When to go low carb

One Pro Cycling nutritionist Will Girling explains the principles of periodised nutrition

If you’re going for a low-carbohydrate approach you’ll quickly see your power drop o during intensive sessions or longer rides with some tempo e orts.

So, rather than cutting the carbs down completely, choose how you fuel depending on the session you’re doing. If it’s a highintensity session, short or long, then take on carbs to fuel it. Easy, low-intensity rides can be carb-fasted, because at lower intensities you’re able to still use fat as a source of energy, making the demand for carbohydrates less.

Even after a couple of hours easy riding, you’ll probably be low on carbohydrate, so you could ride carb-fasted and then take some on board, or try and tough it out for as long as the intensity stays down. For longer rides with some tempos or harder e orts involved, you could carb fast until about 15-20mins before the e orts and then take on some carbohydrate so you can hit that e ort at your full potential.

You need to consider the session you’re planning and if it’s easy and won’t require much energy you can leave out the carbs, but if it’s hard and you want to perform at your best you need to fuel for it.