Hi Aldini10 and AL2105,

I don't know if you count Century Riders as marathoners, but I always beat 26 miles in less than 4 hours, and then go on to do another 25, 50 or 75 miles; sometimes on back to back days. I am a strick LCer, especially on ride days. My dad is a marathon runner ans has always been LCing, especially on run days.

An interesting article appeared in this months "Fitness Rx" that quoted a University of Colorado study that found that cyclists on a low-carb diet performed just as well as those eating high-carbs on endurance tests.

The tough part seems to be converting your body over, what AL2105 referred to as being "fat adapted". An even tougher part comes when you are doing weightlifting and the lifting goes from "aerobic-w/resistance" to "anaerobic-w/muscle-injury". If you are using weight training to push your aerobic threshold, then you should not experience muscle fatigue before running out of gas. The best way to increase muscle size in weightlifting, however, is to slightly injury the muscle and then give it a day to recover as a bigger stronger muscle. This process will tap into your glycogen reserves and could possibly deplete them before you run out of gas.

The question is: What is your goal? Losing Fat or Building Up Muscle? You can LC and lose a lot of fat and build some muscle with the glycogen that your body stores naturally. If you want to make a major push at adding muscle mass, you would probably find it to be easier if you take in more carbs.

J