Fuel for the Finish Line: 10 Nutrition Tips for Triathlon
Nutrition is called the fourth discipline of triathlon for good reason. No matter how skilled you are at swim, bike, and run, if you neglect nutrition, your race might be over before it even starts.
Ever felt dizzy getting off the bike? Hit a wall during the run? Struggled with GI issues that sent you sprinting to the nearest Porta potty?
Here’s the thing about Nutrition.
She’s finicky. What works great for one athlete might not work well for another.
She’s moody. Your nutrition plan might work great on a cold day, but at a hot, humid race suddenly what you have to offer her just isn’t enough.
She’s selfish. She wants your time and attention in training. Ignore her, and she’ll make you pay for it.
I’ve followed my nutrition plan, practiced it religiously, and executed it to perfection—only to have Nutrition betray me when it mattered most. That’s why mastering this fourth discipline isn’t just about following rules, it’s about learning what works best for you (and being able to adapt if she throws a temper tantrum.)
Today, we’re breaking down essential nutrition strategies every triathlete should know so you can fuel strong from start to finish, plus how to adjust when things don’t go as planned.
Welcome to the 5th edition of our 10 Triathlon Tips series. If you're new here, it’s nice to meet you! You’ve joined a community of athletes dedicated not only to improving their swim, bike, and run, but also to the mindset and preparation that leads to race day success.
Missed any of the earlier posts? Catch up on the full series here:
🏊 Swim Tips | 🚴 Bike Tips | 🏃 Run Tips | 🔄 Transition Tips
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Now, let’s break down how to fuel smart for training and race day.
10 Essential Triathlon Nutrition Tips
Triathlon nutrition isn’t about carb-loading the night before a race or grabbing a gel when you feel tired. It’s about understanding what your body needs, training your gut, and executing a specific plan that’s tailored to YOU.
Here are 10 nutrition tips to help you fuel for success.
1. Take basic nutrition guidelines and modify to fit you
While I’m not a sports nutritionist myself, I do work with a sports nutritionist, and here’s what I’ve learned. What we take in for hydration and nutrition (ie. fluid, carbohydrates, electrolytes) will vary depending on length and intensity of a training session or race.
For example, if I do an easy bike ride under 1 hour, I won’t need as much fluid or carbs to support that effort as if I was doing a 3-hour ride with more intensity.
Here’s an example of how might fuel each discipline.
Swim: If I’m swimming for 45+ minutes, I have a 20 oz. bottle on deck with 20-25g carbs. Yes, we fuel during swim workouts, because you sweat even while swimming. Also, for athletes doing multiple sessions a day, it’s important not to get depleted to preserve the quality of your other workouts. I might not finish all of this bottle during a swim workout, but I can drink the rest on the ride home.
Bike: For a bike ride up to 2 hours, a good range is 40-60g carbs with 24-28 oz. water, and 400-600mg sodium, per hour. If we’re talking a 3+ hour ride, that might increase to 60-90g carbs, 26-30 oz. water, 600-1,000mg sodium, per hour.
Run: I stick to a range of 30-50g carbs, 20-25 oz. fluid, 400-800mg sodium, per hour, and that seems to work well for anything from a 30 min. run off the bike to a 2-hour run.
Note: With triathlon nutrition, carbs are indicated per hour as it relates to exercise duration, not body mass, ie. it doesn’t matter whether you weigh 130 lb. or 200 lb., your stomach can only absorb a certain number of carbs per hour.
*These are ranges for a reason. Some athletes can take in as much as 90-120g carbs on the bike and do just fine, while others can’t tolerate that much.
Since high carbs are all the rage, it’s good to maintain some perspective about the purpose of nutrition in triathlon. The goal is to fuel your body to support the effort you’re putting forth so you can perform to your potential. While you can train your stomach to take in more carbs and fluid over time, there’s a tipping point for each athlete.
Also, if your energy expenditure doesn’t justify high carb intake, then the extra carbs won’t be utilized and are likely to do more harm than good with the potential for stomach upset. Just because you see someone else following a certain nutrition plan (ie. a professional athlete) that doesn’t mean it will work for you. The key is to take basic nutrition guidelines and figure out what works best for your body.
For example, I consume between 50-70g carbs per hour on the bike, while my husband can do 90g carbs an hour. Because I’m a heavy sweater, I have to consume a lot more fluid than he does. But he’s a salty sweater, so he takes in a lot more electrolytes than I do.
There are nutrition differences between disciplines as well. As you can see, carb intake on the run is typically lower than on the bike. This is primarily due to the difficulty involved in consuming nutrition while running and the stomach jostling that occurs.
2. Utilize different types/flavors of products
There’s a wide variety of different types of nutrition products, including drink mix, gels, chews, and bars. You might mix and match a few of these to hit your nutrition targets.
For example, I use Tailwind as my drink mix on the bike. 2 scoops provides 50g carbs. For a long ride where I might want a bit more carbohydrates, I add an energy gel or two (I like Never Second C30) to increase the carbohydrates to 70-80g per hour.
