Training & Nutrition - Century next Sunday - When to start "carb" loading?

Gonna be riding my first century next Sunday int the annual Elephant Rock Ride - can't wait...so stoked!!! I typically carbo-load the night before on my typical training rides throughout the week - but we're talking between 25-50 mile rides. For a ride of this length, should I start a couple days before or even sooner?

Thanks,

Not unless you are carb depleted and need to in effect catch up.Normal eating during the week based on activity level and a tapering of activity a few days ahead of the century along with regular complex carb based meals including a good meal the night before and a good breakfast an hour or two before the ride and you should be fine.Just be sure to not carb overload or it will be stored as fat.

Well technically carboloading is a runner's thing. I think they avoid carbos a bit and pig out on them the day before the big event. But a marathon is short compared to a century (metabolically) and carbo loading in that fashion has never caught on with cyclists.

I have ridden as many as 4 centuries in a row. The major thing to do is make sure that you eat enough carbohydrates to have your glycogen levels at max on the day of the ride.

If carboloading gives you a pyschological boost, well I don't see it hurting much as long as you don't do it to revolting excess.

Loading is usually done starting 3 days prior to the event. The carb depletion phase (where you purposely starve your body of carbs before loading) used to be popular, but is not emphasized these days.

Carb loading is probably a bad name for this. What you are really doing is glycogen loading (an easy access sugar-fuel for muscles stored in the liver and in the muscles themselves). When your muscles run out of easy access fuel (glycogen) they burn more fat as fuel. Normally both are burned but when glycogen stores get low a larger proportion of fat is burned instead. This switch to mostly sugar to mostly fat can be felt as the ragged edge of a "bonk". It takes most folks 2-3 hours of running (5-9 hours of cycling by my estimation) to exhaust their glycogen stores. If you know you will be running for that long it pays to be prepared by loading up beforehand.

Pat is right, this is mostly a runner's technique. I don't know how well it works with cycling. My guess is that if you have not pushed yourself to the edge of a "bonk" in your training, and don't expect to flirt with a "bonk" during your century, Carb loading won't do you much good. You would be better off by eating real food during the ride itself.


Dan

Thanks for the insight. I have just been hitting a clean diet this week with LOTS of good carbs and protein. Did a grueling climbing ride today up Cheyenne Canyone...will taper tomorrow and Saturday...the body should be nice and ready come Sunday morning. Thanks!

You don't really need to carb load for any non-racing ride. Although you shouldn't start the ride depleted, really loading up on carbs a day or two before isn't going to make any difference. Carbs are digested and burnt off fairly quickly. Just eat a normal, well balanced diet this week consisting of bland foods that sit well with you (for me that's stuff like chicken and pasta). Eat a decent breakfast of 400-500 calories, and then eat something (banana, energy bar, fig newtons, cookie, whatever) about once an hour or so while on the century. Don't forget to drink about one bottle of water or sports drink every hour to 1.5 hours. You'll be fine. :)