Fueling Endurance - Nutrition for Runners, Cyclists & Triathletes

Juggling training, nutrition, and day-to-day life can be a challenge. But throw in the complexities of Type 1 Diabetes, and it’s a whole new ball game. In this special episode to coincide with World Diabetes Day, I'm joined by co-founder of Enhance-d and former head of research at Team Novo Nordisk, Sam Scott. Sam gives us a peek into the world of diabetes management for the endurance athlete. We’ll discuss what Type 1 diabetes actually is, how it’s managed, the impact of exercise, and the innovations in devices and data management that are making life a little easier to make this all work. Whether you’re an athlete with Type 1, a nutrition practitioner, or you’re just curious what it’s all about, there’ll be plenty in this episode for you.   Timestamps: 03:13 - Sam's background and how he came to work in diabetes and exercise 13:07 - What is Type 1 Diabetes and how is it managed? 25:57 - How does exercise affect blood glucose control with Type 1 Diabetes? 35:26 - Giving insulin with a pen vs a pump for athletes 41:38 - 'Closed loop' systems for glucose monitoring and insulin delivery in athletes 45:41 - Does high volume endurance training make diabetes management harder? 50:11 - Sam's role at Team Novo Nordisk (professional cycling team where all riders have Type 1 Diabetes) 56:59 - Tech and data insights, including Sam's role in founding Enhance-d, and the role of AI in diabetes management 1:08:28 - Very low carb diets and the very high carb (during exercise) trend in athletes with Type 1 Diabetes 1:11:33 - The future of nutrition, exercise and Type 1 Diabetes 1:14:13 - Summary and wrap up   Sam's work: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sam-scott-phd-620a97a2/  Sam's book: Empowered: The Science of Exercise with Type 1 Diabetes (available from Amazon) Enhance-d (bringing together data on exercise and diabetes management): enhance-d.com    Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes.  The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.  

The gut microbiome is a term that's thrown around a lot. But what does it actually mean? Is there a particular gut microbiome that's more common in athletes? And should athletes be trying to shape their microbiome to benefit their health or performance?   Timestamps: 02:10 - What is the gut microbiome? 13:50 - What are short chain fatty acids, and what's their significance? 18:00 - How do you determine someone's microbiome? 23:59 - Species vs strain of microbiota 30:08 - Is there an "athletic microbiome" that's common to most athletes? 32:00 - Effect of pre/pro/syn/postbiotics on performance 42:38 - Effect of pre/pro/syn/postbiotics on illness prevention and treatment 45:44 - Effect of pre/pro/syn/postbiotics on gut issues during exercise 52:12 - Practical advice for using pre/pro/syn/postbiotics 55:30 - Bonus round and Monash University study 59:14 - Summary and wrap up   Read the research paper (open access): Gaskell S et al. Gut microbiota and exercise: A systematic review of interventions and evidence limitations. Int J Sports Med. 2025: doi: https://doi.org/10.1055/a-2705-2210    Current study recruiting at Monash University (looking for distance runners aged 18-55): https://www.monash.edu/medicine/scs/nutrition/research/volunteer#Pre-Exercise    Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes.  The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.

There’s been a lack of clear guidelines around how much sodium to take before, during and after exercise, to optimise health and performance. That created a vacuum, which anyone with a vested interest was more than happy to fill with suggestions. But we’re now getting to the stage where we can make some more specific, quantifiable recommendations about sodium for endurance athletes, before, during and after exercise. I had the privilege of being invited to put these recommendations together, so in this episode, I’ll walk you through them.     Timestamps: 02:37 - Do athletes need more sodium on a day-to-day basis? 14:42 - Sodium before exercise 25:25 - Sodium during exercise 44:32 - Sodium after exercise 49:28 - TLDL: Summary 52:13 - Unanswered questions   Read the research paper (open access): McCubbin AJ. Sodium intake for athletes before, during and after exercise: review and recommendations. Performance Nutrition. 2025; 1:11. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s44410-025-00011-9   Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes.  The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.

There seems to be two types of endurance athletes - those who are always getting sick when their training volume increases, and those who don’t. But why? In this episode we investigate the evidence around nutrition, the immune system, and illness in athletes, and come to a conclusion of what you can do to prevent getting sick during those hard training blocks, and bounce back quickly when illness does strike.   Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes.  The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.