If gels aren’t your thing, there are chews and blocks that can serve the same purpose. Sometimes, during a long distance race like an Ironman, it’s more about the act of eating something solid, rather than the nutrition it provides. Also, during long races, tastebud fatigue is a very real thing. During an Ironman, I use a different flavor for the bike and the run.
Some athletes like to separate their fluid and carbs by drinking an electrolyte drink and using a different product like gels or chews to supply carbohydrates. This can work well in certain weather conditions when you might want more or less fluid but want your carb count to remain the same.
However, I’ve found that the simplest option is usually best. Adding in gels, salt pills, and chews creates a more complicated formula (for your brain and your stomach.) I like to know exactly how many calories, fluid, and electrolytes are in each bottle, so I can easily stay on track.
Tip: When combining different types of products, pay attention to the calories, carbs, and electrolytes in each so you don’t make the mistake of ingesting more than you intend.
3. Consider different forms of carb transport
Your ability to utilize the carbs you take in is limited by what your stomach can absorb. High carbohydrate products are very popular these days, and the way companies get up to that high carb count is by using different carb transporters.
Glucose (dextrose) is one of the most common, but there’s a limit to how much you can take in. That’s why companies also use fructose to provide another outlet for the body to absorb more carbs. Then, there’s also maltodextrin (chemically produced glucose) and sucrose (table sugar).
It might sound complicated, but all you need to know is that different products use different carbohydrate sources.
For example, here are a few products we use:
Skratch- dextrose, cane sugar
Tailwind- dextrose, cane sugar
Never Second C30- maltodextrin, fructose
Maurten 160- maltodextrin, fructose
It’s important to know what’s in your nutrition products, because some ingredients might work better for your body than others. For example, I’ve had issues in the past with the more complex carbohydrates in maltodextrin products, so these days I’m sticking to dextrose.
Also, consider the actual ingredients in your nutrition. It’s always a good rule of thumb to stay away from artificial dyes, sweeteners, or ingredients you can’t pronounce. For example, some products use sweeteners like Stevia, and while it might work great for some, it can cause stomach upset in others.
4. Electrolytes are important
Electrolytes are important, but not just to prevent muscle cramps. They also help regulate the amount of water in the body, which prevents dehydration. They’re essential for muscle and nerve function. They prevent hyponatremia (low blood sodium levels) that can lead to serious health consequences.
Perhaps most importantly for triathletes, they aid in fluid absorption from the gut, which assists in transporting carbs across the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream where we can use them!
Key electrolytes include sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and chloride. Some nutrition products already have these included, but for those that don’t, you may need to supplement.
That’s why you might see athletes adding salt to their drink mixes or taking salt pills. If we add salt to a drink mix, it’s pink Himalayan sea salt you find at the grocery store. Salt pills work well for some athletes, but here’s a word of caution against indiscriminately popping salt pills at your next race…
A popular brand of salt pills has 215mg sodium per tablet. Many athletes will take two at a time. 430mg is a lot of salt to be dumping into a stomach that’s already under stress due to intense exercise, heat, and likely dehydration. This can lead to stomach upset.
That’s why we add salt to our drink mix so the electrolytes are more spread out and we’re consuming some with every sip. If you prefer salt tabs, consider spreading them out over the course of an hour instead of taking several at once.
5. Test your nutrition in training
Once you’ve decided what type of nutrition you want to use, it’s time to test your plan in training! It’s not enough to practice race day nutrition a few weeks before a race. You need to have a plan and implement it repeatedly in training so you can learn what works and what doesn’t.
If you’re doing a long-distance race, this involves figuring out how you will carry your nutrition. Can you comfortably grab a bottle and take a few sips every 10-15 minutes? Can you rotate your bottles from rear cages? Will you use on-course nutrition at aid stations? Can you grab a bottle with your right hand (aid station side) from a volunteer while riding your bike? How will you carry nutrition on the run?
These are all things you must practice in training.
Most triathletes are good at doing this on the bike, but where many fall short is on the run. Either, they don’t think it’s important or they don’t want to bother carrying a bottle or wearing a pack. This is a mistake.
For every run over 20 minutes, we carry nutrition. Why? To train the stomach to take in nutrition while running. This is something you will need to do during a triathlon; therefore, it’s something you have to practice in training. This becomes even more important as the distance of the race increases.
You might think, I can get away with running for an hour without drinking. It’s just an hour. Would it be easier? Yes. But you’re missing an opportunity to train your stomach to tolerate drinking while it’s being jostled around. Also, when running at race pace, it’s a lot harder to take in nutrition. That’s something to practice too.
Read: How Men and Women Fuel for IRONMAN
6. You don’t have to use on-course nutrition
On-course nutrition is provided to athletes as a courtesy, not a requirement. If you happen to use the same nutrition they offer at a race, that’s great! But what if you’ve never used the brand before, or just like training with a different product?
You can carry your own nutrition. This is possible for distances up to Ironman. I carried all my own nutrition for both my Ironman races and only utilized water from aid stations.
