Endurance nutrition for triathletes -
Switching to water will help reset your stomach by balancing the osmolality. When your stomach is back to normal, switch back to electrolyte mix along with your sports gels. We recommend separating your drinks electrolyte mix and water from your calories in case you become extra thirsty and start drinking more.
This is also why we don't recommend using an all-in-one nutrition strategy. If your stomach gets upset and you switch to water, you'll no longer be taking in any calories and the bonk becomes imminent.
Triathlon nutrition is not all created equal. Adjusting for the duration is self-explanatory, and the differences will be apparent in our nutrition calculator at the beginning of this post. However, there are crucial differences in the proportion of carbs, fats, and proteins that you need to adjust for each workout.
Fueling for speed workouts is all about carbohydrates — carbs, carbs, and more. Instead, focus on the proportion of carbohydrates you eat before and during your speed workout. Speed workouts are typically short, high-intensity workouts designed to improve your speed over a given distance.
Given the high intensity, it can be hard to digest solid foods during a speed workout, so this is an excellent opportunity to practice fueling with sports drinks, energy gels, and electrolyte mixes.
Most speed workouts are minutes long, which means that you technically have all the stored carbohydrates you need to complete the workout. However, this assumes that your glycogen stores are full at the beginning of your workout. That means you need to fuel your speed workout with a carbohydrate-rich meal before the session.
Endurance workouts are defined as low-intensity workouts that are strictly below Zone 2. Check out our guide to Zone training for triathletes in Everything You Need to Know About Heart Rate Training Zones.
The focus of endurance workouts for triathlon is learning to burn fat as fuel. To burn fat as fuel, your body should be relatively low on carbohydrates. This does NOT mean that you should enter each endurance workout depleted.
Instead, you should be fueling with fats and proteins instead of grams of carbohydrate. Before an endurance workout, focus on fueling with minimal grams of carbohydrate such as berries or bananas.
This will stabilize your blood glucose levels while still using fat as your primary fuel source. As long as you strictly exercise below Zone 2, you should never need to worry about bonking. Using fat as a fuel source is one of the most significant determinants of triathlon performance, especially for a long course or Ironman triathlete.
The last category of the training session we have is race-specific workouts. These are workouts designed specifically for your goal race and typically completed once per week.
Race workouts involve race pace intervals and are the perfect opportunity to practice your race-day nutrition. This is the exact effort you will be swimming, riding, or running at on race day, so knowing what your body and your stomach can handle at such an effort is important.
One of the biggest mistakes a triathlete can make is not practicing their race-day nutrition strategy in training. Make sure you nail your nutrition targets caloric intake, number of carbs, etc.
in training to avoid trying something new on race day. This example looks at two different athletes competing in an Ironman and finishing in a time of 12 hours. Both athletes will burn the same number of calories in this simplified example , start with the same number of stored calories, and consume the same number of calories throughout the race.
Using what we know about fat and carbohydrate metabolism, we can see exactly how many more calories from fat the high fat burner uses compared to the low fat burner.
By the end of the race, the low fat burner has a surplus of over 1, calories, putting them at great risk of bonking or ending up with a DNF. You can see the pieces coming together in the above paragraphs. We will put the puzzle together in our triathlon racing and training nutrition plans.
Start by returning to our triathlon nutrition calculator and noting your target number of calories consumed. Once we break down our nutrition strategy, we need to divide our strategy into three different categories of workouts: speed, endurance, and race.
Fuel your speed workouts with grams of carbohydrates before the workout. That could be a bowl of cereal, toast, or pancakes.
Anything rich in carbohydrates to fill up your glycogen stores before the workout. However, we recommend having a sweet-tasting drink that will activate the neuromuscular system and give you a kick each time you take a sip.
When completing an endurance workout, your nutrition goal should be to control your blood glucose levels. Instead, your goal is to burn as high a percentage of fat as possible.
Before an endurance-building workout, consume a meal that is high in protein and fat while low in carbohydrates. For example, you could have an omelette, peanut butter, meats, seeds, or nuts.
