To eat or not to eat, before exercise?
Why do some people say you should always eat before exercise, yet others say it’s better to train in the fasted state? Both ideas might be right – depending on the context. This post will …
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Building an Iron Gut – Part II. GI Solutions
In part 1 we talked about the potential causes of GI distress during exercise, now let’s look at some solutions! I like to think of these strategies in three distinct categories; things we can do …
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Building an Iron Gut – Part I. Causes of GI Distress
Imagine your perfect race. You’ve trained hard and went to sleep early for all those months. You have your Roka wetsuit, Zipp wheels, and a bike that is the triathlon-equivalent to the Batmobile. A beautiful …
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Carbs and Running Economy: Data from the trenches
Theories and discussion are nice, but putting ideas/concepts/principles into practice and seeing (positive) change is nicer. I want to share with you some really interesting before-and-after data on diet and running economy in a triathlete. For …
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(Yet another) reason why low carb diets can make you slower
Low-carb, high-fat. Teach your body to burn more fat so you can be more “efficient”, right? No. Low-carb diets ruin running economy. And cycling efficiency. I’ve written about this before: Fat Burning – Why it’s overrated …
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I did Ironman to become a better dietitian (and here’s what I found out)
2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run. While doing a race like this would sound like a terrible idea to 99% of people, as a sports dietitian I work mainly with the …
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Nutrition from Winter to Spring (video)
Nutrition needs for athletes are greatly affected by things like temperature, humidity, altitude, and the length of the workout or race, as well as by the amount of time spent acclimating in a new environment. …
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What’s your running economy? A tale of two runners
TL,DR: Running efficiency refers to a measure of how much oxygen you need to run a given pace. This can vary greatly among individuals, and we can measure it in a lab. The three main …
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Here’s why you need a nutrition plan for your next race
“I’ll just eat when I’m hungry and drink when I’m thirsty.” This is the approach that many endurance athletes, at all levels, take with their fueling. While it may seem sensible at first, there …
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Fat Burning – Why It’s Overrated for the Competitive Endurance Athlete
People often say that fat is your body’s preferred fuel source for endurance sports. This has led to somewhat of an obsession among cyclists, runners, and triathletes to work on improving their fat-burning ability by …
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