Hello all,
The past month or so I've gotten back into running, feeling really good about it. I'm on Day 5 of Induction and wondering if anyone else here felt totally worn out or like they were running through quicksand?? The first couple days I ran and worked out and had great workouts. Last night though was awful! My energy levels are just out of whack, and I guess maybe my body is adjusting to not having carbs for energy when running? Plus it is still early, so hopefully this is just normal? Anybody have these kinds of experiences or advice? Should I not be running right now while I have this "induction flu"??
Thanks so much!

I think that's normal, you should keep on what you are doing.

Ive noticed it when running back to back days.

If I ran 4 days in a row - Each day I would have less energy than the previous day.

As your body makes the shift from the glucose driven metabolism to the fat driven metabolism, you use up all your stores of glycogen in the body and that's what causes the induction flu. It takes a bit before your body gets used to running without carbs, it could take a couple days or weeks. In the meantime your running will feel anywhere from sluggish to downright tortuous.

No need to stop running, just allow for the crappy feeling until your body adjusts.

Note that some people do fine running long term on low-carb. Some (and I'm one) find that they can never perform as well on low-carb as they can on moderate carb. If you are just jogging for exercise, no problem, who cares how fast you can go. If you are running and racing and trying to increase your running performance all the time, you'll have to see how you feel after you are adjusted to low-carb and see if it works for you or if you need a more moderate carb approach for your fitness goals.

I will run (on a reduced schedule with cross training) while eating low carb, but ONLY if I have no performance goals and I am willing to go slow and bag runs if it just doesn't work out. If I am looking for a particular time or am training for a race, I eat lots and lots of carbs (but no grains). I gain, but I gain anyway if I train even if I eat very low carb, so I go with the performance. It's tough, I am sick of sugar and being bloated at this point three weeks out from my big race (a ten miler) but I have to do it to get my runs out with no injury. I hope you are one of the lucky ones who can adapt, but I can't at all.

As of noon on May 3rd I will be back on full-scale induction, but I have no idea if I'll be able to run. Last summer I had to give it up completely while I was losing. Then I actually had to consciously stop losing in the Fall so I could train again. It took me awhile to get back to feeling like I could run at all.

Echo that jschwab. I am so sick of gels, sweets and cake and once my first and maybe only ever, marathon is over this Sunday I cannot wait to be back on low carb. Wish I could run the distances without the carbs but I can't, unless I want to finish after everyone's gone home. And I have gained weight despite several 20-milers in training, not eating any more just going high carb as per the standard advice. A useful experiment and confirmation for me that LC is best for me.

If you are just beginning Induction it is recommended that you do not exercise for at least 2 weeks so your body gets acclimated to switching fuel types. This may be why you feel so drained. You did mention that you were in day 5 of Induction right? It takes at least three days to one week for your body to adjsut to the changes.

Dalesbread and others,

I finished my race a couple weeks ago (PR'ed by 24 minutes for the ten-miler and ran 7 seconds below my goal time that I gave on my registration form - I can't believe I had such tight splits when I was not even tracking them). I have been ramping down the carbs. I did a fun 12- miler on Mother's Day and found myself gulping down Powerade at McDonald's mid-run which I didn't like. I'm trying but every tendon in my feet hurt. That's really the problem for me is how the injuries just come on like gangbusters when I go low carb. If anyone wants to start a support thread for running low carb, I would be so into it. There is sort of a stealth low-carb running thread going on over at Runner's World.

How did the marathon go?

Janine

Hi Janine, will let you know by Sunday evening (UK time). At least it will be pretty - around Lake Windermere in the English Lake District but with hills. I'll have a look for the LC thread on RW (assume US?) - the UK version is pretty full-on high carb, lo-fat, I occasionally post LC and get flamed!

Janine... where will we find the underground LC thread at Runner's World? I'm definitely interested. I'm wondering if anyone is experimenting with a TKD approach (carbs before running while staying low-carb otherwise). I'm doing my first half next weekend (24th of May). I'm not eating many more carbs than usual during training, but I'm in maintenance and the number of carbs I eat is fairly high (150g-ish average) anyway. I've been adding Powerade & the sport beans for carbs/calories/electrolytes during weekly long runs only. My weight has fluctuated some, but is staying mostly stable, though at the top end of the range were I like it rather than at the bottom end of the range.

Go to the liver thread posted by voodoodoll on the nutrition area for the special top-secret low carb running thread. She also set up a group but nobody's using it.

I operate very similarly to you, Valerie L with a TKD approach for longer runs. Keeps me maintained or slightly over, but not losing. If I open the floodgates and eat the way I think I need to for performance, I get huge results (and a huge weight gain). I weigh about 200 now, up from my low of 180 before my training period. I would love to get back down and then some to 160 before the year is out.

Thanks! I'll check it out!

Well that's my first marathon done - eight gels, a bar of nougat, packet of shot-bloks and a sports drink at every station meant I didn't hit the wall but my time was a rather sedate 4.50 (it was hilly though!). As I said before, I've gained weight whilst training for this due to excessive carbing-up (!) so my aim now is to go low-mod carb and focus on gym work and shorter runs to shed about 14lbs before training properly again. It will be interesting to feel the difference.

Dalesbread, if you are lurking around, just wanted to belatedly congratulate you on your 4:50 marathon (fantastic time for the first time and hilly). I have not been around due to my bad running habit that has interfered with my low carb habit. I am not eating the same carbage as when I was preparing for my race, but I've upped my mileage considerably and will start marathon training on July 20th. I now weigh 204 But, hey, 14 mile long run, no problem! Would I rather have the 14 miles gained or 14 pounds lost? Not sure yet...

Excellent run Janine, go for it and keep us updated on your progress. Well, I've lost around 3kg, this came off quite quickly and am now stable at around 149lb, not concerned, will just keep on low/mod carb until I whoosh, as I am still losing some inches. The main effect of LC has been to feel quite sluggish when running but oddly the min/mile times are comparable with carby eating - I couldn't sprint though. Again oddly, I find evening runs the hardest and early morning fasted runs easiest. Have dropped the distances of each run to around 6-8 miles max, just done one 12-miler whilst trying to lose weight and it was slow. However I've found a routine where if I have a strong coffee and a small banana immediately before my run, this fires me up enough to run well, then I concentrate any carbs in the post-run meal and go VL carb the rest of the day, keeping calories to around 1700-2000. This seems to be working at the moment - I've also started lifting (moderate) weights again.