How to train yourself to metabolize fat at marathon pace ?

Says every human body ever. I can't believe this is even a question.

Even people who have specifically trained to burn more fat at high intensities (to the detriment of training quality) are still primarily dependent on carbohydrate at marathon pace. By contrast, you don't have to train a husky to burn fat at high intensities. It's just what they do.

Also, regarding the earlier comment about the western diet being high in carbs. It's exactly the opposite. Diets in the rest of the world are much higher in carbs (and admittedly too low in protein at times). Kenyans and Ethiopians eat far more carbs than we do, but they eat very little fat.

Too much navel gazing, not enough just runnin'

Because Kenyans and Ethiopians do wolume as well as intensity and coming close to 150mpw it is no problem to eat carb-heavy - they´ll burn either way

800 dude wrote:

Kenyans and Ethiopians eat far more carbs than we do, but they eat very little fat.

Ever seen Kenyans and Ethiopians who don't run 100 mpw or more? They typically looks SKINNY FAT. Guess why?

800 dude wrote:

Says every human body ever. I can't believe this is even a question.

Even people who have specifically trained to burn more fat at high intensities (to the detriment of training quality) are still primarily dependent on carbohydrate at marathon pace. By contrast, you don't have to train a husky to burn fat at high intensities. It's just what they do.

Also, regarding the earlier comment about the western diet being high in carbs. It's exactly the opposite. Diets in the rest of the world are much higher in carbs (and admittedly too low in protein at times). Kenyans and Ethiopians eat far more carbs than we do, but they eat very little fat.

Where exactly are the Inuit getting their grain products from? Guys in Kayaks ended up in Scotland without taking gels and Clif bars.

The Masai were largely dependent on cattle milk and blood.

High fat, high protein.

i'm with 800 dude on this.

you can likely store enough glycogen to run an 18 - 20 mile race without bonking. so what you really need to figure out is how to increase your glycogen stores further (4-5 x 200-300m all-out repeats at the end of a long run with very little rest supposedly helps) and find out the maximum amount of glycogen you can take in while running at marathon race pace.

if you're going to insist on metabolizing more fat at MP, your best bet is to go to a very high fat and low carb diet, but very very few people can pull that off.

Rudisha is a Masai.

Go to the store. Buy a piece of fat. Take a marker. Write marathon pace on it. Burn it.

There are so many stupid posts on this thread that I don´t even know where to start. Search for "Canova marathon training".

Carbo depletion then loading prior to marathons was popular in the 70's boom. Typically, you would go completely carb-free for 3 or 4 days starting a week from the marathon. (Running during this depletion phase would, in theory, train your body to burn fat in the absence of carbs, creating extra energy stores come race day.) Follow this with heavy carb loading in the 3 days before the marathon. Most will say it has no physiological benefits. A lot of runners, including myself, have had success doing it. Going zero carbs is not a pleasant experience and feeling like absolute s%$# a few days before a marathon is enough to scare off most people. But it has seemed to help me mentally pre-marathon and physically in the last miles of the marathon.

Old Man Runner wrote:

Carbo depletion then loading prior to marathons was popular in the 70's boom. Typically, you would go completely carb-free for 3 or 4 days starting a week from the marathon. (Running during this depletion phase would, in theory, train your body to burn fat in the absence of carbs, creating extra energy stores come race day.) Follow this with heavy carb loading in the 3 days before the marathon. Most will say it has no physiological benefits. A lot of runners, including myself, have had success doing it. Going zero carbs is not a pleasant experience and feeling like absolute s%$# a few days before a marathon is enough to scare off most people. But it has seemed to help me mentally pre-marathon and physically in the last miles of the marathon.

Actually, the original theory was that you would store more carbs due to the depletion phase, not that you would learn to burn more fat.

The modern approach emphasizes the minor bump in fat burning capacity that you get by going high fat, low carb during the taper (when your quality workouts don't matter).

I've always dreamed of running as fast as the Inuit! (Of course, nobody is suggesting that feats of endurance, especially at low intensities, are impossible on a high fat diet. But we're talking about peak performance.)

Ugali is the Kenyan staple. In other parts of the world, rice is king. Ethiopians have their injera. Now, whether the introduction of grains into the human diet is a good thing in general is an entirely different question that we don't need to get into here. The issue is whether high carb diets are necessary for peak performance in high volume endurance training. The answer is unequivocally yes.

You're confusing the task of racing hard for a couple hours with working steadily all day long. The Inuit had to burn a ton of calories to stay warm in addition to working all day. Those guys in kayaks were not racing and they were working all day long. Canines are aerobic freaks. They can burn fat and protein for running fast because they can put tons of oxygen into their muscles.

The best way to run a faster marathon via better fat metabolism is to make that marathon pace feel easier with more steady state running, higher LT, and better economy.

PhoenixRunner wrote:

Go to the store. Buy a piece of fat. Take a marker. Write marathon pace on it. Burn it.

POTD!!! X 1,000,000,000/1,000,000,000!!!

SMJO wrote:

Where exactly are the Inuit getting their grain products from? Guys in Kayaks ended up in Scotland without taking gels and Clif bars.

Which explains the Inuit dominance at the marathon distance.

Carbs stimulate fat burning.

me thinks it will help wrote:

The best fat burners in the world don't eat gluten.

People or those caffeinated products like Hydroxycut that don't work?

Bread is the staple of Kenyans from the rift valley.

Rudisha is a Catholic and attended Catholic School.

Acts 15.29:

You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

To summarize:

- Don't eat carbs before you run

- Go gluten free

- Long slow distance

- Sugary drinks before and during runs

- You can't train yourself to metabolize fat

- Eat carbs after running

- Run fast

- There's no need to train to metabolize fat

- Get a coach

- High fat low carb diet

- High intensity training

- 150 mpw

- Drink blood

Don't worry. The best known coaches and physiologists also disagree.