Carbs and running fast: Can you train your gut?

I’ve written a few times (1, 2, 3, 4) before about how important it is to ingest carbs while racing a distance that takes over ~40-60mins to enhance performance. There still seems to be some resistance to doing this; some of it is fueled by pseudoscience, but some is fueled by the very legitimate concern that ingesting 30-60g of glucose/hour will cause GI distress and potentially an even more detrimental impact on performance.

There’s no doubt, GI distress is often caused by factors other than the carbs ingested during the race (such as ingesting slowly absorbed, slowly metabolized fat, protein or fibre in close proximity to or during a race). So before trying to fix your carb situation, first make sure that it is indeed your problem.

Training the Gut

So how do we train the gut?  And does it work?  CLICK HERE to read my latest in the Run Waterloo Magazine.