Breaking Nutrition Myths: Low Carb vs. High Carb for Endurance

Hello and welcome to the Athletes Compass podcast where we navigate training, fitness and health for everyday athletes. Are you sabotaging

your endurance training by reaching for that gel or energy bar too soon? Today on the Athletes Compass, we are diving into the hotly debated topic in endurance sports, how to fuel for long distance events without derailing your training goals. Can you really train your body to rely on fat and still perform at your peak for a 73.0?

that gel or energy bar too soon? Today on the athletes compass we are diving into the hotly debated topic of endurance sports. How to perform for long distance events without derailing your training goals. Can you really train your body to rely on the bat and still perform at your peak for a 73.3

70.3 triathlon or a hundred mile gravel race? And does, how does a spoonful of carbs at the right time transform your endurance performance?

70.3 triathlon or a 100 mile gravel race? And does, how does a spoonful of carbs at the right time transform your endurance performance?

We've talked a lot on this podcast about fueling and nutrition for endurance athletes. We've discussed how fueling with good fats tends to improve fat oxidation when we train at low intensities or for short durations. However, many of us are training for long distance cycling.

running or triathlon events and all we hear is consuming as much carbohydrate as we can during the race. So our essential question today is how should we fuel for long duration events like a 70.3 or 100 mile gravel race? We've got a great listener question that we'll talk about at the end of the podcast to summarize a lot of our current understanding. But let's go back and talk about fat oxidation.

So our central question today is how should we fuel for long duration events like the 70.3 or 100 mile drought events? We've got a great listener question that we'll talk about at the end of the podcast to summarize a lot of our current understanding. But let's go back and talk about fat oxidation.

Paul, what is it and why is it important for our endurance training?

Paul, what is it and why is it important for our endurance training?

Well, you know, we've talked a lot on this podcast about the importance of fat oxidation. We've talked a lot about base training. Ultimately, you know, your fat burning ability forms the base or the foundation of your, ability to, to move in life. and unfortunately, I guess with, you know, modern society, we...

Well, you know, we've talked a lot on this podcast about the importance of that on the sort of the basement. Also, your fat burning ability forms the base of the foundation of your ability know, to move in and unfortunately, I guess with, you know, modern...

you know, the food that is more, a little more mainstream, it tends to be more carbohydrate processed base. You know, it just kind of becomes the norm, becomes the standard, becomes what's acceptable. And, you know, long story short, we learned that that kind of sabotages somewhat that base fat burning. So that's, yeah, that's what it is and that's why it's important.

someone on that base. So that's what it is, and that's why it's

important.

So how does eating good fats, consuming good fats help the process of fat oxidation? What's that direct connection?

I guess the connection mainly is that it takes the place of some of those carbohydrates. And usually when we look at carbohydrates we're talking about, they all become glucose at the end of the day.

Well, I guess the connection mainly is, is that it takes the place of some of those carbohydrates. And usually when we look at carbohydrates, we're talking about, you know, they all become glucose at the end of the day.

you know, we can have a whole surge of glucose or we can have a stable glucose. We do want to have a normal glucose. We're going to talk a little bit about a study today that where they really just found that they

maintain this level of glucose. So when we have more fat in our diet, it replaces the need for carbohydrates. So you get a more stable baseline kind of level in your overall daily, fueling work or amount of calories as your energy.

And of course, you, but when we have too much glucose all of a sudden, that's usually in the form of sugar where it's problematic, we get a big surge of insulin.

when you have glucose all of that's usually in the form of sugar where it's problematic, get a big surge of insulin.

it's purposeful, right? Like the reason why you get a big surge of insulin is to store that glucose because we shouldn't actually have these big surges of

glucose. The purpose of this big insulin release, of course insulin comes out from the pancreas and it's there to regulate, is to keep that level normal, homeostatic. If you have too high of a level it's bad on all various different cells. All these glycoproteins are formed. We know now it's instrumental in forming cancer.

It's instrumental in forming

So yeah, we have all these systems in place to kind of keep that nice and balanced. So again, the importance of having good fat in the diet is to be less reliant on these big surges of glucose. But the ability to burn fat, use fat as a baseline, as a fuel is so helpful in your overall energy,

yeah, we have all these systems in place to kind of keep that nice and balanced. So, again, the importance of having good fat in the diet is to be less reliant on these big surges of ability to burn fat, use fat as a baseline, as a fuel, is so helpful in your overall energy.

feeling of having energy during the day.

but we need, you know, we really need to get to the, eventually hear the study here because there's a lot of, you know, a lot of beliefs and whatnot that we need to try to kind of shatter. Right. And some of them are around, you know, the muscle glycogen as the key factor for what we have to kind of protect or the liver glycogen is the key factor that we have to protect. And that that carbohydrate is, is so vital to our performance.

