Choose pre-prepared foods, drinks and snacks that are low in fat especially saturated fat and salt. To learn more about fat click here Maintain a healthy body weight by regular physical activity which should not be a problem for marathon runners! and by healthy eating.

To read more on weight management for triathletes click here Drink plenty of fluids each day. To read more on fluids click here If drinking alcohol do so in moderation.

To learn how alcohol can affect your athletic performance click here. Remember that the above are general nutrition guidelines that provide the foundation for a healthy diet. As a triathlete you need to get your basic diet right before you begin to work on your training and competition diet.

You as a triathlete should eat a wide variety from each of the food groups breads and cereals; vegetables and fruits; milk, dairy products and milk substitutes; lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts; fluids to ensure you get the nutrients your body needs.

In doing this you will also have interesting and satisfying meals. To review a table of examples of a serving of the various food groups and the daily level necessary to meet your basic nutritional requirements click here.

Record what you eat for a day in the food groups. Tally the number of serves you had from each food group and compare with the recommended serves. If you have not met the recommended servings you need to begin by trying to meet these basic diet requirements.

Supplements are not the answer! Often when triathletes reach for supplements they choose supplements that are not appropriate for their needs anyway. Triathletes sometimes forget that the goodness they try to get from supplements has been scientifically proven to be of most benefit when found in its natural form in food.

Write down one goal that you will work on over the next week to improve your baseline nutrition. For example: ‘My goal this week is to increase my daily servings of vegetables from one to three. You need a diet plan for triathlon training to ensure you are meeting your body’s increased nutrient requirements.

These increased nutrient requirements will depend on your training volumes, frequency and intensity. Your requirements will also vary during the different training phases of the year. The skills you learn when designing your nutritional plan for training can be used to individualize your plan.

Following sound nutrition practices is most important during triathlon training. If you think about it, you spend most of your time training and this is largely what determines your performance in competition. A good diet will help you maximize your training and your competition performance.

Your diet on competition day is just fine-tuning of your training diet. To read more about nutrition during triathlon training click here. Competition Nutrition Competition nutrition is an extension of your triathlon training diet.

The correct nutritional strategies before, during and after competition will help you achieve your ultimate goal. Planning your meals for competition is a good way of focusing on your triathlon event.

By knowing when, what and how much you are going to eat and drink, you can be confident that you have the best possible nutritional preparation.

Planning ensures that the food you want is available, whether you’re at home or traveling. To read more about nutrition during competition click here.

More Step 2 — Training Triathletes need to plan for increased nutrition requirements during triathlon training. More Step 3 — Competition Triathletes need to develop their own diet strategy for competition.

More Carbohydrate loading Things to consider when planning your pre-competition diet Strategies to reduce stomach and gut upsets Pre-competition meal ideas Pre-competition fluids Strategies to meet your competition diet goals Nutrition for after your event Strategies to restore your fluid and electrolyte balance Strategies to replace used glycogen stores Strategies to help the repair of muscle damage Hints for the post-event diet Main points about your competition diet Step 4 – Special Triathlon Training Diet Issues Be aware of special diet issues for triathletes in order to make decisions to maximize performance.

Basic nutritional requirements are the foundation for healthy eating. When you eat enough food to meet basic requirements, you provide you body with just enough nutrients for energy and to maintain health and normal function. Growth, tissue damage, repair and stressful environments can increase nutritional needs.

To learn more about carbohydrate and carbo-loading click here Fibre Helps keep bowels regular and can help reduce blood cholesterol.

To learn more about protein click here Fat Provides the most concentrated and largest source of energy. Minerals Iron Required for the formation of haemoglobin and myoglobin, the oxygen-carrying components of red blood cells and muscle cells respectively.

To learn more about iron click here Calcium Required to build and maintain strong bones and teeth, essential for muscle function, blood clotting and nerve transmission. To read more about salt click here Choose pre-prepared foods, drinks and snacks that are low in fat especially saturated fat and salt.

The type of training undertaken by the triathlete for a race is heavily dependent on the level of experience of the athlete, their training phase and the length of the event.

