Nutrition tips to optimize your evening workout

Do you want to take your health and performance to the next level?

Say hello to NUTRIENT TIMING⏰.

Nutrient timing can be the link that takes you from a good athlete to a great athlete. It can also help with better quality training sessions and reducing the risk for injury and illness.

Nutrient timing refers to the intentional manipulation of nutrients at specific times in and around exercise in an effort to achieve a specific outcome (ex. performance, health, body composition).

Although the definition is simple, the application can get complicated when you factor in workout type, duration, frequency, timing, intensity, purpose and time of the day.

When it comes to nutrient timing, evening workouts can be tough to nail. Knowing what, how much and when to eat before and after the workout can be tricky as you have to be extra intentional with making sure you time your nutrition appropriately before or after the workout.

The upside of an evening workout is that (if timed well) you already have two meals, a good amount of hydration and at least one or two snacks in your fuel tank, which means you get to start your workout with much more energy than you would for an early morning workout (although many athletes think they perform better during morning workouts vs. evening workouts).

Here are a few nutrition tips to take into consideration when planning your evening workout.

Gut Training Tips for Ultra/Endurance Athletes

 

Every sport has its own nutritional considerations. For example, the needs of a 100 meter swimmer are very different than a 10K open water swimmer - even though both are swimmers. The same is true of a marathon runner compared to a long distance triathlete - even though both run 26.2 miles. While nutrition is important for every type of athlete, the nutritional demands of training and racing are different for every athlete and depend on factors such as distances and intensities being performed, as well as on the type of terrain, temperature and altitude. 

With respect to endurance and ultra endurance events, athletes experience numerous physiological stressors which can have significant health and performance consequences. Certainly, proper fueling and hydrating can minimize the risk of issues. From glycogen depletion and dehydration to muscle damage and GI issues, many athletes have a poor understanding of how to fuel appropriately during long distance activity - or intentionally underfuel for fear of gaining weight. 

GI issues are very common among endurance athletes. Symptoms like bloating, cramping, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and reflux are some of the most common reasons why athletes struggle to perform to their abilities on race day. 

The GI (or gastrointestinal tract) plays a very important role in how your body performs on race day. This series of connected organs is the only way to deliver carbohydrates and fluids to the blood during long distance activity. Because the gut is very adaptable, you need to take the time to "train the gut" in order to improve stomach comfort, improve gastric emptying and absorptions and reduce symptoms of GI distress - all in an effort to improve endurance performance. 

To help you train your gut, here are a few key considerations: 

• It can take between 6-10 weeks to improve stomach comfort. You should be preparing for your 'race day' nutrition plan at least 10 weeks out from the event by practicing nutrition similar to race day during your longest training sessions. Start on the low end and gradually work your way up in calories/fluid. You can begin to train your gut by consuming smaller amounts of sport nutrition during shorter workouts to get comfortable drinking/eating while exercising, while also experimenting with different products/flavors. 
• Dehydration makes GI issues worse. Dehydration slows down gastric emptying. Make sure to consume well-formulated sport drinks with adequate fluid. Also, be mindful to adjust your pacing and nutrition intake for hotter conditions (more dilute/electrolyte rich) when the gut will be more compromised due to the heat. Because most athlete underhydrate and underfuel while running, it's to your best interest to use a hydration belt/pack when you run. 
• There are two specific protein transporters (SGLT1 and GLUT5) that allow for carbohydrate absorption. When your sport drink contains glucose, sucrose, maltodextrin or starch, exogenous carbohydrate oxidation peaks ~60g/hr (~240 calories). This is because the SGLT1 transporter becomes saturated. Because fructose uses a different transporter (GLUT5), adding fructose to a sport drink can allow for higher oxidation rates (up to 90g/hr). And research shows that up to 90g of a 2:1 glucose/fructose ratio also improves performance. To increase the capacity to absorb carbohydrates, it's critical that your sport drink has the right formulation. Simply eating/drinking whatever you want, whenever you want is not what it means to "train the gut."
• A higher carb diet (for ~2 weeks) will result in the upregulation of SGLT1 transporters. Therefore, if you consume a low carb diet and then attempt to train the gut with a high amount of carbohydrates, the higher carb intake will not be well absorbed. Additionally, a keto diet may impair the muscle's ability to use glycogen for oxidation, compromising the use of a more economical energy source when the oxygen supply becomes limiting when effort exceeds >80% maximal aerobic capacity.
• You can't blame everything on sport nutrition. Pre-workout/race fat/fiber intake, highly concentrated carb solutions (ex. putting 3-4 hours worth of nutrition in one bottle), poor pacing, poor terrain management, jostling of organs, posture, inefficient movements, stress/nervous and redistribution of blood flow away from the gut and to the skin and working muscles may cause GI issues. 

