Episode 200 -  Fuel Tactics That Made TNA Athletes Faster

200 Episodes In - Fuel Tactics That Made TNA Athletes Faster

 

Think you're eating right for triathlon but still underperforming?

In this milestone 200th episode, the mic flips as four inspiring Triathlon Nutrition Academy athletes interview Taryn about the game-changing strategies that turned their training, racing and health around. From ditching the guesswork to losing 20kg, improving diabetes, and smashing PBs, this episode is packed with real stories of what's possible when your nutrition is dialled.

Get a behind-the-scenes look at the philosophies behind the TNA program, why age-groupers should stop copying the pros, and what actually works when you're juggling training with work, family and life.

If you're serious about improving performance, staying injury-free and fuelling smarter—not harder—this episode is a must-listen.

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!

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Episode Transcription

Episode 200 -  Fuel Tactics That Made TNA Athletes Faster

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.

Taryn Richardson (00:00)

Welcome to a very special episode of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast, episode 200. I actually can't believe we've made it this far. To be honest, what started as, I know a little bit of a project to get evidence-based nutrition out there in the world to age group athletes, just to help them eat better for health and performance has grown into something.

So much bigger than I ever imagined. Like I got to meet these legends that are here today on the podcast with me. So to celebrate this milestone, what I wanted to do was hand the mic over to them a little bit. I'm sure you get, you know, maybe sick of hearing my voice or I certainly get sick of hearing my own voice. So we've flipped the script and I have a couple of Triathlon Nutrition Academy athletes here that are going to be interviewing me. Yep. I'm a little bit scared. I'm not a hundred percent sure what they're going to ask me just yet.

But joining me is Chris Tubbs from Pearl Land, Texas.

Chris Tubbs (00:58)

Hey, good to see you, Taryn. 

Taryn Richardson (01:01)

Steve Duquette from Tiny Ontario Canada.

Steve Duquette (01:04)

Hey Taryn, all the way from Canada here, woo! 

Taryn Richardson (01:07)

Woop woop! Mrs. Pasta from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Becky Maccaroni (01:12)

Hello everybody. Great to be here, Taryn.

Taryn Richardson (01:16)

and Tony Hampton from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Tony Hampton (01:20)

Happy birthday, glad to be here.

Taryn Richardson (01:23)

Thank you. So this episode isn't really about me. It's actually a little bit more about them. And I guess what's possible when you understand how to feel properly to support training and racing. So these are real people. are age group triathletes, just like you have got who have gone from winging it thinking they're doing all right with their nutrition, but not figuring out that they're probably not doing that great. I hope that amongst. The 200 episodes that we've got out there on the internet that this one in particular inspires you and shows you a little bit more about what's possible when you have a dialed in nutrition strategy. So let's get into it.

Steve Duquette (01:59)

Woo-hoo, Taryn, Steve from Canada, happy birthday. Not gonna say what your birthday is, but it's a far cry from 200. So that's a good thing. But congratulations, no kidding. Congrats on episode 200. And that's a privilege and an honour to be part of this. So thank you for the invitation. yeah, so podcasting is a huge undertaking no matter what field that you work in.

Taryn Richardson (02:09)

Thank God for that. Thanks, Steve.

Steve Duquette (02:25)

But as an advanced sports dietician, what was the inspiration? Like, where did you come up with the idea that you should start this podcast 200 episodes ago? Tell us more about how that all got started. And here we are today, ⁓ months or years later. So I'd love to hear more about that.

Taryn Richardson (02:46)

It is actually years later. started in my cupboard in September or August really in 2021, which is a long time of go. So it's taken a while to get to 200 episodes drop a new one every week. But what really inspired me to start it was that there was so much misinformation online, particularly in the triathlon or endurance space. And nobody out there is giving away good nutrition education.

That's actually evidence-based and science-backed. There are so many shiny objects in our space, so many gadgets, and you guys love to buy new tech and new things to try it out. So really I just started to start sharing the message of evidence-based nutrition with triathletes, and it's grown so much since I started multiple years ago.

