10 tips to optimise your endurance sport fuelling

The periodised model of nutrition is a popular strategy among athletes where you match your food intake with your training demands at that particular time of year. Those of you who follow a traditional periodised model of training will be aware of the phases ‘base’, ‘build’, ‘competition’ and ‘transition’. Each of these is designed to stimulate a specific physiological adaptation whether it’s to increase stamina (base), boost speed (build), ensure you’re fresh for racing (competition) or ease off training in preparation for the following season’s goals (transition). The periodised model of nutrition is its fuelling mirror where you change macronutrient and micronutrient intake as the year rolls by. 

The lower-intensity base period takes you up to spring and, depending on your amount of training, carbohydrate intake should be between 6-9g per kg bodyweight. Six is for athletes on less training with a higher body fat percentage. Protein nestles between 1.2-1.6g per kg with fat around 1.1-1.3g per kg. The high-intensity spring build phase sees carbohydrate intake rise to between 8-12g per kg. Protein intake also increases to around 1.5g-2g per kg. Fat is around the 0.9-1g per kg mark. 

Come the competition phase, if you’re racing for longer than 12hrs, in the last four weeks before your race you should increase carb intake from 7g per kg up to a whopping 19g per kg, protein between 1.2-2g per kg, and fat from 0.8-3g per kg. 

Other nutritional snippets include following the 80:20 rule, where you eat healthy 80% of the time and ‘less healthy’ the remaining 20%. Also, whatever the time of year, choose foods rich in beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc to improve immune function. Right, time to serve up your new personal bests. 

1. Drink in all weathers

Don’t forget to drink during the cooler months. It’s so easy to neglect hydration levels when you’re out on a frozen ride. But your sweat glands neither disappear or decrease in number, so you’ll still generate heat and you’ll still sweat. If it’s that cold that you really can’t face another sip of your cool electrolyte drink, follow what performance nutritionist Rob Child used to serve up to his riders: a hot blackcurrant drink or tea. You’ll need a suitable vessel to retain heat and fit into your bottle cage, but it could be a Godsend.

2. Pack in the protein

Where once protein used to be inextricably associated with bodybuilders, now we know it’s equally as useful for endurance athletes. This isn’t just down to maintaining and building skeletal muscle, but to boost mitochondrial health and efficiency, too. Mitochondria are the energy powerhouses of the cells and integral to peak triathlon performance. Studies show that protein’s best consumed in regular, 20g doses for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even before bedtime, to stimulate repair and rebuild. Also think about increasing protein intake after running because of the greater physical impact, which causes delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). This is especially true of downhill running, which accentuates the eccentric contraction of your gait.

3. Tailor carbs to training 

It’s an irrefutable fact that the winter months can mean piling on the pounds. That’s why once we are on the other side of the festive celebrations, it’s worth cutting down on the carbs and (safely) experimenting with glycogen-depleted training. This is where you ride for an hour or two on water only before breakfast. This forces your body to burn more fat for fuel at a given intensity, so you produce less lactate than you would have previously. You also reduce glycogen breakdown, which you can conserve for the harder part of your 2026 triathlons.

4. Eat slow, race fast

Even if you consume the textbook macronutrient and micronutrient content, you’ll add weight – which may not be needed – by overeating. This is es…