omega 3). That diet is basically a Mediterranean keto. I have multiple doctorates and have done the research and seen the results. There’s no comparison. We eat lots of carbs in the standard American diet b/c it’s cheap, low quality, gov’t subsidized garbage by huge industries that are known to have bribed officials and scientists for the past 75 years or so. No race is worth destroying your teeth, gut and body eating garbage. Oh yeah, sugar is really bad for the microbiome. That’s another topic. Look into it…sugar feeds all the bad stuff.

[@RC-qf3mp]

The article you cite used ‘elite’ walkers who only did keto for 25 days! That’s nothing. Phinney and Volek’s research would’ve predicted these results. Furthermore, most people have way more body fat than ultra walkers, so the benefits they’d experience would be far more dramatic. But the main thing I’d care about is overall health, longevity and the brain (for which keto is hands down the best - not just for general health, but for treating serious mental diseases)

[@tengrisherpa4517]

Everybody is different, i recomend try a glucosemonitor on a long excercise and fule with smal amount of carbs when you start to get hypoglycemic. Dont need carb if its not 4h ride. And sugar couse inflamation 100%.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Wow my friend, that is a lot of waffle you've just put out. You are clearly cherry picking and are not realising the importance of nuance, and also trying to just put as much of the classic scaremongering stuff in that you can. There are also so many factually incorrect parts of your comments but unfortunately I really don't have the time to debate via KZbin comments on this. Suffice to say to anyone reading, please do not take what this person has suggested as actually accurate. I'll copy and paste this to your other comments too because I just cannot reply to these at length but it's important for my viewers to see this: I appreciate your point of view and clear interest in low carb/ketogenic approaches. While it's definitely a fascinating area and deserves more research, there is absolutely NOT enough evidence to say it is either 1) Healthier than something like the Mediterranean Diet with adequate carbohydrates 2) That it is better for performance than a diet supply adequate carbohydrates. Honestly, at this point in time it's not even close and unless someone has a specific, medical reason, I would not recommend perusing a low carb or ketogenic diet. Instead, focus on APPROPRIATE carbohydrate intake to match training volume - which is what I teach in my videos. I'm happy to do a deep dive into this in the future because it's an important topic,

[@robbristle5642]

That’s not true. If you’re FAT ADAPTED you don’t need to eat ANY breakfast. Or very little eg; slice of bread,half or 1 banana.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

See my replies to other comments. The whole "fat adapted" thing is hugely overrated and is the cause of significant problems for many runners. Use current evidence - which suggests to fuel your training properly with adequate carbohydrates