Early Season Sport Nutrition Tips

For several decades, extensive scientific research has focused on what and when to eat before, during, and immediately after exercise to enhance the adaptive response to exercise.

For example, prolonged exercise depletes muscle glycogen storage and breaks down muscle tissue, which increases the risk for fatigue and immunosuppression (greater risk for sickness). Consuming carbohydrates and protein within ~30-minutes after a workout can help you build muscle, store energy, and minimize tissue damage. Unfortunately, nutrient timing is a confusing nutrition topic because most strategies conflict with the “healthy” nutrition advice given by experts regarding weight loss and management. As an example, a fitness enthusiast may be told to restrict dietary carbohydrates around exercise to lower insulin levels. This can help with fat loss. However, insulin is a powerful anabolic hormone and with the help of carbs, it plays a vital role in transporting amino acids, fatty acids or glucose from the blood stream into cells.

Although sport nutrition advice may appear “unhealthy,” implementing smart fueling practices around and during your workouts is critical for your health and performance. It can reduce the risk for sickness, fatigue and injury so you can achieve faster results, improving strength, speed or endurance, while staying consistent with exercise.

To help master nutrient timing, here's a simple nutrient timing worksheet that I created. 

Simply fill it out the day before your upcoming workout(s) to plan out your pre, during and post workout nutrition. To save paper, you can laminate it and complete on a day-to-day basis with a dry-erase marker. 

ACCESS THE WORKSHEET HERE.

The role of sugar in an athlete's diet

Over the past few years, carbohydrates have endured an extreme amount of backlash. Labeled as unhealthy due to a link to obesity (and contributing to many other metabolic diseases and health issues), it's understandable why so many endurance athletes fear carbohydrates. With so much negative attention placed on this one macronutrient, it's easy to assume that carbohydrates are the enemy and will negatively affect body composition, health and performance.

To help clear up the confusion, endurance athletes have two different styles of eating:
-Sport nutrition
-Daily nutrition

Your daily diet provides the foundation to optimize health. This diet is rich in wholesome (real) foods, fiber, quality proteins, heart-healthy fats, and slow-digesting carbohydrates and contains a large amount of fruits and vegetables. Your daily diet is the vehicle to help you maintain a healthy (realistic) body weight, reduce the risk for disease/illness and optimize quality (and longevity of life). An optimal diet is made of many inter-related parts that constantly need adjusting based on your lifestyle, activity regime and health needs. To maximize your nutrition, your daily diet should be well-planned and personalized to your lifestyle and health needs. 

On the other hand, your sport nutrition diet focuses on optimizing performance. Certainly, you can't out-train a poorly planned diet. For your sport nutrition diet to work, you must have a solid foundation of daily nutrition to keep your body in good working order. To optimize performance, what you consume (food, drinks) before/during/after exercise can enhance the adaptive response to exercise.

Unfortunately, sport nutrition is a confusing topic because many strategies conflict with "healthy" daily nutrition advice given be experts in regards to optimizing health and body composition.

For example, on Sunday morning I consumed over 1000 calories worth of sugar. OK, so it wasn't straight-up sugar but the sport nutrition products I consumed over the course of 5 hours and 45 minutes of riding 103 miles (and over 12,000+ feet elevation) included different forms of carbohydrates - glucose, fructose and maltodextrin. I am a strong advocate of utilizing sport nutrition products during training sessions - all year long - as I feel it's a vital component to maximizing performance and keeping the body in good health. 

Because all carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars (which are then absorbed into the bloodstream), carbohydrates are a very important and readily available source of energy. It would be unwise (and potential unhealthy) to not take advantage of the many sport nutrition products available that are scientifically formulated (and easy-to-consume) to support the human body during endurance and/or intense physical activity. Certainly not all sport nutrition products are the same - product selection and application is critically important. 

