Grains offer a great staple to any diet. Most of you can probably agree with this knowing they provide steady release of complex carbohydrate, high in fibre and B vitamins.

Finding the perfect pre-ride meal is something of trial and error with some people not being able to manage high fibre, lactose or large amounts of fructose before sessions (this especially being apparent in Triathlon or as duration of exercise increases)

• If you have 2-4 hours before heading out grains are a carb dense option that isn’t too high in volume so you shouldn’t feel bloated– and provide a nice steady release of energy.
• If it’s a big, big day or “the” day you should have probably carb loaded for 1 day prior and have your muscles saturated with stored carbohydrate, so on the day you only need to top up your depleted liver glycogen stores.
• Grains in can be combined with other ingredients– like Maple syrup and bananas to increase the amount of carbohydrates and to further aid in the above mentioned liver glycogen replenishment – something that’s needed to help maintain blood glucose levels after an overnight fast I.e sleep.
• On a Sportive? Grains like bread, oats are available pretty much anywhere in the world (same for bananas and maple syrup), making it ideal to have in practice and on the day, helping you to keep to your usual routine and safe knowing you’re going to feel great because of it.
• Aiming for about 100-120g of carbohydrate before your ride or event should ensure you’re topped up, and will aid in performance.

RECIPE: Overnight oats

• 100g porridge oats
• 250 ml milk of your choice
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• zest of one large orange
• 50g dried cranberries

MIX together the oats with the milk

ADD the rest of the ingredients except the cranberries STIR

NOW add cranberries

LEAVE to soak

DONE

With winter training well underway you could be looking to get some extra gains from your rides and looking to different supplements of foods. One very potential one could be tart cherries or Montmorency Cherries in particular.

Tart cherries have been shown to be most effective in two main areas; Recovery and Sleep. Tart cherry juice is high in polyphenols, in particular flavonoids and anthocyanins, which have high anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and as a little boost are high in melatonin.

Recovery –It’s been found that taking tart cherry juice will actually help maintain muscle force production and reduce muscle soreness post exercise and next day when compared with not taking it.

How to take for Recovery – Take 30ml concentrate mixed with water within 30mins after exercise.

Get inventive and take it with you post workout shake blending it with some frozen bananas and berries and some whey protein to ultimately boost your recovery!

Should I use it all the time? – Currently research is quite equivocal about whether taking something like tart cherry juice regularly is a good thing as reducing the inflammatory response from training could reduce the adaptions you get from it. My opinion would not be to use it all the time and pick and choose moments.

Sleep – Due to the high amount of melatonin found in tart cherry juice it’s easy to see why it aids sleep, as melatonin is critical to the cycles of deep sleep and studies have found that there were significant increases in time in bed, total sleep time and sleep efficiency with cherry juice supplementation.

How to take for improved sleep – Take 30ml concentrate with 250ml water 30mins before sleep

Where do I get it from? Healthspan Elite are the official suppliers of Team Sky, with batch tested products and their cherry juice concentrate is just what it says on the tin, 100% cherries.

Where it really shines! – Personally, I think these cherries really shine when you’re doing a sportive or event that takes place over multiple days or after a really intense training session and recovery for the next day is paramount! If you’re at a training camp I wouldn’t take it. Try to get the most out of that week – yes you will feel tired – but the adaptions you gain will be worth it rather than potentially reducing it through large intakes of cherry juice in the name of recovery.

If you’re doing a multi-day event, I would recommend taking 30ml x2 a day for 4 days’ pre-event and on each of the race days following would be the most beneficial.

With winter well and truly being here you probably want to use every means possible to avoid that inevitable winter cold and turning into a white walker.

During the winter months we’re unable to get our usual daily in take of Vitamin D3 from sunlight due to the angle of the earth at this time of the year and the fact there is just less direct sunlight anyway.

Why?
Vitamin D is made by the body when skin is exposed to sunlight. Sunscreen, protective clothing, limited exposure to sunlight, dark skin, and age may prevent getting enough vitamin D from the sun.

