Episode 208 -Five Obsessions Triathletes Think They Need vs What Actually Moves the Needle

Five Obsessions Triathletes Think They Need vs What Actually Moves the Needle

Still cramping or bonking despite all your shiny gear?

In this episode, I reveal five of the biggest distractions that age-group triathletes obsess over. From carbon shoes and sperm helmets to the latest supplements, and explain why they aren't the biggest drivers of better performance.

You’ll learn what actually does move the needle, so you can stop wasting money on things that aren't serving you and start focusing on the things that do.

If you're ready to train harder and race smarter,, this episode is a must-listen.

Links:

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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 208: Five Obsessions Triathletes Think They Need vs What Actually Moves the Needle

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)
Triathletes love the dopamine hit of buying something new. There is always another new shiny object to add to the collection and something newer again to then upgrade it with.

The latest watch, the latest fuel belt, the latest wheels, shoes, helmets, aero tri-suit. All of it feels super exciting when it lands on your doorstep. And yes, of course it looks good, but it doesn't always equal improved performance. And I love the saying, all the gear and no idea. And that is a lot of age groupers out there to be honest.

There's no point being fully kitted out if you are suffering in your races. Like if you cramp up in your run and slow right down, there is no point having super fast shoes.

Because if you don't have the fourth leg dialed in for triathlon, AKA your nutrition, none of that stuff really matters.

You can have the fastest, most expensive bike in transition.

But if you're not fueling properly and you're struggling.

Obviously you're not going to see the results that you've trained for in that race. And fast shoes are not going to save you if you're cramping up, bonking and hitting the wall.

So today I'm breaking down five of the most common things that triathletes are obsessed with that I see them pouring so much time and money and effort into, things that you think you need versus I wanna show you what you actually move the needle for your performance.

Before we get stuck in, doors are officially open to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program today for the final time in 2025. So if you're ready to finally fuel smarter so you can train harder, recover faster and perform at your best, this is your last chance to jump in this year. So head to dietitianapproved.com/academy and I'll see you on the inside.

So let's kick off with the first, so let's kick off with number one. One of the key things that triathletes are obsessed with and that is fancy new shoes.

Carbon sole race flats, race shoes, trail shoes, training shoes, whatever it is, barefoot shoes. Triathletes love them all. And technology in this space is just going gangbusters. And don't get me wrong, they can feel really fast. But if you're blowing up halfway through your run because you haven't fueled properly, or you're walking at a stitch or you're having to wait in a Portolou line for too long. No shoe in the world is going to save you.

You'll just be walking through the finishing shoot in very expensive shoes.

And with the newish carbon plated versions of shoes, if your form is rubbish and you don't run in them properly, they're not actually going to make you faster anyway. I saw so many age groupers at Sunny Coast 70.3 when I was there clomping along in the Vaporflys like they were wearing tissue boxes strapped to their feet. Heel striking, running flat.

And the shoe is not the problem, it's their running form. Now those bad boys set you back $400 a shoe and the carbon plate wears out in about a hundred miles or 160 kilometres. So that's four marathons that you could do in them before they're done. And then you've to buy a new pair.

And because their mileage is not that high, you can't really train in them. You've got to have another pair of shoes for training anyway. So most triathletes don't need these shoes, but everyone has them anyway.

What most triathletes need instead is a fuelling strategy that's going to allow you to negative split like Kelly did at Sunny Coast where he picked up the pace in the second half, gave it a nudge and was confident that he could do that. Confident that he wasn't gonna bonk or get a cramp or get a stitch or need to chase down the Portaloo.

So while those shoes are cool.

They aren't the main thing that is going to move the needle in your race performance.

The second thing triathletes are obsessed with is aero gear. Anything aero, we've got to have it. Sperm helmets, disc wheels, aero bars, aero bottles, aero socks, aero long sleeve tri suits, shaving down.

You name it, we love it.

And while those marginal gains might be fun and you maybe look fast.

They don't actually stack up for performance if you're not maintaining aero position on the bike.

In a true time trialling position, you stay put, you do not move out of aero, but triathletes sit up, you grab water bottles from aid stations, you stop to refill bottles, maybe you stop and have a toilet break or you stop at special needs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We're not staying in that time trial position for the entirety of our race.

Aero is also not going to help you if you're fading at the back end of the bike because you didn't fuel properly.

The fastest sperm helmet in the world is not going to make up for bonking.

And Aero isn't going to save you if your body composition is not ideal. I see athletes drop $20,000 on a bike so that they can go faster when really they benefit from losing 20 kilos of body fat.

I know that's harsh, but it's true.

If you have absolutely no idea how to run your whole hydration system on the bike, then Aero is not going to save you either.

Something I love helping triathletes with is that whole logistics piece of what to do on the bike. How to carry everything, where to put it, how many bottles to run, what types of bottles you need, what goes in them, all those sorts of things go into a really successful day in the office on race day.

And only once that logistics piece is organised, then you can maybe dabble in the aerospace.

The third thing we are obsessed with triathletes is supplements. The more exotic, the better. Every month there is a new powder, a new pill, a new gel, or something on the market that promises superhuman performances. Ketones, mushroom blends, beetroot capsules, collagen shots, whatever it is, there is always something new being marketed to us as triathletes.

And we see the pros taking it or advertising for it, being an ambassador for it, and just feel like we should be doing that too.

But not really having a clue around why.