Suppose your endurance workout is longer than 90 minutes. In that case, you should be fueling with the same high-fat and high-protein foods at a rate suggested by the triathlon nutrition calculator. Just plug in the workout, time, and details, and you will get the target number of calories to consume.
These efforts should be fueled in the same way as you will fuel your race day efforts, but with some slight modifications. That means a high amount of carbohydrates before and during the workout. When you first start your race-specific workouts weeks before your goal race, your should start at the low end of the nutrition calculator when it comes to taking in your calories.
You will gradually increase this amount each week to help train your gut while also training your race-specific fitness. At the peak of your race-specific training, you may actually be consuming more calories than the target from the calculator.
On race day, you'll actually be able to drop your calories down, and your stomach should be able to handle the race-day calories comfortably compared to what you consumed in training. Similarly to how you increase your training load over time, you should focus on increasing the number of carbohydrates that you can consume each week.
Another key point is that you should consume a high-carbohydrate snack before your race-specific workout. Aim to consume a muffin or bowl of cereal, for example, minutes before your race workout, to ensure that your glycogen stores are completely topped off.
Be careful to avoid overeating or stuffing yourself. Oatmeal, yogurt, crackers, bananas, potatoes, pretzels, applesauce, toast, rice, pancakes, waffles, bagels, jam, honey.
Because of this, there is no reason to eat a huge plate or two of pasta in your pre-race meal. Overindulging on carbohydrates will only leave you feeling heavy, sluggish, and possibly bloated on race morning.
If you prefer your last meal in the mid-afternoon the day before the race, having an early evening snack to top you off around or pm is wise.
Try a bowl of cereal, peanut butter crackers, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, pretzels, and nut butter and a banana, Greek yogurt, or an energy bar and wash it down with water or a non-caffeinated non-alcoholic beverage of choice. If a glass of wine or beer is a part of your regular pre-race routine and helps calm your nerves, enjoy one and save the celebration for after the race!
Regardless of the duration of your event, intentionally skipping breakfast is not a wise move. Research shows that eating before a race improves performance. However, by morning, your liver glycogen is low.
Aim for breakfast 2. Think Smoothies! Breakfast should be mainly carbohydrates with a small amount of protein, and a limited amount of fat since fat takes the longest to digest and clear the gut and can lead to GI issues.
Aim for carbohydrate quantities of There is still time between breakfast up to 20 minutes before the race to top off blood glucose. The key to pre-race fueling is to practice during training to determine what works for you.
Remember — Nothing new on race day! Race Week Nutrition Guide. Every Race Smart® client works directly with sports nutritionist and endurance athlete Susan Kitchen Disclaimer. Search for:. Race Week Nutrition Guide for Endurance Athletes.
One week out: In the taper week of an endurance race, your main nutritional focus is to eat in a manner that best prepares you physically and mentally for the challenge that lies ahead.
Nuun and Now make hydration supplements that provide only electrolytes, which can be a good option if you are ingesting easily digestible carbs along with it, like in this Electrolyte Recovery Smoothie recipe.
GI distress is a common issue for triathletes, but fortunately, playing around with what and when you eat before your workouts can be extremely beneficial in managing and preventing GI symptoms.
Foods high in fat, fiber, and protein, on the other hand, are an important part of your daily diet but take longer to digest and may cause some GI distress if consumed in large amounts too close to a workout. In addition to your macronutrient balance, the timing of your pre-workout fuel is also critical when it comes to optimizing energy levels and avoiding GI symptoms.
Here are some pre-workout meal and snack ideas that put these tips into practice. Keep in mind that energy needs and digestion time vary from person to person, so there will be some degree of trial and error to determine what works best for your individual triathlon nutrition plan.
Additionally, the optimal timing for pre-workout fuel may differ depending on the sport. For example, you may find that a snack consumed an hour in advance sits fine with you on the bike but that you require more digestion time before a swim workout. Decades of sports nutrition research shows that consumption of carbohydrates during endurance exercise is linked with enhanced performance.