Steve Duquette (03:34)

Yeah, thanks, Taryn and don't pick on me about me buying bikes, by the way. know you're kind of going there. I'm going to stop you right there. Thank you.

Taryn Richardson (03:39)

And plus one and plus one Steve.

Becky Maccaroni (03:46)

Well, everything we see online, how do we know who's credible? How do we know the difference between a nutritionist and a dietitian? How do we know the person we're reading about is worth it for us to work with?

Taryn Richardson (04:04)

Yeah, it is really difficult because everybody's an expert and we all eat. So we all have got some knowledge and understanding about nutrition, but I think you need to look for somebody that has got some qualifications in this space. The term nutritionist is not actually regulated and anybody can call themselves a nutritionist. Like Kelly, one of our athletes has done a nutrition coaching program. He could call himself a nutritionist if he wanted to. 

So when you're working with somebody, you do want to look for some university level credentials that they've done some study in the field of nutrition. Now for me in Australia, that's called a dietitian. And the only way you can call yourself a dietitian is to do a particular degree in nutrition and dietetics. And then I have to up hold like multiple hours and spend a lot of money to maintain those professional qualifications each year as well.

So I can call myself an accredited practising dietitian. And then for me personally, I've done more study to then become a sports dietitian. So my field of expertise is specifically in sports and specifically in triathlon. And I think that's really important because even when you work with a sports dietitian, you want to make sure that they are somebody that really understands your sport because I have had many athletes come my direction that have seen a sports dietitian, but they work with team sports or making weight sports and they have no idea about how triathlon actually works. And you need to understand that when you're working with an athlete, like how does that sport work? What does somebody's life look like? How much training do they do? And for me, I've done triathlon as well. So I have that other layer of professional qualifications and professional experience working with Triathlon Australia for six years and working with our Olympic level elite athletes to working in private practice for, I think we're up to 17 years now as a sports dietician, working with triathletes from the age group level. And then for me, I also did triathlon pre-kids. And so I really understand what it's like to eat like a triathlete. And I think that's really important when you're working with a professional, you want them to have the professional experience, be accredited. So you're looking for qualifications, not just some random online certificate that anybody could get. You want multiple years of university level study. And then ideally you want somebody that has experience in your sport as well, because they are very different beasts working with somebody that's say a boxer to then working with somebody that's a triathlete. So hopefully that helps.

Chris Tubbs (06:40)

And so to tie into that, Taryn, in addition to building a nutrition business, and as you can see, it's global. You've got Canada, Australia, US. You're also an athlete. so triathlon coaches that are athletes, a lot of times they'll have coaches that they go to or have someone look over what they're doing. How do you approach your nutrition or your training? Do you have ebbs and flows of motivation, but also

Taryn Richardson (06:42)

Okay.

Chris Tubbs (07:06)

creating the big picture and staying on top of your nutrition day to day or month to month.

Taryn Richardson (07:11)

Yeah, I have had a lot of practice and for me, health is one of my highest values. So I will prioritise my nutrition, my exercise and my sleep above everything else. So for me, it's actually quite easy. Although sleep is out of my control a little bit at the moment, which is problematic. but yeah, my motivation goes up and down. If you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that I'm doing the swim at sunny coast 70.3 again, and I'm having to swim in an open like top pool outside through our winter and it's fucking freezing and some mornings I'm like it'd be so much easier to just go to the gym than have to like dive into a pool when the outside air temperature is six degrees Celsius whatever that is in Fahrenheit but for me it's not a short-term thing. It is a long-term big picture. I'm really passionate about my long-term health and health span, and I love teaching athletes the same. So you guys have all been through the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, and you know that you came in looking for triathlon nutrition advice, but you've come out from that understanding how to be a healthier person day in, day out for the rest of your life. Does that answer your question?

Chris Tubbs (08:26)

Yeah, that does answer the question. So you don't have anyone that you ever consult with or talk to about yours. You're comfortable with your plan and how you're building your health span and improving it over time.

