Mexico’s Francisco Serrano (1:55:49) beat out fellow countryman Carlos Arcadia (1:57:08) to win Saturday’s ITU Pan American Cup in Ixtapa, Mexico. American Amanda Felder was the first elite woman to cross the line, beating out a tiny field with a time of 2:16:16. For complete results, go here.
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Losing weight doesn't mean you need to starve. Photo: Jason Rogers
Written by: Matt Fitzgerald
Reach your optimal racing weight without making yourself miserable.
Everyone knows the conventional prescription for weight management: Eat less and exercise more. But that prescription is changing. No, doctors and health scientists have not begun to recommend that we now eat more and exercise less to manage our weight. Many diet experts are, however, slightly modifying the advice they’ve been giving for decades.
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Written by: Pip Taylor
Professional triathlete and sports nutritionist Pip Taylor provides advice on incorporating supplements into your overall nutrition plan.
Before taking any supplements, you should have a good reason for doing so that is based more on scientific and medical evidence than on what your friend or training partner is doing. Talking to your doctor and/or nutritionist is a good place to start in addition to perhaps undergoing a blood test a couple of times a year. This is really the only way to see if you are actually deficient in any key nutrients.
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Pip Taylor gives nutrition advice. Photo by Robert Murphy.
Written by: Pip Taylor
Professional triathlete and sports nutritionist Pip Taylor provides advice on incorporating whole foods into your recovery plan.
Whole, real foods should be the base of everyone’s diet whether they are athletes or not. By consuming a wide variety of natural foods, you should be able to get all the nutrients you need, assuming that you have no other deficiencies or medical need for supplementation.
Optimal recovery from intense exercise requires replenishment of glycogen stores as well as hydration and protein for muscle repair and adaptation. An athlete needs to consume adequate amounts of carbohydrate for refueling, and this should still be the primary focus of the recovery meal immediately after training, when the uptake of blood glucose into skeletal muscle for glycogen re-synthesis is highest.
Written by: Matt Fitzgerald
The Ironman 70.3 North American season kicks off this weekend with Ironman 70.3 California and Ironman 70.3 New Orleans. In the spirit of racing 70.3, Triathlete Senior Editor Matt Fitzgerald provides advice on developing a nutrition attack plan for a half-ironman distance race.
Last summer I received an e-mail from Bob, who was training for his first Ironman 70.3. He asked me how he should plan to fuel himself during the race. In my reply I gave him some advice that I repeat often.
Pip Taylor is a professional triathlete and sports nutritionist. Photo by Robert Murphy.
Written by: Pip Taylor
Adding amino acids (the building blocks of protein) to sports drinks and gels has challenged the more traditional formula of carbohydrates and electrolytes, which has long been believed to improve endurance exercise more than the consumption of water alone.
During exercise fat and glycogen (stored in muscles and the liver) are the body’s primary fuel sources. However, protein may contribute up to 10 percent of the energy used during high-intensity endurance training and even more once glycogen stores are depleted. This means that toward the end of a long, hard training session or race, the body begins to break down muscle proteins for fuel. Sports drinks and gels that contain carbohydrates reduce this muscle damage and improve endurance by providing a readily accessible fuel source.
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