This is in addition to consuming a carbohydrate-rich snack pre-workout. Some products that can help you meet your intra-fueling needs include:. The macronutrients to prioritize post-workout are protein for muscle repair and carbohydrates to refuel you. The recommendation for post-workout protein consumption varies according to body size and composition, but around 20 grams is a good frame of reference.
If you want a more precise estimate, use the range 0. Pairing carbohydrates with protein will help your body properly recover and refuel for your next workout.
Carbs also serve a protein-sparing function, meaning that by providing your cells with the energy they need, they enable protein to be used for muscle synthesis and repair rather than for energy.
Here are some post-workout snack ideas that will help you get protein and carbs in quickly and tide you over to your next meal:. The graphic below from our sister site Student Athlete Nutrition shows the components of a balanced post-workout smoothie.
Here are some recipes that provide plenty of protein and carbs:. All of the triathlon nutrition considerations discussed above apply on race day, too, but the most important thing is to stick to familiar foods that you know you tolerate well.
If you usually have oatmeal before morning training sessions, stick to oatmeal — race day is NOT the time to try something new. You can use these training sessions to see how your body responds to different fueling strategies first thing in the morning and see what works best for you.
Some ideas for pre-competition breakfasts that tend to be well tolerated are shown in the graphic below. The same advice goes for fueling during your race — stick to sports fueling products you know you tolerate well, and practice using them in your training sessions.
See the section above on intra-workout fueling for guidance on how much carbohydrate you should be taking in based on the expected duration of your race. Be sure to have a plan for both hydration and fueling.
When it Antioxidant-rich spices and herbs to excelling in endurance sports nuyrition as triathlon, triathlefes or cycling triathletss nutrition Enduraance a crucial role in maximizing your performance Endurance nutrition for triathletes triathleets your Endudance. Whether you're swimming, cycling, or running, your body requires optimal fuel to Endurance nutrition for triathletes the energy demands of these activities. In this Endurance nutrition for triathletes post, we'll explore the importance of nutrition in triathlon, running, and cycling, followed by an introduction to the new feature of AI Endurance which provides recommendations for daily and activity specific nutrition requirements individualized for each athlete. With the help of exercise physiologist and nutrition expert Ida HeikuraAI Endurance has developed an evidence based tracking and prediction algorithm to estimate your daily total and exercise-specific requirements. Furthermore, we offer a range of recommended intakes of proteins, carbohydrates and fats depending on your exercise routine. Understanding the energy requirements during exercise is a complex task, prone to errors and variations based on multiple factors [1]. For the triathlon, cycling or running newbie, tiathletes can be quite overwhelming seeing fellow training buddies carrying what appears to be a utility belt equipped with a teiathletes line-up of Immune system defense tools. Endurance nutrition for triathletes, fret nutriion Endurance nutrition for triathletes. This article provides a platform for the ingredients recommended for optimal energy levels and peak performance during endurance training and racing. Put simply, carbohydrates are sugars and starches that fuel our bodies much like gasoline fuels a race car. Each gram of carbohydrate contains ~4 calories worth of fuel. Just like a race car stores its fuel in a tank, the human body stores carbohydrates as glycogen in both our muscles and liver.Endurance nutrition for triathletes -
Athletes can find it difficult to meet their nutritional needs as they juggle training, work and family life. This wide range is due to individual variations in training and energy efficiency in the three sports, therefore a pragmatic approach for age-groupers is to monitor their weight: a stable, normal weight is a good indicator, as long as the weighing is performed regularly once a week in similar circumstances usually after an overnight fast.
Experience shows that variations within 2 kg are not alarming and can be related to the measurement itself, or circumstances such as heavy training or racing the day before dehydration or muscular oedema , a full bowel, alcohol consumption or carbo loading both of which promote water retention.
However, consistent i. at least two weeks in a row weight gain or loss should be taken seriously and trigger corrective measures. Many endurance athletes strive for a low body weight, which they associate with better performance.
While carrying excessive weight can indeed be an impediment, an insufficient body weight, and specifically very low body fat, puts the athlete at risk regardless of their performance level.