It’s used for bone health and but aids your immune system with people being found deficient showing more incidence of illness across the board.

How much?
An RDA of 400iU or 10ug a day is suggested to be healthy but some research has shown a daily intake of 1000iU or 25ug to be beneficial in athletes and older individuals.

Where can I get it?
As mentioned in winter we’re unable to get our usual dose from sunlight, but there are a bunch of food sources we can also get it from such as;

• Salmon – per 100g – 360-685iU
• Cod liver oil – per tsp – 450iU
• Herring – per 100g – 1,600iU
• Sardines – per 100g – 270iU
• Free Range Egg Yolks – per 100g – 750iU

So why not try this recipe over this winter period and keep yourself boosted:

RECIPE

Ingredients for 4 servings;

• 4 Salmon fillets
• Thumb Size piece of ginger – shredded
• 2 garlic cloves – pressed
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
• 1 tbsp mirin
• Salt and pepper

PLACE ginger and garlic into a bowl and mix with the soy sauce, maple syrup, mirin and a drizzle.

WHACK the salmon fillets in a dish, season with salt and pepper

COVER with the sticky dressing. PUT with cling film and set aside in the fridge to marinate for 20mins to 2 hours

HEAT a frying pan over a medium heat and add a dash of oil.

ADD the salmon, skin side down, HOLD the marinade.

COOK for 2 minutes, then pour in the reserved marinade and cook for
1min, till colour changes hallway up the fillet

TURN and BASTE cooking for 3 or so more minutes

SERVE

The word protein is thrown about a lot in sport, fat loss and most nutritional topics to be honest, there Is a wide array of foods that can fulfil your daily quota of protein. BUT sometimes it’s nice to get a snapshot of why we need it and an easy recipe that will enable you increase your daily intake!

How much do we need?

If looking at daily amounts as active individuals we should be having anything between 1.6-2.2g/kg/bodyweight per day. The more active you are the higher I would go on that scale and likewise if you’re on the journey of fat loss.

This is because protein aids in the recovery of muscle and cells within our body and in the preservation of lean muscle mass when in a calorie deficit (which is needed in fat loss)

How often do we need it?

We should be aiming to have protein every 3-4 hours. This is because we have something called a net protein balance. Eating protein makes it positive, not having any for a while makes it negative and will impair our recovery.

How much per serving?

We should aim for at least 0.3g/kg/bodyweight per serving to sufficiently stimulate muscle protein synthesis (the driving force behind making a positive protein balance, leading to that recovery process).

It should be noted the older you are the harder this can be to stimulate and it has been seen amounts of 40g protein per sitting is a lot more beneficial to those over 50 years of age.

Smoky Turkey Mince Chilli

Ingredients (serves 4);

• 500g 2% Turkey Mince
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin Kidney beans in water
• 1 Onion
• 1tbsp Olive oil & tomato puree
• 2tbsp Worchester Sauce
• 1tsp chilli & smoked paprika and dried basil
• Salt & Pepper

HEAT oil

CRUSH garlic and chuck in oil

CHOP onion and add to oil and garlic

HEAT till golden

ADD turkey mince heat till mostly cooked through

ADD remaining ingredients

BRING to a simmer and leave to reduce ~20mins

DONE

SERVE with rice – use cauliflower rice if you need a low carb option

When asked about the essentials needed in the diet, fruit is definitely one to come up frequently alongside a few others but it’s mostly thought of as just getting 1 of your 5 a day or that pre-workout snack, but it can be so much more!

Looking at what fructose can do in direct relation to performance can be simple but often over-looked.

Liver Glycogen:

The name for stored carbohydrate in the liver. This store of energy has a direct relationship with being able to maintain blood glucose levels during exercise, and if its low you’re going to quickly find it hard to maintain your exercise output.

You may not have known but when you carbohydrate load, saturating your muscle with loads of carbohydrate the day before a or THE big ride, you wake up with a liver empty of glycogen as that fuel is used to maintain blood sugar levels while asleep.

