Anyone ever try the University of Western Australia carbo-loading method?

Injury/Nutrition Nutrition

16 years ago 04/18/2008 9:48am EDT

The gist of it is that you eat normally up until 24 hours pre-race, at which point you do a workout of 2:30 at one mile race pace, followed immediately by a 30 second sprint, followed within a few minutes by embarking on the consumption of a large amount of carbs over the course of the day. Some details contained here and elsewhere:

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0974.htm

Doing that workout the day before a marathon seems risky, but does anyone have any actual experience with this? I think the studies were measuring glycogen storage, but not necessarily actual race performance, which is probably of more interest here.

16 years ago 04/18/2008 10:10am EDT

re: smell my watch

i did it and two of my friends have done it, all before recent marathons. i think we all agree it works in that we never hit the wall or bonked or felt out of energy. it's kind of gross having to eat that much food, but if you make it liquid carbs it's not as bad.

one friend who did it set a 30 minute PR and ran sub-3, the other friend beat his goal by 8 minutes in his first marathon, and i ran sub-3 in my first marathon. i had practiced it before a 20-miler a few weeks before and there were no-ill effects so i felt more confident before the marathon.

email me if you want more info.

16 years ago 04/18/2008 11:18am EDT

re: smell my watch

Hmmm....that's pretty interesting. Seems like something that would be worth testing out.

16 years ago 04/18/2008 11:30am EDT

re: smell my watch

I am going to try it before an upcoming 10 miler.

I see little risk in the workout. I really like to do some short, fast efforts the day before a race anyway. I think it is more risky to eat that amount of food when you are not used to doing it. Some studies like Bussau's that used a one day protocol with 10 g/kg CHO intake, use liquid CHO sources.

1 year ago 11/03/2022 1:55pm EDT

re: smell my watch

Wow, late to the game ... I've used this prior to every marathon and ultra race that I've ever done, starting in 2008. I swear by it. The benefits, in my opinion, are hyrdrating well prior to a race, not feeling stale or stuffed for days, and it's a great workout to reinforce leg turnover

1 year ago 11/03/2022 2:01pm EDT

re: some of you know me

some of you know me wrote:
i did it and two of my friends have done it, all before recent marathons. i think we all agree it works in that we never hit the wall or bonked or felt out of energy. it's kind of gross having to eat that much food, but if you make it liquid carbs it's not as bad.
one friend who did it set a 30 minute PR and ran sub-3, the other friend beat his goal by 8 minutes in his first marathon, and i ran sub-3 in my first marathon. i had practiced it before a 20-miler a few weeks before and there were no-ill effects so i felt more confident before the marathon.
email me if you want more info.

Sounds like something I might like to try. But I also am not fond of eating tons of carbs, drinking them sounds better to me personally. What are your go-to’s? Veggie juice? Rice milk? I’m not a drinker so beer would be a no-go.

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Anyone ever try the University of Western Australia carbo-loading method?

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