Australian Triathlete – July-August 2017

AustrAliAn triAthlete | 91

NutritioN

Training TOOLBOX

Taper

As you approach a key race, chances are

your training load will be reduced, as the

focus moves to feeling fresh and rested for

race day. As the training volume is reduced

during this week, ensure your nutrition

intake reflects this. Trusting your appetite

is essential, as it will likely be reduced

along with your lower training load. Ensure

you continue to choose quality foods

despite the added freedom, as this will

minimise any unwanted

weight gain as you

approach the important

day.

Off-Season

This is where the

likelihood of increasing

body weight and fat

mass is highest.

For many lean athletes, it

is essential that body

weight be increased

slightly here to assist with

regulating hormone levels

and maintaining a good

immune system.

To manage your health

and body composition

during this downtime,

concepts are similar to

the build phase. As

muscle glycogen

demands are much less, your intake of

carbohydrate should be reduced to reflect

this. However, instead of focusing on what

you should remove in this phase, instead

focus on what you can add in! Aim to

consistently add plenty of salads and

veggies to your meals – that way you will

naturally reduce overall energy intake

without going hungry or

missing out!

availability, this response may be

strengthened. Options could include

training in a fasted state or even training

twice per day to improve adaptations.

Although it may be tempting to train

with zero nutrition for long sessions during

the base phase, this does not often end

well. Instead, use this time to cycle off

supplements during training and instead

add in some whole-food portables. This

will naturally reduce carbohydrate and

likely give your bank account a well-

earned rest!

In-Season

As intensity ramps up and there becomes

a bigger focus on quality sessions, nutrition

to support your training demands becomes

increasingly important. A lack of adequate

fuelling going into a key hill or interval

session can prevent you from getting

maximal gains from the session, as goal

intensities may not be able to be achieved.

In this phase, reduce the number of

sessions that you ‘train low’ for and instead

concentrate on ensuring adequate carbo-

hydrate intake around key sessions. It is

best not to aim for significant weight loss

during the season and to instead focus on

weight maintenance, and adequate

fuelling to maximise what you can get out

of each session. Regarding your plate, it

may now look like 1/3 plate carbohydrate

• particularly on heavier training days.

cArBS

Pre-Season/

Base Phase

In-Season

the time to really nail your nutrition to
achieve specific goals, such as a particular
body composition goal you may be aiming
for. The reason that this is the ideal time to
alter your intake, to achieve this, is that
this phase does not rely on high-intensity
training, and therefore you can enhance
exercise adaptations by altering
carbohydrate availability. There is no need
to ‘diet’ or restrict to achieve this - instead,
adapting your intake through the types of
foods you are choosing can be enough.
During this phase, you will naturally
need less carbohydrate overall. This is
because you are simply not dipping into
your muscle glycogen stores how you
would during high-intensity sessions.
Simple strategies such as keeping
carbohydrates to a 1/4 of a plate at main
meals or just switching your favourite
carbohydrate options for a lower energy
alternative, e.g. swapping rice for
cauliflower rice, can be all it takes.
This is also the time that you can
acutely alter carbohydrate availability by
‘training low’. This strategy is all about
training with low carbohydrate availability.
There are a few different options to
achieve this, so it is all about incorporating
a strategy that is the right fit for you, your
lifestyle and your preferences. The
purpose of training with low carbohydrate
availability is to create an environment
where the stress result from exercise can
maximise gene expression (and therefore
adaptation). Endurance training already
achieves this, however by also adding the
additional stressor of lower carbohydrate

PerIoDISING:

You will typically increase your carbohydrate

consumption as intensity ramps up.

cArBS