What role does fruit play in this?

Well fruit is first and foremost broken down in the liver with a large proportion of that energy being stored there.

What does this mean for me?

Knowing that, you can make that pre-ride/race breakfast improve your performance even more than before. Combining a steady, slow releasing carbohydrate like porridge or brown bead with fruit like banana and honey can help increase

How else can fruit help?

You may have seen quite a lot of energy drinks or gels being a 2;1 ratio of Glucose:Fructose. Fructose being the sugar found in fruit (never would have guessed that) uses a different means of entering through the intestine wall than glucose.

This means that you can increase the amount of carbohydrate you take per hour, and help reduce the potential risk of stomach discomfort!

How much should I have?

For breakfast – Looking solely at performance and not accounting for goals like body composition then having 100-150g of carbohydrate made of a mixture of fruit and low/medium glycaemic index foods 2-4 hours before the ride should be perfect!

If you’re already out riding – Having fruit in your pocket, honey in your water or some fruit juice are all sources of fructose and can be had in amounts of up to 30g an hour while on the bike. Great ideas of ways to save money on gels and still help your performance.

Energy bars can be a minefield with so many of them being bought, bitten and binned. Our choices can be down to taste or possibly brand allegiance. But if we ignore flavour and look specifically at the ingredients, are some bars better than others and do some owe themselves more to a specific time period?

*do check the package for details to check ingredients

5***** rating based on the bars aid in performance specifically and ingredients:

OTE – Apple & Cinnamon Vegan Anytime bar – This provides a decent hit of carbohydrate at 35.7g a bar it does also come with a big hit of fat at 11.4g per bar. If you consider the recommendation of fat for an endurance exercising individual is between 0.6-0.8g/kg/bw (70kg = 56g) 1 bar an hour on a 3- hour ride will eat up most of your daily fat intake. A decent option for a long day out on the bike that isn’t performance related. ***

Veloforte – Di Bosco – High carbohydrate and calorie amount per bar though most of carbohydrate is fruit based making it very high in fructose. This is a slower digesting carbohydrate compared to glucose and over consumption in an hour, or hour on hour may see some potential stomach issues. It is also higher in fat though the nuts may be great of texture it won’t improve performance. Ideal to break up the monotony of all the other bars and bring some zest. ***

Named Sport – Total Energy Fruit Bar – A decent no nonsense bar. Low fat, no protein and 25g of fast absorbing carbohydrate makes a decent choice. It does however have a lot of additives to achieve the makeup and texture of this bar, and while none are bad for you, it does bring question to quality and sourcing of ingredients, when you compare it to some of these bars. ***

Mule Bar – This bar is ideal for those bigger training rides where you’re hitting Z2 for most of it. Low fat and protein so it won’t slow digestion too much while providing 27g of carbs per bar. It provides these carbohydrates in a mix of glucose and fructose making the most of multi-transportable carbohydrates. *****

SiS – Go Bar – Similar to the Mule and Stealth bar the SiS one is bringing a simplistic bar with 26g of carbohydrate to the table, once again a mixture of glucose and fructose are the makeup utilising both those carbohydrate transporters. I don’t think it does the job as well as the 2 aforementioned bars as they achieve it with less fat and protein in the bar but similar ingredients. When riding and looking at fuelling, incidental amounts of fat and protein aren’t needed and only increase calorie cost and potential digestion time. ****

High 5 – energy bar – This product varies greatly depending on the flavour you choose– Carbohydrate amount ranging from 25g to 39g and Fat from 2.3g to 13g making some far from ideal. The peanut and caramel options have higher fat content; the yogurt covered bar a potential no-no with diary being a know contributor to potential gastro issues and the berry, with 60% fruit could possibly provide too much fructose if consumed more than once an hour. I wouldn’t race with these but I would use this mid-range bar for training rides and something to break up other choices. ***

