If transition is triathlon's fourth discipline, nutrition should be the fifth. Making fuelling mistakes could mean your race ends in disaster. And the longer the event, the more critical your food and drink strategy becomes. But it's not easy
sugar. Vary the flavours to ensure a wider variety of nutrients.Squash, fizzy drinks and flavoured water: They may hit the spot in terms of taste but these drinks don’t have much to offer in terms of nutritional value. They also contain heaps of sugar
. Brewed coffee contains just two calories per cup, so it doesn't provide the energy muscles need after exertion, but adding low-fat milk and sugar contributes calories, and the calcium and vitamin D improve its nutritional profile. And coffee contains
. "Training rides are prime opportunities to practise race-time eating and drinking strategies," says Eberle. Once you discover a winning formula, you'll approach your next triathlon with a foolproof plan.Change it: Test new foods on shorter rides before
With three disciplines to consider, it's easy to make mistakes when you're eating and drinking during training and racing. That's the bad news. The good news is that it's easy to avoid triathlon's common nutritional pitfalls if you plan ahead
such as SIS Go.But Fiona Moorehead-Lane, a level two British Triathlon Federation (BTF) coach and founder of triathloneurope.com, believes most triathletes can get the correct nutrition by using real foods and water. Make your own isotonic drink by combining
the glycogen in your liver. I have porridge with honey.”“Take on 1,000ml of water, but have two bottles on your bike – one pure water, one mixed with isotonic drink,” says triathlete Will Clarke.Carry energy gel in the shoulder of your suit. “There’s no way
compounds in coffee appear to counteract caffeine's ability to impact your exercise session," says Graham. So to achieve these positive effects you're better off using caffeine pills or a caffeinated energy drink. Shame, the latte protein shake sounded
for you on race day. So I would say that the more time you have to try different sports bars, gels, energy drinks and timings, the better. As well as thinking about which carbohydrate you'll take on board during the race this is also a good time to plan
Lynn Clay from Maxifuel is a sports scientist, nutrition consultant and freelance journalist with eight years' experience in the nutrition industry. She’s a former AAA gold medallist runner, a keen cyclist and she’s competing in Ironman Austria
