Train Low Compete High Part 2: Practical Tips

Why even bother with the practical aspects of solving it? If you're a "fair-weather runner" with no training or competition goals, these practical tips will probably just feel burdensome and unnecessary. But if you're one of us who grinds through demanding intervals, keeps going until you hit the wall, or heads out even when you're tired and the weather's against you, then this article is pure gold — it condenses the science from the past ten years into actionable tips. You'll get information that the majority of elite athletes are already using. For more theory, read part 1 here!

The practical conclusion is that most endurance athletes benefit from periodizing their energy intake rather than always training with or without carbohydrates. Use train low during selected easy sessions to stimulate fat burning, but conduct quality sessions and competition-specific training with full energy stores and energy intake during the sessions to maximize performance.

First and foremost: avoid getting caught up in the intricacies of cell signaling, chasing minor percentages. This signaling system is extremely complex and goes well beyond just PGC1-alpha signaling for enhanced mitochondrial growth. If you want to explore further, studies 2–4 are suggested.

Keto adaptation—referring to the body's ability to utilize ketones as fuel more effectively—takes about 3 to 10 weeks (1). A significant challenge here is that it generally requires dietary changes, additional planning, and an intensified training period with less apparent performance gains during this time (2,3). To make this sustainable in the long run, without feeling like you're hauling a cow on your back, it's better to integrate this type of training into your current routine. Rather than overhauling your entire diet plan, just incorporate training sessions that naturally lead to more efficient fat utilization. Let us show you how!

That's what it truly comes down to! You want to find the optimal balance to become awesome at using fat as an energy source, without compromising your training quality. Right?

Why: When we wake up in the morning, the body has several processes to "kickstart"—hormones like testosterone and cortisol are released at higher levels (in both males and women) to ensure that fatty acids and glucose are readily available in the blood for quick energy supply. Even without breakfast immediately after getting up, the body is ready for physical challenges. The elevated levels of fatty acids in the blood, combined with low insulin levels, create a very favorable environment for teaching the body to use fat as a primary fuel source.

If you seize this opportunity before breakfast and avoid adding carbohydrates, you'll become better at utilizing fat for fuel. Training before breakfast has been shown to enhance performance and stimulate mitochondrial growth, which is beneficial for endurance athletes. Coffee/caffeine is perfectly fine—possibly even advantageous—as caffeine can help offset some of the performance loss due to training glycogen-depleted. However, note that the training should not—and I would say cannot—be high-intensity when your carbohydrate levels are low. Instead, during these sessions, focus on building miles in your legs.

Why not high-intensity work? Because the body generally performs best in the afternoon. Simply put, schedule the challenging, intense sessions for when you're most likely to excel.

Want to make the session even more effective? Do your endurance session on an empty stomach the day after a session with tough, high-volume intervals. At this point, your glycogen stores aren't fully replenished because it can take several meals to refill them if they've been significantly depleted. You're already in a somewhat glycogen-depleted state. However, don't overdo it and eat too little after the interval session the night before—food is important for recovery, and after tough intervals, the body needs energy to tackle the training again.

Why: The core idea is similar to morning workouts. There's a time during the day when conditions for increased fat oxidation are optimal (5). The first session (Session 1) should be a high-intensity workout, such as long intervals, fartlek, or threshold training, ideally done in the morning or at lunchtime. The second session (Session 2) is in the evening, preferably 4-6 hours after the first. Session 2 should be a light endurance workout aimed at circulation and recovery. After this session, wait about 40–60 minutes before having a banana or energy drink, opting for a full meal once home. You've now completed a high-quality morning session where you exceeded the threshold, and a session where you've reaped the benefits of training without extra energy, maximizing fat usage and improving muscle recovery from the threshold workout.

Warning: Expect to feel fatigued the next day if you don't recover properly after the endurance session. However, during your base training, this is usually manageable. Two daily sessions can be counterproductive if overdone, so this training should be well ahead of competition time. The intervals in the first session should be threshold intervals over a longer period, not all-out efforts.

So, now you've optimized the train low phase and hopefully improved your ability to use fat as an energy source. With more efficient fat oxidation, fat can serve as a key energy source at higher intensities, bringing you closer to your max. Currently, your fat oxidation is nearly nonexistent at intensities over 80 percent of max, but with enhanced fat oxidation, fat could provide energy up to 85 percent — which can make a significant difference over time.

Max = 270 W, fat burning drops to zero at 225 W. From 175 W (55–60 percent of max), carbohydrates become the dominant fuel source.

