Sneaky Nutrition Mistakes You Might Not Know You're Making

It is interesting how athlete issues can come, or at least seem to come, in clusters.  Common issues can be hiding in the weeds and then suddenly they multiply into four or five additional issues within a very short period of time.  This scenario popped up for me this week, with the focus being centered around fueling and eating habits. As a review and to ensure we are not managing even more of these little obstacles as we go into the second half of the season, I have a couple of case studies of my individually coached athletes that will provide relatable and insightful examples. As you read these, I want you to realize that both athletes are very high level, extremely smart, and consistently deliver high performances. Despite this, both have run into struggles, but the good news is that both can easily reverse out of their low-performance cul de sac and get back on the highway of excellence.  I will withhold names for now.

Case Study #1:  The Subconscious Under-Fueler

This is a very common issue for athletes, and the majority of the time, there is no real emotional reaction to food and eating globally.  In this case, the athlete was performing very well for a couple of seasons, but over the last months has experienced consistent fatigue and low performance in training. Hitting higher intensity has been tough, and he feels like speed has been tougher to capture. There has been a general malaise around both training and racing. Interestingly, there is little chance that the athlete is over-training as he is very smart (one of the smartest and bravest) when it comes to going easy in the easier sessions and taking breaks from the blocks of harder training.  The underlying issue must have been from something viral or issues in underlying supporting habits such as sleep or nutrition.

Throwing in the kitchen sink of assessment, we completed a thorough investigation with blood work, specialist and experts, and a deep dive into his habits.  We then aligned these habits with his training progression. What came out was a combination of:

• Prior kidney damage (from single bout or repeated dehydration as well as too much NSAID usage to aid sleep)
• A few critical deficiencies in vitamins and minerals
• Low blood cell turnover and number (hematocrit)
• A caloric deficit on a daily basis relative to training
• Poor timing of the type of calories relative to training

This might seem like a long list, but each was relatively minor and there were no serious issues.  Accumulation led to suppression and, ultimately, low performance.  The headline news on his issues in supporting habits centered around:

• Timing of Calories:  Mysterious to me and the athlete, he had fallen into a habit of grossly under fueling during harder training sessions and under eating on the days of the toughest training.  He always ate really well, but tough training days seemed to have a massive degree of fat and protein in the diet and not enough calories to support recovery. On lighter training days, likely due to more time available to eat and some cravings, there would be a high ratio of carbohydrate.  The timing led to a greater degree of stress and under recovery.
• Amount of Calories:  Related to the above, he just wasn't getting enough food to support his massive training load.  As subconscious of a habit as it was, he required real intervention on total calories, or fatigue would continue.
• Setting up Sleep the Healthy Way: Perhaps understanding the value of sleep, he chased sleep nightly and aided falling asleep by taking nighttime NSAID medication habitually.  This stressed the kidneys and impaired recovery. We had to remove this and instead focus on setting up the best sleeping environment and habits to aid sleep

Lessons

IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 are a resilience sport and while many fall into the trap of thinking lighter is always better, if we accumulate to being under-fueled and over-stressed from poor supporting habits, it will catch up.  It will either deliver frequent sickness and injury, or it will simply lead to lethargy. The great news for this athlete is the future is bright, and his biggest racing is still ahead of him.  Just being smart in recovery and committed to hard training will never yield ongoing progression without the key basic supporting habits of consistent great sleep and a great platform of fueling and nutrition.

Case Study #2:  The Switcheroo Performance Seeker

The second case study is a wonderful athlete, and I know her as a great warrior who always has a high degree of performance predictability when it comes to competition.  No matter the resources on the day, she would "bring it." This season, I have seen something a little different, with lower predictability and a couple of races that have just been low on the relative performance scale.  It seems like there is lethargy and almost a "sleepwalk" through the day of competition.

When this scenario plays out, it is important that the coach, athlete, and team take a really honest look in the mirror and review everything that may contribute to the phenomenon.  Is the root cause training, recovery, global fatigue accumulation, confidence, motivation, or nutrition? All comes into play and the quest is never about casting blame, but an honest investigation to understand what to correct and evolve to stem the performance slide.  Following this exercise, it became clear the issues:

• A shift in eating habits in the lead into race day.

No more complicated than this, but it deserves more context.  A transition that we made with the athlete this season was to evolve and improve her global eating habits.  This involved a great contribution to daily diet from carbohydrates, an increase in global daily and weekly calories, and elimination of some foods that caused regular digestive issues.  These habits have been instrumental in a positive trend in both training performance, but also predictability of performance.

A second test was the implementation of some pre-race protocols to seek a great performance jump on race day.  This included a shift in eating patterns and an even greater carbohydrate contribution on the days leading up to the race.  Not old school carbohydrate loading, but an associated approach. Unfortunately, the result of this was pretty simple which was a change in the familiarity of eating habits left her feeling highly lethargic and low energy in racing.  The exact opposite of the anticipated results.

For the coach, this is a classic case of the difference of what "the science portrays" and what actually happens in real life.  Let me give you some coaching context:

• IRONMAN racing isn't about "peaking":  At least in the classic sense, I see a wonderful IRONMAN performance being your best training sessions strung together on a single day.  It is a really, really hard day of training. This means the best performances come from beginning fresh but in a familiar rhythm. It is really different than "peaking" in the way that you would for a 100-meter dash on the track.  With this mindset, I would much prefer to control as much as we possibly can into the racing, including familiar eating patterns, training rhythm, and even sleep. Treating the race day like a really, really big training day sets up a better performance than some hyper rest and magical dietary evolution.  Change wreaks havoc.
• Keep it Simple:  Whether it is equipment, hydration, nutrition or anything else, simplicity nearly always wins.  With the above context, we want to control as much as possible and change as little as we can as we lead into events.  When considering the risk-reward of adding a supplement, hyper-hydrating, changing to untested new equipment is just craziness.  It is about trust in yourself and preparation and knowing that a wonderfully executed magical training day IS a magic race day performance.  Just add your faster (and tested) race wheels and helmet and let rip.

Lessons

Keep things simple, don't change patterns and rhythms, and resist the latest and greatest pseudo promises of performance boosts as you lead into the race.  I urge that you only go with what you know and never add magical supplements, shift eating habits, or try to make radical evolutions in your rhythm, training or equipment as you head toward race day.

These are lessons from two great athletes who will still have great performances this season.  Read, let it marinate, and learn from them. You can set yourself up for a clearer head, with less voodoo to pollute your mind, and more chance to focus on dialing in the basics of racing and actually enjoying the event.

Best of luck,

Matt