Taryn Richardson (08:39)

Yeah, I do a lot of reading and research myself. And I think that's important because then you actually understand. I am not doing triathlon training at the moment, but if I was to get back into doing that, I would definitely outsource the coaching aspect side of things. Like my area of expertise is nutrition. It's not in coaching. So I would get somebody to help me with that. But yeah, I think N equals one, you are your own experiment. And I much rather have the knowledge and understanding about how like,

Chris Tubbs (09:02)

Thank you.

Taryn Richardson (09:08)

Science changes all the time. So I'm constantly reading papers and I guess applying that to practice. So this is a little bit personal, but I've really struggled with some postpartum hypothyroidism stuff for the last 18 months. That's why my body composition is not responding the way that it should. So I've done a really deep dive into thyroid and Hashimoto's and all that sort of stuff over the last 18 months to understand how to do my nutrition differently now compared to what worked for me before baby number three.

Tony Hampton (09:40)

So when the TNA doors are open, we see all these videos of you riding and running and swimming and ⁓ working in the kitchen. I envision that everything you cook ends up in our recipe database. Is that an accurate statement?

Taryn Richardson (10:01)

Yes, although lots of things that I eat and cook that aren't in there yet, but they are coming. But I'm not the type of cook that uses a recipe. I make stuff up. And so for then, for me to put it into the recipe database, it at least gets triple tested. Everything has to be weighed. Everything has to be repeatable and replicable multiple times for consistency before it does hit the recipe database.  

And I don't necessarily cook like that. So it is a bit of a process to get things in there so that you guys in America with your weird measurements of things, it works and for people that don't want to weigh things as well. Yes, the recipe database is an accurate representation of all the things that I like to eat and, do cook because I like you don't have a lot of time, but I want to eat well. 

And I want to do that as quickly as possible. And I want it to taste really good as well. I don't think that food is like I just a tick the box feeling thing. It has to be this pleasure state too. So lots of nutrients as well as tastes good is how the whole recipe database evolved.

Tony Hampton (11:14)

And along with the recipe database, how long does it take you to go through the grocery store?

Taryn Richardson (11:20)

Depends. Depends if I have helpers or not, but an hour and it depends how sidetracked I get by looking at labels and looking at new products and things as well.

Good question.

Steve Duquette (11:34)

Taryn, so just back to your qualifications as an advanced sports dietitian, and you mentioned working with the Australian National, I can't remember the exact organization. now you work with, thank you. So now you primarily work with age groupers like myself and the others here.

Taryn Richardson (11:48)

Triathlon Australia.

Steve Duquette (11:57)

Do you approach working with age groupers differently or in any different ways than you would when you were working with those professionals at that other level, if you will? And if so, if you have a few examples of how that, because what I see a lot is people who aren't part of your program are trying to mimic what professionals are doing to their own peril. We all see that all the time and we've learned it in this program how bad that can be. So I'm just curious.

Taryn Richardson (12:07)

Absolutely.

Yeah. Yep.

Steve Duquette (12:27)

how your approach is maybe different, you know, in terms of working with age groupers versus ⁓ professionals like me as somebody working a full-time job and doing this, you know, as a hobby, if you will, yeah.

Taryn Richardson (12:37)

Yeah.

Yeah. And you hit the nail on the head. Like you work full time. Elite athletes don't work. Their sport is their job. Their body is their job. So their days are spent training, recovering, going to the physio, going to the psychologist, going to the dietician. Like their days are very full and very busy, but they don't have work. A lot of them don't have family. They don't have to look after anybody else other than themselves. And so the practicalities of being an elite athlete are so different to an age group athlete.

And you're right, age groupers do look up to them and go, okay, well they're doing this, so therefore I should do that as well. And that is often where people get undone because we try and replicate strategies and practices that are serving somebody that is a completely different kettle of fish to what you are as an athlete. And they have what I call like a well-oiled machine. Like their body is their temple. They have trained it to do so much crazy shit and they know exactly like how long a banana is going to get them on the bike, for example. Whereas an age group athlete, your training, like while it is a lot still, it's not the same as training like the elites do.

