Episode 189 - Long Ride Fuelling: 5 Real Food Ideas from a Sports Dietitian

Long Ride Fuelling: 5 Real Food Ideas from a Sports Dietitian

Let's be honest – choking down another gel at hour three on a long ride isn't anyone's idea of fun. 

If you’re done with flavour fatigue, you’ve been struggling with nasty GI issues or you’ve crawled home like a zombie after bonking mid-ride, this episode is for you.

While gels and sports nutrition products have their place, they're not the only answer to fuelling your long rides. Fuelling doesn’t have to be expensive or gut-destroying. There are loads of real food options that taste amazing and keep your energy up from start to finish. Today I’m sharing five of my go-to real food ideas for long ride fuelling.

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

See behind-the-scenes action on Instagram: @dietitian.approved

Follow along on Facebook: @DietitianApproved

Join our FREE Dietitian Approved Crew Facebook group

Enjoying the podcast?

Let me know what you loved about it and what you learnt by tagging me @dietitian.approved on Instagram!

Episode Transcription

Episode 189: Long Ride Fuelling: 5 Real Food Ideas from a Sports Dietitian

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.

[00:00:00] Taryn: Welcome back to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. I'm your host, Taryn Richardson, advanced sports dietician and semi-retired age group triathlete here to help you unlock your nutrition so that you can train harder, recover faster, and smash whatever goals it is That you want to try and achieve today, I wanted to dive into one of the most common questions I get from triathletes when it comes to fueling on their long training rides. So what real food can I eat on the bike? So if you've ever felt sick of gels and sports nutrition products by, you know, hour three or more, or you've bonked mid ride, and.

[00:00:39] Crawled your way home, feeling like an absolute zombie, or got the SAG wagon, or really just struggled to find easy portable options that actually work for long sessions. Then this episode is for you fueling your long rides. Definitely doesn't have to be boring. It definitely doesn't have to be expensive because holy Jesus, it is getting so expensive to fuel with some of the more common gel products and sports nutrition products on the market at the moment.

[00:01:08] It also doesn't need to be gut destroying, which so many people I know struggle with. There are lots of real food options that not only taste really good, but give you the fuel that you need to ride strong from start to finish. So I'm gonna be sharing five of my go-to real food ideas and including some practical tips.

[00:01:30] To help you make them work in your training. Plus, I'm also going to give you a little sneak peek to my Fuel Your Adventure Recipe book, which is packed with recipes designed exactly for this kind of thing. And if you wanna take your nutrition to the next level, keep listening right to the end today because I've got something exciting coming for you in July that you won't wanna miss.

[00:01:54] Let's do it.

[00:02:15] Okay. Welcome to today's episode. All about fueling long rides. So I'm talking about the 3, 4, 5 plus hour sessions where fueling right can either make. Or break your day. So some really common issues I find with people on their long training rides are GI issues, whether that is just from the wrong foods or the wrong fueling target, or just too many gels, which is very, very common.

[00:02:43] Getting sick of. Sweet sports nutrition products all the time because we really don't have much in the way of savory options. So just that sweet overload that by the time you're out there for a long period of time, it just gets so horrible and your tongue gets manky and you just get horrific flavor fatigue.

[00:03:01] Feeling flat or bonking mid ride is a huge one that a lot of people struggle with, and of course, being smashed for the whole rest of the day after a long training session or or training ride specifically where you are needing to nap it off or you're rendered useless and you can't function.

[00:03:20] You're stuck on the couch watching Netflix or reading books, or some people can't even keep their eyes open and just need a, a big nap. That is not. Particularly useful. It's not a very efficient use of our time, and if you experience any of those things, and it tells me that there's something wrong with your nutrition that you need to get fixed.

[00:03:40] So today's episode is very practical. It's evidence-based as always, because I'm an evidence-based practitioner and I'm going to share some real food strategies from working with hundreds of triathletes over the last. Two decades. I'll also share a sneak peek into my Fueler Adventure recipe book to help you mix [00:04:00] up your fueling game.

[00:04:02] Now before we dive into my five real food ideas, I really wanted to zoom out quickly and understand why fueling long rides properly is so important. When we talk about long rides in triathlon, I'm specifically and typically referring to anything sort of two or three hours.

[00:04:22] Plus, once you've hit that threshold, fueling becomes essential. And it's not something that is then optional. Now, why is that? That's because we have a fuel tank that only stores a certain amount of fuel. We store our carbohydrate or our fuel in our muscles and our liver as glycogen.