Because research (and real life evidence) shows that carbohydrate, fluid and sodium intake during endurance activity can result in faster performances due to less fatigue, training your gut is necessary if you want to minimize GI issues while maintaining optimal energy levels during your event. 

If you've had negative experiences with sport nutrition, you are not alone. But don't let these experiences stop you from consuming the fuel that your body needs to stay healthy and to perform at its best. Remember - your body is very adaptable. Like training your muscles, you need to train your gut. 

Sources: 
https://www.gssiweb.org/sports-science-exchange/article/training-the-gut-for-athletes

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5371619/

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP278928

How to fuel for a training camp (or train-cation)

Disclaimer: Neither Campy nor I encourage the consumption of alcohol during a training camp.
Truth be told - I don't never drink alcohol. 

Although your racing may be on hold, your training shouldn't stop. More so, you should still feel the need to fuel your inner athlete...which means incorporating big training days, personal challenges or a heavy training week into your training regime.

Better fueling and hydration strategies before/during/after workouts give you better performances and improved health. It’s that simple. With races postponed, there's no better time than now to start (or to continue) designing and fine-tuning your personalized hydration and fueling plan. Event day is not the time to try the latest sport bar or to invent a new homemade sport drink. Instead, use your big training days and personal challenges (ex. virtual or mock races) to figure out the best sport nutrition strategy for your needs.

While the nutrition you consume during workouts is extremely important, your body performs at its best when you put energy into your daily diet. In other words, well-timed daily and exercise hydration practices will help reduce the risk of dehydration and heat illness, minimize early fatigue, improve central nervous functioning, optimize cardiovascular, digestive and thermoregulatory functioning, enhance recovery, protect the immune system, maintain energy levels throughout the day and make for a more enjoyable training session.

To learn more about what and when to eat before and after a training camp, here are four detailed blogs from Kathleen at Eat Love Triathlon (our Trimarni camp chef) who did a wonderful job explaining the meals and snacks that we consumed throughout camp (and why)....not to mention an incredible job keeping us well fueled and nourished!

Camp Day 1
Camp Day 2

Camp Day 3

Camp Day 4

Nutrient timing for athletes: Pre-workout fueling

For several decades, extensive scientific research has focused on the topic of nutrient timing: what and when to eat before, during, and immediately after exercise to enhance the adaptive response to change physiology.

For example, prolonged exercise depletes muscle glycogen storage and breaks down muscle tissue, which increases the risk for fatigue and immunosuppression. But, by consuming carbohydrates and protein within 30 minutes after a workout, you can build muscle, store energy, and minimize tissue damage. 

Unfortunately, nutrient timing is a confusing nutrition topic because many strategies conflict with the “healthy” nutrition advice given by experts regarding weight loss and health. For example, an athlete may have heard to restrict carbohydrates before a workout to induce higher fat oxidation – or in other words, to promote fat loss. However, insulin – which is released by the pancreas when carbohydrates are consumed – is one of the body's most anabolic muscle-building hormones. It prompts cells to absorb sugar from the blood to use for immediate energy or storage in the muscles and liver and plays a vital role in transporting amino acids, fatty acids or glucose from the blood stream into cells. Additionally, many of the foods that athletes are encouraged to consume before training may be viewed as nutrient-poor.

