Carb Load of Bull: Paleo Running (part 1)

Today I tried something new.  I ran my half marathon on an empty stomach.  After my mostly paleo, wheat free week, all I had this morning before the race was a small cup of coffee and a pint of kombucha.  The result:  the easiest half marathon I've run yet, and a personal record (1:43), plus the knowledge that I could have gone a little faster and quite a bit farther with this plan.  What's the key?  Getting out of the carb/glucose/insulin cycle and getting into a mild state of ketosis, harnessing all the energy I needed for distance running.

If you've done any amount of running, I'm sure you've heard of the phrase 'carb loading' before.  You know... the pre-race ritual of eating as much starchy, white, pasty, calorie rich, nutrient poor crap as you can in the hopes of packing away enough energy to survive your race tomorrow.  Instead of carb loading, it should be called 'bull loading' or better yet, 'bull ony'... bologna.  If you're still carb loading before distance races, you're being duped into a slower than you could be, harder than it needs to, more painful method of running.  I'm going to use this time to persuade you to try a more natural alternative.  Here's why:

1. You're not getting as much out of carb loading as you think:  Your body cannot and will not keep glucose in your bloodstream long.  Why?  Because it's too damaging.  Chronic high blood glucose levels damage blood vessels and nerves.  Therefore your body will go to great lengths to get glucose out of your blood stream fast.  Some of that glucose will be stored in your muscles, which you will be able to use for race day, but much of it is transformed by your liver into triglycerides (fat) and transported to fat stores in your body.
2. Your muscle stores of glucose are finite... there is only so much to go around, and once it's gone you've put yourself in bad situation.  If you don't replace the glucose, your body will try to create it through a process called gluconeogenesis, where your body creates glucose to burn out of other molecules like body fat or muscle protein.  Now, obviously body fat would be nice, but here's the problem.  The night before you ate enough carbohydrates to feed a small army, so your fat cells are busy storing fat from all the extra calories you ate (your body is uber efficient... if you consume too many calories, it's going to bank them for later and the deposit box is your waistline and hips).  With all that depositing happening, there's no time for withdrawal.  That means, your muscle is the next target for creating glucose... not ideal while your running.
3. But, if you went down the carb loading path, you've probably planned for this.  You've got some fast absorbing glucose to get fuel to your muscles quickly.  Blood glucose levels up... uptake to the muscles... more energy.  Well, at least for a few minutes, until you use all that glucose and have to do it all over again.  Burn all the glucose, resupply with more calories, absorb, burn all the glucose.  An endless cycle of physiologically living paycheck to paycheck.

But what if I told you there was a better way? A more natural way.  More efficient.  Easier.  What if I told you all the energy you needed was already in your body?  You just need to learn how to tap into it.  How to harness it.  Seemingly endless supplies of energy without the highs and lows of the carb/glucose/insulin cycle.  The key is creating a mild state of ketosis in your body.  How do you do that?  Watch for part two of this article soon.