Endurance athletes who want to go hard for longer should start taking their carbs early and often. This sports nutrition tidbit comes from British researchers who published results of a randomized, crossover design study in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. The study showed that when runners consumed 75 grams of sucrose in smaller increments at frequent intervals (5 g every 5 minutes), they were able to run for longer before exhaustion set in than runners who consumed all 75 g at once after 75 minutes. The early-and-frequent approach spared more muscle glycogen during the initial phases of activity, leading to performance gains.

See also: A Case for Carbs Before Morning Training