Nutrition Basics
So you’re new to endurance training and you’re a bit unsure of how your diet interplays with your activity? Maybe you come from a history of training solely for weight loss and fuelling for sport isn’t really something you know about? Regardless, here are some super basic nutrition tips to get you off and running, and make your riding and training more successful and enjoyable.
Food is delicious but also fuel
If you have begin training, you’re probably burning a lot more energy than usual, but that’s no reason to eat a giant pizza every day. While pizza does contain carbs (and is delicious!) many people tend to overestimate their energy requirements if they become too hungry, and not fuelling well around training can lead to becoming extra hungry! While you sure can chow down on delicious pizza sometimes, focussing on making good decisions will put you in good stead for training and recovery.
As such, we should optimise our training by eating well around our sessions, and through longer sessions, and then recovering well after sessions. This usually stops wild overeating in the afternoon and also assists physiological adaptation that we are seeking through training.
2. Carbohydrates aren’t the enemy
If you lived through to 2000s and were health-conscious at the time, you may have developed a deep fear of carbohydrates. While people were into Atkins and keto, endurance athletes have always fuelled with carbohydrates. This is because they’re your bodies preferential source of energy, and you can even store glycogen in your muscles!
During really hard and/or long sessions (>1hr) some extra carbohydrate mid ride may be required as well! Usually 30-40g per hour of exercise up until the volume and intensity gets very high then you may be looking at customised sports nutrition advice. Some options are muesli bars, bananas, energy drink, even lollies.
Doesn’t sound too healthy? Sometimes fuelling for performance can look ‘unhealthy’ (depending on what our values look like!) because easy to digest sources of carbohydrate are often from processed foods. The current world number one (May 2022) female mountain biker frequently posts pictures of training and her delicious, sugary lolly training snacks!
3. Looking after yourself is a 24/7 job
While it’s optimal to stack much of your day’s eating around your training sessions, fuelling also supports your general body functions and immune system, and as such eating well the rest of the time is a pretty good idea. For training we talk a lot about carbohydrate grams and timing, but fruits and vegetables and protein and fat all play an important role in health and recovery. Try and get some bright veggies in every day! Vary your diet; eat lots of different things.
4. Less is not more
Speaking once again to diet culture, a hungry athlete is one that is probably not performing well. There are many physical issues that can arise from underfuelling. Acutely, you may experience the dreaded ‘bonk’ where life feels not worth living, turning the pedals is incredibly hard, you may get typical ‘hangry’ symptoms and feel completely depleted. This can be avoided by fuelling adequately before and during your sessions!
If you’re always hungry, have a big performance drop, or have changes in your hormonal function (or just not sure what do with your diet and training!) always head to a Sports Dietician for customised advice.