Fueling Endurance - Nutrition for Runners, Cyclists & Triathletes

Does replacing the sodium lost in sweat actually influence our thirst, our drinking and our hydration? If so, how much is enough? And do we need to measure our sweat sodium losses to give us the answers? In this episode Alan describes his recently published study where ultra-runners replaced 100% or 0% of their sodium losses during 5 hours of running in the heat, and what happened.   The study: McCubbin AJ, Costa RJS. Effect of Personalized Sodium Replacement on Fluid and Sodium Balance and Thermophysiological Strain During and After Ultraendurance Running in the Heat. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2023;19(2):105-115. DOI: 10.1123/ijspp.2023-0295   Fueling Endurance eBook: At over 260 pages, the Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask. Covering the first two years of the podcast, the eBook contains additional insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. Every copy sold helps cover the cost of making the podcast.  Purchase directly from https://fuelingendurance.com/ or search Fueling Endurance on Amazon for the Kindle version.

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) has reached significant awareness in recent years amongst runners, cyclists and triathletes. In late 2023 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released an update to ther REDs Consensus Statement, the first in 5 years. It's based on the growing body of research and experience working with athletes in this area and provides more nuance, new insights and new health and peformance consequences added to the model. We sat down with one of the consensus statement authors, Prof. Louise Burke OAM (Australian Catholic University), for an update on what's new in REDs, and what the authors want athletes to know about it.   2023 REDs Consensus Statement and associated articles (British Journal of Sports Medicine): https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/57/17 

It’s our final podcast of 2023, and the follow up to our 3rd birthday special episode. And as we do each year, we’re going to look back and provide a brief summary of every question we’ve answered on the podcast, from “Should I eat like the pros?” to “What’s the deal with magnesium”, and “How do I work out my fluid needs during exercise?”. So if you’re new to the podcast and don’t have time to go through the whole back catalogue, or you just want a refresher and the key points from this year's episodes, this is the episode for you.   To get a copy of our new eBook, summarising the first 2 years of the podcast, go to fuelingendurance.com or search Fueling Endurance on the Kindle store on Amazon.

From preventing food poisoning to optimising performance. From doctors demanding supplements be added to food, to food being the performance enhancer. In this special 3rd birthday episode, you'll learn how nutrition has evolved in pro cycling in the past decade, and what it takes to feed a team of riders at the Tour de France. Our guest is Nicki Strobel, a performance chef (and now dietitian) who's worked in pro cycling since 2010 (first with GreeEdge and then Uno-X) and seen the transformation in how nutrition is managed within the sport. Find out what the riders are eating, the strangest requests he's ever got, and most importantly, where he was when the GreenEdge bus got stuck under the finish line at the 2013 Tour de France.

Triathlete Jenny Zenker joins us to describe how she manages double sessions alongside managing a major scientific research group at Monash University. From (very) early morning starts, commuting to and from work by bike, and managing the risk of gut issues in the evening session, Jenny tells the story of her journey to optimising her nutrition for these complex training days. Also listen out for a huge announcement about the future of the podcast.

The double-session day. It's common amongst triathletes, but increasingly popular amongst runners and cyclists too. But are you running out of gas in the second session, or even in the afternoon at work? In this episode, Alan & Steph explain the nutrition priorities for double-session days, as well as some practical tips on how to make it happen when you're flat out at work between sessions.

With a single genetic variation, some of us are fast, moderate or slow caffeine metabolisers. So should competitive athletes be doing genetic testing to inform their race day caffeine strategy? Just last week, a new meta-analysis was published that tries to answer this question by bringing together all the studies published to date. Two of the authors, Gabriel Barreto and Dr Bryan Saunders from the University of São Paulo are here to explain their research and the implications for runners, cyclists and triathletes.   Read the research paper: Barreto G, Esteves GP, Marticorena F, Oliveira TN, Grgic J, Saunders B. (2023). Caffeine, CYP1A2 Genotype and Exercise Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Med Sci Sports Exerc. In Press: https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000003313   Read the summary Twittter/X thread: https://twitter.com/Bicycle_Bryan/status/1714311368709460319   Follow Bryan on Twitter/X: @Bicycle_Bryan   Follow Gabriel on Twitter/X: @nutrigabarreto    

Metabolic adaptation, adaptive thermogenesis, metabolic compensation or even metabolic damage. These terms are thrown around a lot online, but what exactly do they mean, how much is science vs hype, and what's the relevance to runners, cyclists and triathletes? Dr José Areta (Liverpool John Moores University, UK) is a researcher and co-author of a recent paper looking at whether the metabolic adaptations to an energy deficit in athletes is different if the energy deficit is induced by increased training load, or reduced calorie intake.   Follow José on Twitter/X: @jlAreta   Watch the talk mentioned from the The Royal Society Meeting in October 2022: https://www.youtube.com/live/hkuktx5FUto?feature=shared&t=17901   Read the accompanying paper: Halsey LG, Areta JL, Koehler K (2023). Does eating less or exercising more to reduce energy availability produce distinct metabolic responses? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 378(1885):20220217.  https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0217   The Energy Stress Meeting at Liverpool John Moores University in September 2022 (José was an organiser and presenter): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyoTPwnnO4j3vpPsjU8AqWmdpYYekfiPw    

In the last episode, Steph and Alan discussed how general nutrition advice may not always be suitable for runners, cyclists and triathletes. In this episode, we chat to distance runner Elise Beacom about her experience coming into the sport, trying to figure out sports nutrition vs general nutrition advice, and what she had to learn the hard way. And what it's like to run a half marathon in North Korea.

Nutrition advice can be confusing for runners, cyclists & triathletes. With a firehose of information coming at you, from general nutrition professionals, sports nutrition experts, and wellness gurus, sometimes it can be hard to pick it all apart and work out what’s relevant to athletes, and what’s not. Today we’re going to look at those general nutrition messages, which whilst sensible for the general population, may be doing a disservice to runners, cyclists and triathletes. We’ll examine where the message comes from, why it might not be the best advice for you, and what to do instead.