They do a lot of, lot more work than an age grouper will, and then also they have the luxury of the time and the rest in between all of that training without having to work. So understanding the practicalities of what it's like to work and juggle family and all of those commitments and responsibilities that you have as an age group, I think is really important to understanding your nutrition because you don't have the time and you don't have the luxury of recovery either when you are, you know, working all day and then, you know, parenting at night or running kids around to sport on the weekends. So two different people and I think nutrition needs to apply differently based on so many of those different things.

Becky Maccaroni (14:35)

To follow that up, what do you think age groupers are primarily getting wrong? Like not only like day to day nutrition, but sport nutrition. I mean, I'm sure we're, mean, before TNA, I was messing a lot up, but what are the biggest takeaways for us mere mortals to try to get ourselves back on track?

Taryn Richardson (14:44)

Yeah, all of it.

I think the biggest takeaway for me is that you chase these things that the elites are doing that are like the tip of the pyramid. Like they're up in the one percenters land most of the time. Like they've got their rock solid foundation of everything going right. Mostly a lot of elite athletes still are working their way up. Depends on how long they've been in their development phase for.

But they have their day-to-day nutrition sorted. They have their more advanced strategies sorted. And so they dabble and play in those one percenters. And then we see that as age groupers and go, well, Blummenfelt's doing this at Kona. So I'm going to then do that as well. But age groupers don't have that rock solid foundation to build on for that one percenter strategy or that little shiny object thing to actually be effective. So we waste a lot of time. We waste a lot of money chasing these things because we don't want to get left behind, when really like some of the not so sexy foundations is where you need to spend the most of your time, which is why I built the TNA program to teach you all of those foundations and build your knowledge from the ground up and build your practices from the ground up so that those little shiny objects and one percenters do have something to stick to.

Tony Hampton (16:06)

So I know all of us on the panel have been triathletes for a while, been in endurance sports for a while. And we came here as a last ditch effort to figure out what we're doing wrong. If you're a brand new triathlete, what do you want them to know? Why should they be interested in your program?

Taryn Richardson (16:28)

The earlier you work on your nutrition, the better. Like all of you here, tell me if you wish you had it done earlier or not.

Tony Hampton (16:39)

Absolutely, yes, absolutely.

Taryn Richardson (16:39)

Everyone is nodding.

Steve Duquette (16:42)

100%.

Taryn Richardson (16:42)

But when you first start out.

Chris Tubbs (16:43)

That's a tough one though, because if I had done it earlier, I don't know that I'd appreciated what I've learned because I had the experiences to compare the benefits to. 

Taryn Richardson (16:55)

Okay. Good point. When you are first starting out though, there is like massive overwhelm, right? You have to figure out this running thing, figure out cycling, figure out swimming, and then you got to put them together into a transition and not fall off or lose your shoe. And there's just so much to learn in the beginning to get the training side of things going. But when you first start, that is the key time that your nutrition should align with that increase in training.

Cause a lot of people come to triathlon from maybe just running or just cycling or for me, came from a swimming background and so I knew how to do the swimming side of things. But then adding all that extra training is a huge stress on the body. And if you don't eat to support that in the early days, then that's where you can dig yourself a big hole. But we don't kind of prioritise nutrition because it's an extra expense or it's an extra cost. And we want to spend money on upgrading our bike or getting a sexy new, you know, cycling kits and get the latest and greatest everything. And I talk to beginners all the time, like people that are riding borrowed bikes, people that are camping at race venues because they can't afford accommodation.

Like they just love this sport and want to do it in any way possible. But the sooner you prioritise your nutrition education, the better you will be as a triathlete and long-term because I love to do the performance piece, but I also need to set you up with long-term health. And it's usually not until somebody has issues like stress fractures, low iron, energy availability issues, like problems that are easily fixed with nutrition. It's not till they get there that people start to then prioritise their nutrition. But if you had have just done it the right way from the beginning, then you wouldn't have suffered those issues. Although Chris thinks that he needs to suffer the pain to then know what is the right way.