Eating too many refined carbs in your daily diet - such as the sugars found in candy, soft drinks, refined grains and processed foods - does not optimize health. These foods are easy to access, easy to overconsume, taste delicious and aren't too filling - it's easy to eat more of them then needed. And truth be told, the nutrient poor options like candy and soda - supply empty calories with no nutritional value so they technically aren't necessary in the diet.
(I'm not against any foods and I don't believe in an off-limit food list.... even empty calorie foods can be enjoyed responsibly on occasion. I enjoyed 1/2 can of a coke during 6-gap :) 

For endurance athletes, attention should be placed on the daily diet and on sport nutrition. There's a role of sugar in an athlete's diet and it comes in the form of sport nutrition. 

Although sport nutrition advice may appear "unhealthy," implementing smart fueling practices before, during and after your intense and long workouts can maximize performance and health. While added sugar (not the foods containing natural sources of sugar like dairy, fruits, veggies) should be minimized in the daily diet of an athlete, special considerations and attention should be given to the sugar/carbohydrates, sodium and fluids that your body requires to support your training demands.

Sadly, many athletes tend to underfuel in training and overeat outside of workouts. This is not health promoting or performance enhancing. By understanding the difference between your daily diet needs and your sport nutrition needs, you can improve performance by staying more consistent with training, reduce the risk for injury/sickness and maintain a healthier relationship with food and your body.

For more information on this topic:

Nail your nutrition with these 3 simple tips (article)
Essential Sport Nutrition (book)
Making sense of sport nutrition advice (blog post)

Common Race Day Nutrition Mistakes

I didn't think that I would be writing a blog post about race day nutrition in 2020 but here we are, just two sleeps away from our first triathlon race of the season. Although it's September (which would be viewed as late season racing in years past), it's surreal to think that this will be our first triathlon race in 11 months! 

While not every race day nutrition mistake is a limiter to performance, athletes are quick to place the blame on nutrition when a race day performance doesn't go as planned. 

Here are some common race day nutrition mistakes that may compromise your race day performance (and health): 

• Overfueling - With pressure to perform at your best, it's understandable that you want to optimize performance. With this comes a need to fuel - a lot - in an effort to offset a slow down. Overfueling before and during the race can leave the belly uncomfortably full and cause lethargy. It's understandable to fear running out of energy during the race but overfueling can cause massive GI distress and nausea. Far too many athletes underfuel in training and overfuel on race day. Remember that the gut needs to be trained to tolerate sport and daily nutrition in large amounts (ex. carbohydrates) and overconcentrated sport drinks will not give you more energy (they simply sit in the gut, undigested). Trust what worked in training. Practice your race day nutrition regularly in training. If your training nutrition consistently fails you on race day or you have no idea what to consume on race day, consult with a sport RD for help.
  
  
• Excessive sodium or fluid intake - Worried about the hot race day conditions? Worried about your high sweat rate affecting your race day performance? For preventative measures, you may find yourself loading up on fluids and/or sodium before the race, drinking copious amounts of water before and during the race and pound down the salt pills during the race. Although active muscles will generate more heat than at rest and your body has to produce more sweat in order to assist with the evaporative cooling processes, your body has to adapt to these demands to control core body temperature. Simply focusing on sodium and water will not keep your body "cool" and functioning well. While both are important, don't assume that just because you are taking salt pills that your body is receiving the additional sodium or fluid.\. You should have an effective plan for fueling and hydrating on race day (before and during all parts of the race) to ensure optimal gastric emptying and fluid/electrolyte delivery. Additionally, if you know your body doesn't do well in the heat, dial back the effort to prevent overheating.
  
  
• Understanding your body signals - It's great to have a concrete, well practiced race day nutrition plan. While a plan is great going into a race, any successful athlete knows that racing is dynamic and you need to be an active participant during the race. You can't turn into a robot just to match your detailed, excel spreadsheet pacing and nutrition plan. Racing is a process that requires a lot of decision making, troubleshooting and being proactive. As an example, just because you have a low moment on the bike, this doesn't mean that you are bonking. Or feeling low in energy in the first mile of a run doesn't means you need more calories. It's normal to have waves of emotions, moods and energy levels throughout an athletic event. Use your previous training sessions to remind yourself of similar feelings and how you navigated those symptoms. Because many conditions have similar symptoms (ex. dehydration, the onset of a cramp, low blood sugar or blood pressure), it's recommended to consult with a sport RD to analyze your race day nutrition plan before and after a race to help you perform to your abilities on race day.
  
