Hydration​ and Athletic Performance

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Recently, I gave a sports nutrition talk to a local triathlon club. As an ice breaker, I started by asking a few basic questions to gauge their knowledge about proper hydration while training. Their answers and misconceptions mirrored those that I have heard from hundreds of athletes over the past three decades. Athletes, specifically runners, when asked about their hydration practices, most frequently respond by saying such things as, “I don’t need to hydrate while running, and will drink after my workout.”

Other athletes have no hydration plan at all, saying such things as “If I become thirsty, I will stop and sip from a water fountain along the route.” While others will make excuses about why they don’t drink while training, including not willing to carry fluids and sport drinks hurt their stomachs or make them nauseous.

Trust me, I have heard every excuse why athletes do not hydrate during their workouts. 

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The Secret Recipe to Performance Enhancement​

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The other day I overheard a conversation between two runners discussing training plans and weekly mileage as it related to their performance in an upcoming race. I’m not one to eavesdrop, but the conversation was eerily similar to a discussion I had recently with one of my coached athletes. Both conversations circled around “cutting-edge run workouts alongside becoming leaner to reach optimal race weight.”  

Goodness… where do I start debunking? I’ll begin with the foundation–where I started with my athlete. This is a jam-packed topic that seems complicated but is actually quite simple. I’m cutting to the chase, so listen up.

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The Female Athlete’s Guide to Fueling & Hydration for Optimal Performance – Part III: Recovery Fueling

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Part III of The Female Athlete’s Guide to Fueling & Hydration. In this blog, we discuss the role of recovery, how to optimize and accelerate recovery, and the best options and strategies for female athletes.

Part II covers fueling/hydrating during training and racing.

The post workout/event recovery fuel is designed to speed up the repair of damaged muscle tissue, replace glycogen/energy stores, and promote physical adaptation. Immediately following a training session, muscle cells are open, insulin sensitivity elevated, and the body is primed to absorb simple sugar and protein, so the quicker you refuel, the better.

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The Female Athlete’s Guide to Fueling & Hydration for Optimal Performance – Part II: During The Event or Training

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Part II of The Female Athlete’s Guide to Fueling & Hydration. Part I covers Pre-Workout Fueling. Here, we address how a female athlete can best fuel and hydrate in a training/race environment to ward off GI distress and perform to their full potential.

There is a lot of confusion around what brands and types of fuel are best–and for a good reason. The market is flooded with a variety of sports nutrition products, and what works for one athlete won’t necessarily work for another. This is all the more reason to test drive the products for yourself. The end goal being that come race day your fuel plan is ironclad.

What a Woman Should Eat During…

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The Female Athlete’s Guide to Fueling & Hydration for Optimal Performance. Part I: Pre-Workout Fueling

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Imagine you are preparing for a long road trip. How often do you pack the car, check for missing essentials, hit the bathroom, and fill the gasoline tank with water before heading out of town? Never, I hope! Why, because cars don’t run on water. Automobiles use gasoline as fuel and depending on the vehicle, they require a specific octane rating for optimal performance. Similarly, an athlete, specifically a female athlete, should take the same approach to her fueling plan. 

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Ironman Bike Fueling 101 – All About Eating and Drinking During Ironman Bike Leg

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Whether you’re a seasoned athlete or new to the 140.6 scene, nailing your IRONMAN bike fueling/hydration plan can be tricky, with a lot riding on getting it right. With the numerous sports nutrition products on the market today, figuring out how to fuel for 5-7 hours can be daunting, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. What works for one athlete doesn’t necessarily work for another, and no matter how appealing it might sound, the “rolling buffet” approach—eating and drinking everything in sight along the race route—will do more harm than good.

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Reduce Inflammation with Foods, Not Pills — A Guide for Athletes

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There’s no denying that endurance triathletes put themselves through intense training loads—all for a good cause, of course, but at what health cost? The purpose of a heavy training load is to improve aerobic endurance, muscle adaptation, and strength, but it also increases oxidative stress, better known as inflammation. Many people don’t realize how much they can reduce inflammation with food!

Inflammation is a bit of a buzzword in health these days but in reality, [Read more…]

Avoiding GI Distress in Endurance Triathlons

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It’s race day, and you are ready to cash in on your hard-earned fitness after hundreds of hours devoted to swimming, biking, and running. During the race, all goes as planned in the swim and bike—only for a plethora of gastrointestinal issues to hit you on the run: nausea, bloating, reflux, stomach pain, cramping, diarrhea, and vomiting. Heaven forbid, you might even be at risk of a DNF!

If this is your story, you are not alone. GI problems are the most common cause of underperformance in endurance events. [Read more…]

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