Fueling Endurance - Nutrition for Runners, Cyclists & Triathletes

An incredible story from Spanish pro triathlete Eneko Llanos. After several years struggling to finish Ironman races, Eneko was finally able to determine the cause of his gut problems, put the appropriate strategies in place, and got back to the top of his game. We discuss this, how trial and error didn't work for him, and what's involved in assessing it properly.

A very common and frustrating issue, especially for runners and long-course triathletes. We're doing this one in-house given it's Steph's area of expertise. We unpack the actual causes of gut issues during exercise, why trial and error rarely works, how to figure out the cause, and what to do about it.

Our athlete perspective this week with Chris Ord who wears many hats - an outdoor/adventure journalist, founder & original publisher of Trail Run Magazine (Aus/NZ), race director, adventure running tour guide, and trail runner in his own right. We also finish with an easy guide for assessing the credibility of scientific information, to help your BS detection skills.

At the heart of many of our podcast topics/questions is confusion, misconceptions and misinformation. We chat to Dr Tim Crowe about why there are so many mixed messages in nutrition science, the role of the media and social media, and tips for developing a good BS detector. Tim's also a marathon runner, so we chatted about his own experience and what he learnt from experience that science couldn't teach him.

Our combined athlete perspective episode for the last two topics. Marathon runner and dual Olympian Jess Stenson joins us to discuss the evolution of her preparation for hot races, from the 2013 Moscow World Champs, to the 2016 Rio Olympics, the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games & the follow up Gold Coast marathon a few months later.

The 2nd half of our chat with Prof. Ollie Jay (University of Sydney). We cover myths, facts and sucessfully used cooling strategies from professional sport, whether you should drink or pour water over yourself, the difference between actual cooling & the perception of feeling cooler, and heat acclimation.

Is it genetics? Body fat? Or completely random? Prof. Ollie Jay (University of Sydney) joins us in a fascinating discussion about how our bodies figure out how much sweat to produce during exercise, why it varies so much between people, as well as from day-to-day within the same person. A bit technical in parts, with an easy-to-digest summary at the end.

Australian distance runner Julian Spence joins us to talk about his experience running the marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019, a hot race run in the middle of the night. We chat about his approach to hydration for the event, watching fellow competitors need medical assistance in the women's race a few nights prior, and what it's like training on a treadmill next door to a fish n chip shop!

Dr Lewis James (Loughborough University, UK) joins us to discuss what has often times been a highly controversial topic. Lewis is a senior lecturer at Loughborough and has conducted some of the world's only blinded hydration and performance studies. An awesome discussion about the controversies and difficulties in hydration research, why there hasn't been more studies in the area, and some practical considerations to get you thinking about how you hydrate for your next event.

In our athlete perspective episode, pro triathlete Emma Jeffcoat joins us to discuss her journey as it relates to matching her nutrition to her training demands. We also chat to Emma about her goals for next year's rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, and her love of Biscoff!