Originally posted by: TecHNooB
What about carb loading during training? i've been keepin carbs pretty low as of late. Around 100-130 g. Haven't had a day where I ate more than 120 g yet. I'd love to chow down on some speghetti once a week tho
I'm sort of in a mini-cutting phase and I thought combining that with this run would be a no-brainer. I tend to drop carbs during this period. Should I set aside one day per week to load up?
Carb loading is really something you do to build up extra energy stores before an event to ensure that you do not run out of energy during the event. You don't really need to be doing pure carb loading during training.
That said, you need carbs in your diet (especially if you're doing lots of running). They are the most effective way of replenshing you muscles' glycogen (fuel) stores after training. IIRC, the guideline is around 70% energy from carbs, 15% from protein and 15% from fat. This works out to 76g carbs, 17g protein and 7g fat for every 100g of food.
In the end, the normal guidelines apply for weight loss: take in less energy over the week than you burn. If you want that pasta, you need to compensate by training a bit harder or by eating a bit less on the other six days.
Originally posted by: TecHNooB
Hm.. I planned on taking wednesdays and sundays off. I will reduce my days off to 1 after next week once my body gets used to the runs (need more repair time ). For tempo runs, when you say 90 percent speed, do you mean 90 percent compared to your normal run? I take it you are supposed to run faster in a tempo run. Not exactly sure what you mean by 80-90. Great info though, thanks~
Taking two rest days a week is not necessarily a bad thing - it depends on what your training sessions look like. Another tip is to base your running sessions on time, rather than distance. Your body's response to training is determined by the length of time you spend at the given intensity. For example:
Running 60min up a hill vs. 60min on the flat at the same HR will have the same effect on your overall fitness even though the first will be a shorter distance than the second. There will be different effects on what muscle fibres are used, but that is perhaps a topic for another day.
As you get fitter, you will start to lengthen your training sessions. As a consequence of this, and your improved fitness, you distances will automatically increase.
An example of this in practice is this cycling program (numbers in bracket indicate Week 1 sessions):
Week 7
Mon: Off (same)
Tue: 3x15min intervals at 95-105% FTHR (2x20min) - 90min with warmup and cooldown
Wed: Tempo ride 90min 85-95% (same)
Thurs: Tempo ride 90min 85-95% (same)
Fri: Off (same)
Sat: 4hr race pace ride at 90% (3hr 80-85%)
Sun: 3hr endurance ride 75-80% (2hr 75%)
As you can see, total time has increased from 9:30 to 11:30 and the time at higher intensities has also increased. There are also 2 rest days each week. The training actually goes in phases with length and intensity building over 3 weeks, followed by fourth rest week that has four rest days.
The intensities are a percentage of Functional Threshold Heart Rate. FTHR can be described as your average HR over a 60 minute time trial while you're being chased by a mad hillbilly driving a pickup and wielding a shotgun.
Since this is hard to measure (due to the need to first find and then piss off a hillbilly), it is usually taken as your average HR over a 20min flatout time trial.
I presume a similar idea would apply to running intensities.
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