Chris Tubbs (18:46)

Well, like you said, I I started and I had to learn everything and adding on nutrition was just an extra burden that I wasn't very good at juggling. So I assumed I already know how to eat. I've been doing it for 45 - 48 years. So I don't need somebody to tell me how to eat, but how wrong I was.

Taryn Richardson (19:01)

Yeah.

Chris Tubbs (19:04)

So tying into that, ⁓ as folks have learned, and you've done this with the age groupers, share with us some of the bigger transformations and ahas that you've seen, some of the more impressive ones.

Taryn Richardson (19:17)

There's so many, there's so many, like we could do an entire year's worth of podcasts on all of those things. I do love to highlight you guys and put you on the podcast to share some of that because there is some amazing changes. The first one that comes to mind, and I can give you lots of examples, who's probably Erin, who has featured on the podcast a number of times, but Erin, oh is the epitome, I think, of an age group triathlete that's been doing triathlon for close to 10 years.

And nutrition really was a missing link for her. She's joined the program and she's always trying to drop body fat. She's trying to be lighter, trying to be leaner, get faster because that's what she thinks is going to happen if she loses weight. So she spent her whole career cutting back, restricting herself, trying to lose weight. And when she joined the program, I was like, let's just, let's just take that off the table for a second. Let me teach you how to fuel yourself properly. Let me teach you how to eat for triathlon rather than trying to starve yourself all the time.

 

And for her, she just went from strength to strength. Every race that she did, she PB'd in something. Like she was running consistently instead of walking. She then ran faster. Her bike splits are getting faster. She was negative splitting the run. She was getting on the podium. Like every time she raced, she did a better job of her performance because she understood how to eat for triathlon. She was also dubbed the USA masters female aqua bike champion of the year. Like, yeah.

Fellow swim biker, love, doesn't like running just like me. And now, now she's done a phase where she's really tried to focus on her body composition. She's toned down the racing a little bit to focus on her body composition. And over 12 months, she's lost 45 pounds, which is about 20 kilos, which is huge. And she, for me is a huge transformation, like both physically, but it's not about that. It's the performance. And I guess it's the mindset.

And then knowledge that she's gained to actually eat for this sport. So that now she's lighting up for Ironman, like plus it after she was like, I'm never doing an Ironman again. That was, that was shit. And now her goals are to try and get to Kona again, which again, she said she never wanted to do again. So it's that kind of thing. It's the performance gains, body composition is, is great, but it's the health and I guess the knowledge to take nutrition and face whatever challenges and whatever goal she sets herself to do. So she is a big one, but there are so many examples, honestly.

Becky Maccaroni (21:44)

Well, it's not really a question. It's a comment to piggyback off of what Chris was just saying. I mean we spend thousands of dollars on race entries. We train spend hundreds of hours on swim bike run and so many athletes spend zero time thinking or planning their day-to-day nutrition, let alone their race day fueling plan and they'll go to the race. 

And it's, and then they end up porta potty to porta potty with GI distress and, they sabotage themselves. And it breaks my heart to have friends and athletes who do that because they just don't appreciate how important it is, how it really is the fourth element. You cannot have a successful, even a sprint or an Olympic distance, certainly not a long course event. You cannot be successful,

Taryn Richardson (22:17)

Yeah. 

Becky Maccaroni (22:38)

if you don't have a nutrition foundation day to day, let alone a fueling plan. And I know you work with athletes on that. And I know that that has transformed me and it helps me work with the athletes I train and coach. So I can't imagine, knock on wood, I've been very lucky. I didn't go porta-potty to porta-potty. I finished a lot of Ironman's winging it. And now I'm only so much stronger as a senior athlete, an athlete over 50 and I'm still out there getting it done. And now I have the knowledge and the smarts and things change. I mean, as a female athlete, we have our own set of issues, but as ⁓ a menopausal athlete, that's a whole different masters menopausal athlete. That's a whole different realm. So much learning. You never stop learning and you should never stop learning about nutrition.

Taryn Richardson (23:33)

Amen. Couldn't have said it better myself, Becky.