How to take it or implement it for your particular situation, but all we know is that we need it because we don't want to get left behind.

And hey, if it's good enough for Blumenfeld, then it's good enough for me, right?

And while some of these supplements out there do have some scientific evidence to back them up in the right context, in the right space.

They're not the answer for every single age grouper.

I once had an age group come to see me and bring an entire duffel bag of supplements that he was taking on a daily basis. Literally thousands of dollars worth of powders and support training. He had no carbohydrate loading strategy. He had no idea what daily fueling and periodization was for his training load, and he certainly wasn't recovering effectively.

And these are some of the key things that I consider are the fundamentals of triathlon nutrition.

But for him, these supplements were basically a safety blanket. And he didn't want to give any of it up because he felt like he would go backwards if he stopped taking just one of these things.

But in all honesty, they probably weren't doing him anything helpful anyway. They were all washing each other out. They're probably having interactions with each other that he had no idea and interacting negatively and potentially causing more harm than good. Not to mention the massive chunk in his credit card bill every month coming from these things. If you haven't got your carbs, protein, electrolyte, hydration and stuff nailed, then don't waste your time and your money on these fancy supplements, that are the sprinkles on the icing on the cake. It is the sponge layer that really moves the needle for age group triathletes. Everything else is just decoration.

And being able to identify something new and critically evaluate it for yourself is a mad skill that I would love to teach you so that you don't waste money on taking so much random stuff that you just don't need.

The fourth thing that triathletes are obsessed with is expensive recovery tools.

Massage guns, compression booths, ice bars, infrared saunas, triathletes love a recovery gadget, but none of them are going to fix poor recovery nutrition.

If you're not putting the right building blocks back in after training, you are not going to adapt from that session to the maximum of your ability. You potentially are increasing your muscle soreness, your fatigue, your sluggish levels.

You can't out massage gun a bad recovery strategy.

And that is why recovery nutrition is the very first thing we cover inside the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, because you only adapt or get fitter and faster from the sessions that you recover from.

Sleep is also so important as well. And if you haven't listened to episode 203 with sleep expert Michael Grandner, then do yourself a favour and go and listen to that episode after you've listened to this one.

Because the two big rocks for recovery are nutrition and sleep.

And if you're missing the recovery nutrition piece, you're leaving all of those beautiful adaptation gains on the table.

Now the fifth and final thing that triathletes are obsessed with is the plethora of sports nutrition products that we have available to us.

And I totally get it. Some triathletes buy every different gel, chew, powder, drink mix on the shelf, hoping that the right brand or the next latest thing is going to make all the difference. And they're constantly trying new things or blindly taking something that somebody has suggested for them without having any real idea about whether that is right for them. And I totally get it. When I go on the feed.com and have a look around, every time I look, there is something new. It is constantly being updated and constantly changing.

really big movement actually where products are getting more and more carbohydrate in them.

And the other thing is the ratios are starting to evolve.

You can waste so much money trying everything, buying new products that you don't actually like when you go to use them and things that just don't work for you. And then you end up with a whole bunch of stuff in your cupboard that you're never going to use. So it's just money sitting there.

But the actual product doesn't matter if you don't know what you need, how much you need, when you need it and what your gut can actually handle.

And I love teaching triathletes how to figure this out for themselves, how to test, how to refine, how to find out what actually works best for you and how to understand what to look for when a new product comes on the market. So you can review it with a critical eye, not just blindly add to cart to increase your threshold so you can get free shipping. Yep, I see you.

Being able to read the label and see what is in a product is a definite skill that you need to hone when we have so much available to us. So many triathletes just blindly copy what their mates are doing or whatever product is being promoted to your squad. And you can waste so much time and money wondering why it doesn't work that well or not having any idea whether it is working properly for you or not.

I can fast track you through that entire process and just save you all the hassle. Sports nutrition isn't about chasing the magic gel. It's actually about your entire strategy. It's not one product that's going to make or break your race. It is specific to you and your event as well. And inside the Academy, our race plans change depending on what event you're doing.

And I guess that's a great benefit of working with a triathlon specific sports dietitian.

So there you have it, five of the biggest obsessions triathletes think they need versus what is actually going to move the needle for you and your health and performance.

spend thousands of dollars on shoes, bikes, gadgets, supplements, recovery tools, all of the things, but none of that is going to work if you don't have the fundamentals of your fuelling strategy dialled in first. Nutrition really is the fourth leg of triathlon and it is the piece that most age groupers are missing.

You don't have to waste any more time and money trying to figure this out blindly for yourself. The Triathlon Nutrition Academy program is designed to teach you the strategies that you need to feel properly for three sports so that you can train hard, recover faster, back up and adapt from that training session. So you become a fitter, faster athlete. And ultimately go and smash it out there on race day, without any cramping, any stitching, any bonking, any gut upset or running out of gas. One of my KPIs is that you can cross the finish line with a smile on your face, knowing that you've given it your all, you've left it all out there, you've emptied your tank, but you haven't struggled through the backend of your race, just limping to the finish line with whatever's going on. And if you're ready,

Doors to the Academy are officially open today for the final time in 2025. So this is your last opportunity this year to get my help and finally get your nutrition assorted.

Head to dietitianapproved.com/academy, click on that big orange button and grab your spot before doors close on October 4.

Let's not waste another season chasing shiny obsessions and all the gear, hoping that it'll make you faster. Come and actually learn the skills that you actually need that will actually move the needle for you.
 

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!