These risks include low energy storage, reduced immunity, increased risk of injuries such as stress fractures, general fatigue and suboptimal training abilities, as well as a mental strain to control food intake.
Relative energy deficiency in sport RED-S is the extreme manifestation of insufficient intake, but health issues can happen at any level of food restriction Nevertheless, striving for a low body fat mass has become a prevalent strategy for improving performance among triathletes, despite evidence showing limited impact on performance.
In a sample of participants males, 54 females competing in a half-Ironman, Gilinsky et al. found that, despite a significant difference in percent body fat between the fastest and slowest men, anthropometrics did not predict performance when other variables were taken into account In women, there was no difference in percent body fat between the fastest and slowest groups.
In this study, anthropometric variables had less impact on race performance than expected, similarly to a study on full-Ironman competitors The differences in body fat percentages between the fastest and the slowest group were small In case of overweight however, weight loss can become a priority as long as there is sufficient time to attain this goal safely.
The strategies aiming for rapid weight loss followed by athletes competing in weight-regulated sports would be counterproductive in an endurance event. Moreover, training in a fasted state, or with low energy availability may impair training effectiveness and thus decrease exercise performance the major proportion of the training time in triathlon 5 , Currently, the guidelines recommend between 6 and 10 g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight per day, according to the frequency and intensity of weekly training This allows for optimal storage of glycogen in the muscles and the liver in order to perform the requested training.
Practically, this means that sources of carbohydrates mostly starches should be present during each meal and that snacks starches, fruits or dairy should be used throughout the day to complete the intake 6.
Proper hydration is also of importance to allow for glycogen storage. Strategies for optimal refuelling after training are useful if several sessions take place the same day.
These include the consumption of 1 to 1. When carbohydrate intake is suboptimal, which can be the case due to lack of time, low appetite or the attempt at weight loss, the intake of several smaller portions 6 , as well as the addition of 20 g of protein in the form of food or supplements can increase glycogenic synthesis 20 , However, the depleted state of muscular glycogen after a training session sets the condition for optimal storage, which will take place whatsoever over the next 24 hours if meals including carbohydrates are consumed Most often, the nutritional goal is to start each training session with an optimal amount of glycogen on board, but periodized nutrition is an exception to this rule.
with low glycogen stores this modality may improve metabolic and muscular adaptation to endurance 2 , Many endurance athletes thus perform training sessions after an overnight fast, hoping to increase performances by changing their fuel substrate selection.
In addition, this highly specialized procedure can backfire when it is performed carelessly, by increasing fatigue and risk of injury 2. Athletes, especially those with limited experience, should be warned against a chronically depleted state, which can lead to low energy availability and even RED-S 48 , especially as the marginal gains might not be of great importance for most age-groupers.
The fact is that the intake of sufficient essential fatty acids is necessary for proper body functioning, and that fats contribute in a useful way to the daily energy needs of the training triathlete.
Athletes who limit their intake should devote special attention to the quality of fat sources as to provide liposoluble vitamins and an optimal mix of fatty acids. Insufficient fat intake is clearly deleterious to performance.
But what about high fat intake? Although public health recommendations advise to consume fat in moderation i. The belief surrounding this practice is that, because its effect on improved fat oxidation, a diet with low carbohydrate content will help sparing the glycogen during exercise and enhance endurance as well as performance.
One explanation is the lower efficiency of ATP production from fats vs carbohydrates, increasing the oxygen cost of energy production 5. To sustain nitrogen balance and muscle protein turnover, protein requirements for endurance athletes are higher than in the general population 1.
Larger intakes have no beneficial effect on performance, but a chronic deficit, even slight, can promote fatigue, lower cellular repair and other impairments affecting training quality and performance. Only two consumed 0. It should be highlighted however that more importantly than protein intake per se, sufficient energy intake is required in order to avoid the oxidation of amino acids.
In other words, in the absence of adequate fuel i. carbohydrates and fats , proteins will be wasted to meet the high-energy requirements of endurance athletes instead of used for repair and synthesis In some specific instances, research supports increased protein intake i.