Steve Duquette (23:37)

And so something further to that though, Taryn. So with the TNA program, what would you say to somebody if you had to describe your program in a few sentences? Because again, a lot of us are still working full-time jobs and whatnot. We're busy, we're training. And then you're going to ask us to join this program and go through this program. How do you describe that to people and how do they get through that program? Because being, having gone through the program, I know how intensive it is and the time commitment to go through the program. ⁓ What do you say about the program and the commitments and why would somebody want to do that when you've got all this other stuff going on?

Taryn Richardson (24:24)

Yeah, you are very time poor as a triathlete and I fully understand that, which is why I designed the program the way that I did so that it wasn't a like six week, like full time thing. You only need one to two hours a week to level up your nutrition. You have, I guess, you only need to do the work once as well. When you join the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, there is no gatekeeping. You have access to everything you need to know to understand how to eat as a triathlete, as well as access to me most weeks in our power hour sessions so that you're not still trying to figure it out yourself by listening to free podcasts and watching YouTube videos or asking your coach or your training buddy and getting advice that is maybe too generic or it's misaligned for you and your goal. So I think every triathlete should do it. But, like it is an investment in time and it's an investment financially, but I want to set you up forever. So if you can find the space, if you can find two hours a week for nine months to work on your nutrition, you only have to do it once and then you will be set forever.

Steve Duquette (25:37)

I mean, I...

Becky Maccaroni (25:37)

completely agree.

But for, I'm sorry, for those athletes who can afford it, or who don't have the time, but are interested in working with the dietician? What questions should we ask to make sure we're getting the best we can get if we can't afford the TNA or don't have nine months to spend? But I would highly recommend it to anyone. Obviously I did it. But I know it's not in everybody's budget financially or time commitment wise. So how can we set ourselves up for success if we can't work with Taryn?

Taryn Richardson (26:09)

⁓ There's lots of things in the pipeline coming to help athletes that aren't ready for the TNA or don't want to do the TNA ever. The Triathlon Nutrition Kickstart course is the perfect little stepping stone that does give you some really good evidence-based information around what you do before training, what you do during training, what you do for recovery after that is specific and custom to you, as well as setting up your whole food organisational system plan so that you are eating well on a day-to-day basis.

Watch this space for other things that are not TNA in the next probably 12 months. Because I do realise that it is out of people's budget and I want to offer something for those people. Yeah, sit tight, hang on. It's coming.

Chris Tubbs (26:53)

Speaking on the budget, you did talk to Kelly and I about this in the past. And I think this ties into keeping the mindset of a long-term health plan. And so what I realized, and Kelly also said this, is that from what we learned in the course, the things that we stopped buying, we ended up saving more than we spent on the course. So it paid for itself before the course was over, of course. And so one of the questions kind of tied, I wanted to make that point, is that you know, if you're spending money or if someone is considering the cost, they can also look at what else they're spending money on as a triathlete. try all kinds of things. We're spending money here everywhere. So there's, there's likely room. It's just a matter of where you want to spend it and where you can get a return on that. It's priorities. Absolutely. So this, this is a very good investment from our experience. And there's a podcast episode where we, where Kelly and I go through what we actually saved the dollar amounts. Go listen to it. 

Taryn Richardson (27:35)

Yeah, it's priorities. It is priorities. It did surprise me a lot. Like we didn't talk about that before recording and I was absolutely shocked at how much you guys spend on stuff and how much the program did save you. And you guys are not alone. There is multiple people in the same boat that spend a lot of money on things that you think you need or you feel like you'll get the competitive edge if you use it and you have no idea whether it's the right thing for you or if it's even working or if it's sticking to you. You know, it's that sticky thing. And so sometimes you know, the initial investment is going to pay itself in dividends for years to come.

Chris Tubbs (28:24)

If someone asks, how long should I expect before I see some result from being in the course, start to see some change in my performance or how I feel?

Taryn Richardson (28:36)

Like one week, our first masterclass on recovery nutrition blows most people's minds. Like even Steve, who's on this podcast, thought he was kicking goals with his recovery nutrition until I taught him how to do it properly. And he's like, man, I was way off. And so when you start to recover better, you will feel so much more supercharged and very quickly because a lot of us are cruising around

Chris Tubbs (28:37)

All right.

