Triathlon Nutrition Academy

Everything Erin Byrge touches turns to gold. As an age-group triathlete from North Carolina, her triathlon season has only just begun. And every time she toes the start line she lands a spot on the podium! With an 11 year history as a triathlete, this girls got goals! And she has a great methodology for setting goals and celebrating her wins. A strategy everyone should implement for long term succ...

Are you the type of triathlete that struggles to find balance after a major event? You’re good when you have a focus and a goal, but once it’s all over you have a hard time sticking to your training and nutrition.  It’s common for triathletes to use training or races as a way to manage their body composition. We have this all or nothing approach - we can be ON or OFF - there’s no middle ground.  B...

A lot of triathletes complain about being time-poor. You fit A LOT into your days. It’s hard to fit much else in, particularly to learn a new skill or gain some deeper knowledge and understanding about your nutrition. So I wanted to share with you 6 simple hacks that you can utilise to save at least 2 hours every week. Personally, they allow me to cram A LOT in, just like you, and still eat well w...

Are you feeling tired and fatigued?   Of course you are - you’re a triathlete training for 3 sports in a week. Plus juggling the demands of work, family, and life. But you shouldn't be completely wiped all the time. Even if you’re training for a full distance/Ironman event.   We often push ourselves to the limits, neglecting the importance of quality nutrition, sleep and recovery. Our bodies need...

EP 95 - How To Shave Minutes Off Your Triathlon Transition Times Having a smooth and efficient transition is crucial in a triathlon to save time, stress and maintain momentum. I’m a firm believer in fast transitions – get in and get out! You can waste SO MUCH TIME mucking around in transition having a picnic or sitting down to put on toe socks. It’s not uncommon for athletes to waste between 5-10...

EP 94 - How Liz Blatchford Managed 120g of Carbohydrate Per Hour on the Bike in Ironman Liz Blatchford - one of THE MOST successful triathletes of all time.  She had an 18 year professional racing career from 2000 in both the ITU circuit and full distance events. And to top it all off, was inducted into the Ironman Hall of Fame in 2022. She is now retired from competing, living her best life with...

What blood tests or biomarkers do you need to test as an active endurance athlete?   You may have seen lots of companies offering blood tests for triathletes lately and it can be hard to know if it’s worth doing or a complete waste of time.   As always, I think it’s important you’re equipped with some knowledge and understanding before doing something like this. So you can make informed decisions...

Ultraman Australia A 3 day, ultra endurance event covering 515km (320 miles) of swim, bike and run. What does it take to prepare for an event like this? And what lessons do you learn about yourself after completing it? Denise Wilson, one of our Academy athletes shares her experience with you from her Ultraman Australia journey in 2022 and why she’s going back for more in 2024. What is she doing di...

Meet Australian elite triathlete Emma Jeffcoat! ex-surf lifesaving Ironwoman athlete turned triathlete and all round legend. Emma’s achieved some pretty epic things in her relatively short triathlon career so far.  She represented Australia in her first Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, placing 26th in the individual event and 9th in the mixed Team Relay. She was also named the Elite National Champion...

This triathlon season one of our Triathlon Nutrition Academy athletes, Leigh Yong has gone from strength to strength! She’s been smashing PB’s, standing on podiums and generally been on fire!  So naturally, I asked her to come on the podcast and share her secrets to success. After spending 3 years building towards her first Ironman in 2022 (thanks Covid), she decided to step back and focus on Spri...

Just because you think you eat really well, doesn’t mean you’re eating properly to support triathlon training. A great lesson to learn, sooner rather than later in your triathlon career! Joining me on the podcast is Canadian cyclist turned triathlete from Ontario, Steve Duquette. He’s been “out and about” doing triathlon for a year or two after making the switch and shares with me his journey from...

Chocolate is delicious. Amen. While it is high in calories and sugar, dark chocolate in particular also contains a number of beneficial compounds that may have positive effects on exercise performance. One of the primary compounds found in chocolate is cocoa. Cocoa is rich in a group of compounds called flavanols, which have been shown to have a number of potential health benefits. Flavanols can:...

