Can My Cori Cycle Keep Up With My Bi-Cycle During Paleo-Fueled Endurance Sports?

“It’s not the questions that you solve in life that really matter, so much as the questions that you ask, but beware the hemlock as others might not see it that way.”

by FitOldDog today, but I’m sure someone else has said it, too!

Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by!

If you decide to change your diet or exercise regimen you would be well advised to try to understand what is going on, especially if you have a metabolic challenge such as diabetes. Improved mind and body awareness for better health is more about asking questions than it is about finding answers, odd as that might seem – it means that you will have a conscious approach to life.

Having adapted well to a Paleo Diet, low in carbohydrates (no corn, potatoes, rice, bread or pasta), but high in non-starchy vegetables and some fruit (mainly berries), with the odd glass of red wine and some dark chocolate from time to time, I feel full of energy and training is going well. But I have this niggling doubt. Can my cycling muscles obtain enough energy from the recycling of lactate in the Cori Cycle? Maybe it’s not an issue as I don’t train or race anywhere near my lactate threshold, but it is a question worth considering.

The long descent into Keene after climbing that first long hill – I know it well and I get excited about this race every year.

I’m not going to answer the question as I normally would have when I had a regular job, with a crude mathematical model based on hundreds of hours spent pouring over the literature. I’m just going to test it on the Mountains of Misery 200-kilometer bike ride in May and the Lake Placid Ironman in July. Even then, if all goes well and my muscles are happy, I won’t be sure that I can attribute my effective ‘Paleo muscle function’ to the Cori Cycle, as muscles also likes to burn free fatty acids and ketones.

Is there a biochemist out there who would kindly answer my question about whether the Cori Cycle is a limiting performance factor during Paleo-fueled endurance sports?

-k @FitOldDog