 

Taryn Richardson (29:02)

not feeling correctly. And then our second week of masterclasses is your pre-training nutrition, getting that dialed in. And so the results happen very rapidly, but the longer you stick with it, the longer you practice, the longer these things become habits, then it really does, like it sounds really lame, but honestly change people's lives. And that is super lame, but there's many examples and people that can attest to how much their lives have been changed by actually understanding nutrition a bit better. 

Steve Duquette (29:30)

It's not lame at all. And as you mentioned, for me, like I used to do a 100K bike ride on a Saturday morning with the group. And if I got home without cramping up, you know, I hobbled home for the last 5K, I might have to stop to let the cramps go away. And then I got home and then I was one of those people on the coach for Saturday afternoon.

You know, again, just going through the program and that that recovery was like a huge game changer for me because to this day, like I'm getting ready for a full Ironman that I've never done before. And so, you know, I was doing 180, 190 kilometre bike rides for five and six hours and coming home and hitting the shower and doing recovery nutrition and then going off and doing other stuff. Like it's mind blowing. Like, honestly, if you talk to me three years ago and said,

Taryn Richardson (30:19)

Yeah

Steve Duquette (30:25)

would I behave that way, so to speak? No, I would hope that I would, but I wouldn't have. And I will also comment on the program in terms of that cost, if you want to call it that. Being in the financial services industry, the cost of the program in terms of that lifestyle and that long-term change of your nutrition and your eating habits, you're amortizing that over a long period of time. So it might look like whatever that amount is for certain people that's a drop in the bucket, for others it's not going to be in their budget. But the actual cost of that program, in my humble opinion, is a very small price for that long-term change to your well-being, whether you're doing triathlon or just going about your business.

Taryn Richardson (31:16)

Yeah, I love the term investment because it is an investment in yourself, which people are not very good at making because you don't get a tangible shiny bike on your doorstep. Also when you make that investment, but I would encourage you to think about your own body and whether you want to be doing triathlon when you're 80 or not, but do you want to have osteoporosis? Do you want to have good health span? Do you want to be functional so that you can go and walk independently outside when you want to in your later years and what you do with your nutrition now sets that up so that you are functional for as long as you can as you age.

Tony Hampton (31:56)

I'm in the same boat as Steve was. The one thing I brought to the program, I thought my recovery was dialed in and I found out it was not. But I was also very carb phobic. How do you deal with, because there's a lot of people that join the program that are carb phobic. I had a reason because of my diabetes, but I still need the fuel to exercise.

Talk about that a little bit.

Taryn Richardson (32:25)

I think that's a benefit of working together for a longer period of time. You don't get to know somebody with one appointment and he have a meal plan, see you later. And so the impact that you can have on somebody when you do, you know, see each other in power hour every week for nine months is so much deeper and so much longer lasting. Once I understand you and I know how your brain works and I how your life works, then we can make some actual change and change behaviours and habits that you've had for you probably your entire life. And so for you, Tony, as an example, took me a little bit to figure you out because you're a stubborn AF. But once I figured you out, like what happened to you? Tell me what happened to you.

Tony Hampton (33:06)

I lost 30 pounds and haven't been injured since I've been in the program.

Taryn Richardson (33:13)

And your diabetes, despite eating more carbohydrate, your diabetes control is drastically improved, is the other thing that you kind of gloss over all the time, Tony.

It is just the...

Tony Hampton (33:23)

I do gloss over it, but yes, my numbers have been way better since I've been in the program and I am eating more carbs than I probably have in 25 years, so easily.

Taryn Richardson (33:36)

Yeah, and it's just that you're afraid because that was the education you were given as a diabetic, but that's not serving you as a triathlete diabetic.

Steve Duquette (33:45)

So I have another question, Taryn. So you've kind of listened to some of what we've said about our experience in the program and how it's changed us. What makes you the most proud when you hear stories like ours or stories from other triathletes that have gone through the program and have experienced all of these positive changes in their nutrition and their racing performance and whatnot? What makes you proud? What makes you most proud about that?