During the two first weeks of training after a break or for beginners to promote muscle synthesis and repair. To optimize recovery in case of suboptimal carbohydrate intake: 20 g of protein can increase glycogen synthesis 3. It is best practice to have a recovery shake or meal within the two hours following your workout.
Still, some research suggests that a minute post-workout window is even better. The reason that you need to refuel right away is that you need to refill your glycogen stores.
These stores give us energy throughout the day and power our muscles through exercise. When you completely deplete your glycogen stores, that is known as bonking. Recovery foods and drinks should also contain protein which assists muscle repair post-workout.
Your post-workout shakes or meals should include a mix of carbs and proteins, plus vitamins and minerals. After high-intensity training sessions, focus on consuming more carbs to refill your glycogen stores.
Following a low-intensity training session, focus on consuming fewer carbs and more protein and fat to help repair your muscle fibers. However, this means that your pre-race fueling is critical. We recommend eating a breakfast filled with carbohydrates hours before the start of your triathlon.
Focus on consuming carbohydrates in this meal, such as oats, cereals, or rice. This might mean waking up at three or four in the morning, but you can always go back to bed after downing a quick meal.
Before the start of your race, you should have a sports gel minutes before the start. The bike leg of a triathlon is the best time to eat solid food during a triathlon. On the bike, focus on nailing your nutrition strategy with calories and carbs with a mix of solid foods, sports drink, and energy gels or chews.
Once you enter the run leg of your triathlon, you should only be consuming energy drinks, sports gels, water, and electrolyte mix. It can be nearly impossible to consume solid foods at this point of the race, so make sure you train your gut and digestive system with liquids, gels, and water.
Again, focus on hitting your nutrition goals based on calories and carbohydrates throughout the run leg. The best practice is to consume sports gels and electrolyte mix as your source of energy during the run leg.
This provides the best ratio of carbohydrates and liquids while being relatively easy on your stomach. It is very common to have stomach issues crop up during a triathlon.
Between the intensity, volume, weather, and nutrition, it can be a lot for your stomach to handle during a triathlon.
These issues are most likely to come up during the bike leg or run leg of a triathlon when you are taking in the most calories. With our recommended nutrition strategy, you should be taking in a mix of liquid calories, gels, chews, electrolyte drinks, and water.
We don't recommend having an all-in-one nutrition strategy where you are taking in all of your calories from one drink or source. If your stomach starts to get upset, switch to drinking water instead of electrolyte mix. Keep up with the energy gels as best you can, as these will provide the necessary carbs and energy to get you through the rest of the race.
Switching to water will help reset your stomach by balancing the osmolality. When your stomach is back to normal, switch back to electrolyte mix along with your sports gels. We recommend separating your drinks electrolyte mix and water from your calories in case you become extra thirsty and start drinking more.
This is also why we don't recommend using an all-in-one nutrition strategy. If your stomach gets upset and you switch to water, you'll no longer be taking in any calories and the bonk becomes imminent.
Triathlon nutrition is not all created equal. Adjusting for the duration is self-explanatory, and the differences will be apparent in our nutrition calculator at the beginning of this post. However, there are crucial differences in the proportion of carbs, fats, and proteins that you need to adjust for each workout.
Fueling for speed workouts is all about carbohydrates — carbs, carbs, and more. Instead, focus on the proportion of carbohydrates you eat before and during your speed workout. Speed workouts are typically short, high-intensity workouts designed to improve your speed over a given distance.
Given the high intensity, it can be hard to digest solid foods during a speed workout, so this is an excellent opportunity to practice fueling with sports drinks, energy gels, and electrolyte mixes.
Most speed workouts are minutes long, which means that you technically have all the stored carbohydrates you need to complete the workout. However, this assumes that your glycogen stores are full at the beginning of your workout.
That means you need to fuel your speed workout with a carbohydrate-rich meal before the session. Endurance workouts are defined as low-intensity workouts that are strictly below Zone 2. Check out our guide to Zone training for triathletes in Everything You Need to Know About Heart Rate Training Zones.