Cliff – Nut butter filled – Possibly one to break up the monotony of food on a ride but I wouldn’t say this is the most performance-based bar – 11g of fat and 7g of protein and 23g carbs mean this “energy bar” provides more energy from fat -a macronutrient that we can’t utilise while riding and only slows the breakdown and absorption of the carbohydrate. It provides the same fat as the OTE but with less carbohydrate making it not optimal in performance and other bars doing a better job. **

Stealth – Juice Bar – A strong bar with no fat or protein to compromise digestion – just pure carbohydrate (27g). This makes it a great choice for fast absorbing energy that is made up of multi-transportable carbohydrates mean you can get more in per hour and not worry about your stomach too much. Doesn’t have a huge list of ingredients or other randomly added vitamins and minerals. *****

Torq Bar – Organic Mango – Purely carbohydrate based, provides 33g of carbohydrate and uses multi-transportable carbohydrates making this is an ideal performance choice. I do however question the need for all the added vitamins as there is no real need, and may be an issue when combined with a healthy diet, daily multi-vit and then several of these bars on a ride regularly. It doesn’t state the amount of D-Ribose either, which needs to be loaded to see the desired effect they mention. Still a decent choice bar just be aware of what else you’re taking. ****

Aptonia Fruit Bar Red Berries – 75% of this bar is fruit which initially may not be a bad thing but this means that of its 26g of carbohydrate – 19.5g is coming from fructose. This could be a problem as our maximal fructose digestion limit is 30g an hour. So, if we’re consuming more than 2 bars an hour, after a few hours you may find yourself getting some stomach issues. Additionally, 69% of that bar is made from dates and everyone knows that too many dates help you hit the loo so you may ride quicker than planned at some point. Not a bad choice to mix with other items. **/***

Trek Cocoa Coconut Protein Flapjack – Quite a big hit of calories this bar brings to the table, but with the most calories coming from fat (12.7g) and then carbohydrate (20.3g) leaves a little to be desired in the performance department. That being said if you’re touring and just need to get some calories in, this isn’t a terrible choice. ***

Meridian Peanut & Banana – This probably isn’t the best choice bar to have on the bike for similar reasons to the Trek bar, with more calories coming from non-carbohydrate sources in particular fat (9.1g) compared to the carbohydrate (15g) you will find that this isn’t an optimal choice for improving performance or recovery and doesn’t have the same calorie hit you may need on a bit day – more a hunger curber. **

Mars – I wouldn’t say this is the most ideal option as you may expect, but from a macro nutrient point of view its very similar to the OTE and Cliff bar with 8.5g fat, 35g carbs all of which are fast releasing and only 2.2g protein. Is this better than those? No! Vegetable and palm fats added in and the high sugar content means its not ideal on the teeth whereas the OTE in particular are all whole food sources and will contribute more towards a wholesome diet. But the occasional bar on a 4-hour ride isn’t going to kill you.

Bread and Jam – A personal favourite – this is a cheap and inexpensive option providing ~40g carbs per half sandwich (20g jam, 1 slice bread folded). Low in fat, protein and fibre with the sugar providing glucose and fructose to the combo makes it easy and fast digesting. A loaf and pot of jam setting you back about £3 mean it’s the same price as most of 1 of these bars. Not ideal on the teeth but most of the bars here whether from fruit or glucose will be similar to that extent. Definitely worth considering, just look at your soigneur folding skills though or that could be messy!

Banana – Never a bad choice but is cumbersome in the pocket per medium banana you’re looking at about 28g of carbs and fructose, maxing out your fructose intake for that hour. Best used on a 2-3 hour ride where you don’t need to pack loads of food and have the space for 2 gunslinging; rear pocket, banana guns.

Soreen – mini lunchbox loaves provide 18g of carbohydrate; are low in fat, in-expensive, variety of flavours, individually wrapped and small for pocket storage. Though it may not be as high carb as the Stealth, Go, Mule and similar it definitely has more bang for its buck than the Trek, Meridian and Cliff bars both in money and carbs.

