Optimize Running Performance With a Protein-Carb Combo: Low Carb Diets May Contribute to Early Fatigue

Serious runners have specific diet needs that are different from those who participate in less-intensive workouts. Many runners are questioning their traditional high-carbohydrate diet in light of the recent low-carb and no-carb craze. Scientifically speaking, carbs and proteins both play a role in the life of a runner.

Despite the bashing carbohydrates have taken in the latest fad diets, evidence supporting the need for carbs for endurance athletes continues to build. Think about this. What country comes to mind when you think of the world’s best distance runners? Most likely, you picked Kenya. Although many factors may contribute to the success of Kenyan athletes, their diet plays a key role.

Researchers have studied the breakdown of Kenyan runners’ diets, which are generally lean, unprocessed and mainly vegetarian, with staple foods being corn and kidney beans.  They found that merely 13% of calories came from protein, 15% fat, and an astounding 71% of daily calories came from carbs. This would be a serious sin in the eyes of the Atkins crowd, but there are many reasons why this makes sense.

Endurance training increases the ability of muscles to store carbs for use during activity. The only way to take advantage of this is to have a high-carb diet. Numerous studies have shown that the more carbohydrates that are stored in an athlete’s muscles before competing, the better that athlete will perform.

That’s not to say runners should abolish protein from their diet completely. Endurance athletes need more protein than sedentary people do because of the need to replace muscle proteins that get broken down during workouts and races. However, they only need to add protein in proportion to the overall need for more calories in general. If you consume 15% protein on a 2,000-calorie diet, you should consume 15% on a 3,000-calorie diet, which results to a higher protein intake, but proportionally the same. A good rule of thumb for endurance athletes is for protein to account for 15% of calories consumed, 60% carbohydrates, and the remaining 25% fat.

Getting Scientific

In all the hype about evil carbs, one important fact continuously gets over looked: carbohydrates and proteins actually collaborate to boost endurance and performance during exercise as well as post-workout recovery. Cutting out carbs completely could hinder not only your performance, but ease of recovery as well.

Despite what we have been led to believe, neither carbs nor protein is bad, and they are both needed to achieve optimum performance. Recent research has shown that consuming a small amount of protein with carbohydrates during exercise, as with a carbohydrate-protein sports drink, results in a swifter delivery of carbohydrates to working muscles. This is an important process because a runner gets fatigued when the working muscles deplete their stored supply of carbohydrates. This is more effective than simply consuming carbohydrates because when you add protein, together they stimulate insulin, the main transporter of carbs to muscle cells. The faster carbs reach muscles during activity, the more fatigue is delayed.

According to one study, athletes who utilized a carbohydrate-protein sports drink sustained activity 24% longer than those who drank a standard carb-only sports drink, and 57% longer than water drinkers. During extended activity when carb fuel runs low, protein is utilized as an energy supply and is normally pulled from muscle tissue, which weakens the muscles, hindering performance and leaving the athlete with sore muscles post-workout.

Studies show this can be alleviated by consuming more protein to allow the protein in your muscles to be left alone. In turn, this boosts your performance as well as easing post-workout recovery if the right amount of protein is consumed. Exercise physiologists recommend 4 grams of carbohydrate for every one gram of protein. Over doing protein can lead to stomach cramps and nausea.

The protein-carb combo is just as important to consume after a run as it is before and during, and should be done as soon as possible. Because of heightened insulin receptivity after an intense workout, a body can synthesize glycogen and protein at more than double the normal rate and quickly replace what was burned. Using carbohydrate-protein drinks or water and solid foods, it is important to fully replenish fluid-loss and to consume between ten and twenty percent of daily carb and protein intake within two hours post-workout.

On average, runners are probably already consuming more than the recommended protein amounts, and less than the recommended carbohydrates. Try keeping track of your diet for a few days and analyze what you are really eating. Use a book or online source like the USDA’s Interactive Healthy Eating Index to get a true count so you can adjust as needed. You will most likely be surprised with the results.