How can I train on nutrition without breaking the bank?
Racing, training and that fancy new bike all cost money. Furthermore, we are instructed to ensure we practice our nutrition strategy to ensure we don’t miss out on an ability to utilise more energy and improve our gut tolerance. How can we do that without spending a fortune on expensive products?
Most of us are not blessed with sponsorship or partnerships, that means nutrition is almost literally flowing out of every drawer! Instead, we are forced into purchasing gels, drinks, sachets, bars and shots. Looking back at my own nutrition strategy for IRONMAN distance racing, on one race-distance bike ride, I’d need 10-12 sachets of energy drink. (that would be about £10 on just energy). Electrolyte, if I was training effectively, on top of that (I am a heavy, salty sweater) would also be needed. If I look at running, that would be £2-3/hour just on gels. We are also told we need a protein drink or bar straight afterwards, that is another £5/week if looking at supplementing after only one session, or £10 if I was to be training twice a day and doing it “by the book”.
Just on the underlying assumptions above, that would be approximately £2/ hour on training and £2/session (protein) without the electrolytes and everything else! A 10-hour training weekends up costing £20-30. We know the demographic for triathletes is at the affluent end of the spectrum, but putting about £1,500 away for fuelling per year seems quite extreme, especially when triathletes are social beasts, and there are usually more than one in a household! (For those more ‘bling’ orientated, that could be a really nice disc wheel.....)
Aside from taking advantage of free samples and storming aid stations to reduce the cost of your hobby. What can be done? We know nutrition is so critical to performance (probably more than that disc wheel), but how can we reduce this overhead while reaping the training benefits?
Plan in advance. A lot of the advantages of purchasing products is the convenience associated with them. If you can’t get to a proper fuel and protein source after training, then a protein shake is undoubtedly an effective way to ensure you don’t miss a training enhancement opportunity. Often a change in planning means you get more nutrition at the right point around your sessions.
Fuelling appropriately before and after sessions. It sounds obvious, but if you have fuelled adequately through the session, there is limited need to subsequently fuel during the shorter sessions. You may be better of keeping on top of your electrolytes and hydration only, which will save you money.
Have snacks on you always. If you substitute this for bought snacks, then surely this is a false economy. Though, if you are able to have fruit, sandwiches, nuts, and other real foods around you, you will not need to ensure the sessions are also fuelled as you will have planned effectively (see above) and not be running low on fuel.
Do a half-way house. Perhaps fuelling everything 100% by the book will mean your gut becomes better at taking on the fuel, but your wallet suffers. Choose the key workouts that are effective for you to practice your nutrition (race conditions, or intensities) and then supplement with real food, or reduce the total amount of nutrition you need. For example: if on a long run in a race you may need to take 3 gels an hour, proper fuelling before and after a long run in training may mean you only need 1 gel instead). Home baking on rides and the odd cake and coffee stop may not be in any nutrition strategy books you read, but it will mean you aren’t burning through nutrition supplements (though maybe equally expensive depending on your café!).
Don’t train low. It may be tempting with all of this to train low to race high. This simply has too little evidence behind it, especially for female athletes. Fasted training is often a missed opportunity for a time-pressed athlete for a proper session and can lead to a host of other issues. Take something in your bottle and have a good breakfast.
Whatever your method at saving some pennies, you will be kicking yourself if you haven’t got your nutrition strategy practised for race day. You will still need to practice tolerating it and as always trying anything new on race day is not a successful method. Therefore, cutting out these practice sessions completely will be a more significant waste of money with all your training and racing, resulting in a sub-par performance because your nutrition “wasn’t right”.
We’re here to help
Tri Training Harder are one of the leading Triathlon coaching providers in the UK, using our wealth of experience to unite scientific and technological research with already well-established and successful best practices, to create a formula for triathlon and endurance coaching that works.
The result is an honest, dynamic, yet simple new way of constructing an athlete’s training to allow them to reach their potential.
If you’re planning your next season, just starting out in the sport or are looking for extra guidance at the very top end of the field, we are here to help, and our coaches would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact us via the website, and one of the team will be in touch.