About a week ago I ran 32 miles across Zion National Park. It was spectacular! I'd been to the Park once previously and it more than lived up to my memory. During the 6(ish) hour adventure, I joked with my friend about how I was probably the only person running across Zion that day carrying about a pound worth of hamburger with me in my vest. For breakfast I'd had two cups of raw milk and then during the run itself I ate two quarter pound burgers and drank a liter of water mixed with Skratch Superfuel. I had no stomach problems and my energy level was consistent throughout the day. For a low intensity long day like this, a mixture of carbohydrates and high fat foods is optimal for me.
This style of fueling has become more popular in recent years with the prominence of Low-Carb High-Fat (LCHF) athletes like Zach Bitter, Jeff Browning, and Mike McKnight. I was inspired primarily by McKnight due to his success in the longer distances, like 200s, that attract me the most. You can hear McKnight talk about his diet on various podcasts, including details on his Cocodona 2023 victory in which he fueled primarily with raw milk. The rationale for the LCHF diet is simple, it just makes sense to be as adapted as possible to burning fat for the late stages of races lasting close to a day, or beyond 24 hours in the case of 200s. The amount of carbs an athlete can carry around with them after eating is limited, whereas even super lean endurance athletes are carrying more than 10,000 calories of fat in their bodies. Being able to access that fat for energy as efficiently as possible is a huge advantage over someone whose body would be grasping for carbohydrates that may or may not be present.
I originally sought information on an LCHF approach because I was having chronic stomach issues during races and long runs as well as dealing with excessive inflammation during and after long stretches of activity. Seeing what athletes like Bitter and McKnight were able to achieve, I decided to try it out for myself, beginning on January 1 2020. After a few weeks or a month of feeling kind of sluggish, my body adapted and slid smoothly into being powered mostly by fat. I quickly discovered that my energy levels remained steady for longer and longer runs and that my fueling needs during big efforts were not quite as acute. Furthermore my inflammation was reduced following significant activity and I have yet to experience any sort of consistent stomach issues since beginning on LCHF. My recovery speed is faster, my mind feels clearer throughout the day, I feel like I sleep better, and I have essentially made myself "bonk-proof." Running out of food when relying on carbohydrates for energy is an emergency, but I always have the fat adaptability in my back pocket and a lack of calories does not necessarily equate to plummeting energy levels.
It's important to note that low-carb does not mean no-carb. Though my carb intake is significantly lower than most runners will be, I still consume carbohydrates during and after big efforts. One of my favorite long run and race fuels I have already mentioned, Skratch Superfuel, is a high carb drink mix that is easy on the stomach and even more importantly, easy to ingest. You can get 400 calories into half a liter of water with a full serving and barely change the texture of the water itself. Normally I go with a half serving, so on a run like the one I mentioned across Zion, I drank a total of 400 calories of Superfuel, ingesting about 100 grams of carbohydrates in the process. I'll also up my carb intake on days that I do speed work or strength training to recoup the losses in muscle glycogen guaranteed to occur with these more intense activities. But for recovery days whether I do an easy run or whether I am doing basically nothing, my carb intake drops to below 20 grams per day.
The process of learning when and where to strategically use carbohydrates for fuel is different for every athlete and took some time for me to optimize. But now when I'm in a race or in the middle of a long, unsupported day, I feel like I am taking advantage of every energy system available to me. When I was powering myself solely with more traditional running foods like goos, gels, and bars, I felt like I was constantly trying to play catch up with the caloric demand of my body.
Switching to a LCHF diet has been revolutionary. I feel like I am optimizing it a little more every day, relying on experience to guide me toward food that makes me feel the absolute best (ribeyes!). Obviously, I've relied on basically nothing but anecdotal evidence here, but I don't mean to proselytize at all, I simply wanted to share my experience and how following LCHF has helped me. I know it can be daunting to approach the puzzle of fueling for long endurance events and I hope my experience, among the other athletes mentioned previously, with LCHF will encourage new runners and endurance focused individuals to give it a go. If you struggle to keep down carbs and to eat enough to keep up with your body's caloric demand, LCHF might be something worth trying.
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