Because what we're going to talk about today is a study that really challenges that. maybe things were interpreted incorrectly in the past. This is the fun thing about science is that it's always changing. at Athletica, we pride ourselves on being a science-based platform. So if the science changes, then our messaging needs to change as well. So we're going to look at, yeah.

Maybe things were interpreted incorrectly in the

Let's get to that today.

And you know, just came out very recently, it suggests that we can be fat adapted and still be ready for long races. Can you talk about that study and what we should do for races that last more than a couple of hours? So talk in general about the study and then let's get into what it means for us.

So talk to general about the study and then we'll get into what it means for us.

Sure. So Philip Prinze and many colleagues, I mean, there's got to be almost 20 authors on the study, came out in a huge journal which is called American Journal of Physiology

So Philip Grintz and many colleagues, mean it's probably going almost 20 authors on the study, came out in a huge journal called American Judicial

Cell and it was titled, Carb Ingestion Eliminates Hypoglycemia and Improves Endurance, Exercise Performance in Trathletes Adapted to Very Low and High, Very High Carbohydrate Isocaloric Diets.

So let's just, what did we just say there? Carb ingestion eliminates hypoglycemia. What is hypoglycemia? Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar. So this is cool because carbohydrate ingestion takes away your low blood sugar levels. Great, and that improves endurance performance, which we all know.

And then it's, but it's saying it did this irrespective of the diet that the a trathlete well-trained trathlete was, was adapted to. So they could be adapted to a low carb diet or they could be adapted to a high carb diet. Either way, the carb improved their performance. How did it do that? It took away their hypoglycemia. Now here's the kicker. The kicker is that the carbohydrate that they ingested was super low dose. Like crazy low.

10 grams in an hour. Now Marjaana, you just did a Ironman. What was your ingestion rate on your world championship Ironman race that you did in Nice, France?

I think it

was, I can't exactly remember, but it was slow. I'd say between 30 and 50 grams.

Yeah, but it was a lot higher than 10 though, wasn't it? This is super low.

It was, it was,

this is super low. It's like, and when they break it up to 20 minutes, intervals, like they did every 20 minutes, they did 3.4 grams of carbs. I have to go in and like, okay, look up, what do you eat with that? It gives you 3.4 grams. It's like one rice cake or a baby potato, which I love because I love baby salted baby potatoes on the long ride. That's it.

So three little baby potatoes an hour. So, but I remember the Ironman Texas, I think I was way low. was 20 grams per hour. but that was, I think that was quite low.

Nice, nice.

Mmm.

Well, that is cool. you, I mean, you are talking like super low, even yourself, but this is even lower than what you used in your Ironmans, which is amazing, right? So, but ultimately at what it did, and it didn't, really didn't matter what diet they were adapted to. So there's a couple of things that this study did. First thing that they proved in this study, and they did these interesting time to exhaustion tests.

Yes.

Yeah.

And when they did these tests to exhaustion, there was no difference whether you adapted to a high carbohydrate diet or a low carbohydrate diet, which kind of takes away the whole thinking around your muscle glycogen or your liver glycogen being the key factor for allowing you to perform this.

there was no difference whether you adapted to a...

you

this exercise to exhaustion. Of course, we know that glycogen can get in there in different ways via gluconeogenesis, but regardless, it didn't matter what diet. These were over 42 days. adapted to either diet, low carb, ketogenic, or high carb. Same time to exhaustion test in either, this is the same subjects, just different diets, no difference to exhaustion on a sort of a first test. But then what they also showed is that the

And then what they also showed is that the didn't matter again which

diet you were adapted to, but that just taking away that hypoglycemia, that low blood sugar on eating diet,

It didn't matter again which diet you're adapted to, but just taking away that hypoglycemia, that low blood sugar on either diet caused

you to enhance your time to exhaustion. So that was kind of cool. it does suggest that carbohydrates are important if performance is important. So we're all...