Although sport nutrition advice may sometimes appear or sound “unhealthy”, implementing smart fueling practices around and during your workouts is critical for your health and performance. The practice of nutrient timing can help reduce the risk for sickness, fatigue and injury so that athletes can achieve faster results, improving strength, speed or endurance, while staying consistent with training. 

Here are a few tips on how you can incorporate nutrient timing into your training regime:

PRE WORKOUT MEAL IDEAS AND TIMING

PRE WORKOUT CARB SNACK IDEAS (~20-30 min pre workout)

PRE WORKOUT TIPS

One topic I’d like to briefly discuss – which I am sure you’ve heard about or tried out – is training in a fasted state. This nutrition intervention (unlike fed training) is designed to enhance fat burning. Sure, some athletes train on an empty stomach due to lack of time or a dislike of training with the feeling of food in the stomach but a good amount of research shows that exercising in a low carbohydrate or fasted state can induce higher fat oxidation compared to eating before a workout – which will promote higher fat burning.

While training with low carbohydrate storage amounts, also known as “training low,” may favor fat metabolism, there’s little scientific proof that this strategy directly leads to performance enhancements on event day. In other words, even if you do lose weight, lean-up or become more metabolically efficient, there's no guarantee that you will become a better athlete (aka perform better) on event race. I often remind athletes that there’s no point in having a lean body if you can’t do anything with it on event day.

It’s difficult to know if this type of dietary manipulation alone directly assists in weight loss or improved performance. Factors such as overeating, grazing throughout the day, poor sleep and workout intensity can potentially nullify the fat-burning effects occurring during a fasted training session. While some athletes may experience a favorable change in body composition or a short-term noticeable performance boost, not every athlete will respond in the same manner. 

Common side effects of training low include fatigue, hunger, sickness, nausea, dehydration, lightheadedness, low motivation and poor recovery. If you are struggling to eat before a workout – for whatever reason – it’s recommend to work with a sport dietitian to develop a strategic plan as to the best time to consume carbohydrates around workouts to maximize the training response.

Remember - the ability to compete high-quality training sessions, day after day, provides the best scenario to boost fitness, prepare for competition and to change body composition. Fasting before a workout may interfere with the ability to train long or hard on a consistent basis. 

Should you avoid berries in your post-workout smoothie?

I've heard some recent talk by athletes of their concerns of a post-workout smoothie containing berries and greens. Athletes are hearing that they should avoid berries and greens for at least 4 hours post workout in order to optimize recovery. The case for avoiding antioxidant rich foods immediately after exercise is based on research saying that "antioxidant supplements seem to be working against the beneficial effects of exercise: Promoting, rather than reducing, oxidative stress." In other words, antioxidants can actually increase inflammation, rather than decreasing it.

As a Board Certified Sport Dietitian, I'd like to share my thoughts on this topic. But first I'd like to say that this is a topic that needs much more quality research before we (nutrition experts) can make a general recommendation to apply to all athletes.

• A free radical is an unstable molecule that’s missing at least one electron in its outermost orbit, which causes it to be negatively charged. Exercise increases the concentration of free radicals. Your body can also be exposed to free radicals from environmental sources, such as cigarette smoke, air pollution, and sunlight. Free radicals can cause “oxidative stress,” a process that can trigger cell damage. Free radicals have been to blame for many degenerative diseases, cancers and advanced aging.
• Antioxidants are substances that inhibit free radicals. Antioxidants supply free radicals with an electron and stop the chain reaction of the free radical stealing elections from healthy molecules.
• As a way to reduce free radical production, we have been told to increase antioxidant concentrations. A well balanced healthy diet should be rich in antioxidant rich foods. We should not be afraid to eat antioxidant rich foods throughout the day.
  
• For athletes, exercise can lead to an increase in free radical production during endurance and anaerobic exercise. For a while, experts were advocating for the use of supplements post exercise as a way to combat exercise-related free-radical to quicken recovery and to reduce post workout soreness. However, research has shown that increased free radical production post-exercise serves as an important signaling mechanism for favorable training adaptations. Most of the research has been on high dosage oral forms of antioxidant supplementation (A, C and E) - not food sources. From this research, it became clear that athletes should not supplement with antioxidants as it may be detrimental to training and performance. There is good evidence that athletes (and active individuals) should not supplement with antioxidants - I agree strongly with this (plates not pills).

