Kelsey HigginsonSports Nutrition Coach and Founder at Clutch Day Coaching

to my endurance athletes…

19 Nov 2024 · 1 min

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In this brief talk, the speaker addresses runners, cyclists, and other endurance athletes, using a fire‑starting analogy to explain the body’s energy systems. Simple carbohydrates are likened to kindling—quick‑burning, high‑intensity fuel suitable for pre‑exercise and during‑exercise bursts—while complex carbohydrates are compared to logs, providing slower, sustained energy needed throughout meals. The speaker advises athletes to consume 60–100 g of complex carbs per meal, citing examples such as oats, whole grains, and potatoes, and recommends simple carbs like fruit, honey, or maple syrup for rapid energy before or during training.

Chapters

Runners, cyclists, endurance athletes, make carbs your best friend. All right, the energy systems in our body is kind of like starting a fire. So here's a little fire lesson for y'all. When you're starting a fire, you need kindling. This is kind of like the grass and the small twigs, the dry stuff that burns fast and it burns hot, but it doesn't last that long. To keep that fire going, you need to put bigger pieces of wood on it, like logs. There's two different types of carbs that do different things. One is the kindling and one is the logs. The kindling is the simple carbs. Simple carbs are like your fruit, honey, maple syrup. It burns fast and it burns hot. It's quick and it's awesome during, for pre-training and during training or pregame and during game. But you need the logs to have sustained energy. So the logs come in during your meals. Every single meal you wanna be getting at least 60 to 100 grams of complex carbohydrates. This is going to be your oats. This is going to be your whole grains. This is going to be your potatoes.