[00:04:44] Now that is not infinite. It's not going to keep going forever. That fuel source can only last around 90 minutes if we are training it sort of moderately hard intensity exercise. If you are going slower, it'll last you longer, and if you are going harder, then it'll last you even less time than 90 minutes.

[00:05:06] But that's a rough ballpark. Based on the literature of some cyclists that ran at a. Set intensity, they hit the wall or bonked at about 88 minutes. Actually, not quite 90, but everyone is different and we burn different types of fuel at different intensities, slightly differently. So you might be really reliant on carbohydrate at that intensity, whereas other people are.

[00:05:30] Much more easily able to use fat as a fuel source. So around 90 minutes is a ballpark. It's not an exact cutoff. It's not gonna be like you get to 90 minutes in your eye and you're like, oh, that's it. It's all over Red Rover. I've hit the wall, I'm done. You might be able to go for longer than that and you also might be able to go shorter than that.

[00:05:48] So just wanted to set that proviso because one of the benefits of being a practitioner is I, I understand the research I. Can apply that science to [00:06:00] you as an individual, and then how do you actually do that practically? And I think that's a leap that a lot of the internet doesn't kind of make. So once your glycogen stores do start to run low, you'll experience that dreaded like bonk or hidden in the wall sensation where your energy tank is.

[00:06:17] It's not empty, but it's definitely red lining. Your legs are gonna feel like concrete and your brain gets foggy. You don't make good decisions. You get a bit tingly, sometimes a bit hazy. I say all of those things 'cause I have done this myself I'm sure if you've experienced it also, you know exactly what it feels like, but it is not a good thing.

[00:06:39] It is where our ability to hold any kind of speed goes out the window and while you are technically training and you know. Riding in a low glycogen state, you are not actually performing to the best of your ability. And that might be okay in some training sessions, but if you are planning to race soon or you're building towards something, then that is definitely not what we wanna achieve.

[00:07:05] And not many triathletes have much of an off season, to be honest. So you're probably racing sometime in the near future anyway, so we don't wanna be doing that. It's also a horrible experience and it's gonna take you a long time to back up and recover again if that has happened to top back up your glycogen fuel stores and you've also compromised your immunity by doing that and your recovery.

[00:07:29] So you've definitely put yourself on the back foot if that is happening. If it's happening regularly, then holy bejesus. You need to do something pretty rapidly to fix your nutrition because that is not okay.

[00:07:41] If you consistently under fuel these sessions, you're going to have poorer training adaptations. You're going to feel exhausted and excessively fatigued in the multiple days following. And like I said, just before your immune system's compromised, your gut function is compromised Your hormones are compromised as well, and [00:08:00] all of that stuff is not good when we're training for three sports. So that's why you need to really strategically fuel your long sessions, to train your gut, protect your body, and ensure your training is not just long, but also really high quality as well. And that's where real food can come into play.

[00:08:19] Because while sports products like gels and sports strengths are really useful and. We need to be using those things most often. It's really common to get sick of the sweet taste of them. When we only have sweet products, there's a lot of products that are coming that are much more low flavor profile, which is helping, There's nothing really in the commercial sports product range that is kind of savory. You might also experience GI distress and upset From concentrated products after multiple hours on the bike, and that tells me that you're not using the right product for you, or it's the wrong amount, or you haven't mixed it properly or all sorts of things, but something's not working.

[00:09:01] If you're getting GI distress from concentrated products, real foods also really good if you just wanna mix. Things up, you know, shake things up and change the taste, change the texture, uh, and also I guess get the benefit of nutrients as well. But here's the catch and the caveat to all of this is that not all real foods are created equal when it comes to the bike.

[00:09:27] We need options that are like easy to digest, carbohydrate. We definitely want. Low fat, low fiber, low protein generally, because all those things slow down the digestive process. We don't wanna be having too much of any of those things. And then the other thing to think about with the bike, which I affectionately call the rolling buffet, the portables that you take.

[00:09:50] Still need to be packaged or prepared in a way that is bike friendly. Okay. It's not gonna fall apart in your Jersey pocket, or you can't open it [00:10:00] because your fingers aren't working and so it's bloody useless anyway. Or you know, it's, it's melted and it's gone everywhere. There's lots of different things that we could use on the bike, but just logistically, they're way too hard.

[00:10:12] So that is. Exactly the kind of thing that I work with my athletes inside the Triathlon Nutrition Academy I can teach you some of those things through resources like My Fuel Your Adventure Recipe book, because it's not just about eating any food on the bike and crossing fingers and hoping for the best. It's about choosing the right real foods that are going to fuel you properly and help you perform in that session.

