The Myth of Carb Loading: It Is Not What You Think It Is

Carb loading is an essential part of marathoning, but it's not nearly as fun as I thought it would be.

The night before the cross country championship followed a simple, yet important, ritual. Cold autumnal Ohio air imbued with the scent of cornhusks, hay, and a hint of campfire smoke whooshed in and out of the front door as it opened and closed for each new arrival. The team gathered round a long table, plates piled high with Crockpot spaghetti and freezer section garlic bread — both of which are delicious — and plastic cups of yellow Gatorade made from the powder mix, to eat. And eat. And eat. And eat. 

This was carb loading, and it was wonderful. 

The biggest plate I’ve pasta I’ve ever received was at an Italian restaurant in Boston. It was so much pasta. It took me three days to eat it all.

Eating all of the pasta and bread you want? Getting a free pass for those pesky calories because you will burn them all off the next morning? Indulging in the “bad stuff” with no limit or restriction? The concept of carb loading — eating more carbohydrates than normal to prepare for a long endurance event — sounds like a dream. I think this is because, culturally, carbs are seen as this unhealthy, indulgent food that if we eat less of, we will be thin and beautiful and healthy. Also, eating a giant bowl of pasta is just exciting. Pasta is so good. I could eat it everyday. 

Having a large pasta and garlic bread dinner the night before a race doesn’t cut it, though. That’s a common misconception about carb loading, which is a process that takes up to three days and kind of sucks, actually. 

I’m carb loading preparation for a 20-mile run this weekend. I want to practice carb loading so when the marathon comes around I know what to expect. An old adage says, “never try anything new on race day.” I think there should be another saying, too: “never try anything new in the days before race day.” What appears to be the most minute change can make a massive difference when it comes to race performance and how you feel. It’s why you never risk using a gel for the first time or wearing a sports bra you’ve never trained in before during the event. It could lead to disaster, and disaster can devastate your race. 

I thought I would enjoy the opportunity to carb load before my run this weekend because I love carbs. Pizza is my favorite food, with my family-recipe mac and cheese close behind. I also have a sweet tooth; my stomach has endless space for chocolate and cookies and cake. Don’t even get me started on garlic bread, cheesy bread, or really, any kind of bread. I love it all. 

Two days of uninhibited access to all my favorite things? Yes please. 

Running requires carbohydrates. When I’m out there more than ninety minutes, I’m carrying little sachets of liquid sugar with me. I’m drinking sugar. Sugar, sugar, sugar. It’s hard, nigh impossible, to be a runner and not need sugar to keep you going. 

When I started running again this was hard for me to understand, because sugar is “bad.” I’m always told how bad it is, how it makes people fat, how it causes anxiety, and that people — Americans, in particular — are addicted to sugar. Really, this rhetoric is applied to all carbohydrates. An entire food group, left out to dry. 

So I thought it was unhealthy to be literally drinking concentrated sugar liquid to get my carbohydrates while I’m running. I’m running, and that’s healthy, so why am I undoing all of my great forward strides in health to just increase my desire for sugar? 

But sugar isn’t a demon here; it’s a necessity. Carbohydrates aren’t bad. I need them. I need to build up my glycogen stores to improve my performance and I also need to fuel myself so I can keep going as the mileage gets longer and longer. 

And thus, carb loading. The act of saturating the body’s glycogen stores so it has energy to draw from when on those long, long runs.

I thought it would be fun. It is not fun.

Sure, I’m eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch for the first time in forever, drinking a yummy tropical juice, and munching on everything bagels, but it’s not just eating carb-rich foods, it’s eating a high volume of carb-rich food. I’m not used to eating the amount of carbs one eats when one must carb load. 

Sansa (left) and Arya (right) got a weigh in this week. It has nothing to do with this essay, but they are silly.

I’ve been reading a lot about carb loading in the week leading up to this, and found person after person describing it as difficult because the body isn’t used to it. People recommend liquid carbs (sugary sports drinks and juice) to top off the daily carb goals — and I see why. You’d have to eat a lot of food. According to the carb load calculation I did, I need to eat around 1300 carbs per day in the two days leading up to my long run to appropriately carb load (I’ll be doing a three day carb load next time, thank you very much). 

I didn’t think that was as much as it was until I started looking at packages. One cup of Cinnamon Toast Crunch is 32 carbs. Eight ounces of juice is 34 carbs. One bagel is 52 carbs. To meet my daily carbohydrate goal, I’d have to eat 25 bagels in one day. I can’t even picture that many bagels. How would they fit in my stomach? Where would all the bagels go? I can replace a bagel with a giant Gatorade at 55 carbs, but trying to get to 1300 is a struggle even if I supplement all of the food with candy. 

All this to say, you don’t feel great when carb loading. I’ve felt a bit bloated. Apparently, you can gain two pounds doing this.

Carb loading kind of sucks in the way that a lot of marathon training kind of sucks. Hill workouts kind of suck. Taking gels when running kind of sucks. Everything being lemon lime flavored kind of sucks. The way my legs feel after a long run kind of sucks. Running itself kind of sucks if I’m being honest, but I do it anyway. 

So, why do I keep running? 

I like how I feel afterward even though I’m tired and sore. I like knowing that I can push my own boundaries. I like listening to audiobooks on long runs. I like going on a run after having a bad day. I like being outside because South Carolina is so beautiful all year (though I could take a little less humidity in the summer). I like knowing other people are also doing this even though it kind of sucks. I like that, in November, I’ll do something really hard and impressive and can be proud of myself for doing a hard, impressive thing. I like running.