I love carbs. Come on, let’s be honest, I’m sure I’m not alone here – pasta, pizza, rice…what’s not to like? As a runner it’s been an important component of my diet that’s easy to justify and satiate, especially when I’m training for a marathon, but somewhat to my surprise cycle 2 of the 90 Day Plan has made me question how much I actually need compared to how much I want.
The first cycle of the 90 Day Plan was simple: one carbohydrate refuel meal after exercise on the days that I was training and reduced carbohydrate meals for the remainder. For Carbzilla it was a bit of a shock to the system at first but soon just became a way of life. Mostly I felt light and full of zest albeit there were a few times, where I’d been doing both HIIT and a lot of running, where it felt as though I had less fuel in the tank.
I love food, and I love carbs: pasta, rice – that’s my thing
Karen Fukuhara
I was excited to learn that during the second cycle I could up my intake to two carbohydrate refuel meals on training days, with the meals on rest days remaining reduced carbohydrate as before. In the accompanying narrative to the plan Joe explains that this cycle is important so as to help you understand whether your body runs better on a lower-carb or higher-carb diet. Yeah, yeah, yeah I thought – I bloody love them and I already know how my body functions so carb me up baby!
Was I right? Well, not exactly. Whilst undeniably I have at times felt stronger with my running, on the whole my body feels heavier (whether it actually is I don’t know as you’re told to stay off the sad step until the end of the cycle) and I have to say I’ve felt somewhat more lethargic compared to the zip I had in cycle one. This for me is a bit of an epiphany; it’s challenged my previously held view that I need to be mainlining carbs like they’re going out of fashion and made me realise that not every meal needs to be centred around them.
I believe that in cycle three you can choose what you do and my current thinking is that I’ll be going for just the one carbohydrate refuel meal on days when I’m training unless I’m building up to a marathon, running (or planning to run) long, or I feel like I’ve emptied the tank. For me, that’s an absolute eye opener because if you’d asked me that question a few months ago I would have laughed and reached straight for the nearest bowl of pasta.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not to say that I advocate or will be following a low-carb diet; simply, that I now feel far more in tune with my body’s needs so it will be a case of listening to how I’m feeling and reacting accordingly – some days I will carb load and others I won’t. Certainly though, I won’t be going back to the huge portions of pasta and rice that I previously enjoyed.
With one week remaining of cycle two I’m interested to see my results, which I suspect will be more visible rather than reflected on the scales due to the fact that carbohydrates can cause you to retain more water weight. In the interim, what are your thoughts on carbs? I’d love to hear your views.