  
• Anti-inflammatory usage - Racing hurts. Relying on anti-inflammatory pills to try to minimize the soreness, niggles, aches and pains that occur on race day is not healthy or performance enhancing. You don't need these pills for preventive measures. I strongly advise to break this habit immediately. NSAIDs (ex. ibuprofen) work to suppress inflammation but attempting to dull the pain/aches of endurance racing, there are serious side effects such as kidney injury (elevated creatinine), blood pressure changes, stomach damage and reduced ability to recover post race. Say no to anti-inflammatory pills and while you are at it, pass on the energy boosters (caffeine pills, energy drinks) as well before the race. Your body will thank you.
  
  
• Upper GI issues - GI issues are very common in athletes on race day. Upper GI issues include belching, vomiting, bloating and heartburn and cramping. Address the possible culprits to these uncomfortable race day issues to reduce the risk of upper GI problems on race day. It's very typical for athletes who experience upper GI issues to suffer from aerophagia (excessive air swallowing), which result when swimming from rapid/ineffective breathing, tense or short breaths (especially while running), eating too fast, drinking carbonated beverages (or chewing gum/sucking on candies), using a straw-based hydration system on the bike and gulping fluids.
  
  
• Lower GI issues - Most athletes have experienced lower GI issues on race day or during training. Passing gas, diarrhea, loose stools, abdominal cramping and side stitches are extremely common, especially during running due to all the jostling of organs. Although not necessarily lower GI related, nausea, dizziness and headache are also common as they can result from poor gastric emptying of sport nutrition, increasing the risk for dehydration and low blood sugar. Typically, athletes who consume overconcentrated sport nutrition products, lack a solid sport nutrition plan to consume well-formulated drinks to optimize gastric emptying, wait too long to fuel/hydrate (instead of fueling/drinking on a schedule) and don't train to drink while running (ex. utilizing a hydration belt/pack) are most likely to suffer from lower GI issues. 
  
  
• Nutrition blame game - Real talk. So many variables can impact your race day performance. Nerves, stress, poor pacing, weather, terrain and so much more. Consider the training that you did and didn't do and assess your current level of fitness and how you can best perform given the race day environmental conditions, the course/terrain and where you are in your season of athletic development. As simple as it may be to blame your performance on nutrition, sometimes nutrition is not the reason why your performance didn't meet your expectations. Endurance racing is unpredictable and requires a lot of training, trial and error and a process-driven mindset. Accept that not every race is going to be great, a PR or a showcase of previous training. Remind yourself that racing is a test of your current fitness but it's also a day (or a few hours) of self-exploration, body appreciation and the ability to work through situations and overcome obstacles. Sadly, you can't blame everything on nutrition. 

Fuel your body in motion

There will come a point in your athletic journey when your daily diet will no longer provide all the energy that you need to support your workouts. Failure to nutritionally adjust your caloric/macro intake to an increase in training volume and/or intensity increases the risk for injury, sickness and burnout.

Sport nutrition recommendations can be confusing as most tips conflict with healthy-eating advice. For example, many athletes workout with a goal of losing weight. Asking an individual to eat before a morning run may conflict with the belief that a fasted workout will burn more body fat. Additionally, nearly all sport nutrition products – like gels, energy chews and sport drink powders – are rich with added sugar. And as we all know, our society already has a problem with over-consuming sugar-sweetened beverages.

However, the nutrition consumed before, during and after specific training sessions is designed to fuel your training sessions, whereas your daily diet supports your workouts and your overall health needs. For individuals training for an athletic event, the foundation to improved performance starts with a nutritionally adequate diet and is closely followed by the strategic timing and consumption of specific nutrients to support each training session.

