Nutrition for Triathletes: Fuel Smarter with Science-Backed Advice

 Most triathletes need somewhere between 60 and 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour during a long race, in line with the standard sports nutrition guidelines. Elite athletes who tolerate more than that, up to 120 grams per hour or higher, have built that capacity through months of deliberate gut training, not by simply eating more from race morning. Carbs per hour for tria...

Triathletes who swim three sessions a week can absolutely get faster if each session has a specific purpose. The key is structuring your three weekly swims around three distinct goals: building aerobic capacity, pushing your threshold and developing race-specific speed. Three purposeful sessions done consistently will outperform five unfocused o...

Calorie tracking apps were designed for sedentary people trying to lose weight, not for triathletes training 10 to 20 hours a week. For athletes, the apps get the baseline equations wrong, set protein targets that are backwards for performance, and cannot account for the daily variation in training load that makes triathlon nutrition so individual. Research s...

First Ironman nutrition requires consuming 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour on the bike and run, spread across gels, chews, sports drink and real food, with fluid and electrolytes calibrated to sweat rate and conditions. Athletes who use multiple transportable carbohydrates - a mix of glucose and fructose - can absorb more fuel per hour than those relying...