1. CHO can be provided in liquid or solid form during the first five hours of recovery with equal benefit.


2. Simple CHO may be the best choice when compared complex CHO. Simple sugars can increase absorption rates and abrupt insulin burst. The faster you can get glucose into your bloodstream and muscles, the less protein destroyed and the more glycogen stored. complex and fibrous carbs simply take too long to digest and will not give optimal insulin release to offset muscle catabolism.


3. You may want to avoid fat and fructose sources post-workout. Fructose will not replenish muscle glycogen but rather will replenish liver glycogen. Fat severely delays digestion because it metabolically requires so many more processes to break down.


Train the way you race Your athletes should avoid doing anything you haven’t had them try in training directly before and during a race. Race day is about making the best use of the skills and approach you have developed, not about trying something new in the final moments.


That applies to nutrition – do not eat or drink something you haven’t yet tried! Train at


intensity to test nutrition and hydration. Take your risks when training your athletes – the perfect food won’t always be available, so know what’s on the course. Trying a variety of foods, particularly pre-training meals and snacks and experimenting with what you might find in convenience stores may be a great strategy for approaching race day. And remember that when intensity rises, digestion decreases.


Hydration in brief


Many athletes start training sessions dehydrated. Have athletes establish habits, like drinking a glass of water while brushing your teeth, before a meal, etc. Consume at least a bottle an hour on your bike (just water or sports drink).


Bars and Gels in Brief – What to look for in a bar


Look for the negative: • Palm kernel oil, sugar alcohols (‘ol’ ending), glycerin (type of alcohol)


• High fructose corn syrup (can cause bloating and diarrhea)


• caffeine (unless you have tried it and it works)


• Fiber (in larger amounts, can cause Gi distress)


• Green tea extracts (same as caffeine)


Energy gels – mix between a sports drink and an energy bar: primary purpose is to provide you with CHO that can be used for immediate fuel to working muscles. The added nutrients may not be needed during exercise. Look at the sugars and see what you think. Mix with water.


This simple nutrition path can ensure optimum recovery for improvement. Make sure you personalize it and tweak it to determine what balance in food and timing will work best for your athletes.


Dusty Roady brings over two decades of coaching and competitive experience to Excel Fitness as owner and to Whole Athlete as an associate coach and multisport expert. She has over seven certifications and coaching licenses and has coached athletes in volleyball, softball and triathlon. Dusty founded Excel Fitness in 2003. She has logged almost 40 triathlon and cycling races, with over a dozen first-place finishes and multiple podium slots, in addition to the four world records she holds in powerlifting. Dusty is currently the strength and conditioning coach and the triathlon team coach for Dominican University, San Rafael, Calif.


To hit your performance goals you need to do more than just train hard, you need coaching, monitoring, nutrition, psychological skills and good technique. Superior technique will make you faster for the same energy output. Siliconcoach software products are used by coaches and trainers to get your swimming, cycling, running and transition technique dialled in.


“A coach’s ability to analyze athletes’ performance in both training and racing will be greatly enhanced by using siliconcoach Pro,” said elite coach mentor Justin Trolle. “Coaches can now view an athlete’s technique with crystal-clear frame-by-frame clarity allowing them to isolate and work on specific areas of an athlete’s performance. The software also allows coaches to store video footage and then review changes in technique over time.”


All USAT Certified Coaches are eligible for special pricing on siliconcoach software. For more information contact Steve Stanley at stan@ siliconcoach.com.


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