Episode 259 - How 5 Masters Triathletes Fuelled the Hilliest 70.3 in the World

What does it take to fuel the hilliest 70.3 in the world?

Six Triathlon Nutrition Academy athletes lined up at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France on 12 and 13 September 2026. A 1.9km swim in the Mediterranean, 90km on the bike with around 1190m of climbing, a long grind up the Col de Vence, an 11km technical descent with both hands on the brakes, then a flat half marathon in the baking French sun along the Promenade des Anglais.

One day after the race, five of them sat down with me to talk through what they did, what they would change and what they would tell you if Nice is on your bucket list. Most of them are masters athletes racing in the 60 to 69 age groups. Not one of them raced on the same nutrition plan.

Joining me are Kathleen Gilton, Kelly Estes, Stephen Duquette, Stanford Skelton and Daniel Walker.

WHAT YOU WILL TAKE AWAY

• Why the athlete who was most afraid of the bike had the best ride of her life
• How bike choice and gearing change what you can carry, and when you can actually drink it
• How to ride light on a long climb without under-fuelling the back half of your race
• What it takes to run a hot half marathon with no cramping, four years after cramping nearly ended a triathlon career
• The race week mistake that cost a well-prepared athlete 20 minutes on the run, and it had nothing to do with training
• Why six athletes on the same course, in the same heat, all fuelled differently and all got it right

Links:

Check how well you’re doing when it comes to your nutrition with our 50 Step Checklist to Triathlon Nutrition Mastery

Start working on your nutrition now with my Triathlon Nutrition Kickstart course 

It’s for you if you’re a triathlete and you feel like you’ve got your training under control and you’re ready to layer in your nutrition. It's your warmup on the path to becoming a SUPERCHARGED triathlete – woohoo!

Connect with me: 

To learn more about the Triathlon Nutrition Academy, head HERE | dietitianapproved.com/academy

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Episode Transcription

Episode 259: How 5 Masters Triathletes Fuelled the Hilliest 70.3 in the World

Welcome to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. The show designed to serve you up evidence-based sports nutrition advice from the experts. Hi, I'm your host Taryn, Accredited Practicing Dietitian, Advanced Sports Dietitian and founder of Dietitian Approved. Listen as I break down the latest evidence to give you practical, easy-to-digest strategies to train hard, recover faster and perform at your best. You have so much potential, and I want to help you unlock that with the power of nutrition. Let's get into it.

Add transcript in here

Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions or want to share with me what you've learned, email me at [email protected]. You can also spread the word by leaving me a review and taking a screenshot of you listening to the show. Don't forget to tag me on social media, @dietitian.approved, so I can give you a shout out, too. If you want to learn more about what we do, head to dietitianapproved.com. And if you want to learn more about the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, head to dietitianapproved.com/academy. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to helping you smashed in the fourth leg - nutrition!