in agreeance there, but maybe not necessarily these 120 gram per hour amounts. Maybe that's important, but it's not obligatory, at least not in this, even a small amount was still of benefit. Now I had Magnus Ditlev, the world record holder on my podcast.

not obligatory, at least not in this, even a small amount was still of benefit. Now I had Magnus Diplom, the world record holder on my podcast

Thank

the other day, they were talking about 140 grams an hour, they were doing, so is this obligatory? they need to push that?

the other day and he and Peter were like, they were talking about 140 grams an hour that they were doing. is it obligatory? Do they need to push that? We

don't know, but you know, that's what they, that is what they do. Maybe that is important. So again, science is still sort of out in that, maybe at the very highest level, maybe you do need to be adapted to that. That's what they're doing and they are setting records. So that is interesting.

But yeah, I don't know. Maybe it's not the healthiest thing to do. We don't know.

But to me, what I took away from it, and maybe like referencing to Magnus, like he's that he's training 30 hours a week, like he's all already fat adapted, like just amount of training that he does, he needs to maximize that.

you

And then he's trained his gut to tolerate high carb intake. And I think like part of this whole are you low, low carb high fat comes down to, you know, a little bit of age, but also your own health and your gut issues. Like, can you tolerate the gut, like the carbohydrate?

amounts of up to 100 grams an hour. I can't. And I know many others that struggle. You go to any Ironman event and you'll see, you know, people struggling on the run. So what can you do? And one of the most absorbed things that I like, crazy things that I heard last week was somebody making a super concentrated, like six, 700 grams of carbs in one bottle that he sips like every 10 minutes.

It can't be healthy. Think about the insulin response. Like how do you run afterwards if you take in that much carb? So what I took from the study, if you're carb adapted and you can handle carbs, yes, you probably will do better with...

with some carb intake. Maybe it doesn't have to be 100 grams or 140 grams. Maybe it's just a little bit like the study shows just to keep your blood sugar level stable. If you're used to doing pasta parties, go ahead. But we could talk about what those like

Mm-hmm.

The traditional way of thinking is that we have to eat lots of carbs on the days before endurance event to maximize our liver and muscle glycogen levels, right? But this now shows that that's not necessary, right?

Yeah, well that's what we, mean, at least in the context of this study, for sure. Yeah.

I know that

they didn't measure muscle glycogen, but they did this test after 15 hour fasting, which would suggest that they were lower on muscle glycogen or at least liver glycogen, right? But that was one of the things that I took it from it. Like if you're a low carb athlete,

Hmm.

Having some carbohydrates when you're doing your long rides is good and it's not sabotaging your low carb adaptation.

Totally, totally.

handle more carbs, go ahead and take them. one of the questions that came to me after I read it, well, they consumed a very low amount of carbs. Would the performance be better if they doubled it or tripled it, like going towards like 30, 40 grams an hour?

what would happen to the performance? They did a time trial to exhaust and what about like, you know, 10 K run or time.

Yeah. Well, that's what the,

I think that's the card proponents would probably say too, right? Why didn't you, why didn't we test the, you know, higher amounts, right? Which would be interesting actually, like, you know, it would be, it would be kind of cool to have had, another trial if you, if you could, another performance trial, same, same one, potentially two exhaustion. because that really would have been interesting is, is if they had

done 50 or 60 grams an hour in both cases too, right? Like a third time to exhaustion. like, okay, great. I can see that the hypoglycemia is alleviated in these conditions, but now let's also look at, it's pushed some more.

that would have been just interesting if the performance was still almost the same. Of course the hypoglycemia would be waived and then alleviated. But what would that have done to the performance? Would have been interesting.

What's your thought? What do you think?

My, well, again, we don't know because, but my thinking if I'm hedging more into the, it's all about alleviating hypoglycemia camp, like that's the only thing, right? And that's what these guys are believing as well. So if we do believe that it's just all about alleviating hypoglycemia, which if you read the study, that's kind of, that's the new hypothesis that's out. It's not about, it's like all you gotta do.

Yeah.

is alleviate hypoglycemia, whatever it takes to do that, and then your performance will be the best it can kind of be. But that would prove the situation. In other words, so 60 gram an hour versus 10 grams an hour, both are gonna alleviate hypoglycemia, but then the performance should be the same. But the carb camp would say that 60 grams an hour

or 90 grams an hour or 120 grams an hour should all be like higher, higher, higher, right? If you're like, yeah, if that is the correct hypothesis. Cool thing. I don't think the study totally solved that, but it did show that if we alleviate hypoglycemia, whether you're carb or fat adapted, performance is augmented.

