You’ve been training for this marathon more than a year, and you’re
ready to give it your all. But there are still a few unanswered
questions when it comes to your pre-race diet. Research recently
published on the online edition of the
International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism might help you fill in the blanks.
To see whether a Low or High
Glycemic Index meal was preferable before
running for distance, scientists had 9 volunteers fast overnight and 2
hours before racing consume an 83 GI meal (high) or 36 GI meal (low),
each containing 1.5 grams of
carbohydrates per kilogram of body mass.
So a 154 pound runner ate 105 grams of carbs. In addition, all runners
received a 6.6% carb-electrolyte beverage right before the event and
every 2.5 kilometers thereafter. When the 21 kilometer run was over, it
was determined that there were no performance differences between
groups.
The Bigger Picture: The results of this study bring
out the importance of pre- and during exercise nutrition. Regardless of
the types of carbohydrates consumed during the pre-race meal, it was
the carb-electrolyte beverage that carried the day for these runners.
That said, choosing the low GI meal would be preferable, whether
running a marathon or recreationally working out at the gym.
http://www.optimumnutrition.com/news.php?article=511
