The Keto Running Thread

[TartanPaint]

To avoid opening this particular can of worms on The Running Thread, here's a new one.

Does anyone have any experiences to share about running without carbs?

Having been eating very low carb for a long time (I love it!) 'm just starting running, and finding I can easily run out of strength and energy, a problem which I can see a number of ways around, none of them ideal.

[Scabutz]

I tried it a few years ago. Things I liked about keto was I felt full, all that cheese, yum! The weight came off quickly. However, I really struggled with training. 30 mins in and bam would hit a wall and couldn't shift. At the time when I read about it it seemed that I hadn't allowed enough time to fully adapt but as I was training for an event I didn't want to risk it.

I now use a lower carb diet and use most of my carbs around training and that seems to give me a good balance of being able to lose weight easily and still complete my training

[AndrewEH1]

Yeah, unless you want to bonk every time you train you're probably going to have to introduce some carbs into the diet.

60g of carbs per hour of exercise is recommended so eating that a short time before training should help avoid bonking.

[TartanPaint]

I know, in theory, that I can supposedly run in zone 2 forever while in deep ketosis and never run out of energy. The two problems I see are:

1) I'm not in deep ketosis. Realistically, I'm floating in and out of ketosis on a very low carb, but not completely zero carb, diet. I eat keto foods, but lots of them, so I'm still eating too many carbs to be always in ketosis. Apart from exercise, this works very well for me. I don't get keto flu, I can have a glass of wine now and again, I feel great. But, it means I'm not really tapped into those endless fat reserves and I'm not able to efficiently burn fat at a rate which can sustain zone 2 exercise.

2) There's no such thing as zone 2 for me anyway. I'm a total beginner, and very unfit, so I have two exercise modes: zone 1 walking/recovering, and zone 4 lungs-on-fire 2-steps-per-breath mode. I don't know if this is because I'm struggling for fuel, of because I'm in terrible shape.

So, I can either go deep down the ketosis rabbit hole, which I can do, and have done, but I don't enjoy the restriction.

Or, I can very reluctantly have a sugary carby evil banana around an 1 hour before I go for a run. I think this is probably my best option.

[C0ffin D0dger]

Having lost 2 stone through running and eating a normal diet I know what I'd rather do

[TartanPaint]

Good for you. I have no desire to return to a "normal" diet. Low carb is my way of life now.

[LordGrover]

I don't speak from personal experience as I'm not a serious runner, but Stephen Phinney has written about it: The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance.