With so many sports supplements promising performance gains, sorting the proven from the mere placebo is baffling at best. Here, I’ve sifted through some of the most popular supplements for athletes and put them into three categories. This article (part 1) covers supplements supported by solid evidence. Part 2 covers supplements that may be worth considering and those that have no or limited benefit.
The sports nutrition market is awash with tablets, powders and potions promising performance gains. Some of them are very eye-catching; a nutritional improvement, if it works, is a relatively easy gain – no extra work required, just a small financial outlay. But most of us also realise that many, if not most, supplements overpromise and under-deliver. There’s no replacement for a well-balanced diet and strategic nutrient timing around training. Nonetheless, sports supplements are widely used by athletes at every level of the sport. According to a recent consensus statement by the International Olympic Committee, there are a few products that are supported by robust research and may offer performance or health benefits.
(1) Supplements supported by solid evidence
Vitamin D
BENEFITS: BONE HEALTH, MUSCLE FUNCTION, IMMUNITY
Vitamin D is important for muscle function, bone health and healthy immunity. A study of 50 competitive male road cyclists found the majority had low levels of vitamin D, putting them at greater risk of injury and respiratory infection. In tests on a group of footballers who were given either a vitamin D supplement or a placebo, researchers found that, after eight weeks of training, the supplemented group showed significant performance improvements compared to the placebo group. However, taking vitamin D if you are not deficient will not boost performance. Your GP should be able to test your vitamin D levels; or you could buy a test kit from a private provider such as Forth Edge (www.forthedge.co.uk) or Medichecks (medichecks.com); if yours is less than 50nmol/L, then you will benefit from supplements (100mcg or 4,000IU per day is the upper limit). Sports endocrinologist Dr Nicky Keay recommends athletes maintain levels of at least 90nmol/L. If testing is not available to you, Public Health England recommends taking a daily 10mcg supplement during autumn and winter – and it won’t do any harm all year round.
Caffeine
BENEFITS: ALERTNESS, REDUCED FATIGUE
Caffeine has been studied for 100 years. Its is a stimulant that acts on the brain, blocking the action of a brain chemical called adenosine that normally makes you feel tired. Caffeine therefore increases alertness and concentration and lowers perceived exertion, making exercise feel easier. Studies show caffeine enhances endurance performance, shaving an average of 3.2% off of athletes’ finish times, as well as sprint and power-based events. You only need 1–3 mg/kg to get a performance boosting effect, which is less than once believed (6 -9 mg/kg). For a 70 kg cyclist, this would be 70 – 210 mg, equivalent to a double expresso, 2 – 4 caffeine gels or 1 – 3 cans of energy drink. Since the caffeine content of coffee is variable, many athletes prefer to take it in tablet form. Consume it 30–60 minutes before you want the desired effect, either before an event or towards the end of it when you need an energy boost. It stays in your bloodstream a long time – it’s half life is around 5 – 6 hours, meaning that you’ve only managed to clear half of it out of your body by then. Individual responses vary and not everyone performs better with caffeine. Experiment in training, not on race day, to find out the dose and timing that works for you.
Beetroot Juice
BENEFIT: IMPROVED BLOOD FLOW
There’s a solid base of evidence to suggest that beetroot juice – a rich source of nitrate – can improve endurance performance in events lasting 12–40 minutes as well as repeated sprint performance. It increases levels of nitric oxide in the body, which is a potent vasodilator, meaning it helps to dilate blood vessels, improve blood flow and aid oxygen delivery to muscles. It improves muscles’ efficiency in using oxygen, reducing the oxygen cost of submaximal exercise to such an extent that endurance rises by up to 15% (equivalent to a 1% improvement in a time trial). Cyclists given 500ml beetroot juice 2 ½ hours before a time trial race improved their performance by 2.8% in a 4km race and 2.7% in a 16.1km race. It seems to reduce the rate of fatigue, making it useful for anyone performing endurance or high-intensity interval exercise. Not all studies have produced positive results, though. Elite athletes seem to gain a smaller benefit from beetroot juice than recreational athletes. A study published in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism found that pre-run beetroot juice made no difference to 5km running performance.
The ideal dose is 300–600 mg nitrate, equivalent to one or two x 70-ml beetroot ‘shots’, taken two to three hours before exercise. But a 3 -7 day ‘beetroot loading’ phase may be needed to produce an ergogenic effect in more highly trained cyclists, according to a recent Danish study . Alternatively, you may prefer to consume nitrate-rich foods, such beetroot, rocket, celery, spinach and lettuce. Avoid using antibacterial mouthwash, as this removes beneficial bacteria in the mouth that convert some of the nitrate to nitrite and thus reduces the benefits of beetroot juice. As for side effects, there’s a harmless, temporary, pink colouration of urine and stools.
Beta-alanine
BENEFIT: SPRINT TOLERANCE
Beta-alanine is a non-essential amino acid that may enhance sprint performance and benefit performance in events ranging from 30s to 10 minutes, or those involving repeated high intensity efforts (e.g. resistance training, team- and racket-sports). Taking supplements increases carnosine concentrations in the muscles, which increases buffering capacity and helps offset the build-up of hydrogen ions during high-intensity anaerobic exercise that results in fatigue. So, beta-alanine supplements may help delay the onset of fatigue, increase exercise capacity and increase high-intensity performance. The optimal dose is 65 mg/kg body weight/day, or about 3.2 – 6.4g/day, but is best utilised when taken in several smaller doses (e.g. 0.8 – 1.6g every 3 – 4 h) over a 10- to 12-week loading period to minimise the likelihood of side effects such as paraesthesia (skin tingling). Recreational athletes usually gain greater benefits than elite athletes.
Iron
BENEFIT: OXYGEN-CARRYING CAPACITY OF BLOOD (IF PREVIOUSLY IRON-DEFICIENT)
If you have been diagnosed with iron deficiency, then you’ll benefit from iron supplements. Symptoms include persistent tiredness, fatigue, above-normal breathlessness during exercise and loss of endurance and power. Your doctor can carry out a simple blood test (that measures ferritin, haemoglobin, iron and haematocrit) and will prescribe supplements if you need them. However, if you’re not deficient, you should not take supplements above the Recommended Dietary Allowance as high doses cause side effects such as constipation.
Vitamin B12
BENEFIT: PREVENTS ANAEMIA
Deficiency of vitamin B12 is a particular risk for vegans, as it isn’t found in plant sources. Lack of B12 can result in anaemia and impact adversely on endurance performance. The Vegan Society recommends taking a supplement containing 10 micrograms of B12, or including vitamin B12-fortified non-dairy milk alternatives, yeast extract or breakfast cereal. Vegetarians can find vitamin B12 in eggs and dairy products.
Creatine
BENEFIT: IMPROVED RECOVERY FROM MAX EFFORTS
Boosting muscle creatine levels enables you to sustain all-out effort longer than usual and recover faster between sets. For this reason, it’s favoured by track sprint cyclists – no studies have demonstrated a significant benefit for endurance cyclists. A review of 22 studies concluded found that creatine increases maximum strength by an average 8%, and endurance strength (maximum reps at a sub-maximal load) by 14%. There are several forms of creatine, but creatine monohydrate is the most effective and well-researched form. It can be taken as a five-day loading dose (four x 5 g per day) or 2–3 g per day for four weeks, followed by a maintenance dose of 2 g/day. The only side effect is weight gain due to extra water in the muscle cells.
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Expert advice on how to how to eat well and improve your performance
Getting enough protein in your diet is important for everyone – but especially for athletes. Along with helping you feel fuller for longer, this macronutrient helps build and repair your muscles, cartilage, ligaments after a tough workout. It also makes skin, bones, hair and lots of other tissues as well as enzymes, hormones, and antibodies for your immune system. Although most of the energy used during exercise comes from carbohydrate and fat, protein also contributes to the fuel mixture, to the tune of 2 – 5% – and even more if you’re low on carbohydrate.
Even if you hit the recommended guidelines, you may not be getting enough protein to recover fully from your workouts. According to the International Society of Sports Nutrition, athletes need more protein than the average person and recommends consuming between 1.4g and 2g of protein per kilogram a day . For a 70kg athlete, this equates to 98g to 140g per day. This is needed to repair muscle fibres damaged from training and improve recovery as well as to build mitochondrial proteins, the powerhouses of the muscle cells that make energy.
How much protein you should consume in one serving is a subject of debate by scientists. Most believe that around 0.25g of protein per kg of body weight, is the optimal amount for building muscle mass, or an absolute amount of 20g of protein per meal. Anything greater than this won’t give you any performance advantage since muscle protein synthesis is maxed out around 20 g of protein at one time. Instead it would be used for energy or excreted in our urine. As a rule of thumb, it’s a good idea to consume 20g of protein as soon as possible after training and in each of your meals and snacks. Here are 20 ways to hit the 20g mark at breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as in your snacks.
Where should your protein come from?
Although meat is a concentrated source of protein, you can easily obtain enough protein from other foods. Dairy, beans, lentils, tofu and eggs, for example, are all excellent sources of protein so it’s not difficult to get your daily quota.
When we talk about protein we are really talking about amino acids. These are the building blocks of proteins that are combined in many different ways to make hundreds of different proteins, each with specific roles in the body. Nine cannot be created in the body and are called ‘essential amino acids’ (EAAs). These must be provided by the diet. It is the amount of these EAAs in foods that determine how useful the protein is to the body.
Foods containing high levels of all EAAs are regarded as ‘high quality’ or ‘complete’ proteins. These include meat, dairy, eggs and soya. On the other hand, plant sources such as beans, lentils, nuts, seeds and grains are lacking in one or more essential amino acid so are not as ‘complete’ or useful on their own. This makes them less efficient at building muscle than animal proteins.
However, you can compensate for the lower anabolic properties of plant protein by eating bigger quantities to get higher amounts of EAAs or by combining more than one source to produce a more balanced amino acid profile, e.g. beans and rice. Maastrict University researchers showed that consuming 20g plant protein typically results in submaximal MPS but consumption of a greater amount and/ or combining more than one plant protein augments the MPS response.
To supplement or not?
The International Association of Athletic Federations recommends whole-food sources of protein rather than supplements. Not only are they generally less expensive, but they can offer a range of other nutrients. What’s more, studies have shown that food sources, such as dairy or soya milk, are just as effective for muscle recovery as protein supplements. Specifically, the interaction of the other nutrients contained within the food matrix, may actually increase the use of protein for muscle repair.
Despite the attractive claims, there’s no evidence that consuming more protein than you need will lead to bigger muscles or greater strength gains. But that’s not to say that there aren’t circumstances where a protein shake or bar comes in handy, for example if you’re training or competing in an environment where there’s no opportunity to store or prepare foods. Also protein supplements may be helpful if you find it difficult to meet your protein quota from food alone, for example, if you’re following a vegan diet.
Of the animal-based supplements, whey is a good post-exercise choice as it is digested and absorbed rapidly, while casein taken before bedtime may help promote muscle recovery as it is absorbed at a slower rate. Vegan protein foods tend to be bulkier and more filling, making it harder to meet daily protein needs. Another limitation is that most plant-based proteins fall short of one or two essential amino acids (EAAs), so won’t promote muscle building as effectively as animal-based proteins unless two or more plant proteins are combined. Soy protein is probably your best option as it has more leucine (an EAA thought to trigger muscle building) but pea and rice blends are also good.
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One of the biggest myths surrounding vegetarian and vegan diets is that they cannot supply enough protein for optimal performance. But this simply isn’t true. Thanks to documentaries like The Game Changers and the growing list of high-profile sportspeople who attribute their recent success to the benefits of a plant-based diet – Chris Froome, Venus Williams, Scott Jurek, Tom Daley, Adam Peaty, David Haye and Lewis Hamilton to name a few – the popular image of a weak vegetarian or vegan athlete has been buried. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the ranks of converts.
Anecdotally, there’s plenty of support for the performance benefits of a vegetarian or vegan diet. Converts claim to have had increased energy, faster recovery, less illness and fewer injuries since giving up meat. Veganism, it seems, has become not only acceptable but even desirable. But what does the science say? Can you really build muscle on a vegetarian or vegan diet?
When it comes to health, vegetarian and vegan diets may have several advantages over a typical diet with meat. They are associated with a significantly lower risk of heart disease, certain cancers, hypertension, obesity and increased longevity. Conceivably, such benefits could also confer a performance advantage. However, whether these benefits are due to the absence of meat, or to a lower intake of saturated fats, an increased intake of plant foods, fibre and phytonutrients, or the adoption of healthier lifestyle behaviours such as physical activity and avoidance of excessive alcohol has not been proven.
But researchers have suggested that plant based diets may help athletes optimise performance due to their high content of carbohydrate, antioxidant and phytonutrients. The latter two components may help reduce exercise-related oxidative stress and inflammation, and improve immune function, which could theoretically enhance recovery.
To date, only a handful of studies have looked directly at the effects of a vegetarian or vegan diet on performance. These suggest that excluding meat from your diet does not harm your strength or endurance.
In a new studypublished in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, exercise capacity in runners was similar regardless of whether participants followed a vegan, vegetarian, or meat-based diet.
A 2016 review by Australian researchers, concluded that a well-planned and varied vegetarian diet neither hinders nor improves athletic performance.
A study at Arizona State University found that vegetarian athletes had similar cardiorespiratory fitness and strength as those who ate meat.
Contrary to what many believe, it is entirely possible to get enough protein on a vegetarian or vegan diet. Yes, athletes generally need more protein than the general population – between 1.2 and 2g/ kg body weight/ day or in the region of 20g (or 0.25g/ kg of body weight) of protein per meal – but you can obtain this from many foods other than meat: dairy and egg (for vegetarians) , beans, lentils, chickpeas, peas, tofu, whole grains, quinoa, nuts and seeds.
The big question is whether plant proteins are as good as animal proteins for building muscle? The evidence points to plant protein sources being less efficient at building muscle than animal proteins. This is partly due to their lower concentrations of essential amino acids (EAAs), in particular leucine, and their lower digestibility. Leucine is an important trigger and substrate for protein synthesis. However, you can compensate for the lower anabolic properties of plant protein by
Eating bigger quantities to get higher amounts of EAAs – a 2016 study measured a significant increase in muscle protein synthesis (MPS) after consuming 60g wheat protein but not after 35g wheat protein, suggesting that eating a larger amount of plant protein is an effective strategy to compensate for its lower quality.
Combine more than one source to produce a more balanced amino acid profile, e.g. beans and rice. Maastrict University researchers showed that consuming 20g plant protein typically results in submaximal MPS but consumption of a greater amount and/ or combining different sources may possibly augment the MPS response (fig 1). Many plant proteins including beans and lentils, are leucine-rich, albeit not as well absorbed as animal protein.
Bottom Line
A vegetarian or vegan diet needs more planning but it is perfectly possible to obtain enough protein to build muscle and optimise performance without eating meat. The key is to eat a variety of plant proteins, including beans, lentils, soya products, nuts, seeds, whole grains. This doesn’t necessarily have to be at every meal, but spread over the course of the day. There are limitless possibilities of plant protein combinations, including:
Pulses with grains (e.g. Puy lentil Bolognese with pasta; Three bean chilli with rice)
Grains with soya (e.g. Porridge made with oats and soya drink)
Soya with grains (e.g. Thai green curry with tofu and rice)
Pulses with nuts or seeds (e.g. Falafel with tahini dressing)
Nuts with grains (e.g. Cashew nut roast; Nut butter on toast)
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegetarian and vegan diets can supply enough protein – including all the essential amino acids – to support good health. While some vegan diets may be lower in certain nutrients such as vitamin B12, iron, zinc and calcium, this can be overcome by appropriate planning.
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Expert advice on how to how to eat well and improve your performance
Recovery nutrition is a critical part of any training programme. If you recover better, then you’ll be able to train harder in your next workout. Failure to replenish fluid and fuel after training will result in sore muscles, fatigue and under-performance in your next workout.
Exercise depletes your stores of glycogen (carbohydrate) and breaks down muscle tissue and these need to be replaced to recover properly. Good nutrition in the post-workout period will help your body to adapt to the stress imposed by exercise, so you can recover faster and get bigger gains in strength and endurance. Providing the body with the right nutrients will ensure your muscles have all the building blocks to recover and rebuild themselves stronger.
Here are my top post-exercise nutrition tips to help you recover faster.
How should you recover?
A good rule of thumb is to follow the ‘3 Rs of recovery’ after every workout.
Rehydrate
Refuel
Rebuild
Rehydrate. The exact amount you need to drink depends on how much fluid you have lost during your workout. Weigh yourself before and after training. For optimal rehydration, aim to replace each 1 kg of your weight (sweat) loss with 1.2 – 1.5 l fluid. If your fluid losses have been relatively small then water will do a perfectly good job replacing lost fluid. But if fluid losses have been high, then opt for a drink containing electrolytes, such as a sports drink. Alternatively, water with salty food (e.g. cheese sandwich) will work equally well, and promote more effective fluid retention than water alone.
Refuel with carbs to replenish glycogen stores. The harder and longer you trained the more carbohydrate you will need to replace. As a guide, high intensity endurance exercise, such as running, cycling and swimming, will deplete your glycogen more than low intensity activities, such as walking, jogging or yoga or strength and intermittent activities that include rest periods such as weight training or tennis. In other words, you’ll need more carbohydrate after an endurance workout than a strength workout.
Rebuild with protein. Protein repairs damaged muscle fibres and supports the formation of new muscle tissue. This doesn’t necessarily need to be a protein shake – several studies have shown that food sources, such as dairy or soya milk, are just as effective for muscle recovery as protein supplements. Ideally, you want a ‘high quality’ or complete protein – one that contains all 8 essential amino acids – and one that’s rich in the amino acid leucine. Milk, eggs, yogurt and soya are all suitable and will help your muscles recover faster before your next workout.
Your post-workout meal or snack should, ideally, include 0.25–0.4 g protein per kilogram of body weight, depending on the type and intensity of exercise you’ve done. Many studies have shown this to be the optimal amount to trigger muscle protein synthesis muscle building). But tailor this to suit your workout and your body weight – most studies were done with 85kg males! You’ll need more following a strength or whole-body workout than following an endurance workout, but generally, an intake between 20–40 g will be suitable for most workouts. Get 20g protein from 3 eggs; 500ml milk; 250g strained Greek yogurt or 25g whey powder.
Protein is not essential in the immediate post-exercise period but plays an important role in long term recovery and muscle building.
Be guided by your hunger and eat your post-exercise snack or meal when you feel hungry for it. Provided you consume enough calories, carbohydrate and protein over a 24-hour period, your muscles will recover before your next workout. Caffeine also promotes glycogen storage during the immediate post-exercise period so having a cup of coffee, though not essential, may be a good idea. But if you train twice a day, or the time interval between training sessions is less than 8 hours, then you need to take advantage of the 2-hour recovery window.
For rapid recovery after endurance training, aim to consume 1.0–1.2g of carbohydrate per kg body weight (60–72g for a 60kg runner) each hour for 4 hours after exercise to maximise glycogen synthesis. This is equivalent to 300ml flavoured milk and a banana. This way you will ensure your glycogen stores are restored as fully as possible before your next workout.
Breakfast: Overnight oats – soak oats, milk and yogurt overnight, then stir in banana slices, fresh berries and a few toasted almonds. Alternatively, poached eggs, avocado and toast would fulfil your recovery needs following a strength workout.
Lunch: Pitta bread with hummus, falafels or tuna; avocado, rocket and beetroot.
Dinner: Thai Green Chicken Curry or Black Bean and Sweet Potato Curry
Recovery snack options include:
Milk with a banana – milk fulfils the 3Rs – promotes rehydration as effectively as sports drinks, also provides protein for muscle repair and carbs for refuelling muscles.
Fruit and yogurt smoothie – Blend together 3 tbsp plain Greek yogurt, 1 banana, a handful of berries and 150ml milk in a blender.
A ‘yogurt bowl’: Greek yogurt topped with berries, nuts or seeds
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my brand new book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
This year’s Prudential RideLondon-Surrey will see around 100,000 amateur cyclists take to the streets of London in the UK’s biggest festival of cycling. It includes a number of road races for professionals but keen riders will also be taking part in the sportive event: a 100-mile ride from London to Surrey on a similar route to that of the London 2012 Olympic Road Cycling race. So how do you fuel your body before, during and after an event like this?
Avoid ‘bonking’
The key is to start the ride with full stores of glycogen (carbohydrate). This will not only help fuel your leg muscles and increase your endurance but will also reduce the chances of you ‘bonking’. This is the cycling term for that terrible feeling when you’ve nothing left in the tank: your legs turn to jelly, you feel weak, dizzy and disorientated and can no longer keep pedalling. It happens when you have depleted your body’s glycogen stores.
It’s hard to get back from a ‘bonk’ so your best protection is to ensure that your glycogen is fully topped up before starting and then to refuel throughout the ride. The former is achieved by carbohydrate loading – tapering your training during pre-ride week and increasing your carbohydrate intake. The ACSM recommend 10 – 12g carbohydrate/ kg of body weight per day in the last 48 hours before the event (700 – 840g/ day for a 70kg cyclist).
That may sound a lot but, in practice, you simply need to ensure you include a decent-sized portion of high-carb foods such as porridge, potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, fruit and pulses in each of your meals. But don’t take it to extremes and eat too much, otherwise you may wake up feeling heavy and bloated on event day. Carb loading doesn’t mean eating as much as you can!
The day before
Stick to the foods you normally eat and don’t experiment with anything new. Eat plain and simple meals, including a portion of carbohydrate and a portion of protein. A simple tip is to eat most of your food at breakfast and lunch rather than a big meal late in the evening. Little and often will help maximise glycogen storage. And keep hydrated – sip on water frequently throughout the day.
Try to minimise fibre (e.g. by swapping wholemeal for white bread) and steer clear of anything that may cause digestive issues and jeopardise your performance. On the other hand, if you’re fine with these foods, then there’s no need to avoid completely. Suitable meals include a chicken or chickpea tagine (stew) with couscous, Pad Thai (noodles) with tofu or chicken, or a simple risotto with butternut squash, beans and peas
The morning of the ride
If you’re doing RideLondon, you’ll have an early start so may not feel like eating breakfast at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning! However, eating something rather than nothing beforehand will help delay the onset of fatigue and means you’ll feel better during the ride. How much and what you eat before the ride will depend on how much time you have between waking and the start of the ride. The less time you have before your ride, the smaller your meal should be.
Have a breakfast you’re used to. This should contain foods rich in carbs and protein to help keep you satiated. If you are able to eat at least 2 hours before riding, try porridge with fruit and nuts; overnight oats (or Bircher muesli) or granola with fruit and yogurt. If you have less than 2 hours or you simply can’t face a meal, opt for an oat bar, banana or smoothie. It’s important to start the ride hydrated, so sip water frequently and aim to drink 350- 500ml fluid 2 – 3 h before you start riding.
Many cyclists like to include coffee for a pre-ride caffeine boost. But not everyone responds well to caffeine (it may cause trembling and headaches), so don’t try it for the first time before an event. In studies, it’s been proven to increase alertness and lower perception of effort, making cycling feel easier and increasing endurance. The current consensus is approx 1 – 3mg/ kg body weight, that’s equivalent to a double espresso but you may prefer pills, gels or chews.
During the ride
Start refuelling within the first hour or so, and then refuel every 30 – 60 minutes, aiming for a total of 30 – 90g carbohydrate/ hour. The exact amount you need depends on how hard you’re riding. For example, cycling fast or uphill burns proportionally more carbohydrate than fat compared with cycling at a leisurely pace or on the flat, so you’ll need consume more carbs during these stages. You can get 30g carbohydrate in the following:
1 large banana
40g (a small handful) dried fruit
1 Oat bar or 2 Nakd bars
500ml sports drink (6% carbs)
1 energy bar
4 energy chews
1 energy gel
Refuelling during the ride helps maintain blood glucose levels within an optimal range and supply additional fuel to your muscles. This reduces the rate at which your muscles burn glycogen and thus helps stave off fatigue.
Take high-carb snacks that you have trained with, including savoury options (e.g. peanut butter or Marmite sandwiches, rice cakes and pretzels) as well as sweet to reduce flavour fatigue and the risk of tooth damage. You may want to take natural foods (e.g. fruit and nut bars, bananas, flapjacks and dried fruit) as well as energy products (e.g. gels and bars), whatever you’ve trained with. Use natural food nearer the start to give it time to digest, energy products nearer the end when you need a quick boost. Prepare as much as possible e.g. cut bars in half and open wrappers to make them easier to consume, and put them in your pockets. If you wish, you can use caffeine during the ride to make it feel easier, increase focus and reduce fatigue – but only if you’ve used it successfully in training.
Take two refillable bottles: one for water and one for a sports or electrolyte drink (or whatever you used during training). Your aim is to avoid under-drinking (dehydration) as well as over-drinking (hyponatraemia). Drink little and often and to thirst; the amount you need depends on your sweat rate, which will increase during hot humid weather and on climbs. Aim for approximately 400 – 800ml/ h. Drinks containing electrolytes are recommended on long hard rides over 2 hours or when sweat losses are high (especially if you’re a salty sweater).
Check in advance where feeding and drinks stations are on the route. Use the opportunity to re-fill your bottles and stock up with food – but avoid over-eating! Be wary of trying new products – stick to what you’ve trained with.
Recovery
When it’s all over, following a few simple rules for recovery will help you feel better in the following few days. Sip water or a sports or electrolyte drink – rehydration can take up to 24 hours so continue drinking frequently. You’ll need carbs and protein to refuel your glycogen and repair damaged fibres in your muscles. Good options include milk-based drinks, recovery drinks, cheese sandwiches, yogurt, protein bars, flapjacks and bananas. Then go ahead and celebrate! Suitable recovery meals include rice and fish, or sweet potatoes with cheese or hummus and salad.
If you want more advice..
I’ll be on Centre Stage at the 2019 Prudential RideLondon Cycling Show, giving five talks each day with lots of simple, practical tips. The Show is free to enter, open to all and runs from Thursday 1st August until Saturday 3rd August.
