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Carbohydrate Loading
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Carbohydrate Loading Describe the role of carbohydrates in an athlete’s diet: Carbohydrates are the main fuel an athlete uses during exercise. Carbohydrates can be found in the body in two different forms, complex sugars and simple sugars. Simple sugars are either one, two, or at most three units of sugar linked together in single molecules. They are identified easily by their sweet taste. However, complex sugars are high in fibre and cellulose. They are found in vegetable foods and help to lower the chances for hypertension, cancer, arthritis and diabetes. According to Dr. Robert J. Reber at www.urbanext.uiuc.edu carbohydrate is a crucial fuel for exercise. The body makes its own carbohydrate store, known as glycogen, which is stored away in the liver and muscles. Glycogen is the body's fuel of choice for any exercise more intense than a gentle jog. This is because it can be broken down to provide energy more quickly than fat (the body's other major energy store). However, the snag with glycogen is that only limited amounts of it can be stored. This means that regular training, as well as competition where activity is at least an hour long, carries the risk of glycogen depletion. Low glycogen stores will mean a more sluggish performance and an increased risk of injury. Explain the concept of carbohydrate loading and how it is done: When you run for 90 minutes or longer your muscle glycogen stores become progressively lower. When they drop to critically low levels (the point of "glycogen depletion") you are exhausted and must drastically reduce your pace. Marathon runners frequently refer to muscle glycogen depletion as “hitting the wall.” The wall usually occurs at around the 20-mile mark and running becomes virtually impossible. An obvious way to improve your endurance is to increase your muscle glycogen stores. The higher your pre-exercise muscle glycogen level, the greater your endurance potential. This is the rationale behind carbohydrate loading. When done properly, carbohydrate loading can increase your muscle glycogen stores by 50 to 100%. Practically speaking, carbohydrate loading can delay or eliminate the wall. There are many forms of carbohydrate loading. Erik J. Deroche from www.crownathletic .com suggests that the regimen combines tapered training with a high carbohydrate diet. During the first three days, you eat a normal diet providing about 5 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram per day. On the sixth day before the event, you run at 70% of aerobic capacity for 90 minutes. On the fifth and fourth days before the event, decrease your run to 40 minutes at the same intensity.
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