Due to being a multi modality sport, training load is often high due to needing to balance training for three sports into the weekly schedule — with many days comprising of sessions. Brick sessions refer to sessions that include two or more legs of triathlon — e.

a cycle session followed by a run. An individual athlete may choose to have a longer rest here, or use this time to build a training base to assist them with aerobic capacity as the racing season approaches.

There will often be a longer active recovery phase following a race in long-course triathlon. The training diet for a long course triathlete needs to be varied and periodised to the training needs for that day, week or phase in their program. As many triathletes train more than five days per week—often multiple times per day—food should be prioritised to promote recovery, daily energy levels, and optimise training adaptations.

During the off-season, food can be adjusted to reduce reliance on sports foods and carbohydrate intake moderated to reflect the lower training load. Protein should continue to be prioritised to assist in meeting daily requirements, maintaining lean mass and optimising muscle repair following training.

The off-season is the ideal time to focus on optimal body composition for the upcoming race-season with the support of an Accredited Sports Dietitian for individualised advice. During the competition season, the training diet should be adapted to reflect the higher training load and need for high quality training with increased speed and power.

Carbohydrate intake needs to be sufficient to balance daily fuel needs, but still periodised to match the training demands of the day. Protein should be prioritised around training sessions to assist in optimal muscle regeneration, immune function and recovery.

Choosing foods with healthy fats will also help boost recovery and help meet energy requirements. Despite the need for a higher energy, it is important to still include a variety of fruits and vegetables to ensure adequate intakes of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals are achieved.

Fluid requirements vary between individuals depending on sweat rate and sweat composition, weather conditions and ability to tolerate fluid while training and competing. Athletes should start races well hydrated and continue to optimise hydration throughout the race.

Obviously this presents a challenge in the swim leg, but can to be maximised on the bike leg. As the intensity of racing is lower compared to shorter distance races, more fluid can usually be consumed and tolerated.

Dehydration, both in daily training and racing, can lead to fatigue, loss of concentration and impaired performance due to loss of power and intensity.

Due to the length of training sessions and races, a combination of water and sports drinks is common. Effective carbohydrate loading can be achieved within days prior combined with reduced training load.

This loading should not be achieved through simply eating more food, but rather targeted intake of more carbohydrate rich foods or fluids. Consulting with an Accredited Sports Dietitian to assist with this will reduce risk of gut upset and optimise muscle glycogen stores.

Long distance triathlons most frequently start in the early morning anywhere between am. Eating any more than 2 hours before the race can be a challenge and pre-race nutrition needs to be modified to suit this.

Pre-season and competition season is the time to start to incorporate more sports foods and trial competition nutrition in training.

The off-season is the ideal time to achieve your optimal body composition for the upcoming race-season — an Accredited Sports Dietitian can help you determine an individual plan to match your goals.

Fluid requirements vary considerably between each individual athlete and will depend on factors such as their individual sweat rate and sweat composition, environmental conditions and their ability to tolerate fluid intake while training and competing.

Dehydration, both in daily training and racing, can lead to fatigue, loss of concentration and overall reduced performance. Choosing sports drink during short events can not only contribute to hydration, but also performance enhancement via carbohydrate for fuel.

Most triathlons start early morning, however there are many shorter races now starting in the late morning or afternoon. The time of race start will impact the ideal pre-race nutrition. For early morning events, the pre-event meal should ideally be consumed 1½ — 2 hours before the start of the race.

This can be achieved through a small breakfast such as toast, porridge or a fruit based smoothie option. A small snack such as a banana can then be consumed in the 30mins before the race if needed. Meal choices may include breakfast cereals, porridge, toast or pancakes if breakfast, or wraps, sandwiches, pasta or bread rolls if a late evening race.

The time taken to complete a triathlon will impact the ideal intake of both nutrition and hydration. The carbohydrate mouth-rinse is a strategy that has been shown to enhance performance without the need to ingest any carbohydrate. This can be extremely useful in high intensity, short-distance events where intake is not always practical or well tolerated.

To effectively do this, a carbohydrate containing solution or gel lolly should be held in the mouth for at least secs. For events lasting longer than an hour intake of carbohydrate is recommended.