Ever thought about doing New Zealand’s Coast to Coast?  It’s an epic one or two day multi-sport event spanning 243km of running, cycling and kayaking from one side of NZ to the other. Sounds epic right?! Joining me for this episode is one of our Triathlon Nutrition Academy athletes, Kirsty Howatson. Kirsty recently completed the two-day event in February and shares her race recap with me. She expl...

Meal Planning and Organisation for the Time Poor Triathlete It’s time to get your sh!t together in the food department!  I understand how time poor you are. You don’t have time to spend hours slaving away in the kitchen, preparing meals, making everything from scratch and being the next Masterchef. But you only have one body. And you need to decide if you’re driving a beat up Honda, putting the ch...

Every time you walk into a supermarket, you're faced with the daunting task of trying to pick the healthiest, most nutrient-packed foods at the best price to be healthy and fuel your  training. As a triathlete, your nutrition differs from the general population. You can’t throw anything in your trolley and hope for the best. You need to make a choice for health and performance. Nutrition really is...

Bicarbonate supplementation is by no means a new thing. But there is a new supplement on the block from one of the big sports nutrition companies. So what on earth is it? And should you be *adding to cart*.   In this episode I explain: What is sodium bicarbonate? Why would we want to use it to enhance exercise performance? What sort of sporting situations would it be useful for? Is it worth triall...

A question I get asked all the time - Should I be taking a multivitamin supplement as a triathlete? As overachieving endurance athletes, we have a higher need for many vitamins and minerals compared to someone that’s more sedentary. But do we need to supplement? Or can we get everything we need from our diet? In this episode I talk about: The 13 essential vitamins our body needs for normal, health...

I hear lots of mixed messages when it comes to tapering for a triathlon race. You put all this effort into training, not tapering properly can have a massive impact on how you perform on race day. Joining me for this episode is Pro Triathlete and TriDot Coach Elizabeth James. She generously shares her knowledge and experience from both the athlete and coaching perspectives. We discussed: What is a...

While the swim is the shortest component of a triathlon, it can be the make or break of your race. Whether you are a natural swimmer or feel like you’re swimming in a washing machine, we can all benefit from improving our technique.   Joining me on the podcast today is ex-national swimmer turned swim coach, Brenton Ford. Brenton started Effortless Swimming in 2009 to help everyday athletes like yo...

Put your hand up if you avoid dairy Do you have a clinical reason to avoid it? You may not tolerate it or follow a vegan diet and choose to avoid all animal products. That is A OK. But unless you fall into those categories, it’s actually a really nutritious food that is useful as an endurance athlete.   In this episode I discuss: Some of the reasons you might need to avoid dairy How do we digest l...

The big question on so many endurance athletes lips - should I try the low carb high fat diet to improve performance? Maybe you’ve had a coach feel successful with this method or maybe you’ve watched a persuasive documentary on one of the streaming services.  To answer this big question, I brought in the big guns, Professor Louise Burke OAM. Affectionately dubbed the godmother of sports nutrition,...

There are some big things happening in the sports nutrition space at the moment. Here are six trends I’m seeing in sports nutrition for 2023. Some are new-ish, while others have been trending for a little while now but don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Blood Glucose Monitoring Higher Carbohydrate products and ratios of carbohydrate types in sports nutrition Gut training The paradigm shift...

So many athletes smash themselves at training with no regard for how they're fuelling or recovering. But we only adapt (i.e. get fitter and faster) from the sessions we recover from. So if you want to get the most out of your training, you need to learn how to unlock your SUPERCHARGED ZONE. It’s the sweet spot where training and nutrition intersect. And it is the secret to becoming a better triath...

Introducing our first Triathlon Nutrition Academy Alumni! Jill Gaudio, Luis Franco Marin and Jason Currie have all just finished 12 months of working on their triathlon nutrition.    As a result of understanding fuelling for swim, bike and run, Jill improved her 5km run time by 8 minutes, her 10km run time by 7 minutes and is cycling 6km/hour faster on the bike compared to 12 months ago. She’s fue...

Is it just me or is there a whole lot more nutrition BS out there at the moment? Unqualified advice givers spruiking the latest fad diet, detox and quick fix.  Put down that juice cleanse and listen up!  The New Year period often brings about lots of goal setting and ideas to improve your life. But instead of going guns blazing in January, only to crash and burn come February… let’s set 2023 up fo...