It’s often underappreciated how much protein we actually need to facilitate recovery and promote adaption to exercise stimulus. And that is what protein does it is the main nutritional driver of recovery and adaption that we need to get stronger, faster and recover quicker.

Protein is mentioned a lot and we all know it needed but when was the last time you actually tracked and looked at how much you’re taking on board?

When you see how much you’re taking it is now time to compare that to what you should be getting.

How much do we need?

Active individuals we should be having anything between 1.2g-2.2g/kg/bodyweight per day. With more research coming out showing that higher protein consumptions are favourable to body composition. It’s also shown during periods of hard or intense training periods higher protein intakes aid in recovery.

And for most of you out there wanting to drop some body fat – protein is going to be the main reason you’re not also dropping power on the bike and staying strong!

I recommend 1.8-2.4g/kg/bodyweight per day.

How often do we need it?

We should be aiming to have protein every 3-4 hours. This is because we have something called a net protein balance. Eating protein makes it positive and not eating any for a while makes it negative and will impair our recovery and potentially lead to muscle wastage. What this means is no point in having all your protein in one sitting for your evening meal, make sure you’re getting it at every meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner add in a snack and a post workout and you’re pretty much there.

How much per serving?

We should aim for at least 0.3-0.4g/kg/bodyweight per serving to sufficiently stimulate muscle protein synthesis (the driving force behind making a positive protein balance, leading to that recovery process).

It should be noted the older you are the harder this can be to stimulate and it has been seen amounts of 40g protein per sitting is a lot more beneficial to those over 50 years of age.

Here’s an easy batch cook high protein recipe to help

RECIPE: Parma Ham wrapped Chicken

Ingredients for 1 breast

• 1 Chicken Breast
• 2 slices Parma Ham
• 2 Sundried tomatoes
• 20g Feta
• Fresh Basil
• Salt & Pepper

SLICE Chicken breast down the side and open

STUFF with chopped sundried tomatoes, crumbled feta and basil

SEASON with salt and pepper

LAY 2 slices of parma ham next to each other

LAY stuffed breast top down

WRAP Parma ham over

PLACE on a baking tray

BAKE at 180C fan assisted for 25mins or till done

Blackcurrants, in particular the variety found in New Zealand, have been gaining some traction in recent months for its performance enhancing effects. What effects are these?

They seem to be two-fold; the blackcurrants are a vasodilator which cause the blood vessels to expand and improve blood flow to the areas that need it most. Secondly, they seem to have a high level of anti-oxidants which help reduce oxidative stress from exercise thus, reduce the levels of inflammation in the muscle, aiding recovery and allowing you to train harder again sooner!

How do we get these effects though?

Taking the correct amount of blackcurrant extract supplementation of 300mg a day for 7 days saw an improvement in performance in a repeated 4km Time trial with 10mins rest in-between. The total improvement was only 1% though and other similar trials about 2% improvement.

Not ground breaking but any of you looking for an edge maybe in summer 10s series or crits it may be worth a gander. Ultimately though foundations are made in a good diet, solid body composition and dedicated training.

What’s the take home?

There are a lot of options out there that currently result in similar improvements but it’s not known if you added them together you would gain combined benefits of all of them. Opting for the well proven beetroot or tart cherry juice for performance and recovery respectively would be better or just ensuring you’re getting the carbohydrate you need to do your ride or adequate protein to recover.

How can I get it in my diet?

As mentioned before the only real way to get that amount is through supplementation but here is a beautiful high protein and fresh snack.

RECIPE:

Ingredients;

• 200g fresh or frozen Blackcurrants
• 2tbsp Maple Syrup ~30g
• 1tbsp lemon juice
• 200g Low fat Greek Yogurt

HEAT berries, maple syrup and lemon juice in a pan till bubbling

POUR yogurt into a bowl

POUR hot or cool compote over yogurt

DONE

Supplements is an area discussed a lot and everyone is always looking for the next best thing to give them the edge whether that’s on the big sportives’ you’re planning next year or smashing it up the hills with your friends.