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Expert advice on how to get the right nutrients to maximise your performance without meat
Stunning food photography
Full nutrition information for each recipe, including calories, carbohydrate, fat, protein and fibre
One of the most common questions I get asked by runners is why they can’t lose weight despite running regularly. Some runners find that they actually gain weight; a phenomenon dubbed ‘marathon weight gain’. Although this may seem counterintuitive, it is also very frustrating for those aiming to lose weight. But there are a number of explanations, which may help you understand why you may not be losing weight.
Its all too easy to overestimate how many calories you’re burning running and overcompensate by eating too many calories. The truth is you may not be burning as many calories as you think. For example, if you weigh 60kg and run for 30 minutes three times a week, you’re burning 933 kcal. That’s equivalent to weight loss of less than 0.2kg, barely enough to register on the scales. You’ll need to create a deficit of 7,700 kcal to lose 1kg.
When you’re running regularly, it’s tempting to see a workout as a free pass to eat what you like, and easy to over consume treats. A couple of biscuits with your morning coffee? Another slice of cake? Why not – after all you just did a long run. But all those extra calories here and there can soon add up if you’re not mindful of your food intake. Unless you’re blessed with a fast metabolism or an ability to self-regulate your appetite, you may need to keep a more careful check on portion sizes and daily calories. If you want to lose weight running, you’ll need to consume fewer calories than you’re burning.
You may be very active while you run but do you then sit for long periods during the day? Many people may not be aware of it but, on days when they run, they tend to do less spontaneous activity, like walking or just getting up from their chair and moving around (known catchily as ‘non-exercise activity thermogenesis’ or NEAT). This means you could be burning fewer calories throughout the day, and so your overall daily burn may not be much different from what it was before you took up running. A study in 2015 found that people who exercised vigorously but sat most of the time were 1.65 times more likely to develop metabolic syndrome – type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.
Do you consume too many sports nutrition products? Energy gels, bars and drinks contain a lot more calories than many people realise. A 500ml bottle of sports drink typically contains 140 calories; a gel 90 calories and a bar 200 calories. It’s easy to get sucked into the hype around these products but unless you’re exercising for longer than 90 minutes you don’t need extra carbohydrate during your run. You should have enough fuel (glycogen) in your muscles to keep you going to the end of your workout.
Here are 6 tips on how to avoid running weight gain
Be realistic about how many calories you are burning during a run – activity trackers and heart-rate monitors can give you a reasonable idea (although, being based on predictive equations and standard algorithms, they are not super accurate).
Be honest about your food intake – it can be helpful to log your food intake with an app such as MyFitness Pal (or just write everything down) for a few days.
Sit less – Try to incorporate more movement into your daily routine and break up long periods of sitting with short walks or pacing while talking on the phone.
Schedule your workout just before a main meal – this does away with the requirement for a post-run snack, and means you won’t be ravenous before your meal (leaving too long a gap can make you feel more hungry).
Don’t reward your workout with unhealthy snacks– refuel instead with nutrient-rich foods like milk, yogurt, nuts, fruit and veg
Save sports drinks, gels and bars for your long runs (more than 90 minutes)
In summary, running regularly has countless health benefits but, unless you also look at what you’re eating, it won’t automatically result in weight loss. It’s easy to overestimate your energy needs and overeat. If you want to lose weight running, you’ll need to consume fewer calories than you’re burning (about 10 – 15% less than before) and that means choosing nutrient-rich foods over calorie-dense snacks.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my latest book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
Do you exercise to lose fat? You’re not alone – getting lean is a major goal for many people who exercise regularly. But attaining a very low body fat percentage – or a level that is unnaturally low for your genetic make-up – carries big health risks. What most people don’t know is that cutting body fat too rapidly or too severely can wreak havoc with your hormones and result in missed periods (amenorrhoea), reduced fertility and weakened bones.
In a study of regular exercisers, half of the women were found to have subtle menstrual hormone disruption. A third had no periods at all. While the idea of not having the hassle of periods each month may sound appealing, it’s important to understand that this is not healthy! All women of reproductive age, whether an athlete or not, should have regular periods, otherwise there are potential serious health and performance consequences.
It’s all down to a concept called low energy availability (EA). This is the amount of energy available to the body to perform all its essential functions after exercise expenditure is subtracted (i.e. energy intake minus exercise energy expenditure). When this drops too low – either by intentionally or unintentionally restricting energy intake below the level required to meet demand or by increasing your training volume without a corresponding increase in fuel intake – then your body goes into deficit and your periods can stop. In healthy adults, a value of 45 kcal/kg fat-free mass /day equates with energy balance and optimum health.
Amenorrhoea is one of the most obvious external symptoms of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), defined as a mismatch between your food intake and the energy demands of your body. RED-S developed from the concept of the Female Athlete Triad (relationship between three inter-related components: energy availability, menstrual function and bone health) when it became apparent that low EA had multiple effects on health and performance, and also affects men. In men, it can lead to a drop in testosterone levels.
Researchers believe RED-S is caused by low energy availability but a combination of many lifestyle-related factors are often involved, including stress, poor sleep and rapid weight loss. Doctors sometimes call it lifestyle-induced amenorrhoea or functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea.
Why do periods stop? It has been suggested that it’s an energy-conserving adaptation by the body. When there is insufficient energy available, the body goes into an energy saving mode. The body fat threshold that triggers hormonal disruption and amenorrhoea varies from one person to the next – but is thought to be between 17 and 22%.
