Why do so many people have nutrition problems over long distance

From the very start of highfive sports nutrition, the selling point has always been successful through its cutting edge development of products. but one thing still stands out and that ’s the lack of understanding of nutrition among athletes. you look at any ironman, half ironman, marathon or half marathon and you'll be amazed at the lack of knowledge out there. Today's tip is just touching one small area of many.

There are so many things go on to ruin your day, to name a few :-
- Not enough fluid, too much fluid, not enough electrolytes, too much carbs, wrong hourly intake of carbs, incorrect mix going into stomach each hour, inconsistent intake, the list goes on and on and on and very often people just end up blaming the products they use instead of actually how they take it.

As a coach, sports nutritionalist and athlete I come across these things everyday without fail and sometimes 10 times a day, its truly unbelievable the lack of experience out there. With our newsletter we aim to uncover many of the unknowns, today's tip is to do with what goes on in your stomach in our typical climate in Australia during racing.

Typically if it's hot and your sweat rates are high, try to keep the carbohydrate concentration of what is in your stomach at 10% or less. A concentration of 10% will give you maximum energy and you will hydrate almost as fast as water (85% to 95% depends on the individual). If you cut it back to 8% carbohydrate concentration, you will match water.

If you go a lot over 10% carbohydrate concentration in your stomach, for long periods and its hot, you may start to suffer from de-hydration and a performance loss. This is because the water MAY not be able to empty from your stomach fast enough to keep up with your sweating. This performance loss from dehydration may be greater than the gain from putting your energy reqts into your system. eg carbs from gels or drink etc.

The reason: gastric emptying, the speed at which everything (including water) empties from your stomach, reduces a fair bit for every % point carbohydrate concentration above 10%. Over a long race in the heat you should stay around the 10% or less carbohydrate concentration or you MAY find that the water part of your drink does not empty fast enough to keep up with sweat loss. If its cool in the morning, then this does not of course apply and you can go above 10% if you want but only to a point. It also depends on some variables which are eg your weight, effort, sweat rate and most importantly type of products you are using.

So where does that leave us?, take too little and you bonk from no fluids or energy, take too much and you will still dehydrate or overload your stomach, both can cause the dizzy spells, the sloshing tum and the no energy feel.

Here are some general rules to help you

1. Calculate your hourly needs based on 1kg body weight reqs 1g carbs per hour..eg 60kg person needs 60g per hour
2. Take your intake at regular short intervals for consist and energy eg 15g per 15 mins
3. In hot conditions take 1 litre of fluid an hour min with electrolytes
4. In hot races always take extra salt eg average 600g per hour
5. Try not to starve yourself, it makes no sense, the more you can get through your intestine the more energy you have, but be careful ie see above, try highfives new supercarbs that allow more carbs through the intestine due to its cutting edge mix after years of testing.
6. Test the above in your training at race pace and adjust slightly if necessary, play with the intake with either solid or gels or drink mix to get the calories reqd.