Carbohydrates: Athlete Fuel

As we continue through marathon season it is important to think about fueling with carbohydrates. What we eat can have a significant impact on our weekly speed sessions, long runs, races and just about every aspect of training. Many athletes have a basic understanding of carbohydrate fueling during a race but, daily nutrition is also an important part of reaching the goals that you set for yourself this season.

No matter what you have heard about “good” and “bad” carbohydrates, low carb diets and glycemic indexes you cannot escape the fact that our bodies run on carbohydrates. Glucose (the most basic carbohydrate) is the only thing that fuels the brain. If it is not available from the diet the body starts to make it from other substances like proteins…this is not a good thing.

We store a limited amount of carbohydrate in the muscles and liver. This is called glycogen. If you have ever “carb loaded” before a race you are essentially making sure that your glycogen stores are at capacity. This storage carbohydrate is not what we want to use to fuel a track session on a Wednesday evening. You should save this for mile 23 on race day when you start to close in on the finish line; then, you may tap into that muscle glycogen and pick it up!

Carbohydrates are broken down in to two categories, simple and complex. We have heard that simple carbohydrates are bad for us and complex carbohydrates are good for us. This is not the case, both forms of carbohydrates are important for the body. They are just important for different reasons and should be used at different times during your daily training, nutrition and racing.

Simply carbohydrates are commonly called sugars. They can be single sugars (monosaccharide) like glucose or fructose or double sugars (disaccharide) such as lactose that is found in milk products and sucrose which is table sugar. Simple carbohydrates are easily broken down by your body and can become a good, quick source of fuel when your body needs it most. Products that are predominantly simple carbohydrates are typically used during intense bouts of exertion such as workouts lasting longer than one hour (think gels during long runs and races) or when you need to fuel less than thirty minutes before a shorter workout.

-more simple language…here…no one really wants to know about mono/disacch…

More commonly called starches and fibers, complex carbohydrates are composed of simple carbohydrates attached in long branched chains. These take longer to digest and become available to your body as fuel. The most commonly consumed sources of complex carbohydrates are whole grains. However, complex carbohydrates are also found in fruits and vegetables. Foods rich in this form of carbohydrate are great for post workout recovery, pre-race dinner and everyday nutrition. Whole grains, fruits and vegetables are not only rich in complex carbohydrates they also contain many nutrients that are essential to the daily function of our bodies and that are particularly essential to athletes.

In daily nutrition it is important to load the diet with foods that are rich in complex carbohydrates (whole grains, fruits and vegetables) and use the simple carbohydrates sparingly where they are needed most like during long training sessions. This balance will help your body run most efficiently giving you quick fuel when you need it with whole grains and veggies for recovery and daily fueling. If you keep these ideas in mind as you begin to train longer hours your body is going to thank you on race day; well you are still going to be sore but you at least you will know how to eat for recovery.


Barley Tabouli

1 cup pearled barley
1 cup seeded diced tomato
1 cup diced cucumber
1/3 cup chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley
¼ cup chopped red onion
1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 TBS red wine vinegar or lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

-cook barley in excess boiling water (like you would cook pasta) for approximately 25 minutes, check for tenderness. Barley should be cooked but still have some resistance on the tooth…not mushy.

-drain barley and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking, drain well.

-combine oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine, add barley and toss. Add remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Refrigerate 1 hour, stirring occasionally, so flavors can combine. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Yield: serves ~6 (1 cup serving)
130 calories
3 g fat
104mg sodium
25g Carbohydrates
4g fiber
2g sugar
2g protein


Jess Kolko is a Graduate Student at UT Austin studying Nutrition. She is currently an intern for Nutritionist Meredith Terranova. http://www.eatingandlivinghealthy.com