[00:10:36] That's the ultimate goal, right? So. As a sports dietician and triathlete myself, I see so many athletes making the same common mistakes. In their long bike sessions and then wondering why they feel smashed and depleted. For days afterwards. I did this myself. I used to do a hundred K rides, and if I had have known back then what I know now, I would've done my nutrition so differently compared to what I struggled with.

[00:11:07] I used to ride with the boys. They were way too fast for me, but it made me a better athlete. And there are so many things that I would love to go back and do to get the most outta sessions like that. So these mistakes I have done personally, I see them over and over and over again, even in experienced triathletes.

[00:11:25] And they can be really easily fixed if you know what to look for. So the first one is overlying on sports nutrition products only. I've definitely seen a movement. Away from commercial sports nutrition products in the last five years or so. But then there's also a movement to them where people are using only liquid nutrition and having everything in one bottle as like a one stop shop.

[00:11:51] And it's really easy to fall into the trap of thinking you have to fuel every long ride. The same with your gels or your chews or your sports drinks or [00:12:00] whatever. And. While those products have their place, they're not the only option and they can get pretty monotonous, which we, you will find after four hours or five hours of drinking the exact same thing.

[00:12:15] Now, some people do not care at all. They're totally fine with the same flavor, texture, whatever, for hours on end. It's just like a, means to the end. But other people really struggle with that. So. I want you to just think more broadly around your fueling strategy. If, if something's not kind of feeling right or if you're getting a bit sick of stuff or you are rolling with a liquid only plan and you're getting to the hour four mark and you are just done with it, then I want you to rethink your whole strategy because there are plenty of ways to skin a cat, so to speak when it comes to fueling on the bike.

[00:12:52] Over time, if you're doing this stuff that's not really working for you, like obviously the, the longer you're out there for, the worse your digestive process is gonna get. And if you are over fueling or under fueling, then GI issue is a major problem that we can, I. Overcome. It's not something you have to live with forever.

[00:13:11] Also, flavor fatigue is a big one, which I've mentioned just so much sweet that there's lots of tips and tricks that we can do to, to combat that and kind of shake things up so you're not getting so sick of it. And that GI issue, flavor fatigue stuff, all of that is generally more problematic the longer you go. So you need to make sure you're using the right sports nutrition products for you, the commercial ones, so that we're not building up like our bucket or our stomach with all of this fueling that's not actually going anywhere.

[00:13:44] The second mistake that I commonly see is choosing the wrong types of real food, which we're gonna dive into today. So. While we have athletes that swing the direction of only commercial sports products, gels, sports drinks, liquid only, that kind of [00:14:00] stuff. There's athletes that swing the complete other end of the spectrum and only do real food, and that's it.

[00:14:06] And they try fueling all of their long training sessions like riding and running with options that. Aren't serving them particularly well. They're not designed for the demands of endurance training. So thinking things like really high fiber or nut dense bars, um, heavy trail mixes or protein balls that don't have the right ingredients in them.

[00:14:30] Things like that aren't going to digest very quickly and will honestly sit like a bit of a brick in your gut. And it's not until you're pushing the pedals for multiple hours that you probably start to feel. The negative effects of having the wrong types of foods, you'll be able to get through the first few hours.

[00:14:47] Okay? But I'm talking long rides here, you know, hour three, hour four, hour five, hour six, all of that stuff, what you do in the early hours of your ride sets up the back end. And so the whole plan is really important because. Long ride fueling is not about getting as much fat and protein in as you can.

[00:15:07] It's about easy to digest carbohydrates that are combating all of the gut issues and flavor fatigue, things that can occur. Number three is not packaging your food properly. Which leads to piss poor performance. I love a bit of alliteration, but you can have the perfect homemade snack or recipe or whatever it is, and if you haven't actually thought about how you're going to carry it or package it and those logistics from the bike, then you're probably going to struggle, Like sticky rice that just falls apart or, bars that just crumble and you take a bite and they disintegrate everywhere. Or things that get soggy or melt when they've been out in your pocket for a long time with your body heat. or they might get rained on and water gets into your packaging and the whole thing's just a mess.

[00:15:54] Or things that are just impossible to open when you're riding at 30 ks an hour because your fingers aren't [00:16:00] working or you've got. You know, thick winter gloves on, you can't get into stuff with your teeth. So we need to make better decisions around foods that are portable and durable and easy to eat while you're moving.

[00:16:13] When it comes to all sorts of things, like commercial products are generally designed with that in mind, but if we're going to layer in some real foods, then we need to start to think about the practicalities of that too. Number four is forgetting about that flavor, fatigue and variety and just stick 'em with the same thing all the time.

