Triathlon Nutrition

Triathlon Nutrition Hand Out: 

During my time spent working with Embrace Sports Running and Triathlon camps www.embracesports.co.uk I have been asked to share my thoughts on Triathlon Nutrition with Ironman in particular focus. Here is a hand out that I created to pass over to people after the talk that has a few useful tips and formulas that I have researched from numerous on line sources.

 I always start my talk with these words which you should definitely take on board: Race day nutrition is in many ways just like racing itself. If you don't practice, train and perfect it then you are just leaving it to luck on race day. Cut out as many variables as possible for you race day, nutrition and transition are two of these which should have been locked down months in advance. Work out what is going to work best for you using this sheet a long with other info and then train with that nutrition on your key sessions and tweak accordingly. Don't leave anything to chance!

Top Tips:  

• Research the nutrition that is being provided on the course and try it out before hand. Even if you don't plan to use it, you will want to know it has no adverse side effects.  
• Find out where each nutrition station is situated and what is provided at each one as in some races this varies.
•  Practice having your pre race evening meal and race day breakfast on your key session days and find out if they sell that food at or near your race venue as you may be in a different country. Plan accordingly.
• Don't over do your carb loading, during your taper you are dropping the volume of training and your body will have no problems topping up your glycogen stores. Extra weight gained during your taper will not help on the run!!
•  If you are going to use caffeine experiment with it first. Plus, to heighten its effects cut down on caffeine the week before your race.
• Freezing your energy bars the night before can stop them congealing to early. 
• Cut up your energy bars into the right portions so you know what you are eating and when.
• Shift off solid food for the last hour of the bike leg in order to prepare your stomach for the run.
• If you are having GI issues during the race do not keep cramming food down as it will most likely reappear! The reason may be down to several things but more often over heating. Sip water keep things steady and allow your stomach time to settle.

 

Useful Formulas:

Calories You Can Consume per Hour During an Ironman/Half Ironman Bike Leg:  

2 calories per pound of lean body weight. So an example would be a 160 pound male (72kg) with about 10% body fat (144 pounds lean body weight), that equates to 320 calories per hour that he can consume. Bear in mind this is a guideline, we are all a little different. Plus with practise, you can train your body to absorb more calories during exercise.

For the run drop that amount by 20-30%.

Calculating Your Sweat Rate:

The goal is to see exactly how much dehydration you incur during your workout and in turn, determine your hourly fluid replacement (how much you need to drink). When you are done with this homework, you will have a hydration target that you can perfect in training and use racing.

1. Empty you bladder and record you weight (nude or swim suit)

2. Pre-exercise weight = ___________ lbs.(A)

3. Do your usual workout, and drink like you normally would.

4. Record the approximate volume of fluid consumed during exercise.

How much you drank = ___________ fluid ounces (E)

5. Towel dry, empty your bladder and then record your weight (nude or swim suit).

Post-exercise weight = ___________ lbs.(B)

6. Subtract your post-exercise weight from your pre-exercise weight to get the number of pounds you lost during exercise.

Weight lost = _____lbs.(A) - ______lbs(B) = ________lbs.(C)

7. To find out how many fluid ounces of water you have lost,

multiply pounds x 16 _____lbs(C) x 16 = ________ fluid ounces of water you lost during exercise (D)

8. To determine hourly fluid replacement needs, add number of fluid ounces you lost during exercise (D) to the number of fluid ounces you consumed during exercise (E) and divide by total number of hours spent training.

(_____fluid ounces (D) + ___fluid ounces (E)) ÷ ___hours =_____fluid ounces needed each hour

Conditions that will increase sweat rate include heat, humidity, and elevated heart rate (high intensity training). Athletes should measure sweat rate across several workouts to determine their fluid replacement needs in various environmental conditions.

On race day, based on the forecast, the athlete than can go back to their log and know exactly what fluid they need to plan on ingesting to prevent performance declines associated with dehydration. Deaths have occurred when the air temperature was less than 75 degrees F (24 degrees C) but the relative humidity was above 95%. Humidity levels over 75% will contribute to an increased risk of heat injury.