The focus of endurance workouts for triathlon is learning to burn fat as fuel. To burn fat as fuel, your body should be relatively low on carbohydrates. This does NOT mean that you should enter each endurance workout depleted.
Instead, you should be fueling with fats and proteins instead of grams of carbohydrate. Before an endurance workout, focus on fueling with minimal grams of carbohydrate such as berries or bananas. This will stabilize your blood glucose levels while still using fat as your primary fuel source.
As long as you strictly exercise below Zone 2, you should never need to worry about bonking. Using fat as a fuel source is one of the most significant determinants of triathlon performance, especially for a long course or Ironman triathlete. The last category of the training session we have is race-specific workouts.
These are workouts designed specifically for your goal race and typically completed once per week. Race workouts involve race pace intervals and are the perfect opportunity to practice your race-day nutrition. This is the exact effort you will be swimming, riding, or running at on race day, so knowing what your body and your stomach can handle at such an effort is important.
One of the biggest mistakes a triathlete can make is not practicing their race-day nutrition strategy in training. Make sure you nail your nutrition targets caloric intake, number of carbs, etc. in training to avoid trying something new on race day. Some products that can help you meet your intra-fueling needs include:.
The macronutrients to prioritize post-workout are protein for muscle repair and carbohydrates to refuel you. The recommendation for post-workout protein consumption varies according to body size and composition, but around 20 grams is a good frame of reference.
If you want a more precise estimate, use the range 0. Pairing carbohydrates with protein will help your body properly recover and refuel for your next workout.
Carbs also serve a protein-sparing function, meaning that by providing your cells with the energy they need, they enable protein to be used for muscle synthesis and repair rather than for energy.
Here are some post-workout snack ideas that will help you get protein and carbs in quickly and tide you over to your next meal:. The graphic below from our sister site Student Athlete Nutrition shows the components of a balanced post-workout smoothie.
Here are some recipes that provide plenty of protein and carbs:. All of the triathlon nutrition considerations discussed above apply on race day, too, but the most important thing is to stick to familiar foods that you know you tolerate well. If you usually have oatmeal before morning training sessions, stick to oatmeal — race day is NOT the time to try something new.
You can use these training sessions to see how your body responds to different fueling strategies first thing in the morning and see what works best for you. Some ideas for pre-competition breakfasts that tend to be well tolerated are shown in the graphic below.
The same advice goes for fueling during your race — stick to sports fueling products you know you tolerate well, and practice using them in your training sessions. See the section above on intra-workout fueling for guidance on how much carbohydrate you should be taking in based on the expected duration of your race.
Be sure to have a plan for both hydration and fueling. Position water bottles on your bike in advance and decide how you will store any sports gels, chews, or bars during the race. Many athletes tape their fuel to the frame of their bike or use the pockets in their triathlon kit.
If the race is in a hotter climate than you are used to, you will need extra fluids and electrolytes to compensate for increased sweat losses. What about the night before the race?
Is carb loading necessary? Should you eat pasta and nothing else the night before? Yes and no. Balance out your plate with a bit of protein and fat, too. Additionally, consider upping your carb intake for days before your race, not just the night before.
This would equate to roughly grams of carbohydrate per day for an athlete who weighs lbs and roughly 1, grams of carbohydrate for an athlete who weighs lbs.
Endurance sports are increasing in popularity and athletes Carbohydrate metabolism and carbohydrate counting all levels are hutrition for ways to optimize their performance by nutritionn and Enddurance. Although high nutritoon glycogen concentrations at Endurance nutrition for triathletes start may triathletse beneficial for nutrifion exercise, this does not necessarily have to be achieved by the traditional supercompensation protocol. An individualized nutritional strategy can be developed that aims to deliver carbohydrate to the working muscle at a rate that is dependent on the absolute exercise intensity as well as the duration of the event. Gastrointestinal problems occur frequently, especially in long-distance races. Problems seem to be highly individual and perhaps genetically determined but may also be related to the intake of highly concentrated carbohydrate solutions, hyperosmotic drinks, as well as the intake of fibre, fat, and protein.
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