I don't think the study totally solved that. But it did show that with EVA hypoglycemia, whether you're carb or not adapted.

So yeah, have at least, we can say have at least 10 grams an hour of carbohydrates in your

So, yeah.

Hmm.

race as a minimal, whether you're carb or fat adapted. We can say that.

So based on this study, they show that it's the blood sugar, not muscle or liver glycogen that enhances performance in a time trial situation.

Yeah. And it kind of supports, it

supports Tim's central governor model. where it's protecting the central governor, let's call it the brain, right? The mind is like saying, I feel protected because there is this, there's this blood sugar level that is homeostatic. It's at least, you know, let's call us call a set point sitting around five millimoles of blood glucose.

And that is making me feel protected. So if that's protected, I can do what I need to do versus a peripheral model would think that it's the blood, it's the muscle glycogen level that's paramount to protect. That is why you're ingesting the

Mm-hmm.

the sugar or the carbohydrate You're doing that to preserve your muscle glycogen. In this model, it's almost irrelevant. That sort of takes care of itself. yeah, this is lending support for the central governor model and the protection of the blood glucose only.

blending support for the central government model.

And it was interesting because the study showed that ingesting carbohydrates also lowered the RPE. Like how hard the subject felt they were going. And that would support the central governor model too,

Yes.

This is Tim Noakes' model.

Mm-hmm.

Correct.

There was also a small mention about 80 minutes in the ketone levels in the low carb group increased exponentially.

Yeah, that was cool.

Can you explain that?

Well, mean, somehow it's incredible that they found that because that also anecdotally goes back to what a lot of athletes will describe where all of a sudden, at some point around there, they feel this kick of energy. it's almost like there's something that's going on. And so remember that your ketones, there's

three ketones, right? Beta hydroxybutyrate, Cetoacetate, and acetone. And these are all produced by the liver. And they're really small molecules that can pass through the blood brain barrier. They're instrumental in our evolution because they allowed us to just burn, fat, right?

Like glucose, initially, if you're a carb adapted individual, the only fuel that your brain can actually leverage is blood glucose. And it's a whole hypothesis for why we need to keep our blood glucose levels homeostatic. But fortunately we did evolve this process where if we were fasted, then

eventually we can still survive without blood glucose because we can burn all of our body fat and we, we do that by ripping apart proteins and amino acids, proteins and fatty acids in we, and our liver converts them into these ketones, the three I just mentioned. And then those can pass through the blood brain brain barrier. So what Marianna was just describing is that at 80 minutes of exercise in the low carb situation, all of a sudden there was this kick.

in ketones that they just sort of took off and all of sudden the liver was racing to produce these. yeah, that's, and again, anecdotally speaking, this is what a lot of athletes kind of experienced. Like all of a sudden they feel like, I just got all of sudden this energy, right? Like Marjaana, when you were sort of doing some of these fasted rides that I was getting you to do, right? Like all of a sudden you go through this lull point, but then all of a sudden you feel like, okay.

This is what a lot of athletes have in their parents. Like all of sudden they feel like, well, just got all of a sudden this energy, right? Like Marjaana, when you were doing some these fast rides, like all of a sudden you go through this moment, and then all of a sudden you feel like,

I can do this now. It's actually, I feel like I've got a lot of energy, right? And maybe that's actually what's actually going on in this time.

can do this now. Actually, I feel like I've got a lot of energy, right? And maybe that's actually what's actually going on at this point in time.

And then what's very fascinating, if you want a super geek out, is that the RER shifted and the RER is the respiratory exchange ratio. It actually wound up looking like that you were, the athlete was burning more carbohydrates when of course they were burning, actually just burning ketones and the RER went up.

Like it was producing, like burning more carbs. But there's no carbs present. It was just the ketones that were spinning off, making it look like there was a lot of carbohydrates being burnt. There were ketones being burnt.

I love super keeking sessions.

Sorry

everyday athletes, but we're geekin'. We can't help it.

