Keto-Adapted, Carb-Smart: What Actually Helps on Race Day – with Dr Matthew Carpenter & Prof Paul Laursen

Keto-Adapted, Carb-Smart: What Actually Helps on Race Day - with Dr Matthew Carpenter & Prof Paul Laursen

August 15, 2025

Listen to the episode now or find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Show Notes

  1. Adaptation basics: Insulin falls quickly when carbs drop; fat oxidation ramps; training quality often dips in week 1, then rebounds as the system resets.
  2. Race-day fueling for keto-adapted athletes: Keep your usual LCHF diet right to race day; the gain came from a single pre-start carb bolus (~60 g)—not from a 2-day “carb-load.” 
  3. Mechanism lens: Performance lift aligns with stabilising the small glucose pool (liver/blood), not “packing” the large pool (muscle glycogen). 
  4. Intensity myth check: With proper adaptation, short high-intensity work can hold steady; the body leans on fat further up the intensity range than old models suggested. 
  5. Ketone supplements: As a pre-exercise boost, results are mixed to null; the next real use-case is likely recovery/brain—watch that space.

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