Practical applications:

• There are few studies that I am aware of on comparing food sources of antioxidants (ex. blueberries) with the impact on oxidative stress. I don't feel we can yet make a clear statement that all antioxidant foods should be avoided 4-6 hours post workout.
• In research, the doses of antioxidants consumed are usually 10-17 times grater than the RDA. I feel comfortable saying that if you want to enjoy a 1/4 cup of blueberries, a small handful of spinach or 2 strawberries in your smoothie, this should not negatively impact your recovery process.
• To speed the recovery process the focus should start with protein/carbs/fluids/sodium. If this is done correctly, antioxidant rich foods do not need much of a spotlight post workout and can be instead, enjoyed later in the day. I feel comfortable saying that if you have a milk/protein and a handful granola post workout, you can still enjoy a bowl of oatmeal with goji berries and raspberries and not worry about negatively impacting your recovery.
• It can be misleading to say that all antioxidants should be avoided post workout and for how long. If you crave a glass of orange juice after a workout, you shouldn't be afraid to consume it. Putting fear into consuming real food can be troublesome.
• This is also one of those scenarios that we must see sport nutrition applications as "synergy" - we can't blame or put attention to just one nutrient. We don't know if post workout antioxidant supplement combined with protein will hinder performance. Also, different types of exercise induce different stressors in different people. Most studies are just on antioxidants and on small subjects (mostly men).

• I feel the better way to make this recommendation is to say there has been a long-standing belief that all oxidative stress is harmful for athletes. This has led to a widespread consumption of antioxidants. Because antioxidants are among the most commonly used supplements by athletes, we now know that antioxidant supplementation provides no beneficial effects on health and performance. Avoid antioxidant supplements and no need to overemphasize consumption of antioxidant-rich foods post workout.

I hope this helps to clear up any confusion. 

Are you struggling with pre-workout fueling?

Pre-workout nutrition advice is confusing. The main reason for so much conflicting advice and recommendations (to eat or not to eat) relates to conflicting research studies. Because of the many different study designs, using trained, untrained and elite athletes, it's nearly impossible to compare results to prescribe one general pre-exercise fueling strategy.

Interestingly, most athletes will perform better when eating a small snack before an early morning workout - regardless of the intensity and duration of exercise. However, there are reasons why athletes will struggle when eating before an early morning workout - specifically digestive issues and reactive hypoglycemia.

As a Board Certified Sport Dietitian, my practice revolves around helping athletes eat in a way that fosters improved performance in training and on race/event day. At Trimarni, our focus is to help athletes experience athletic excellence without compromising health. Therefore, when prescribing strategies to optimize performance, I'm always looking at ways where nutrition can better help an athlete adapt to training stress, reduce risk for illness and injury and enhance recovery, without compromising mental and physical health.

If you spend time wandering around social media, ask for nutrition advice from a personal trainer, browse through fitness and nutrition websites or listen to/read triathlon/running-centric podcasts or forums, there's a good chance that you've heard a lot of discussion and praise for fasted training. In other words, not eating before an early morning workout is good and eating before an early morning workout is bad.

For the average fitness enthusiast who is exercising without purpose or structure, nutrient timing advice may or may not apply. In other words, eating before an early workout may or may not benefit the fitness enthusiast as it relates to performance because the exercise regime is not designed in a way to improve performance. Therefore, health should be the focus when the fitness enthusiast is determining whether or not to eat before an early morning workout.

However, for the athlete (my population), training is likely systematically designed with careful purpose so that each workout has a clear focus in the road map to an upcoming event. There's likely great consideration for the intensity, volume, reps, sets and frequency of workouts that occur within a week and the goal is to perform consistently well while maximizing recovery between sessions. Nutrient timing plays an important role in how the body adapts to training stress. If this sounds like your type of training, dialing in your pre-workout fueling will likely benefit you when you are asking your body to perform, adapt and recover day after day for performance gains.