Every sport nutrition product can fit into a category, with its own specific application during exercise. For example, sport bars are suitable for low-intensity exercise, such as hiking and casual bike riding. The added fat and protein can be satiating as these nutrients are slow to digest. However, at higher intensities on the bike or during a high-impact sport like running, it’s extremely difficult to digest fat, fiber and protein due to reduced blood flow to the gut. Additionally, during running there is an alteration of normal breathing patterns and the physical jostling of organs.

Most endurance athletes will best tolerate sport drinks, gels or energy chews because of their portability, taste and texture and formulation. Gels and chews are easy-to-carry but because both are heavily concentrated sources of carbohydrates, they lack appropriate amounts of fluid and sodium. In contrast, a well-formulated sport drink (ex. Skratch, NBS, Clif hydration, etc.) contains carbohydrates, electrolytes and fluids (all in one gulp) to give you the perfect osmolality to optimize gastric emptying.

In other words, the precise concentration of the drink helps the emptying of contents from the gut, into the small intestines before being taken up by the working muscles. The only caveat is that a sport drink is much more difficult to carry compared to a gel or pack of energy chews. When using a sport drink, you can either use a bottle on the bike (or on the pool deck) or in the treadmill cup holder. But when running, I suggest to “wear” your fuel around your waist or as a backpack while running -as carrying a bottle can throw off your form (your arm needs to be relaxed to swing efficiently with your running gait). Thankfully, hydration belts and packs have improved over the years and most are ergonomically designed to be comfortable and bounce-free. Carrying your own sport drink is protection against early fatigue, GI issues and dehydration. I highly recommend the Naked Running Band. 

Because most triathletes and runners struggle with how to best fuel/hydrate during a run, plan to consume the following within every 30 minutes of running (ideally, small amounts every 8, 10 or 15 minutes) during workouts lasting more than one-hour (or intense sessions more than 45 miutes):

•  ~8-16 fluid ounces (1 ounce = 1 gulp)
• ~12-20g carbs 
• ~120-400 mg sodium 
• Avoid the artificial sweeteners, food dyes and boosters. Keep the ingredient list simple with only sugar, electrolytes and natural flavors. Most sport drinks will be formulated with the above recommendations to make fueling and hydrating simple and effective. Visit your local running/tri/bike store to try different types of sport drinks like Tailwind, Clif, NBS, Osmo and Skratch. 

Fuel smart on the bike - Easy sport nutrition tips

In case you missed it, check out my previous two blogs discussing:
Cycling nutrition: keep is simple
Debunk the myth: Do you need sport nutrition?

EASY FUELING TIPS

HYDRATION

For triathletes, I recommend 1 water bottle cage for every  hour of training, up to 4 cages. Your hydration set-up should be on your bike at all times but certainly this will come in handy for your longer rides. If your bike does not hold 4 cages, you can alter the set-up with a bottle on your aero bars, two rear cages, set up an additional hydration system (ex. bladder if built in on the bike) or have, at minimum, 3 cages and plan to stop in training after 3 hours. I have 4 cages on my bike (2 in the frame, 2 in the rear) and I am very comfortable grabbing the rear bottles and moving around bottles as I am riding. As you can see from Karel's picture below that he has his bottle on his aerobars with computer attached on top of the cage. He only has three cages on his bike. 

GELS

Rather than fumbling with gels, use a gel flask. It's an efficient way to get a swig of gel whenever your want and you can wash it down with water (at aid stations in racing) or carry an extra bottle of water with you in training. 1 gel requires about 8-12 ounce of water to help empty it from the gut so small amounts consumed more frequently is an easier way to get those bursts of energy you are looking for. To practice, I recommend to start with 1 gel per hour, no more than 2 gels in a flask (and fill with water). Your gel intake should be on top of your liquid nutrition intake. I do not recommend to prioritize consuming hourly calorie needs from gels when instead you can simply get a sport drink powder to fill your water bottle to meet calorie and hydration needs. 