So one of the things that like when I was going through this and I would say like they did a 42 day adaptation phase for me I would say it was a longer period and there was some less successful training sessions but what I always was worried about was

If I take carbohydrates during my longer session, would that ruin my fat oxidation? Right? But this study showed that the fat oxidation was the same for the group that were low carb fat adapted when they took that 10 grams.

the substrate utilization didn't change. was the fat oxidation stayed the same, which was kind of like, thank God for me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that's my gut as well too. Like that's what I sort of feel. I really, when I'm out there going long, I don't need much, but I do like, it's just to have that small, I don't know what it is, but just like a little bit of, you know, a little bit of honey or, you know, a small, a couple handful of almonds or trail mix or whatever. And it just takes the edge off and

It just, yeah, it just, it, it feels good and you can just keep going all day and whatnot with that. so yeah, I don't need the huge amounts, but just a little bit takes the edge off and I can perform optimally with that. this, yeah, for me as a fat adapted athlete, this, this gave me a lot of confidence that to take a little bit is great. You're not ruining any fat burning ability. In fact, you're probably enhancing it.

There's the old talk too that fat burns optimally in a carbohydrate flame. And here again, that's probably showing that too. So yeah, it was nice.

The study talked about maltodextrin as its source for carbohydrate. You just talked about some different sources. Does it matter, the source of the carbohydrate?

I don't really believe so. well, Malta is like many, I guess, right. But it's like, it's a slower release carbohydrate ultimately than pure sugar or glucose

Mm-hmm.

I think again, I'm a whole food kind of advocate. So there's lots of whole food options. You name it, know, whether it's bananas, apples, you know, cashews, these sorts of things are all going to be slower kind of release, but just slowly drip feeding and relieving that hypoglycemia. That's the key part is and that's the, what the study shows take away hypoglycemia by ingesting something.

even as small as 10 grams in an hour and your performance should be augmented.

One of the other pieces of the study that I thought was interesting was that it had the athletes fat adapt for four weeks. So there was a chunk of time that hadn't been measured really before. Does that matter in terms of the big picture? Does it take longer to adapt to this fat burning, to using fat as a fuel?

longer.

but the key thing is they're all athletes. So athletes in general is, you know, they have that base, right? Because they've been exercising. So athletes in general are always better adapters because the pure exercising and base training means that they tend to be, not all, but they tend to be

not all, but.

good at burning fat and they're faster to adapt.

The study also focused on doing a time trial at roughly 70 % of VO2 max. What do you think the implications are for athletes racing at higher intensities like for an hour or doing a sprint triathlon? Do you think that this matters?

Yeah, it's a great point. Again, that's probably a pretty important question I should ask Philip because we could argue that, maybe those studies are with the higher exercise intensity, it's going to carbohydrate, muscle glycogen at higher rates, faster rates, and maybe that will change things.

like

I think I would guess that Philip and his team would argue that it's really all about the hypoglycemia and protection of that. So if the glycemia is maintained, even at the higher rates of muscle glycogen burn, again, we should find a

similar sort of finding. if we did this at above threshold at say 80, 85%, then it should still be

Yeah, should be similar across the diets and the carbohydrate supplementation rates if the hypoglycemia is alleviated. If it's not, as soon as your individual hypoglycemia is affected, again, according to their model, your performance should be affected.

Mm-hmm.

So this is one, I think really this is, there's a few old studies that this paper references, but we're gonna need to see more and more studies to continue to prove this model in the future. One study doesn't prove it all, but it's certainly one we need to take note of. And it's certainly a fascinating one. And as we all look to optimize our performance, and especially many of us that are more and more into that low carb camp,

This is one, I think really this is, there's a few or whole studies that this paper references, but we're need to see more and more studies to continue to improve this model. One study doesn't prove at all, but it's certainly one we need to take note of, and this is certainly a fascinating one, and as we all want to go, optimize on.

This is one that is very promising for us. And I know it's certainly one that, yeah, I'm going to take note of because, when I'm thinking about leaving, you know, augmenting my own performance out there, it gives me a lot of confidence because it's like, all right, I just need to make sure that I'm not hypoglycemic and whatever. I can take, remember the big advantage of this is that I can take

and I can take, remember the big advantage of this is that I can

load off my GI track and not have to feel bloated at all when I'm out there necessarily. I can run free, can ride free

take load off my GI tract and not have to feel bloated at all when I'm out there necessarily. I can run free, can ride free.

and that goes a long way for me because I don't like feeling bloated and heavy in my gut. That does not appeal to me at all. I've been there in the old days and I don't like it at all and I know I go a lot faster when I don't. That's when I set my personal best, that's when I did my sub 10s.