But what supplements are actually worth taking?

Well we have performance enhancing ones and then health/recovery ones and we’re going to cover the main ones.

Performance

Creatine – A topic of hot debate within cycling but one of the most proven performance supplements available. The easiest way to decide if you need/want to use this is to think about your training! Are you currently doing off-season gym work, peak power training, track cycling or maybe you’re a crit sprinter? All these would benefit from creatine and improve your 10 second power output, recovery between efforts and sessions. But if you’re doing lots of climbing the potential of added water retention may outweigh the benefits. 5g a day to get the effects.

Beta-Alanine – Shown to improve your performance in the 1-4min effort range perfect for hill climb season and those punchier efforts you might be putting out. Takes a while to load the system (4-6) weeks but once in will be there for 10 weeks or so. Can make you feel a bit tingly after taking though. 3-6g a day best divided into 1.5-3g servings with a meal to avoid those tingles

Caffeine – Massively proven to improve endurance performance and reduce perceived effort and pain. But your average cup of joe probably isn’t enough. An amount of at least 3mg/kg/bw is needed to improve performance and takes ~60mins to peak in the blood. 1 espresso shot = ~75mg so you may be needing a bit more than usual. Be aware of any conditions you may have or steadily increase your intake. If you go from no caffeine to 3mg you may know about it.

Health

Omega-3 – An essential fatty acid we can only get from outside sources and is needed for everyday health! Proven to reduce inflammation and potentially aid in recovery. Getting a supplement to help with your daily needs at around 500mg of EPA and DHA a day or having some oily fish like Salmon with pesto crust is ideal for your daily intake.

Vitamin D3 – shown to help with bone density and formation. But also aids in immunity over the winter period or if you get minimal sunlight exposure. A recommendation of 1000iU a day or 25ug has been suggested if your blood test results come back lower than <75 nmol/L

Hydration for a Marathon

How much water do I need? This depends on quite a few factors if we look on a general daily basis there can be some debate on how much water to have but looking at around 0.033/ml/kg for an everyday sedentary individual should keep you in a fluid balance. For example, weight 70kg*0.033 = 2.31L water a day at a normal temperature and no activity.

How can you determine how much water you need to take on per hour during a marathon? Water requirements are very individualised and based off of each person’s individual sweat rate. This will also be affected by such things as heat, humidity and intensity of exercise. Though a general rule of thumb of 400-800ml an hour should suffice. But saying that there is a better way to work this out as mentioned.

Is there an equation or rough guide people can use to work this out, in relation to their height, weight and running intensity? How much will I be losing in sweat?  You can in fact perform your own sweat test which is easily done:

1. Take a standard session you might do – ideally at race pace- for this let’s say 1 hour. Weigh yourself before (naked).
2. Drink a controlled amount of water with you – for example let’s say 1 bottle of 500ml, ensure you drink all of this over the session.
3. After the hour session before consuming anything else, undress, wipe yourself down with a towel and weigh yourself again.

This number at the end will let us know your average sweat rate per 1Hr at race pace at that outside humidity and temperature.

Pre-race hydration – how much extra water should you be taking on each day in the week before your race to ensure you’re adequately hydrated? Over hydration protocols have been shown to not be an effective form of hydrating in the lead up to an event. You’re best off making sure you meet your daily needs and then on the morning of just ensuring you’re adequately hydrated as I describe below.

How much water should you consume in the hours before your race? Start sipping about 600ml of water with an electrolyte in 3 hours before the race until your urine is clear if it still isn’t clear have another 400ml on top of this.

