No carbs=a bad run?

[Sweet_Fanny_Adams]

My last 4 runs have been a real struggle: I regularly run 5K without a problem, but I've actually had to stop and walk for large sections recently. I'm sweating profusely, my chest feels tight and my legs feel heavy.

At first I put it down to the hot and humid weather, so I drank a lot more beforehand, ran early and slowed down. This had a small positive effect, but not as much.

Then it occurred to me that it might be diet that's the problem. I have surgery in a week and I'm having to shrink my liver to make it safe (doctor's orders). That means depleting my stores of glycogen, so consequently I eat hardly any carbs at all. It's not my normal balanced diet, but it's time-limited and for a specific purpose. Could it be my lack of carbs that's scuppered my performance? Or is it just more likely that I'm a wilting lily in the heat?

If it's the lack of carbs, I might just have to give up running until I recover from the op. If it's the heat, I might try to woman-up and face it out!

[Tasha99 Graduate]

Could be. Runners carb load before long runs so in effect you’re doing the opposite. Are you having fruit etc? Or is it all carbs you’ve cut out? I’ve been doing slimming world and hit a plateau so started SP days which is no starchy carbs but I still had fruit to get carbs. I was fine doing that and running. Although it wasn’t every day too! If you’re having no carbs at all, that’s definitely going to impact you. If you can have fruit, try that as a way of helping. But the heat is a nightmare too. Hydrate the day before a run rather than immediately before running 💦 🤣

[nowster Graduate]

Difficult call. Are you replacing the carbs with any other form of energy? What does the consultant say about fats and the liver?

The amount of energy you're going to be burning in a 30 minute run is the equivalent of about 5-6 digestive biscuits.

I'd be thinking more towards the heat being the problem at the moment.

[2muchtooyoung Graduate in reply to nowster]

Only 5 or 6 biscuits - oh boy I was hoping you were going to say packets!!

[nowster Graduate in reply to 2muchtooyoung]

Sadly, yes. Never leave me alone with an opened packet of Jaffa Cakes.

[Whydothis Graduate]

I am no expert, but my experience is of deciding to do two weeks of very strict very low carb, which happened to overlap between week 6 and week 8, and it made no difference to my running.

Are you getting enough calories? - you can replace the calories from carbs with fat to avoid being hungry.

Otherwise, I suspect the heat is making a difference - everybody seems to think it makes running much harder.

All the best with the op.

[Sweet_Fanny_Adams Graduate]

Thanks for the replies guys!

In answer to your questions, I'm having between 600 and 900 calories a day, and the only forms of carb I'm having are veg and a little fruit. I'm not actually hungry because of all the protein I'm eating.

For instance, I had 2 eggs and 2 rashers of bacon before running this morning, so I'd eaten plenty of calories, but there were no carbs. And I know that I don't have glycogen available to me at short notice, because I'm passing ketones in my urine - so I'm definitely using fat for energy and not carbs.

The diet is OK in short doses, because it's sanctioned by the surgeon and I've used it before for shifting weight quickly. I've lost 7 lbs in 5 days so far and I've got another week before D Day!

Perhaps my lack of energy is just due to the lack of carbs added to the heat...but as everyone else seems to be wilting too, I won't beat myself up about it!

If I'm a big girly wuss, then everyone else is too!

[nowster Graduate in reply to Sweet_Fanny_Adams]

You're going to burn an extra 300-400 calories in your runs. If you're only taking in 600 calories, you're going to be burning body fat fairly rapidly just for baseline metabolics.

It's only a week. Maybe cut back on the frequency of the runs a bit?

[Maddee_6333 Graduate]

If it’s really not a diet that you’re used to then yes, it’s probably having an effect.

I don’t eat a lot of carbs as a rule, so when I do I get bloated etc. which definitely impacts on my running.

The heat and humidity probably aren’t helping either.

Good luck with your surgery.

[Sweet_Fanny_Adams Graduate]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I think I may have to do what nowster says and cut back on the runs - maybe I'll make them fast walks. The diet is very severe and I hadn't thought about the calorific deficit (600 or 900 -300 calories isn't giving me much to live on in a day...I suppose I'm lucky I don't keel over!).

Thanks for the good wishes for my surgery. I suppose when my gallbladder's gone, I'll be another 1-2 lbs down!

[Sweet_Fanny_Adams Graduate]

Have decided to make each 5K a walk/run mix...it seems not to knock me out so much at the moment.

Am genuinely dreading not being able to run after the op...I think I must be addicted. How will I cope??? !

[Sweet_Fanny_Adams Graduate]

So much for taking advice...I ran 10K today! However, I felt OK at the end, so my previous difficulties must have been because of the heat and not my diet. Trust me to over-think the problem!

[nowster Graduate in reply to Sweet_Fanny_Adams]

😲 You what?

[Sweet_Fanny_Adams Graduate in reply to nowster]

Yup - I bet I've consumed minus calories today!