Fish oil, or omega-3 supplements, are one of the most widely used supplement among the general population. But there's also been suggestions of specific benefits for athletes.  So what exactly are omega 3’s? What do they do in the body? What foods and supplements do they come from, and most importantly, do the benefits live up to the marketing hype when it comes to health and performance?   Studies/Websites mentioned: AIS Sports Supplements Framework - Fish Oil (Group B): https://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/supplements/group_b/other/fish-oils    Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes.  The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.   Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, TriDot, Run Dot or Humango) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. The new-look Version 2 app has just launched, providing an even better user experience. To get 20% off your first month, go to fuelin.com and enter the code FE20 at checkout.

TrainingPeaks just launched a new set of data fields that promise to give insights into carbohydrate and fat use during exercise - even predicted amounts for planned sessions if enough data is provided. So where did this come from? What is it telling us? How should I use this information? And is it unique, or are there other ways to achieve the same thing?   Studies/Websites mentioned: TrainingPeaks Fueling Insights: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/coach-blog/introducing-fueling-insights/  Rothschild J et al. A Novel Method to Predict Carbohydrate and Energy Expenditure During Endurance Exercise Using Measures of Training Load. Sports Med. 2025; 55:753-774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-024-02131-z    Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes.  The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.   Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, TriDot, Run Dot or Humango) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. The new-look Version 2 app has just launched, providing an even better user experience. To get 20% off your first month, go to fuelin.com and enter the code FE20 at checkout.

If you’ve ridden a bike or run more than an hour or so in your life, you’ve probably considered the composition of what you’re drinking during those efforts. But what actually makes a good sports drink? Is it taste, carbs, electrolytes, osmolality, colouring, or all of the above? And is there actually an optimal drink mix that we should be looking for? Or is that a well spun marketing myth?   Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes.  The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the freshly released Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.   Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, TriDot, Run Dot or Humango) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. The new-look Version 2 app has just launched, providing an even better user experience. To get 20% off your first month, go to fuelin.com and enter the code FE20 at checkout.

Multivitamins. About half of endurance athletes use them. There’s often an assumption that if you’re doing a lot of training, then you need a multivitamin. Or at least you should take one just in case. But is that actually true? Do runners, cyclists and triathletes actually need a multivitamin? And if so, how do you choose? And what should you look for?   AIS Sports Supplement Framework: https://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/supplements   Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes.  The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the freshly released Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.   Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, TriDot, Run Dot or Humango) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. The new-look Version 2 app has just launched, providing an even better user experience. To get 20% off your first month, go to fuelin.com and enter the code FE20 at checkout.

We’ve all experienced that cool mint sensation from toothpaste, mouthwash, or mint flavoured foods before. So when you’re racing in a hot environment, can this cooling sensation change how hot you feel, or even help you perform better? And is there any downside to this? Or like a lot of things in science, is it maybe not that simple?   Podcast Guest: Dr Erica Gavel-Pinos - University of Alberta, Canada.   Erica's online presence: X: @EricaGavel LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/erica-gavel/ Instagram: @gavelerica   Papers mentioned: Meta-analysis of menthol mouth rinsing: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-024-00679-8 Erica's study of menthol in thermoneutral conditions: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16071016 Erica's study of menthol in female athletes: https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2020-0414   AI in sports nutrition paper mentioned: Solomon T & Laye M. (2025). The sports nutrition knowledge of large language model (LLM) artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots: An assessment of accuracy, completeness, clarity, quality of evidence, and test-retest reliability. PLoS One. 20(6):e0325982. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325982   Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes.  The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the freshly released Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.   Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, TriDot, Run Dot or Humango) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. The new-look Version 2 app has just launched, providing an even better user experience. To get 20% off your first month, go to fuelin.com and enter the code FE20 at checkout.  

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming many people's go-to for answers to their sports nutrition questions. It has a knack of taking your question, exactly as you asked it, and providing what seems like the perfectly relevant answer. But is AI really providing the answers you’re looking for? Is it telling the truth? And if not, how can you tell?    Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes.  The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the freshly released Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.   Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, TriDot, Run Dot or Humango) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. The new-look Version 2 app has just launched, providing an even better user experience. To get 20% off your first month, go to fuelin.com and enter the code FE20 at checkout.