This can be achieved through sports foods such as gels or bars, carbohydrate containing sports drink, or whole foods such as bananas. For these distances and intensities, fluids and gels tend to be the more practical and well tolerated option — particularly those racing at the elite or competitive age-group level where intensities are high.

The most important focus of hydration should be to start the race well hydrated. Due to the speed and intensity of these events, the ability to drink fluids during the race is limited so should be optimised on the bike and maintained as best as possible on the run. Amounts will be dependent on the time of race start and the weather conditions.

Due to the intensity of effort involved in completing shorter distance triathlons, athletes often do not feel like eating as after they finish. However, as there is often a small turnaround to the next training session or race, eating a protein and carbohydrate-containing snack soon after finishing is important for promoting recovery.

Fluids may be the most practical and well-tolerated option initially. That's why these strips are on solid scientific footing. They only contain 40mg caffeine but they're designed to top up pre-exercise levels. They dissolve on the tongue for faster absorption.

Carbohydrate drinks, gels and bars claim to enhance endurance, improve hydration and speed recovery. Scientifically speaking the moment you start a training session, carbohydrates are being used as fuel. Plus, carbohydrate sports nutrition products deliver easy-to-absorb carbohydrates that exceed the amounts found in natural sources.

They can also feature added ergogenics, such as caffeine. Opinion: Without doubt carbohydrate sources work to deliver fuel in training and make race-day fuelling easier.

Relevant to: All triathletes but not in all sessions. Can be used for pre-race hydration, in races and everyday training, especially over 60mins.

Optimum dose: Needs to be matched to your size and training session needs, so between g per hour of training or racing with sufficient water ml. The orange gel we reviewed in our best energy gels test is made of a newly developed blend of maltodextrin to fructose in a ratio, which delivers a hefty 40g of carbs.

Claimed to increase maximum oxygen uptake and enhance lactate tolerance. Early studies into sodium phosphate loading in the 90s found significant increases in VO 2 max and improved time-trial performance. This was thought to be due to increased levels of 2,3-DPG in red blood cells , which off-loads more oxygen at the working muscle.

UK studies have also reported gains in time-trial performance of secs per mile of racing in a short load-up. One rather inconvenient drawback with its usage is that it may be associated with gastric issues, so as with any new supplement, try this out extensively in training before race week.

Opinion: It requires a consistent daily regime in race week and therefore forward planning, but it works very well and costs little. Optimum dose: Six days with 4 x 1g doses spread evenly across each day, starting six to seven days before your big race.

Increasing levels of nitric oxide NO through eating foods high in nitrate is reported to reduce blood pressure, improve exercise tolerance and increase efficiency of movement.

Research in this area, notably from Exeter University, found that consuming foods high in nitrate — such as beetroot juice — naturally increases NO levels in the blood, which leads to reduced oxygen use during exercise of any intensity anything from walking to heavy cycling.

Pro athletes and cycling teams such as Sky already incorporate nitrate-rich foods and drinks into their diets. Relevant to: Those looking to improve their health by drinking or eating more veg for example, beetroot, spinach, celery and leek and wanting to boost speed and efficiency.

Optimum dose: 6mmol of nitrate. For example, ml beetroot juice daily for six days before an event. The BEET IT product provides 0. Beta alanine BA is claimed to buffer lactate and increase endurance by raising muscle carnosine levels, though this is an emerging area so its optimal use has yet to be established.

A recent analysis of several studies found a 2. Ironman elite Andy Potts appears alongside BA adverts. See BA as an added bonus. Optimum dose: See packet instructions as various optimal doses are recommended from days. L-Carnitine LC supplements have been claimed to increase fat burning and aid endurance.

I knew about LC 20 years ago and advised elite Ironman athletes of the day on how to use it, resulting in plenty of anecdotes about its efficacy.

With more precise loading, athletes have already reported great effects in both recovery and long-distance racing ability. Relevant to: Top-end Ironman athletes or short-course athletes looking to accelerate recovery from long or hard sessions.

Optimum dose: g, twice a day, taken with carbs. Take it, for example, with a high carb breakfast and lunch.

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