The body mechanism is as follows: low energy availability increases cortisol production by the adrenal glands, which disrupts the release of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from the brain. This, in turn, reduces the production of luteinising hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), oestrogen and progesterone, and stops you having periods.
One of the most severe health effects of this hormone disruption is the reduction in bone density and increased risk of early osteoporosis and stress fractures. Oestrogen and progesterone both act directly on bone cells to maintain bone turnover, so when levels drop, the breakdown of old bone exceeds the speed of formation of new bone. The result is loss of bone minerals and a loss of bone density. In men, low testosterone has a similar effect on bones and causes bone mineral loss.
RED-S can severely disrupt your fertility (thus reducing your chances of getting pregnant), slow your metabolic rate, impair immunity, increase fatigue and affect cardiovascular and gut health. Thyroid hormone, growth hormone and IGF-1, are also severely reduced.
RED-S also results in many performance-hindering effects. These include an increased risk of soft tissue injuries, stress fractures, decreased strength and endurance, prolonged healing of injuries and reduced ability to recover from hard training sessions.
However, the good news is that once your body fat level increases over a certain threshold and your training volume is reduced, your hormonal balance, periods and fertility generally return to normal. Studies show that when amenorrhoeic athletes improve their diet and restructure their training programme to improve energy balance, normal menstruation resumes within a few months (depending on the severity of the energy deficiency and the duration of amenorrhoea) and performance improves consistently. This is perhaps the most persuasive reason to seek treatment if you have amenorrhoea.
Practical advice
You should definitely seek advice if you have suffered amenorrhoea for longer than 6 months. An initial consultation with your GP will rule out medical causes of amenorrhoea, such as polycystic ovary syndrome. You should then get a referral to a specialist, such as an endocrinologist or sports medicine doctor.
Treatment will centre on increasing energy availability and restoring ‘normal’ body weight and body fat. This usually means increasing your food intake (usually by 300 – 600 kcal a day) and you may be advised to reduce your training frequency, volume and intensity, incorporate periodisation to your current programme or include more recovery.
As well as energy intake, focus on improving the nutritional quality of your food intake to ensure you’re meeting your macronutrient and micronutrient needs. Consult a registered dietitian (RD) or registered nutritionist (RNutr) if you would like more detailed advice.
Avoid any diet that eliminates entire food groups or centres around a set of strict rules – restrictive eating plans are likely to be deficient in nutrients that you need for proper endocrine functioning and may lead to unhealthy obsession with food. If you suspect a food allergy or intolerance, seek a medical diagnosis and professional guidance. Do not self-diagnose or use high street or home test kits.
Focus on your recovery nutrition – replenishing energy and consuming sufficient protein after training sessions are key for the prevention and treatment of RED-S.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out the new edition of The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition , the definitive practical handbook for anyone wanting a performance advantage. It’s the 8th edition (the 1st edition came out in 1993!) and it has been fully updated and revised to bring together the latest research and information on sport and exercise nutrition. It covers topics such as
Maximizing endurance, strength and performance
Carbohydrate, protein and fat requirements
Sports supplements
Improving body composition
Eating plans to cut body fat, gain muscle and prepare for competition
With so many diet trends out there, it’s hard to know which ones help or hinder your performance. One trend that’s recently become popular among endurance athletes is the low-carbohydrate high-fat (LCHF) diet. The idea behind it is that training with low glycogen (carbohydrate) stores trains your body to burn fat more efficiently and increases muscle adaptations to endurance exercise. Theoretically, this should allow you to keep going longer before reaching fatigue and may even help you avoid ‘bonking’ or ‘hitting the wall’ in a marathon (running out of stored carbohydrate).
Indeed, studies have found that ‘training low’ (i.e. with low glycogen stores) increases the number of mitochondria – the fat-burning powerhouses – in the muscle cells. Others have also shown that ‘training low’ enhances cell signalling proteins, gene expression and fat burning enzyme activity.
However, despite these cellular changes, there’s a lack of evidence that chronically training on a LCHF diet improves performance. What’s more, it has been shown to hamper the muscles’ ability to break down glycogen during high intensity exercise and hinder power output during sprinting. You literally lose your top gear.
The most definitive evidence comes from the ‘Supernova’ study of 21 elite race walkers who followed either a high carbohydrate, a periodised carbohydrate or a LCHF diet for 3 weeks. The researchers found that
Although the LCHF diet increased the body’s ability to burn greater amounts of fat during exercise, it also reduced exercise efficiency i.e. the athletes required MORE oxygen to exercise at the same speed
the LCHF diet impaired race performance
High carb and periodised carb diets improved exercise economy and race performance
In practice, many athletes find that training low feels harder, especially when they want to pick up the pace. Think hills, intervals, tempo runs, breakaways or sprinting for the finish line in a race. The truth is high intensity exercise (such as running fast) feels easier when you eat carbohydrate (such as potatoes, rice, pasta and bananas).
Another downside of ‘training low’ is that it can deplete your immune function and increase the risk of infection. The key to preventing this is to avoid high intensity sessions when your glycogen stores are low.
Body fat may be available in abundance (compared with carbohydrate) but it is a ‘slow’ fuel, which means it converts to energy comparatively very slowly. You can produce up to 25–30 kcal per minute from carbohydrate but only 6 kcal per minute from fat. Train above 85% VO2max, and you’ll be burning almost exclusively carbs.
A LCHF diet may suit those doing mostly low intensity workouts, like long slow runs or ultras. It means you won’t need to carry as many high carb snacks with you! But if you want to train hard and fast, then you’re better off with carbs.