How can you tell if you’re adequately hydrated? Urine colour is the easiest way to check with the darker it being the more dehydrated you are and the lighter/clearer it is being more hydrated. You can if you want though

Should you avoid ‘dehydrating’ tea and coffee? Tea or coffee does not dehydrate you in itself – it would be illogical to think taking on more fluid will dehydrate you. But caffeine is a diuretic meaning it will cause you to pass urine more frequently. So, every time you go the bathroom you should be topping up. If anything, caffeine is proven for its performance enhancing abilities and I would recommend it at 3mg/kg/bodyweight 30-60mins prior to the event. Though this should be practiced and/or consulted with your GP if you have any reason to be wary of high caffeine intakes

How will the weather on the day impact your hydration? Will be there be enough water stations on course, or should you carry some water with you? How can you plan for this? It takes 2 weeks to acclimatise to a certain temperature. Running regularly and sessions at “race pace” will ensure you’re acclimatised but if it’s hotter on the day understand that your fluid requirement with alter with an increased sweat rate.

What are the signs of dehydration and overhydration – how do you know if you’ve had too little or too much water? Is the risk of overhydration (hyponatremia) worse than the risk of dehydration? There are quite a few signs of dehydration and overhydration with hyponatremia being a place that can be caused both by having too much fluid or not enough as the main issue is electrolyte balance, symptoms of this can be causes fluid movement into the brain, causing swelling with symptoms that can progress from feeling strange, to mental confusion, general weakness, collapse, seizure, coma and death.

One noted sign is to see your heart rate raise 5-8bpm for every 1% of dehydration.

Using the sweat test making sure you don’t lose more than 2% of your bodyweight is important as past this point you will start to struggle and start to get issues.

How to work this out:

70kg * 0.02 = 1.4kg or 1.4L of water

If in your 1 hour sweat test while consuming 500ml of water at the end weight 69.5kg we know you lose 1L/1kg of water an hour at the race pace, at the temperature/humidity.

If you carried on drinking at that rate for 3 hours you would now be 1.5L dehydrated which is over the 2% which we want to avoid.

Is the ‘drink when you’re thirsty rule’ reliable while running? Typically, if you’re drinking when you are thirsty rule probably means you’re already a bit dehydrated – but as explained over hydration isn’t good either. Steady consumption of water that is matched with your hydration testing and making sure you’re not losing more than 2% bodyweight should be the focus.

What’s the best method for alternating water with energy drinks (London usually has Lucozade Sport stations every 4-5 miles) and why should you be drinking Lucozade Sport/energy drinks as well as water? Muscle glycogen stores (stored carbohydrate) typically will only provide enough energy for ~90mins of exercise so taking on carbohydrate each hour will enable you to maintain blood glucose levels and keep performing. Carbohydrate solutions of 3-5g per 100ml also improve your uptake of water hydrating you better and typically sports drinks contain electrolytes too.

How important is it to take on electrolytes both during and before the race? Incredibly important – water on its own doesn’t hydrate you as well as if it contains electrolytes as mentioned but things like hyponatremia only happen with excessive water intake and no electrolyte intake upsetting the balance and essentially diluting yourself. You can get your sodium loss rate tested but if you’re leaving salt lines on your face or clothes you are probably a salty sweater.

Recommendations of 0.5 to 0.7 g/L of sodium for exercise lasting <3hours with longer durations going up higher per hour. Your typical electrolyte tab is around 0.4g.

Can you explain how energy drinks can contribute towards grams of carbs you need to fuel yourself per hour, and how many they can supply? Well it depends on the drink used, but performance improvements have been seen from as little as 20g an hour. I would suggest aiming for 40-60g an hour at least and more if you’re running intensely. Getting this from a glucose:fructose mix at a 2:1 ratio with improve your ability to digest it and reduce incidence of gastro-intestinal distress. The reason for carbohydrate-based drinks is simple the maintenance of blood glucose enables you to keep performing the exercise you’re doing. The amount we need will vary depending on exercise intensity, duration and also how well trained an individual you are.

Post-race hydration – how much water should you take on after your race? Ensuring you’ve replaced what you’ve lost should be the main goal so continuing to drink water with electrolyte for a while after the event should be expected – ensuring you’re getting the right mixture as described above to help.