Why: These sessions are essential for fine-tuning your body to handle higher intensity efforts with better carbohydrate utilization. It's simple—you don't need to plan your diet too strictly here. Just consume mixed meals containing a bit of carbohydrates, fats, and protein, wait 3-4 hours, and then jump into your high-intensity workout. Your glycogen stores should be fully stocked when you begin, and it's important to ingest a sports drink/gel during the workout. This will train your body to process a higher dose of consumed carbohydrates during exercise, enabling you to sustain higher intensity for longer durations when needed.

If you're inexperienced, start with a smaller dose of 30-40 g/hour and gradually increase your intake over a 6-8 week training period, focusing on quality training. Ideally, you'll handle 60 g/h of regular sports drinks and at least 120 g/h of our sport drink. Individual variations in gut sensitivity exist, so increase the intake gradually and steadily. You might only handle 40 g of a regular sports drink or 80-90 g of ours, or you could be like Andreas Lindén and myself, managing 130-140 g/h before experiencing any stomach discomfort.

Main point—start with a lower intake and increase it by about 10 g/h from session to session over a 6-8 week period. If your stomach is particularly sensitive, begin by just rinsing your mouth with a sports drink and spitting it out—it has a proven positive effect independently.

Why: Train for what you aspire to excel in. Have you heard that saying before? In many instances where you aim to enhance your race performance, practicing at race pace over a similar distance is essential — this applies to your mind too. So, make it straightforward: cycle, run, or ski far and long, or hard and long. Use energy the same way you plan to during the race. Ensure you consume enough to maintain race pace for as long as possible. In these sessions, you'll optimize fat oxidation by depleting glycogen stores, while improving carbohydrate handling as you're consuming them during the exercise. It's akin to a transitional phase between base training and racing.

Adjust the duration of your training based on your race length. For example, if you're preparing for Ultravasan, you obviously wouldn't run any nine-mile sessions before the race — that's too demanding, and the risks increase. For longer races, aim to train sessions that cover up to about 70 percent of the race distance, along with substantial energy intake (e.g., 3 gels/hour).

Warning: These sessions are more demanding because of the high intensity. Don't overdo them, but aim to get a few solid workouts in before the race so you're confident as you stand on the starting line. The mind often allows negative thoughts when facing a completely new challenge. Still, listen to your body and avoid forcing a training volume it's not accustomed to — when you're on the starting line, there's not much you can adjust about the distance; it's fixed. However, you can control how much distance you've put in your legs leading up to the race.

We athletes are always on the lookout for ways to unlock our potential. Keep enjoying your training, and give yourself a boost when needed — with training trips, new gear, and cycling coffee breaks. Endurance sports can be truly addictive.

The Train Low, Compete High approach for ultrarunners, triathletes, and cyclists can be effective because fewer gut issues occur when carbohydrate needs or supplies are reduced. However, this doesn't solve the problem — it merely ignores it temporarily. Resolving the issue involves improving your ability to handle carbohydrates so gut discomfort diminishes. Just ignoring the issue and changing strategies isn't effective problem-solving. Our energy reserves during competition are made up of both fat and carbohydrates, and we can utilize both if we choose.

Fat and carbohydrates aren't opposites; they actually complement each other. If you manage your strategy with train low, compete high, your body becomes more adept at using both fat and carbohydrates as fuel. By focusing only on one aspect — like carbohydrate efficiency — you become overly reliant on carbohydrates during competitions. If they're not available, you're left vulnerable. Concentrating only on fat efficiency makes working at over 80 percent of your max unnecessarily challenging, and you risk not being competition-ready, with potential gut issues and other problems.

If you're good at what you do, you're likely already on the right track. We call this sports evolution: talented athletes are doing a lot right, but evolution suggests you'll make some mistakes along the way and then work to eliminate them (natural selection). Here, we share lessons from the elite, backed by research, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Yesterday, March 26, a study was published with a new approach to train low, compete high. The cyclists completed two sessions a day, six days a week for two weeks, measuring performance and mitochondrial density at the start and end of the period. Participants followed the plate model and consumed plenty of carbohydrates before each session to maintain high intensity. However, during the three-hour rest between the first and second sessions, participants either had a meal rich in carbohydrates (195 g) or very little (17 g).

The results indicate that there was no difference in the number of mitochondria among participants, but the group that reduced their carbohydrate intake between sessions improved their performance more (+33 watts) compared to those who had carbohydrates between sessions (+16 watts).

We can't say much more about this study other than it supports our practical advice for double training sessions a day. Doing double sessions over a period can be a really good method to enhance performance — at least if you're a recreational athlete. How the results apply to more well-trained individuals remains to be seen in the future.