If you want to get the best of both worlds – maximum fat-burning plus maximum performance – then ‘flexible fuelling’ could be the way to go. It’s backed by cutting edge science and is used by some top endurance athletes to give them a competitive edge. It involves matching your fuel (carbs) to your workout. The advantage of this approach is that you get the dual benefits of ‘training low’ – namely an increased ability to burn fat – as well as the performance benefits of high intensity training.
Here’s how it works:
Before your easy or low intensity workouts (e.g. long, easy runs), minimise carbohydrate beforehand. This will encourage the muscles to become more efficient at using fat as fuel. Suitable pre-workout meals or snacks include an omelette or poached eggs, an avocado salad, or hummus with vegetables.
Before harder or high intensity workouts, eat carbohydrate-based meals or snacks. This will help you train at a higher intensity for longer. Good options include porridge, rice and beans, or potatoes with cheese.
The simplest way to ‘train low’ is to run before breakfast but other protocols may be used.
If you struggle with ‘training low’, try taking caffeine approximately 45 – 60 min before your session. The optimal ergogenic dose is around 3mg/ kg body weight. This can reduce perceived effort and fatigue.
What’s the evidence? The best evidence for this flexible fuelling comes from two recent studies. One study with 21 triathletes , found that those who cut carbs around selected training sessions (a ‘sleeping low’ protocol) for three weeks improved their cycling economy (power output per calorie) by 11 per cent, 10km running performance by 2.9 per cent, time to exhaustion during high intensity exercise by 12.5 per cent, compared with those who did all their training with high glycogen stores.
The second study with 11 cyclists found that the same ‘sleeping low’ protocol followed for just 6 days resulted in a similar (3.2%) performance improvement.
In summary, there may be small advantages to gained from ‘training low’ before specific workouts. The research is fairly limited and there’s no definitive proof that it leads to big performance improvements. If you do decide to try it, pick just one or two low-intensity sessions a week alongside your normal training when you are fully fuelled. Keep a training log and see whether it helps your performance or not. If you suffer gut problems when consuming food during running, then ‘training low’ may suit you. Also, not having to carry bars and gels during long runs may be helpful from a practical point of view.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my brand new book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
While a healthy diet is central to optimal performance, for some athletes the quest to eat only the ‘right’ foods can morph into orthorexia, an unhealthy fixation with ‘eating correctly’. What starts as a health kick or desire to shed surplus pounds can spiral into obsessive behaviour. One recent study suggests that as many as 28% of athletes are affected by orthorexia.
If you have ever experienced extreme anxiety after eating a slice of cake, declined a dinner invitation for fear of its impact on your training gains or had to exercise after eating a certain food because you felt so guilty, then you may be affected by orthorexia.
You’re probably familiar with the more commonly known eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, but most people don’t know about another serious eating disorder: orthorexia. It is not defined simply by weight loss or eating too little but rather by an obsession with healthy eating. It differs from anorexia nervosa in that the goal isn’t necessarily thinness or limiting calories but a desire to be pure, clean and healthy.
A defining feature of orthorexia is an obsessive adherence to an increasingly restrictive ‘clean’ diet. Sufferers have a strong desire to maximise their health and will focus on food ‘quality’ and ‘purity’, rather than calories. They have an intense fear of eating anything perceived as unhealthy or ‘unclean’.
Blurred lines
Many athletes weigh their food religiously, track their macros and adhere to self-imposed food rules. However, such strict control can often mask a dysfunctional relationship with food.
Today it is trendy to ‘eat clean’, that is, to follow a ‘food lifestyle’ like low-carb, paleo or vegan. On the surface this seems harmless but it can easily mask an obsession with food. The problem is, in sports where body weight is closely linked to performance, there’s a blurred line between healthy eating and unhealthy obsession.
Unhealthy obsession
Some people are more vulnerable than others. One study published in Eating and Weight Disorders Journal in 2017 found that people with higher orthorexia tendencies scored more highly for body dissatisfaction and perfectionism.
Of course, just because you’ve decided to ‘eat clean’ doesn’t mean you have orthorexia. Problems arise when your eating becomes increasingly restrictive and starts to negatively impact your social life, relationships, self-worth, happiness and wellbeing.
Social Media to blame?
Some blame the rise of social media celebrities who, despite no formal training in nutrition, espouse an ‘eat like me, look like me’ approach. The ‘clean eating’ movement encourages restriction and self-prescribed ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods. Research published in 2017 found a strong correlation between time people spent on Instagram and symptoms of orthorexia.
Warning signs and symptoms of orthorexia
Compulsive checking of ingredient lists and nutrition labels
Cutting out an increasing number of foods (e.g. sugar, carbs, dairy)
Eating only foods that are deemed ‘healthy’ or ‘pure’
Afraid to eat anything ‘unhealthy’
Refusing to eat foods that you don’t know what’s in them or how they were prepared
How to maintain a healthy relationship with food
Identify your triggers e.g. social media and unfollow people who make you feel bad.
Resist the temptation to compare on social media
Spend less time reading health news – it may do more harm than good
Don’t live in a bubble – spend time with people outside of your sport, with other interests
Food should not make you scared or anxious – it’s something to be enjoyed and celebrated!
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my brand new book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my brand new book, 
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about food and nutrition, as well as some easy and tasty meal inspiration, then 