What Zach Bitter eats when running 100 miles | Lex Fridman Podcast Clips

Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: • Zach Bitter: Ultramara...
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GUEST BIO:
Zach Bitter is a ultramarathon runner and coach.
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[@josephcarter9761]

I've been training my gut to accept high levels of carbohydrates and fat for decades, maybe I should become a ultra runner?

[@ShanghaiBJJ]

Well played Sir.

[@MrStruggle0]

I know this is a joke but if you gradually built up to it you probably could

[@akhalif68]

Pasta & Pizza is my Favorite...👍👍👍

[@nathank6468]

Or go the Courtney Dauwalter route and crush quesadillas like a boss

[@ryananderson6321]

Hahah I love it 😂😎

[@iHeartEyeLadies]

Female vs male biology lol if it works for her it might work for you though right

[@elvay6847]

And blow up due to GI issues like Courtney did in two of the most prestigious ultras in the US :-)

[@FredMinville]

Good information here, getting ready for 100 K ultra in October….sweet thanks

[@chancebrock289]

Bro 9 miles in an hour is fucking insane I can barely get 6 in a hour

[@TheChessNeck]

for real lol. for me doing 6 miles in an hour is very hard. I think I could do it but it would be rough

[@peterpage9017]

Really good advert for Sfuel

[@rhaegar2138]

I will follow this diet except the running part.

[@richardmiddleton7770]

I think going into it completely fasted (overnight) is the way to go. That way you are already tapped into your fat stores. You muscle glycogen stores should be good for 4+ hours at lower intensities if you've trained for it. However, it takes a while to switch to burning blood glucose from what you've ingested so you can't leave it till your glycogen is nearly gone. It also hurts more once the glucose kicks in due to increased lactate!

[@ChrisSilverman]

I tried low carb exercising for a season and had bonk after bonk.

[@michaelmccrossan7655]

How many grams carbs the night before would he consume?

[@lit2050]

Im doing Ironman training, for short sessions high fat can definitely work, but for long runs up to 2.5 hours and bike rides up to 90 miles at Ironman intensity pace I felt like shit. Bonked hard, felt nauseous and it took me forever to recover

[@brandonjayjuna]

Chipotle Quesadillas or Moes Quesadillas

[@imonlyheretoarguewithidiots]

I'm probably not the only one sitting and eating Whataburger like a fat slob while watching this right?

[@lukep757]

You mean we were lied to about carb loading? lol.

[@thecruellestmonth]

Not really. There's two different approaches here. He says even as a fat adapted athlete, he's still getting 10-20% of his energy from carbs so he needs to keep his muscle glycogen topped up. So he has some the day before and consumes a little during. A non-fat adapted athlete might be getting 50-60% of their energy from carbs, which would require more loading. The fat Vs carb debate for ultra endurance athletes is complicated because A) You're always going to use both B) You burn SO MANY calories

[@rmccluskey91]

It can be beneficial for shorter and higher intensity types of exercise or sport.

[@MrStruggle0]

Tbh just eating a balanced and healthy diet is all you need

[@Twobarpsi]

@@MrStruggle0 agreed

[@mauiswift6391]

@@MrStruggle0 difficult to do Or everybody would do it otherwise.

[@joanstone6740]

milk duds and slim Jim's elite level enery...

[@TheGjstroud]

Its all about advertising 🙄

[@calebjaymes9710]

Lite kfc bucket

[@blaXkgh0st]

😄

[@Steph_FX]

Eet net Alles wat jy kan

[@13soef]

Is gewoon nederlands

[@jeduthunoosthuis5794]

Vegan Free Steak

[@Twobarpsi]

I see what you did there 😃

[@cliftonjr]

📊

[@pnickerson]

Old young man

[@Level6]

잘먹고 다녀라

[@Joshua.2303]

I don’t think there’s good evidence you can cue your body to metabolize fats by just not eating carbs that morning. Entering ketosis often takes days if not a week or two.

[@aleksar6755]

You can train it like everything else

[@strothermartin3369]

I was thinking the same as you, this could be psychosomatic pseudo-science. At the very least, more research is needed, it's probably not as definitive as this gentleman makes it.

[@rmccluskey91]

He may not go into his normal diet in this clip but this guy follows a pretty strict keto diet year round. He's certainly not going carb free the morning of a 100 mile race to try and jump into ketosis. In fact he probably eats far, far more carbs during these 100 mile races than he normally would cumulatively over the course of multiple days. That is what he is explaining in terms of replenishing his glucose every hour or so as it depletes to maximize performance. At the pace he's running and for that long, even being fat adapted it's beneficial for performance to get some carbohydrates. Lex brought up fiber and stomach issues but I would guess this guy is eating some form of liquid carbohydrates. A tablespoon of honey has about 15 g of sugar, zero fiber, and can easily be consumed.

[@strothermartin3369]

@@rmccluskey91 You sound super knowledgeable about this topic, I'm going to speculate that you are in excellent physical condition ... Naive question, do some people cut out ALL carbs permanently...Is this realistic... Is it recommended in some cases...

[@orbifold4387]

Metabolising fats and entering ketosis are different things though. You only ger into ketosis when you cannot longer metaolize fats directly.

[@sfbp1098]

please, You made me laugh ! I am on the Réunion island and every year we ve got one of the most difficult marathon in the world. it took 22 hours for the winner and almost 6 days for the last one. and guess what, runners eat their traditional food, nothing to do your scientific meals. but so much fun, joy, laughts...

[@princeleon7846]

Sounds like you forgot he’s a world record holder!

[@oJTCx]

He ran 100 miles at a 7 minute per mile pace, whatever he’s doing is working.

[@christopherabundis965]

lex is so bored he's just drawing squares whole interview

[@taylorg8509]

Hard to tell with lex sometimes lol

[@TheChessNeck]

I'm sure he's more interested than it seems. I know he runs quite a bit so having someone so well known in the running world has to be cool for him to learn from.

[@chucknorris3522]

Lex, "slimey globalist," Friedman