As for what to eat around workouts for better results, you are in luck. In my book Essential Sports Nutrition, I wrote three chapters on this topic. Chapter 3 is on fueling before exercise. Chapter 4 is on fueling during and after exercise and Chapter 5 is on fueling on rest days. I include food examples and specific guidelines for each type of workout and when it occurs. All your questions about when and what to eat will be answered in my book.

Despite knowing what to eat or that you would probably benefit by eating something before your early morning workout, there are still reasons why athletes struggle with early morning pre-workout nutrition. In my next blog I'll discuss those reasons in more detail.

How to stop overeating

If you have ever skipped a meal (or snack), you've probably noticed extreme hunger later in the day with a good chance of overeating late into the evening hours. Overeating (and undereating) contributes to low energy and low motivation - neither of which make it easy to reach performance, health or body composition goals.

As it relates to training, anytime you overeat, there's a chance that you will feel uncomfortable and tired - you may even feel guilt or shame. None of the mental and physical effects of overeating will help you perform well in your upcoming workouts, especially if you don't do what you know you should do as it relates to pre and during fueling and adhering to your workout prescription. As an example, skipping meals during the day can lead to low energy before your evening workout, possibly forcing you to skip the workout due to low motivation or trying to perform the workout with no energy in the tank. Eating too much late at night before a long morning workout the next day may cause you to intentionally underfuel (or not eat) before and during the workout because you feel "too full" or you think that not eating will help you burn off the calories you consumed the night before. You may even find yourself working out a bit harder than planned which can lead into poor recovery from an underfueled body trying to work out intensely or for a long duration. Furthermore, overeating contributes to lethargy, sleep disturbances and disrupts a healthy eating regime which can all affect your consistency with training. It's very difficult to meet your energy needs and perform well in workouts when meals or snacks are skipped or overeating takes place at some point in the day.

Yesterday, I came across a great article about overeating and gave a lot of great tips and suggestions on how to prevent and manage overeating. Although it's not geared toward athletes, I find it effective enough to shine light on a topic that affects many athletes: Here's the full article if you are interested in reading it. To summarize the article:

How to deal if you overeat

1. Don't fast or skip your next meal.
   Do make your next meal healthy and satisfying.
2. Don't exercise really hard to "make up for it."
   Do take a walk.
3. Don't try to "detox".
   Do drink a reasonable amount of water.
4. Don't say "screw it!"
   Do think about your next meal. 

How to prevent overeating 

1. Don't label foods as good vs. bad.
   Do remember that there's room for indulgences in a healthy diet.
2. Don't undereat during the day.
   Do spread your food intake out.
3. Don't suffer in silence if you are struggling.
   Do understand your triggers. 

For further reading on similar topics for athletes: 
Holiday eating: What to do
5 ways to make smarter food choices every day
How to eat healthy when dining out

Perfecting your morning eats around early AM workouts

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and can set you up for a successful (and controllable) day of eating with great mental focus, alertness and energy. 

One of the common struggles I come across with athletes/fitness enthusiasts is how to fuel in the morning with early morning workouts. 

Common concerns:

-Will I gain weight if I eat before my workout?
-I feel like I'm always snacking in the morning and never feel full?
-I have GI upset if I eat before my workout.
-I can't seem to recover from my workout.
-I do well until mid afternoon and then I can't stop eating!
-I'm always rushing to get my workout in in the morning and then get to work (take care of family).

Here are a few of my recommendations for timing your nutrition with your workouts for the early morning workouts (remember - tweak for your own individual needs and goals - log your lifestyle to reflect on what's working/not working):

-I recommend to have a breakfast meal after your workout if you are working out within 90 min of waking.

-I recommend a small snack (if tolerated) before your workout, around 20-60 min before. Water is recommended to help with digestion (8-12 ounces) and coffee/tea is fine as well.

