Nutrition guidelines for triathletes

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

Maintaining an adequate fluid and food intake during a triathlon is as much an art as a science. Experienced triathletes will tell you the best way to prepare your gastrointestinal system for the fuelling challenges of the triathlon is by practising eating and drinking during cycling and running under simulated triathlon conditions.

Every triathlete has his own special nutritional requirements that must be established through trial and error. Novice triathletes need to understand that if raisins work for one athlete, they may have the opposite effect on another, so the wise triathlete will try a variety of carbohydrate-rich foods and fluids to establish their personal preference and tolerance.

In addition, the triathlete also needs to determine how much food and drink he can handle without adverse side effects. All of the following questions need to be answered and written down for future reference.

The triathlete has to establish the following:
•    Which sports drinks and liquid meals work and which don’t
•    What different flavours of sports drink are palatable and how often they should be changed during the event to prevent flavour fatigue
•    What foods you can stomach and what makes you feel nauseated
•    What pre-race meals you can tolerate and give you the biggest boost
•    The best carbohydrate-loading protocol for you
•    How much you can drink and tolerate without liquid sloshing around in your stomach
•    Whether salt tablets prevent hyponatremia for you, or if they further dehydrate you
•    Whether you can tolerate defizzed soft drinks to get a caffeine boost or if they wreak havoc with your blood sugar.