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by _yb2s 745 days ago
There is a ton of research on this… high intensity exercise requires glycogen and cannot be done at the same level without a high carbohydrate intake. It is possible to walk almost indefinitely in ketosis, but it won’t really work for any kind of athletic competition.
1 comments

Years ago I saw some YouTube videos featuring sports folks - from marathon runners, to someone row/paddling across the ocean - all of them being long term (basically permanent) on keto.

And also recently some UK doctors (some of them with diabetes - I mix the types so not sure which one) decided to prove a point by going low carb/keto, while doing long runs daily (about half marathon a day), to be sure they've definitely used up all the potentially stored glycogen.

It's pretty fascinating stuff, and totally doable. I stand corrected on the "any athletic event"- what I said doesn't apply to ultra long duration lower intensity events. Endurance will be higher but peak power outputs lower. For endurance focused events like the ones you described, I could see it being an advantage- everyone will run out of glycogen, but those already keto-adapted won't need to suddenly start trying to adapt during the event.