*Note that a factor of 1.2-1.6 can be multiplied to hourly replacement needs when heat & humidity (>75%) are extreme.

This is a key component to any athlete’s performance.

Caffeine Calculation:

1 to 3 mg caffeine per kg body weight, this depends on your sensitivity to caffeine. For a 68 kg (150 pound) athlete, that equates to a range of about 70 to 210 mg of caffeine per 5 hours.

http://www.ironman.com/triathlon-news/articles/2011/01/using-caffeine-to-improve-athletic-performance.aspx#axzz2xTM0PXUO

Powermeter Calculations:

I  know this isn't nutrition however If you are lucky enough to own a powermeter for your bike I would strongly recommend reading this article as it will help you plan for your big race.

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/how-to-cheat-by-using-a-power-meter-in-an-ironman

Coming Back From Injury: Doing the Right Things and Staying Positive.

You know that really great feeling you get when you start to see all of your hard training efforts paying off? You are in great shape and everything is looking good for that big summer event. Then, out of nowhere you get cursed with the I word. No matter how big or small the injury, it effects us all the same. In March this year I was taken off by bike by a careless driver - through no fault of my own I was left with one broken collarbone and numerous broken dreams. 

 

Well that was what I thought. This happened 6 weeks ago and I am happy to say with plenty of rest, nutrition and a positive attitude - I am pretty much fixed. I can run, cycle and even swim - still holding off on the bench presses at the minute though! I wrote this blog to share a few ideas and examples of things I did in order to aid my recovery.

 

My Top Tips To Recovery: 

1. Rest Up. Yes its obvious but remember, your body has sustained major trauma and needs to recover: stress and fatigue will all hinder recovery.
2. Keeping the injury in the correct position. I know this sounds basic, but keeping your arm in the sling (in my case), sleeping in the correct position and eliminating movement early on all helps the healing process.
3. Make sure you are getting plenty of the right kind of calories. Your body needs extra energy to fix the broken bone(s) so don't cut back on the good stuff. Eat well, eat healthy.
4. Cut back on alcohol and smoking. OK this is a nutrition blog and I shouldn't need to tell you this - however both of these WILL negatively impact on the bone healing process! That being said one glass of red wine is not going to hurt and may lift spirits. Apply common sense.
5. Get in the nutrients. I started my days with a smoothie containing kale, spinach, half a small avocado, almonds, Alpro coconut milk, a teaspoon of wheat grass and spirulina, a few frozen berries and a date for sweetness. My thinking was to pack in the leafy greens early each day.
   
6. Supplements. I also supplemented with vitamin C and calcium which are proven to help bones repair as well as a multi vitamin pill and some omega 3 capsules.
   
7. Grilling your medical professional on when you can start rehab and what to do. If you want to come back quickly from injuries you need to start rehab as soon as you can. In my case I started very easy exercises after two weeks and gradually progressed. Sometimes doctors will be too cautious, if you think this is happening seek other options.
8. Stay positive, research recovery stories, speak to people who have had this injury. Positive/proactive people will heal faster.
9. Do your own research. I spent hours looking at nutrition, exercise tips all in order to speed my recovery. It's amazing what you can find out there.
   
10. Try to use this time to recover from whatever you were doing. I was training for an ironman and thus had go from heavy training to no training. Don't fret though, sometimes a bit of rest and a change is good for your body. So try to see the positives wherever they may lie.
11. Finally I am aware I may have been lucky, however when faced with a 50/50 chance of whether the bone would fuse I did everything I could to ensure the 50% was on the favourable side. It was - and I didn't need an operation.  Maybe be this was sheer luck or maybe I influenced this a little by doing the right things. All I can say is YOU are in a position to influence your recovery and so do all you can and let your body and the professionals do the rest, and keep those fingers crossed!