Iron Man, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, right? That's how I can go free and that's, yeah, I'm pretty passionate about that because I know how good that it feels to perform in that zone like that. So this method allows me to get into my zone.

Hmm.

Yeah, it's not fun to be in the bush when you want to be running.

Especially on certain courses where there aren't too many. Well said, Marjaana. It's a lot of courses where there's not a lot of privacy. You know?

You

Yeah.

Yeah,

yes, we do know.

This study also mentions the old Scandinavian studies. don't remember. I need to go back and read those. But when I was a young talent skier, we always used to talk about this concoction that you could drink at the end of a long race. Like when you're a young ski, 30 Ks is a long race. So we were talking about like after 20 Ks of ski racing, you should do a...

coffee and coke combination. Like a single dose of coffee for central nervous stimulation and then coke for sugar. because I just remembered when I was reading this study and it's a pretty powerful, I think I used it for my first marathon. I carried it with me and then no, no, together you mix it. It's not in.

Together or separate?

Nice.

Hahaha!

Again, one of my crazy concoctions with my rocket fuel coffee and coffee and coke.

Yeah, big time.

But they were talking about it on this study at the end of a longer race, you take this, you know, single hit of carbohydrates. And that's what they basically did in this study. Because your blood sugar level is lot lower than...

Yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

and you want to alleviate that. And then you want the, you know, the central nervous system, stim as well. So yeah, it makes a lot of sense.

So it wasn't a myth, it wasn't a Finnish Scandinavian myth after all.

What should everyday

athletes be doing then in terms of, Marjaana brought up the typical pasta feed the night before. What should everyday athletes be doing the night before in the morning of races for fueling? The study didn't get into that really. So what's your take?

Can I go first?

Mmm.

Thank

So coach Paul here started coaching me a few years back and I think it was like maybe eight months in. I wasn't fully bought into this whole low carb thing yet.

And I was nervous before my Iron Man Finland, what should I eat? And he's like, just eat regular, like whatever you like, don't go to pasta party, like, just eat something that you enjoy, protein and a couple of vegetables on the side. I ate, of course, salmon and mashed potatoes. And I was nervous because I wasn't eating my like, my

have to say the first Ironman Norway I was eating candy the night before trying to top up. and then in the morning I just ate a small normal porridge after like I don't eat porridge anymore but that was it and I was very nervous. Am I gonna have enough energy?

I didn't do pasta party or rice or whatever, but it worked. No gut issues whatsoever.

Perfect. Yeah. So for me, for my evening last meal is something that's actually like a dinner, like a steak, like a salmon with a kumara potato. And yeah, that'll all kind of sit and, you know.

bleed into your person, form into muscle glycogen. And then, yeah, in the morning, yeah, again, this is from the low carb context, right? But it's like something like some amino acids that are gonna sit in the system, like, because you're not gonna get those, generally speaking, for the rest of the day. So something like an egg or two, that's probably all I need for the morning.

with, and then, you know, UCAN is my favorite kind of blood glucose stabilizer, because it's got that, you know, what is it called? forget the type of the super starch basically, that it just kind of slowly keeps your blood glucose level stable. So that's my go-to.

It's like drinking flour. You can.

Hmm.

You

Basically, that's fine for rides up to two, maybe three hours, but that won't work for even longer hours of three, four, or five hours. In addition, I thought I had to practice my nutrition for long distance triathlon during those long training rides. So I am a little confused. So let's answer that question and kind of start to summarize what we've been talking about today.

I totally get this point. And I would say it's kind of dependent on when is your long distance triathlon coming up. Yes, you want to train your race day nutrition. But if you're on base season, I would work on fat adaptation and

doing fasted rides, maybe not even every week, but, then closer to your race, would not every weekend, but I would do key sessions with your race day nutrition. That's how I would tackle it. You don't really need, you know, digesting sugar on a couple of hour ride.

Mm-hmm.

If you're hungry, you eat.

Couldn't add.

Yep, there you go. Perfect.

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Take a moment now, subscribe, share, and let's keep navigating this endurance adventure together. For more information or to schedule a consultation with Paul, Marjaana or me, check the links in the show notes. For Marjaana Rakai and Dr. Paul Laursen I'm Paul Warloski, and this has been the Athletes Compass Podcast. Thank you so much for listening.