Do You Have A Nutrition Strategy?
- Krista Neugebauer
- Jun 13
- 3 min read
Racing season is upon us! Do You Have a Nutrition Strategy? Many athletes begin working with me and they have no nutrition strategy. They come to me looking for guidance on how to fuel endurance training, but have no idea what their goal of carbohydrates, hydration or electrolytes should be. For endurance athletes, nutrition could be the key to breaking through limits rather than just surviving a race. Understanding a few foundational guidelines and looking at each training as an opportunity to fine tune your nutrition strategy, could be the key to your success.
Today, we are going to discuss basic tips when determining your carbohydrate, hydration and electrolyte needs during training. The intensity, duration and type of activity can impact your needs. The environment also plays a role. Determining carbohydrate needs are straightforward, while hydration and electrolytes require a little more investigation. Consider the tips below as guidelines. Each athlete is different and nutrition plans should be tested before race day!
Basic Tips
Carbohydrates – The amount of carbohydrates recommended per hour is based on intensity, duration and type of activity. It is important to remember the longer the activity, the more depleted you get. As duration increases, so does your need for more carbohydrates.
a. Intensity: As intensity increases, so does carbohydrate utilization.
b. Duration: The longer the activity, the more carbohydrates per hour your body will need. For example, if you are riding 2 hours, you can aim for 30-60g of carbohydrates per hour. If you are riding 4 hours, aim for 90+g of carbohydrates per hour.
c. Type: The type of training can impact the volume your gut can tolerate. Most athletes `can tolerate higher amounts of carbohydrates when they are riding the bike compared to running.
Hydration – Environment and sweat loss rate impact your needs. Obviously when it is hotter, you sweat more and need to replenish more per hour. Start tracking your sweat loss rate in varying environments and training intensities. This will help you nail down a range of hydration to consume per hour. A one hour training session is enough time to provide you plenty of information to begin optimizing hydration before, during and after training.
Electrolytes – The environment directly impacts how much sodium you need to replace each hour of training. While your sweat concentration does not change, your sweat loss does. During warmer summer months, your electrolyte and hydration needs go up each hour compared to cooler winter months. Testing your sweat concentration as well as sweat rate will be key in determining your sodium replacement needs. On average, most athletes need 600-1,000mg of sodium/liter lost. Determine your sweat rate and then you can use the sweat test results as well as your concentration to determine your specific needs for training and racing.
The main message today is that you need a nutrition strategy for training and racing. Your strategy may not look like anyone else’s, and that is okay. That is part of the beauty of nutrition; find what works for you and fuel your body to perform. Use each training as an opportunity to adjust nutrition so that when it comes to race day, you are confident in fueling to perform. If you have no idea how much to consume, contact me. Let’s fine-tune your nutrition together for optimal performance. Happy training!
Sincerely,
Krista Neugebauer, RDN LD
Dream Big & Fuel Fearless for Your Life
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