Taryn Richardson (34:10)

It's so good. I get to be a part of that journey, which is amazing. And actually changing somebody's life. I'm a, I'm a helper profession, right? I'm a dietitian. Well, I became a dietitian to become a sports dietitian to help athletes eat for performance. And so I love helping people make that change and really understand how to eat better. What makes me happy is that you guys are eating more fruits and vegetables than you ever have in your life. Like, yes. 

But the other thing that makes me so proud, which I didn't really anticipate to the level that it is, is all of you guys are awesome people and the community that we've built and all of the friends that you've made makes me probably the proudest dietitian out there. Cause you know, people meet each other at races. You guys are all converging on sunny coast this year for our annual event. In 2026, we're going to Cairns, not Cairns, together and people are coming from all over the world to meet each other in real life and have a good time. Like that makes me so happy connecting you all together and having such a global program. Like I'm just one person sitting at home in my home office and get to connect with all of you legends all over the world. That is me. That makes me the happiest dietician ever.

Tony Hampton (35:27)

So I've got one last question. I want to know how it is that a person that deals with numbers all the time, everything's numbers, everything's carbs, everything's calories, Kcal's everything. I get the metric versus imperial, I'll give you that. That's a little tough to figure out sometimes. But regular numbers, how can you be so bad at math? 

Taryn Richardson (35:30)

That was hard. 

Come on, Tony, I'm not too bad. I'm self professed terrible at maths because I guess I'm married to an engineer who looks at me like I'm stupid all the time when I'm like, what's the answer to this question? But my brain is super creative. Like I'm language, colour side of my brain dominant and that logical maths brain doesn't work so well. So like basic arithmetic, I'm not very good at, but I can tell you what colours go with what.

And visually I can see that something looks weird without knowing what the problem is to fix it. So that is how my brain works. Maybe I should have been a lawyer because I do language and speaking, but I can't do maths to save myself. And that's okay. That's why I have a scientific calculator that I've had since high school that does the heavy lifting for me. And then I've built spreadsheets and things and tools to do the maths because I can't do it on the spot.

And that's okay, we can't be great at everything.

What a question to end on. Well, gosh, thank you, you total legends for joining me on this 200th episode. I actually wasn't sure where we were gonna go. It could have gone in random tangents, but thank you for taking the reins and holding up the mic to me for a change. It was a little bit weird, but ⁓ I think it was fun. So if this is your first episode or you've gone back all the way in the archives and this is your 200th, thank you so much for joining us.

And if you're sitting there wondering if, you know, it's worth working on your nutrition, then I think these athletes are proof and have the stories and have the experience to back up that it is worth the investment in time and money, whichever path you go to do something and do it better. Cause you can't, you can't do advanced sports nutrition strategies by piecing together stuff off the internet. Like it really does take some behaviour change and understanding and knowledge to actually push the needle rather than trying to randomly do strategies that the elites are doing and hope that they are going to work for you. Cause they're probably not like just take the fast road rather than taking the really long zone one aerobic road. Like just go some zone, zone five for a little bit and that'll set you up forever. Right.

So the two things that we talked about today to get some help with your nutrition is the TNA program that these legends have all been through. And that is, you know, a big investment in time and finances, but it is like all bases covered. It's where science meets stamina. We do everything you need to know about triathlon nutrition to set you up for life. Then you can go and check that out at dietitianapproved.com / academy. Or if you're not up for the time financial investment for that, then the Triathlon Nutrition Kickstart course is another great place to get some really good evidence-based nutrition information to get you started. And you can check that out at dietitianapproved.com forward slash kickstart. All right, legends, thank you so much. Here's to the next 200 episodes.

Tony Hampton (38:53)

Woohoo, congrats on 200.

Steve Duquette (38:56)

Congrats on 200! Way to go! Here's... Yay! Happy Birthday Taryn!

Becky Maccaroni (38:59)

Happy birthday.

Chris Tubbs (39:03)

Yeah, congratulations.

Taryn Richardson (39:06)

Thanks legends.

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!