Eating the right amount of protein per day is much more important than eating a specific amount at any given meal.

Oatmeal could be a good source of pre-workout carbs for TKD, depending on how quickly can digest it. Oats contain fiber, which will slow carb digestion. This is why we recommend carb sources that have little to no fiber because they are much easier to digest pre-workout.

With that being said, if you’d still like to give oatmeal a try, experiment with around 1.25 cups of cooked oatmeal before one of your workouts and see how it affects your exercise performance. It might end up being a good option for you.

I’m glad to help you out!

I’ve tried ketone salts that primarily consisted of potassium salts, and it was difficult to drink because of the strong potassium taste. I assume that sodium based salts will taste super salty, so you may have to mix it with something else or buy flavored ketone salts to make it more palatable.

Regarding the difference in energy levels between those two runs you mentioned: it may have something to do with having less carbs than usual before your most recent run, but it’s tough to tell. Perhaps if you keep your daily carb intake at certain level you won’t need any extra carbs during runs? I’m not sure, but it could be another experiment worth trying.

If you can, keep us updated with how the ketone-boosting supplements work for you. It’d be interesting to see if they can keep you from crashing or if you still need extra carbs to help you out.

Thanks! Good luck with everything!

Thanks so much Tyler. That does make sense. I just looked up some MCT oil and exogenous ketones powders and I am mostly attracted to the exogenous ketones powders because they had a high content of sodium in it and I think I am sodium deprived when I run. Do you happen to know if the power typically tastes good? If it is tasteless then I can just add it to my water along the way or do should I down a glass before my run? If it taste like protein power then that might suck. I can experiment for sure.

What is a bit odd is last weekend I did 10 miles and forgot my energy chews in the car. doh! But I felt great. Didn’t need any supplements, felt great after, kept a good pace, and I blamed it on the keto diet finally working. I could have never run without supplements before this. THEN today happened….. I ran 11 miles (was actually planning on 12) and by mile 6 I totally crashed. I felt awful. Completely out of energy and it felt like a classic blood sugar crash. I stopped in the store and bought an apple juice (the choices were very limited in this tiny store!). I drank a bit of it, walked for the next 5 min or so and felt better (or at least like I wasn’t going to pass out). Then I dogged it the rest of the way sipping on apple juice. All day I have been out of sorts. I have been in ketosis all week (pretty much for the past 5-6 weeks), maybe a little higher yesterday than normal due to a long work day and not cooking veggies for dinner. Maybe that had something to do with it.

And to answer your question…. yes my running is on top of my kicking boxing. That 30 min workout is still going great and so are my short runs. I have plenty of energy (maybe even more now!). It took a bit to get through but now I feel like a rock star. It’s just these darn long runs. Thanks for the MCT oil and exogenous ketones suggestion. I will give it a try.

Again, what a pleasure it is to get feedback from you! Thanks!

Thanks for the question and the username (just reading “white fluffy puppies” made me smile!).

Have you been doing your weekend runs for the past month as well as everything else, and you are still feeling sluggish during the runs? If so, your body probably had enough time to adjust to keto and is feeling sluggish because it requires more fuel for those longer runs. If not, I’d recommend giving it a couple more weeks to see if your energy levels even out when you run.

If you do need more energy for those long runs, your strategy sounds like a good idea. You can try starting with that, and increasing or decreasing the dose depending on how you feel.

If you’d rather limit your sugar intake, you can also try supplementing with MCT oil and/or exogenous ketones. These supplements will give you a readily available ketone source that can help increase endurance and decrease fatigue but may not help you push for a faster pace.

You can also combine the two (ketone-boosting supplements like MCT oil with simple sugar sources like the energy chews). Theoretically, this can help you run at a steady pace for longer without getting fatigued (Thanks to the help of extra ketones) and increase your pace (thanks to the extra sugars).

These are the options that come to mind and all of them can hypothetically help you in some way. Finding out what works best will require you to do some experimentation while you are training for the half marathons (or just stick to what worked in the past if you want to keep it simple).

Does all of this make sense? If you need anything clarified or have any other questions, please let me know. 🙂

PS: thanks for the great website and all the comments/feedback, they have been very helpful.

I’d just start with a standard ketogenic diet with a caloric surplus and adequate protein. If, after 5-6 weeks, you feel like you aren’t getting the most out of your workout, try TKD and see if it helps.

Sorry, I think I just meant what diet to start with, for a person like me who wants to gain weight.

Do you find that you’re tired with SKD? Usually SKD should do fine for most people who aren’t doing extreme levels of training.