Endurance triathlon racing involves many complex physiological, sociological, mental and motivational factors. Therefore, when training for a multi-sport event of long duration, the human body experiences many metabolic, immune, hormonal and mental stressors in excess of what would be experienced in a single event of the same duration.
It's often said that triathletes and runners can get away with a lot in short course racing but without a well-practiced, well-planned and well-formulated fueling and hydration plan for long course racing, the body will not perform to it's full capabilities (and health may be compromised).
This is why many athletes struggle in long course training and racing..... how can you expect your body to perform well, hour after hour, if you do not know how to fuel and hydrate it properly?
Sadly, it takes a lot more than motivation and will to get you to the finish line of an endurance race (or to successfully execute a long workout).
A successful endurance performance is not determined solely by how fast you can go, but by how successful you are at delaying fatigue. For a smooth transition to half or full Ironman training, getting your sport nutrition right is paramount.
Sadly, it takes a lot more than motivation and will to get you to the finish line of an endurance race (or to successfully execute a long workout).
A successful endurance performance is not determined solely by how fast you can go, but by how successful you are at delaying fatigue. For a smooth transition to half or full Ironman training, getting your sport nutrition right is paramount.
Because it can be a great challenge to determine the ideal intensity which can be matched with proper
hydration and sport nutrition without causing GI distress when going long, practice your nutritional and pacing strategies in training to bring confidence to race day.
Thankfully, you have months of training to perfect your fueling and hydrating as you build fitness, endurance and resilience, so that you can go into your race day with confidence that you practiced and tweaked, practiced and tweaked and practiced and then perfected your ideal fueling and hydration strategy.
To learn more about how to adjust your nutrition to long course racing, you can check out my article in Triathlete Magazine or online:
READ MORE HERE