Hi Saturday Morning Fan,
There are some general rules of thumb about nutrition that most endurance athletes have heard before. In particular, some of these "rules" suggest when to consider fueling training sessions. You may have heard advice like "you don't need to fuel a ride less than an hour" or "easy sessions don't need extra fuel."
Today, we're going to explore some reasons why you might want to fuel every session.
Starting assumptions
The advice about not needing to fuel easy or short sessions often assumes that athletes are eating enough in their daily nutrition, have readily available glycogen stores, and that each training session is an isolated event.
Of course, this is not always true! It's easy to think of scenarios where this is not the case:
- Athletes doing double sessions or training for multi-sport events
- Athletes who train early in the morning before their other commitments
- Athletes who struggle to follow best-practice nutrition guidelines due to busy schedules
Yes, it’s true that a short session, when started by a well-fed and rested athlete, may not require additional sports nutrition. However, this is often not the reality for many athletes.
Recovery benefits
Much of the research on high carbohydrate intake rates comes from Pro Tour cyclists. These athletes push the boundaries, consuming 100g/hr, 120g/hr, or even higher amounts of carbohydrates. This makes sense because cycling places less physical stress on the stomach compared to running, and these athletes are well supported logistically.
While higher carbohydrate intake benefits individual stages, the greatest advantage appears to be improved recovery and performance in later stages of multi-day races.
Most athletes are not cycling thousands of miles over two to three weeks. However, many train with considerable weekly loads, and this accumulation matters. The ability to recover effectively is essential for maintaining consistency and building the training volume needed to achieve race goals. Fueling every session could help with this.
What we recommend
In the app, Saturday accounts for the intensity, duration, and conditions of each session. A short session will likely require only a relatively low amount of carbohydrates, along with enough water and salt to maintain hydration. The app automatically adjusts these factors for every session.
We recommend testing this approach by using the app for every session over a week. See if your overall training feels better. You may not notice a difference in a single short recovery session, but over the week, your key sessions might feel easier.
This strategy applies to all athletes, but it is especially useful for those training at high volumes or struggling to eat consistently high-quality meals throughout the week.
From my own experience, I’ve seen significant improvements in both the quality and volume of training I can achieve during a training camp when I focus on fueling every session. I aim to use the app for every session but prioritize it for my most important training blocks and training camps.
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· Our latest review: SiS Beta Fuel · |
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SiS is a popular brand and Beta Fuel is one of their premium products. In this review, we share our thoughts, recommendations, and guidance on how best to use this product.
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Dr. Alex |
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