Let’s face it…..I’m not supposed to be a runner. I’m 6 ft 3 and I weigh 220lbs. I used to weigh over 300 lbs and I’ve lifted heavy weights consistently for the last 15 years, so my joints aren’t in the best shape. On top of that my genetic line is full of knee surgeries and hip replacements. So when I signed up for the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer 5K run I knew it was not going to be what I would consider to be a fun workout. Heck I would rather do BURPEES than run a 5K! So I knew that I had to devise a plan that would provide some mental stimulation for myself so that I could have some fun with this and get some needed motivation.
The first step to my 5K program was figuring out what a good pace or finish time would be. So I started asking around with some of our runners at the studio and we came up with a 9 minute mile pace as a nice mark to hit. That would put me at around a 27 or 28 minute 5K time.
The next component of my 5K program was to figure out my nutrition. THIS is where things started to get interesting. We have many clients that have running a 5K as a major fitness milestone that they want to cross off of their fitness bucket list and I agree that it is a great thing to accomplish. The one area where they seem to get tripped up is the nutrition and the concept that they need to do these massive carb loads before every run. If you are doing super long runs, marathons, etc it is a different story but if you are just doing basic 5K training I firmly believe that the carb load is not necessary. This is especially true when you are “loading” with unfamiliar carbs like pasta, etc that you don’t normally eat day in and day out. That is a recipe for disaster with a bloated and very upset intestinal tract. So I decided to dive head first into challenging this carb load philosophy and I consumed ZERO carb sources from August 1st through the race day on Sept 20th. My theory was that the human body will adapt and start using fat as energy just as efficiently as carbs for this type of event. Many studies actually show that, with enough adaptation time, the human body will prefer fat as fuel over carbs under any circumstance. So I dropped all of the carb sources (yes even fruit!) from my diet and ramped up my consumption of protein, healthy fats, and green veggies. Of course it is nearly impossible to consume zero carbs due to the small carb content of nuts and green veggies, but there were no other carb sources in my diet for that duration of time. I also want to note that I was not in a caloric deficit during this time frame. I actually consumed enough calories to gain 2 lbs of lean mass. So that definitely made going “carb free” a little easier because I wasn’t starving myself. My energy levels dipped a bit for the first week but by about 10 days into it I was feeling great again.
With the fitness component of my 5K program I had good intentions to do some running at the start. I did a couple of one mile runs to test the waters but my knees and hips started to really ache and an old calf injury started to rear its ugly head as well. So I made the decision to do no more running at all before the race. I focused on the basic principles that we teach our clients at our studio in which we work on all around conditioning and strength training. I was hitting it hard in classes and using a strength training system that we use for our personal training clients. So a typical week or workouts would total about 7 hours of intense strength training and conditioning work. I spent a little extra time on our Jacobs Ladder and the Concept 2 Rower machines to get that extra conditioning edge. Leading up to race day my joints felt great and my conditioning numbers were looking great as well. I felt ready!
So as race day arrived I was pumped up to see what I could do with no carbs in my system for seven weeks and no running training at all. I think that one of the X Factors with any physical challenge is an individual’s ability to just gut it out and perform at their best level for any given event. I knew I was just going to have to push hard and see what happened!
As I entered the herd of runners I had a few people mention to me that I should ditch my fleece sweat pants and long sleeve shirt but I couldn’t find my wife so I just rolled with it……rookie mistake! It got pretty darn hot! Overall the race went really well. The course ended up being 3.58 miles instead of the normal 3.1 miles for a 5K, but I finished with my average pace at a 9.03 minute mile and felt good the entire race. The energy was steady with no “bonk” from the lack of carbs. I felt good when I looked around at the finish line and noticed that I had kept up with a lot of people that were pretty serious about their running.
Now here is an important takeaway:
This is an extreme example of how important it is to have a balanced training program. I 100% know that I would have finished better if I had some running training under my belt on a regular basis. The key is to not let running dominate your training program either. Balance is necessary so that you can improve as an overall fitness athlete! Again, we are talking about the typical weekend warrior 5K participant and not the high end endurance racer. I think you should have a nice balance of running, strength training, and cardio interval training like you would see in a typical boot camp class. As far as the carbs go, I’m feeling great without them so I’m going to go a little further down the rabbit hole with that concept and see where I end up. I’m sure the results will show up in an upcoming blog….so stay tuned!
Oh yeah….and I would like to officially announce my retirement from 5K races…..HOORAY!
