Nutrition

Training for an Ironman? Follow our nutrition guidelines and establish a plan that works for you.

‘The Complete Package’ was a previous TMSM article on sports nutrition in triathlon. It looked at various uses for legitimate sports nutrition supplements in relation to endurance sports performance. The original concept was to rationalise what is actually needed versus what isn’t and then group them into six broad categories: carbo-loaders, pre-event meal supplements, fluids, energy and electrolyte beverages, sports gels, sports bars and post-event recovery products. Here, we revisit the package with a more detailed account. 

Without a shadow of a doubt, every endurance athlete I’ve ever dealt with has had some sort of quirky eating habit. Some have been pretty harmless (a compulsion to eat chocolate every night before going to bed), while others have been somewhat more serious, involving nutritional problems (e.g. eating a large proportion of their total energy intake from sports bars).

As our population ages, one of the more interesting areas of nutritional interest is that of antioxidants. While conducting some nutritional assessments for the exercise physiology lab in Brisbane where I work, I was dumbfounded to note that some clients spend between $300-to-$400 per month in dietary supplements including protein powder, vitamin and mineral supplements and antioxidants.

On a recent trip to Italy, my partner (who is a dietician) and I found it fascinating to look at the manner in which typical Italians eat, compared to Aussies and Americans.

As you’re no doubt aware, triathlon is a pretty demanding sport – three disciplines with the potential to do huge amounts of training until your body is nailed. Train correctly and you can cope with these loads, train incorrectly and within a relatively short period of time you’ll breakdown. Part of training correctly is to ensure you recover adequately before loading your body up once again, and part of that recovery is adequate nutrition.