[00:16:31] One of the biggest complaints I hear from athletes is that they just get sick of sweet foods after multiple hours doing it. So introducing some savory options, changing textures, any of those sorts of tips and tricks that we talk about in TNA can make a massive difference and help you be more consistent with your fueling through those long rides rather than.

[00:16:51] Not doing much and then trying to chase your tail and then really tapering off in the backend as well because your guts aren't feeling very good. So that is something that I always encourage my athletes to trial in training and well before race day as well, so that if they wanna race with something that is not a commercial sports product, a gel or a sports drink or something like that, it's, it's all well practiced and well rehearsed.

[00:17:15] It's not something new that we're trying on race day, I had once had a nine man athlete. Have a fully dialed in race nutrition plan, but then got distracted by older athletes and decided to grab a banana on the bike. Course she'd never had bananas before In race simulation type scenarios, and it did not end well unfortunately.

[00:17:37] And you know, her run was horrific. So anything that you're going to race with or randomly grab from an aid station because you might have a hankering for it, then you wanna make sure you are. Definitely practicing that in training. And finally, the fifth kind of common mistake I see when it comes to this is not actually matching your fuel to the intensity or the duration of the [00:18:00] ride.

[00:18:00] It's really important that you do that because not all long rides are created equally as well. And that is some of the problems with having a set. Target or fueling for, you know, liquid only nutrition is that this is your serves per hour and this is what it is. If you are doing a low intensity aerobic ride, your strategy for fueling is gonna be different to a race pace simulation ride and session.

[00:18:24] So we need to be able to pull our levers for fueling rather than just blanketly having this one set plan that we do for all the things, like we need to be way smarter than that. So. Your early riding fuel might also look different to your backend riding fuel. You don't have to have the same thing going on for the whole ride, particularly if you're out there for six hours. So understanding how to periodize your fueling to the session is something that we deep dive into.

[00:18:52] Inside the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, but I wanted to give you some quick tips today and some quick wins with some real food ideas that I'll share soon. So let's get into the fun part. My top five Real Food ideas for long rides. There are plenty more that you can go, but here are just five to get started so you're not overwhelmed.

[00:19:12] And if you wanna implement something, you can go away and prosper and do that straight away this weekend. So. All of these five options are easy to digest carbohydrates. They're going to be low in fat, low in fiber, low in protein, and tested by athletes on long rides. So they all actually feature with recipes and some prep tips inside my Fueler Adventure recipe book if you wanna explore them in more detail.

[00:19:37] First up is an old school classic from the Pro Peloton, the rice cakes, they are light, they're easy to eat, and you can flavor them however you like, sweet or savory. What I love about rice cakes is that they're basically just sticky rice bound together with a secret ingredient giving you really fast, absorbing fast acting [00:20:00] carbohydrates That aren't being blocked by much else to slow their digestion. They're perfect for long, steady state aerobic rides, and the recipe for how to make them is inside the fuel adventure recipe book number two is energy balls, and there are loads of flavor combinations and options that you can go here. This is.

[00:20:21] One of my personal favorites and one of my athlete's favorites as well, because they're small, they're portable, they're easy to eat on the move, and they do honestly come in endless flavor variations. Inside the FIA Adventure recipe book, I've included eight different recipes to make with some of my favorite flavors like lemon.

[00:20:41] That would be my all time fave. There's ginger, banana, peanut butter, chocolate mint like mocha. There are so many options in there, and they are the ultimate mid ride snack, giving you a little boost of carbohydrate when you need a pick me up, but also something that feels like super tasty and super delicious as well.

[00:21:01] I have an athlete that does 24 hour mountain bike racing, and he uses these as his sole fueling strategy plus another sports drink concoction that I helped him create. He's on the bike all day and all night, and so they're super easy to use when you're on the fly. My pro tip though, if you make any of these, is to keep them like really bite sized so that they're easy to chew and swallow pretty quickly.

[00:21:27] 'cause no one wants to be wrestling with a giant bliss ball hurtling past at 30 Ks. Now Number three is my dietician approved bike bars. So these are a homemade muley bar or granola bar for the Americans. it isn't granola, but that kind of thing. It is my dietician approved spin on a homemade muley bar. So unlike commercial bars, you really need to be a bit of a food detective to understand what's in them, what they're made of, and what their nutrition information is. 'cause a lot of them are far too high in [00:22:00] protein, way too high in fat. And fiber and other things that are not ideal for us when we're out there exercising for a long time.

