Fuel for the work required.

Once you have made you own copy of the sheet, you can edit the

The best starting point is probably to begin with a day when you can have confidence in the estimate of your carbohydrate availability.

For example, either after a couple of days off training while eating lots of carbohydrates (= high carbohydrate availability)

or after a long-duration glycogen-depleting run with no breakfast before the run and no carbohydrate supplementation during the run (= low carbohydrate availability).

First, estimate your PRE-exercise glycogen level:

Carbohydrate availability =

Normal / High / Low,

High means you have consumed a high carb diet with >6 g/kg/day for the last 3 days or longer, or >7g/kg/day for the last 2 days;
Low means you are on a low-carbohydrate diet (less than 50 g/day) OR are glycogen depleted.
Normal means neither High or Low apply to you.

Approximate VO2max =

To ''estimate'' your VO2max, use this tool -->

https://runsmartproject.com/calculator/

Muscle glycogen level =

mmol/kg dry weight of muscle.

Calculations derived from the work of Jose Areta and Will Hopkins →

Areta and Hopkins. Sports Med. 2018; 48(9):2091-2102.

Next, estimate your POST-exercise glycogen level:

Pre-exercise glycogen level =

mmol/kg dry weight of muscle NOTE: this might be the value you've calculated above or the post exercise level calculated below.

Approximate VO2max =

To estimate your VO2max, use this tool -->

https://runsmartproject.com/calculator/

Exercise duration =

Average exercise intensity =

40% to 60% of VO2max is "Easy" effort, below your aerobic "economy" threshold (~RPE 2 to 4 or HR zones 1 to 2);
60% to 80% of VO2max is "Moderate" effort, below your anaerobic/lactate "fatigue" threshold (e.g. tempo or marathon pace runs, ~RPE 4 to 6 or HR zone 3);
80% to 90% of VO2max is "Threshold", working comfortably hard, around your anaerobic/lactate "fatigue" threshold (e.g. Half-marathon or 10km pace, ~RPE 6 to 8 or HR zone 4).
90% to 100% of VO2max is "Hard" work where you are working above your fatigue threshold (e.g. ~5km pace or ~3 km pace, RPE 8 to 9 or HR zone 4 to 5).
Anything greater than 100% VO2max is "Very Hard" work (e.g. 1-mile pace or faster, RPE 9 to 10 or HR zone 4 to 5).

Carbohydrate ingestion during exercise?

Glycogen used =

mmol/kg dry weight of muscle.

Post-exercise glycogen =

mmol/kg dry weight of muscle.

Calculations derived from the work of Jose Areta and Will Hopkins →

Areta and Hopkins. Sports Med. 2018; 48(9):2091-2102.

👍 You finished your session within the ''glycogen threshold'' of 100 to 300 mmol/kg dry weight.
This will optimise your adaptations.

Interpretation derived from the work of Sam Impey and James Morton →

Impey et al. Sports Med. 2018; 48:1031–1048.

Then, estimate the amount of carbohydrate you need to eat to replenish your muscle glycogen for your next session.

Current glycogen level =

mmol/kg dry weight of muscle.

Target glycogen level =

mmol/kg dry weight of muscle (= level to reach before next session).

You need to eat

grams of carbohydrate between now and the start of your next session.

(Based on the estimate that 1 g of carbohydrate per kg body mass will lead to ~30 mmol/kgDW of muscle glycogen resynthesis.)

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