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Simplify your fueling strategy. It is extremely inefficient and many times dangerous for you and for others around you to fuel with 2-3 different energy sources during your ride (ex. pills, solid food and water or gels, water, solid food or sport drink solid food and gels). You absolutely need, at minimum water and electrolytes when you ride and typically this is at minimum 20 ounce of water and 400 mg of sodium (100-200mg of potassium) plus electrolytes like magnesium and chloride. But when it comes to the energy that you need to keep your glycogen tank filled, brain staying alert and muscles working effectively, carbohydrates are your best friend and they need to be consumed in a way that they empty from the digestive tract quickly so those sugars can be taken up by the working muscles with the help of insulin. I typically encourage at minimum, 200 calories per hour from a sport drink for longer rides (ex. more than 2 hours) up to 300 calories as a start for men and women. The best strategy for you athletes is to rely on liquid nutrition as your primary fuel. You make it super simple this way to meet your calorie/carbohydrate, electrolyte and fluid needs.  I recommend between 50-75g of carbohydrates per bottle (glucose, glucose/fructose or glucose/maltodextrin/fructose combination).

TUMMY SATISFIERS

Solid food, chewy blocks, beans and pills all have their place in your bike fueling regime but everything needs to serve a purpose (ex. to benefit your effort/experience on the bike) and it needs to be practical in training and in racing in multiple conditions. I find many athletes do really well with a little solid food in the gut, but small amounts at a time. Open your bar prior to the ride in the package and stick in your bento box or jersey pocket so it's easy to consume, immediately when you need it. Have a small bite as needed, every 20-40 minutes. Blocks are also just fine for a little energy burst or different consistency than gel so to make it easy, cut the package in half so you don't have to fumble with a large package in your bento box or jersey as it gets hard to squeeze a block from the bottom of a package. Sport beans (or any small, loose candy) can be challenging to handle and consume at high speeds or on technical courses and many times, it is challenging to get "energy" from these options - so it's likely you are using them as a fun treat. I would learn to pass on these for a safer ride. As for pills, if you are using electrolyte or amino pills (I do not advocate caffeine pills) under the direction of your sport RD, I recommend to create a range of times when you will consume these and just slow down. Always bring extra as pills like to fall out of coin purses, bento boxes or containers or get smashed. 

TRAIN YOUR GUT

Most of all, you need to train your gut to tolerate nutrition on the bike and work your way up in nutrition. It can take up to 6-8 weeks to get comfortable consuming sport nutrition during a workout. Never be afraid to fuel your body while cycling but first you need to get use to consuming nutrition on the bike. Perfect your bike hydration set up and practice using water in a gel flask (sipping and returning to your jersey pocket or bento box). Practice moving around your bottles - this is a great drill for newbie athletes and coaches must understand that many new (or even veteran) triathletes are many times, not comfortable removing their hands from the bars or can't make this a habit if most of the riding is indoors in a controlled environment without gravity and wind affecting the ride. So practice, practice, practice - take  3-4 filled water bottles on your bike on a casual ride to get more comfortable with your bike fueling regime. Practice grabbing things from your pockets, bento box, etc. as you are riding so that you never have to put yourself into a scenario when you are underfueling due to lack of skills/knowledge on the bike. 

EXCITE YOUR TASTE BUDS

My last little secret tip is to change up the taste of your nutrition. This is especially important for the endurance triathletes. . Do not use the same flavor gel on the bike as the run as your taste buds will get very tired of the same taste. For the last hour of your long ride (or in a race), make 1 bottle be different - choose your absolute favorite sport drink and let this be a different flavor then the rest of the bottle flavors in a 3-4 hour ride/race.  Also, if you always get tired of consuming sport drinks and gels during long rides/races, have something that you can chew on once an hour (ex. 30-50 calories of bar or block) that is an entirely different flavor than your sport drink to help keep your taste buds excited. I don't encourage spicy but perhaps something bland or just a different taste/texture all together.