Ironman

For Ironman: Carbohydrate Loading

by: Christopher D. Jensen, November-12-2008

You’ll probably burn anywhere from 8,500 to 11,500 calories during your Ironman triathlon. You can’t come close to meeting those energy needs during the competition, so your fuel stores need to be as full as possible prior to the start of the event. Typically, carbohydrate loading can increase endurance by about 20% or improve your time over a fixed distance by about 2–3%. Carbohydrate loading will also allow you to maximally load muscles with glycogen prior to race start, which will help offset fatigue. This article will help you understand how carbohydrate loading works, when to use it and when not to, common misconceptions, and practical strategies for making carbohydrate loading work for you. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

You’ll probably burn anywhere from 8,500 to 11,500 calories during your Ironman triathlon. You can’t come close to meeting those energy needs during the competition, so your fuel stores need to be as full as possible prior to the start of the event.

Typically, carbohydrate loading can increase endurance by about 20% or improve your time over a fixed distance by about 2–3%. Carbohydrate loading will also allow you to maximally load muscles with glycogen prior to race start, which will help offset fatigue. This article will help you understand how carbohydrate loading works, when to use it and when not to, common misconceptions, and practical strategies for making carbohydrate loading work for you.

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