My Top Tips for how to Lose weight and still maintain energy levels through ironman training - without affecting performance

1. Eat strategically
2. Get a sports Dietitian Approved meal plan
3. Let training drive the change
4. Do it earlier rather than later
5. You shouldn’t be race weight all year
6. Conversely - you don't want big fluctuations of 5-10+kg
7. Slow and steady wins the race
8. Track changes with skin folds -  not the scales
   
   

If you are looking for a Sports Dietitian to help you with training and racing nutrition, learn how you can work with me HERE

TRANSCRIPT

Good morning everyone! Welcome to Coffee and Question! So I had a couple of weeks break there because my voice failed me, it’s still feeling pretty scratchy. So I'll see how it goes today, see if it holds up for me. But I'm sorry about the delay, a bit late – the internet is not working this morning and a bit of carnage going on in our house as well.

I’m definitely a bit...

Today on Coffee & Questions I answered a great question - How do you Carbohydrate Load?

Watch the replay for all of the gold nuggets, or read the quick summary below.

I've been up to my eyeballs in Carb Loading plans recently with everyone doing Cairns 70.3 or Ironman this weekend. A common theme is that nobody has known how to do it properly

Want to know how well you've mastered the skill of Triathlon Nutrition? 

Have you got lots of areas for improvement? 
Are you on the right track? 
Or are you nailing the fourth leg?

Download the ULTIMATE Triathlon Nutrition Checklist and find out!

What is Carbohydrate Loading?

Where you load or store more carbohydrate in our muscles - muscle glycogen

Just like you fill up your car with petrol, you can fill up your fuel tank (glycogen)

This process takes time - 24-48hours

So eating a pasta meal the night before is not going to be particularly useful. 1. it's not enough carbohydrate and 2. the timing...

Today on Coffee & Questions I answered Maggie's question on RED-S

"I Currently have RED-S for the second time while marathon training - is this something I'm prone to?"

What is it?

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S)

The syndrome refers to impaired physiological function including, but not limited to:

• metabolic rate,
• menstrual function,
• bone health,
• immunity,
• protein synthesis,
• cardiovascular health

caused by relative energy deficiency - either by inadequate energy intake and/or increased energy expenditure

We need energy to support:

Daily function, growth and exercise. The body fuels exercise first - so if you're not eating enough to support training, you don't have enough energy to support daily function and this can have long term impact on our health.

RED-S is a continuous spectrum ranging from the healthy athlete with optimal energy availability, regular menses and healthy bones to the opposite end of the spectrum characterised by amenorrhoea, low EA...

Today on Coffee & Questions I talked about race nutrition during the back end of an Ironman, in particular the run.

With Cairns IM only 8 weeks away, now is the perfect time to be perfecting your Ironman race nutrition plan. 

Here are the key points I talked about today:

1. Success in an IM comes from minimal fatigue from the swim and bike

2. The types of foods suitable for running - eating on your feet

3. The importance of practising with on-course nutrition

4. Train your gut! This includes both nutrition AND hydration

5. Do Sweat Testing to understand your individual hydration needs

6. Explore any cramping issues

7. What Caffeine options are there on the run?

8. Don't try anything new on race day!
   
   

If you're interested in Sweat Testing (and are located in Brisbane), register your details HERE to get notified about our upcoming sessions.

Should you eat before exercise? And if you do what should you eat?

Coffee & Questions is back!!

One of the biggest issues faced by the Dietitian Approved crew is fuelling for their training. Today I give you a few key pointers for fuelling before training. When it's a good idea to do training fasted versus when to fuel before training.

Sorry about the poor image quality - on the to-do list this weekend is to buy a new webcam!

If you need help with meeting your fuelling needs, invest in a Sports Dietitian to develop a customised plan for you!

www.dietitianapproved.com.au/services

If you're looking for a more cost-effective option, check out one of our Online Courses for a great place to start.

See you next week!

Taryn

A question I get asked frequently in the clinic – What do I eat before a race?

Generally, I'd suggest organising a specific RACE NUTRITION PLAN for your specific event as everyone is different, but here are a few general guidelines to help you get started...

Pre-Race Meal Timing - How long do you have?

What you eat before a race depends on how long you’ve got to digest and absorb it. If you have multiple hours (for e.g. Byron Bay OD which doesn't start to lunchtime), something heavier and more solid is probably going to be ok.

Compared to a shorter time-frame i.e. 1 hour or less, something smaller and easily digestible will work best. In saying that, everyone is different and you need to figure out what works best for you.

If you know you are a nervous racer and food sits in your stomach for a while, I'd suggest getting up a little earlier to ensure you have something to eat 2-2.5 hours prior to the race start.

Go for a smaller volume but...

Coffee & Questions - 29th May 2020

Today I talked about my fave topic - Triathlon Nutrition!

I often see endurance athletes struggling to manage their body composition. They strive to be leaner so drastically cut calories and then suffer for it with reduced energy levels, poor training performance and increased risk of illness and injury...

I despise the word ‘diet’ and don’t even get me started on ‘detox’. The idea of a quick fix is appealing but unfortunately, there is no magic pill for weight loss... 

Diets are often gimmicky, unsustainable and are not going to provide adequate fuel to keep up with the often-high load of triathlon training. There are some very real consequences to inappropriate weight loss such as altered hormones, reduced immune function, impaired growth and development and don’t forget warped psychological state (Yes, being ‘hangry’ is a real thing).

You’ll notice decreased muscle strength, anaerobic power and endurance capacity; none of which are helpful when training or racing. Success as a...

 
I never thought I’d do an Ironman. Triathlon was just another way to challenge myself – except my challenges just kept getting bigger and bigger! I believe that every race is a learning experience and I try to find new ways to improve when I reflect post-race. Now that I have 2 Ironman’s (IM) under my belt, here are the Top Three things I learnt from and changed between Ironman 1 in Cairns 2017 and Ironman 2 for Ironman Australia in Port Macquarie 2018.

1. Fuel Your Body – In the lead up to IM Cairns, I was not consuming enough food during training to fuel my everyday needs, cue falling asleep at 2 pm during work and lots of hangry moments. IM Australia was much more organised. I followed a periodised nutrition plan from Dietitian Approved to ensure there was...