Does it take a bit more planning? Sure, but it’s always a smarter choice to use the products that you’ve tested in training. Also, on-course nutrition varies from race to race. Even in Ironman, North American races have different nutrition than European races, ie. (NA: Mortal Hydration/Maurten and Europe: Precision Fuel & Hydration/Maurten)
We carry nutrition in a few different ways. For the bike, I have pre-made bottles with my preferred brand of nutrition that I carry in a front bottle cage and rear bottle cages. If it’s a 70.3, I only need 3 bottles. If it’s a 140.6, I have 3 fresh bottles waiting for me in special needs.
Here I’m using the Naked Run Band at 70.3 North Carolina. You can see a small ziplock bag with extra drink mix I can use to refill the bottle in the back.
For running, I like using the Naked Run band. I use it for daily training and races. It’s super-lightweight, doesn’t bounce, and has room for a 10 oz. flask or a 20 oz. flask, as well as plenty of space to store gels and a small bag with extra drink mix. It also has a bungee attachment for your race bib on the front.
For training, my husband Matt likes using the Orange Mud bottle pack. For races, he empties all his gels into a single Hydrapak flask that he can carry, and he drinks water at aid stations. We avoid using handheld bottles, because it affects your running form.
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7. Use a nutrition reminder to stay on track
There’s a lot going on during a triathlon, and it’s easy to let 30 minutes slip by without taking in any nutrition. A great tool for long distance races is to tape a note to the top tube of your bike with a reminder about your nutrition plan.
*Triple Threat Life Club members: I’ve created a special nutrition sticker you can print out and attach to the top tube of your bike! Download in the paid section below.
For example, my note will have the time I need to be done with each bottle (ie. 1:10, 2:10, 3:10, ect.). You can also create a nutrition timer on your Garmin smartwatch.
Follow these steps:
Go to Settings
Select Activities and Apps
Pick a specific activity like Run and select Run Settings
Select Alerts and pick Add New
Pick Custom
Choose your message from default options like Drink, Eat, ect.
Choose your alert type, which should be Time, and enter how often you want to receive this alert. For example, every 15-20 minutes.
TIP: You can also use the custom alert setting to add your own message, which could be mantra or inspirational phrase you want to see during a race!
8. What to do when things go wrong
Sometimes even when you train with a nutrition plan, practice it religiously, and execute it to perfection, things can still go awry on race day. Despite doing “everything right,” I’ve had big races where my stomach had other plans.
That’s the tricky part about nutrition: it’s not just about following a formula; it’s about being able to adapt and troubleshoot.
If something happens (ie. bloating, upset stomach, nausea, dizziness) you have to troubleshoot the problem and figure out why it might be happening. Then, you can address it and get back on track.
A word to the wise... if you start experiencing symptoms of GI distress, don’t just push through expecting it will go away on its own. It rarely does. Address any issues early on, whether that means backing off pace on the bike to lower heart rate, walking on the run to ease an angry stomach, or waiting 10-15 minutes until your stomach settles before you start drinking again. Be proactive and head off small issues before they turn into bigger problems.
Tip: Many athletes carry a small plastic bag with Tums or similar antacid during races. Due to previous experiences, I don’t race without carrying anti-nausea meds. It’s a break-in-case-of-emergency situation.
9. Don’t skimp on pre and post-workout fueling
Pre and post-workout fueling helps the body maintain optimal glucose levels (our main source of energy) which promotes high quality training. It also helps the body adapt to stress and deal with overall training load.
As triathletes, we can’t look at one workout in isolation, because they’re all connected. It’s not just about the workout itself, but the ability to recover from one workout to the next.
For a workout under 60 min., I eat 30-40g carbs with 2-5g fat/protein about 30 minutes before, like a bagel with butter and a banana. If that’s my only workout for the day, and it was pretty easy, I can get away with eating a regular meal shortly afterwards. A favorite breakfast is overnight oats, which includes greek yogurt, rolled oats, almond milk, berries, honey, and granola.
But if I have 2 workouts in a day, or a really hard workout, then I’m definitely eating a pre-workout snack, fueling the session, a post-workout protein shake, and then a meal.
For an afternoon snack, I like an apple with peanut butter or some pretzels with hummus. Also, Greek yogurt with berries and a few animal crackers is a favorite.
For a long workout, like a 3-hour bike ride and a 30-minute ROTB, I have a post-workout protein shake with 25g protein within 30 minutes, followed by waffles with syrup, orange juice, eggs with cheese, toast, ect.
I follow a similar process to maintain glycogen stores in the 48 hours leading up to race day. I focus on easy-to-digest foods, reduce fiber and acidity foods, and add salt to meals.
Read: 5 Costco Carb Snacks for Athletes
10. Have a plan, but be flexible
Approach race day nutrition just like you would pacing strategy for a race. While it’s important to have a specific plan that you’ve tested in training, there are times when you might need to be flexible and make adjustments.
If it’s a cooler day than expected, and I’m not drinking as much, I may need to supplement with an extra gel to make sure I get in enough carbs. So I always keep a spare on my bike.
If it’s a hotter day than expected, I might need to pick up more water from aid stations, in addition to drinking the carb bottles that are already on my bike.
Starting to feel a bit empty on the bike? You might need to take an extra gel.
Feeling a bit bloated? Consider whether you’ve consumed enough electrolytes.
When it comes to triathlon nutrition, have a plan, but be flexible.
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