-During your workout, if around 60-90 minutes, water should meet your fluid needs, electrolytes may be needed if you are working out vigorously. There's nothing wrong with 20-25g of carbohydrates if you feel it will help your workout.

-I recommend a small snack post workout, primarily protein (ex. milk, yogurt, egg, protein powder) of around 10-15g before your "real meal".

By prioritizing your nutrition around your workout in the morning you may find that you are more satisfied throughout the morning until your lunch. I recommend to plan a mid afternoon snack. Typically, most people go more than 5 hours between lunch and dinner meals and thus, will benefit from a planned "mini meal" snack mid afternoon to help with overeating at dinner or late-night snacking/cravings. 

Here's a sample of my morning eats on Wednesday morning: 

-5:30am - Wake-up, walk Campy, drink Coffee and glass of water.

-5:50am - 4 ounce organic skim milk w/ 1/2 cup cheerios and 1 spoonful chia seeds (or my other staple pre workout snack is 1-2 WASA cracker w/ 2 tsp natural PB w/ 4 ounce milk for shorter workouts)

6:45am - 3000 yard swim (1000 warm-up. MS: 6 x 300's. Odd swim Desc. Even paddles/buoy recovery. Rest 45 sec in between. 200 cool down). Water during workout.

7:45-8:15am - strength training. Water during workout.

8:15am - 8:45am - get ready for work. 

8:45am - Driving to hospital - 4 ounce skim milk + 8 ounce water + 10g whey protein powder + 1 WASA cracker + smear of nut butter (prepared in morning)

9:30am - At hospital, working. Oatmeal creation which satisfied me until 12:45pm (lunch). I am not one to watch the clock so when I feel like my body is biologically hungry (whether 11:30am or 1pm) I eat. 

This may look like a lot of eating (not complaining :) but Karel and I both make fueling around our workouts (and during) a priority and then once that's checked off, it's time to focus on nourishing our body for immune system protection. We really emphasize making balanced meals and enjoying those meals.

Some of the other benefits of nutrient timing (that we experience and are common for the athletes I work with)
- We are not late night snackers
-We don't experience any type of uncontrollable cravings later in the day or in the evening
-We recover well post workouts
-We don't struggle with energy during workouts (or rapid fatigue)
-We don't experience GI upset during training/racing because of teaching the gut how to tolerate nutrition before/during workouts

FYI: This routine was not developed overnight. It took a lot of tweaking, reflecting, research and trial and error to find what works for me, my goals and my lifestyle. As an athlete and health conscious individual, my goal is to adapt to training and keep my immune system healthy as I live a busy life helping others. When I work with other athletes/fitness enthusiasts, I always focus on the "lifestyle" first and the individual goals. Also, I'm a real food enthusiast as you know but "sport nutrition" has its place. My body recovers best with whey protein and as a high biological protein, it offers more to my body and health than just 'recovery'. Also, for workouts over 90 minutes, I always have a sport drink with me providing at least 25g of carbs and during my IM prep I train with around 250-300 calories per hour during cycling and always run with some type of liquid fuel off the bike (as you may know, I only use fluids/gels with my IM training and racing - no solids). 

To reap the benefits of training and to keep myself healthy, I really enjoy seeing food for fuel and for health.

1/2 cup dy oats

Handful chopped strawberries and blackberries (local)

1 tbsp unsweet coconut shredded

1 tbsp ground flax

1 spoonful chopped almonds

1 tbsp raisins

Cinnamon

10g protein powder (the other half of the scoop of protein from the morning recovery)

Water 

(I typically measure my pre-training snacks to perfect it for race day as to what works/doesn't work but the rest of my meals I just eye ball portions. I provided measurements for you to help you create a good fueling template and then tweak with your individual needs)

This wasn't my lunch today but a delicious creation I made the other night and I thought you'd enjoy it.

1 can tomato basil soup

Additions: A few handfuls kale, 1/2 container firm tofu (cubed) and 1 small package mushrooms. Add 1 can water and your choice of starch or grain (I used basmati rice 1 cup cooked) and cook on low heat for 20 minutes in large pot, covered. 

Top with cheddar cheese and yum....