[00:22:07] Wanna make sure they're easy to eat carbohydrates, they're designed to sit well and not make your gut go crazy for hours on end on the bike. So. I love my bike bars because you can easily make up a batch. You can freeze them if you want, and then they'll defrost when they're on your body and they're ready to pull out the night before or the morning of your next big ride.

[00:22:31] They work really well for mid ride fueling. May not be the first hour, may not be the last hour, but somewhere thrown in the middle, giving you a bit of variety and a more solid texture that is gonna keep your mouth happy and also your tummy from growling Number four. This one's not homemade, although you could make it yourself if you wanted to, Is some fruit puree pouches. So think like kids squeezy pouches, baby food type pouches. They are not just for kids. They can be a really easily, they can be a really easily digestible, fast acting carbohydrate and mess free option for on the bike. You can buy them off the shelf or you can make your own blends at home, pureing up apples, pears, tropical fruit, those sorts of things work well. And just buying from Amazon or somewhere online, those reusable yogurt pouches That are relatively easy to come by, and they're also really easy to wash and keep clean as well.

[00:23:29] So keep in mind though, that these pouches, aren't that high in total carbohydrate, so I wouldn't be having a lot of them. You might need, you know, one every couple of hours or something like that. In addition to your main fuel, but they're a great option for people with sensitive guts or hotter conditions where anything too heavy or a lot of chewing maybe feels a bit unappealing.

[00:23:56] You can freeze them too so that they are cooler. [00:24:00] depends how long you're going for and how hot it is in your environmental conditions. All right. And our fifth and final real food idea is some high carb muffins, so not your standard cafe style, raspberry and white chocolate chip, gigantic muffin, that's so heavy in fat, and potentially fiber.

[00:24:21] I'm talking more sports specific muffins made with particular types of flowers, good carbohydrate rich ingredients, and minimal extras. So that. We're making it a good, easy to digest option that feels delicious and a bit like a treat, but gives you that variety and is easy to eat on the go. So batch, cook them up.

[00:24:43] You can freeze them. You could pack them up in small bite size portions rather than a big muffin tray. Go the little tiny baby ones and make lots and wanna make sure that they've got the right ingredients in there so that they're not giving you that dry mouth. You know, sometimes when you chew a muffin or some sort of bakery item and it's really dry and you're trying to chew it and you're trying to breathe, and like all the bits of crumbs and stuff are like going down your throat hole and it's just a disaster.

[00:25:12] So I wanna make sure that they're not super dry and. Flowery to prevent that because it's not gonna end well either. So I have a recipe in my triathlete's kitchen recipe database if you want to go and get [email protected] slash recipes to get my sports specific high carb muffins. But they're perfect for like easy, long endurance rides to give you some different texture and different variety. And there's different flavor options there too, depending on which way you like to go. So there you have it.

[00:25:47] There are five real food ideas to spice up your next long training ride. There are plenty more, but those are five. Just to get you started and if you wanna try something new, I would encourage you to pick one. [00:26:00] Or maybe two and go and test it out on your next long ride this weekend, or whenever that might be.

[00:26:06] You might be surprised at how better your mouth feels and maybe how different your fueling feels with just one little tiny addition. But if you are listening and thinking that you are. Doing a mediocre job of your fueling and you're just kind of stuck in a rut and you do the same thing all the time, and maybe you're bored, but you didn't really realize you were bored, then go and shake it up with something different this weekend.

[00:26:30] and if you've been nodding along thinking, yep, I really need more ideas. Like this, I'd love some recipes. That's exactly why I created the Fuel Your Adventure Recipe book. It is sports dietician developed real food ideas for the long bike, for long trail runs and any sort of crazy ass endurance events that you might be facing.

[00:26:49] They are, real food recipes. That are portable, easy to make, easy to prep, easy to pack, and most importantly, as long as you're not intolerant to anything, should be easy on your gut, just don't OD on them because they're so tasty. So you can grab a copy for [email protected] slash fuel your adventure, and I'll pop the link in the show notes for you.

[00:27:13] And if you wanna take this further, fueling long rides is just one piece of the puzzle. Inside the Triathlon Nutrition Academy, I teach you how to build your entire triathlon nutrition plan, personalizing your training, nutrition, all of your race nutrition strategies, Reaching whatever goals you have set your mind to. Our next intake begins in July, but you can register your interest now and get access to some exclusive early bird bonuses by registering your interest on the list. So head to dietician approved.com/academy. I'll add that link to the show notes as well if you are interested in leveling up with me.

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!