OK.... so here is the scenario, and i will follow it with my question.

scenario:
Friday night my diet was clean and slim, due to a pig out on beef and salmon thursday night. Saturday morning I got up and ate:

1 full cup of flax seed, 10 1000 mil fishoils, and a cup of coffee. and took off running.
no sugar, no carbs, no oats, no nothing.

I ran for 1:17 minutes for 8 miles and felt STRONG!!!

question:
WHAT WAS MY BODY BURNING?

That is what the anorexics you see on tv doing - exercising on black coffee which is counter-productive. Did you run for 1:17 minutes or did you run 8 miles? You can pass out if do it for longer.

He ran 8 miles in 1:17. FF is a Iron Man athlete, he's not anorexic

Yeah, 1 cup of flax seeds is hardly an anorexic meal. That's like 800 calories!

800 cals eh? I didn't even consider the calories. I was just thinking eat some fat. so I ate what was alot of clean fat. But doesn't the body burn carbs for energy?

Where would it be taking from, if my digestive system had no carbs in it?



side note- a whole cup of flax seed is not an easy thing to eat

maybe someday we can have a contest--ahhahaa

BUT- my body was running nice and smooth, it felt strong.

Thats interesting. It seems like I remember reading something about doing long duration cardio activity after eating high fat. (good fats) Something about your body learning to use the fatty acids as they break down.

I will see if I can find it, I am sure your meal and the great feeling workout have something to do with each other.

The fact is, you wouldnt be able to run as fast
nor as long if you had have had your glycogen up.

If your body can't burn carbs, it would switch to the next available macro ( probably burn mostly fat ) depending on intensity.

hmm... I am not criticizing- for i have no place- but "what did you say?"

and that avie is cool matt182- 'Once man has experienced flight he will always gaze up to the skies longing to return"- or somethin like that. -- good one.

I dont think using a "switch" is a usefull concept.

it depends on your intensity which one is more predominant.

Id challange you to do a lengthy run with no carbs 24 hours beforehand
and another time doing the same route but with a good carb diet.

See for yourself which one will power you faster and longer

When I do a run, I usually try to do it empty stomach. Maybe 2-3 hours after eating, or first thing in the morning before eating.

I don't know why, I can't manage more than 5 minutes on a full stomach. Let's just say I'll crap my pants, literally. I'll come home sweatier than a madman because I'm running as fast as I possibly can while trying to hold it in. People who see me in this state usually says something along the line of, "Wow, you're working hard." In reality I was running hard because I gotta go.

So to prevent this, I usually eat afterwards.

Also, to get more out of your run, eat something like pasta the night before. I find that I have really high intense energy the next morning, and I am able to run extremely fast and for a really long time.

A good combo is chicken mixed with pasta. This provides roughly 600-800 calories (of course, I'm no longer doing calories counting of any kind), and it fills you right up. Also, having a good whole wheat bread along with it will give you the needed boost the next morning.

Fat oxidation and carbo uitilisation is largely dependent on intensity and training type. For you someone who does alot of long duration training your fat oxidation capacity will be far better than someone like me who trains for power and strength.

This can be illustrated by a v02 max test when someone is hooked up to a metalyser. It can be clearly seen that those who train long distance can go for further in the test using fat as their primary energy source. Those who are prodominantly anaerobically trained may get to a similar point in the test but their vo2 max is lower and they rely on their power to get them through the test. They burn carbs far earlier on in the test and their respitory quotient is much higher than endurance athletes.

This can also come down to fibre type as well.

So in answer to your question I personally believe you will have oxidised fat as your energy source for quite a long period of time. Also if you ran that far then you must have been working at a resonably low % of your vo2max which would lead someone to the idea that your respitory quotient was reasonably low.

I always assumed it was crack

Well, since you can't run for 8 miles non-stop entirely ' anaerobically ' , I'd guess you were burning mostly fat, and to a lesser extent - glycogen. And, it's likely a small % of your total calories burned during the run came from protein as well. Generally speaking, the longer you engage in non-stop exercise, the greater proportion of your energy needs are met ' aerobically '.

btw - doesn't a cup of flax seed have about 50 grams or so of carbs ?