Triathlon

Muscular balance in the upper and lower body is important to successful triathletes because the three events each have a different muscular focus. Since all the major muscles are put to the test in triathlons, these athletes must consume enough total energy to ensure that the fuel capacity for each working muscle starts out full. Swimmers, for instance, have a much higher upper-body strength requirement than cyclists, while triathletes require balanced strength in all the muscles.⁴² Perhaps this use of all the muscles is what makes the triathlon a sport with no preference for body type or shape, making it accessible to anyone who is willing to train hard in all three disciplines.⁴³

Triathlons have different lengths, depending on the location and sponsor. An Olympic-distance triathlon consists of a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40- kilometer cycle, and a 10-kilometer run. The most well-known Ironman competition in Hawaii includes a 2.4-mile swim; a 112-mile bike race; and a 26-mile, 385-yard run. A survey of non-elite triathletes indicated that even they have training loads that most people would find impossible to follow. This survey revealed that the average swimming distance per week for these triathletes was 8.8 kilometers, the cycling distance was 270 kilometers, and the running distance was 58.2 kilometers.⁴⁴ Still, it is important for triathletes to taper training before a competition. One study showed a statistically significant improvement in performance when triathletes reduced the total time spent training before an event.⁴⁵ Once again, rest before competition proves to be an effective adjunct to training.

Different sports induce athletes to consume different foods and, therefore, take in different levels of nutrients. Calcium intake was found to be lower in triathletes than in athletes participating in team sports such as volleyball and basketball. Of the athletes surveyed in a large French study with 10,373 subjects, calcium intakes were below the recommended level for the triathletes, and females had lower calcium intakes than did males.⁴⁶ This is bad news for athletes who place so much repetitive stress on the skeleton, which places them at increased risk for stress fractures.

Keeping this in mind, triathletes must consider the following nutritionally relevant factors for their sport.

Maintenance of normal hydration is difficult. Perhaps the most important performance-related factor for triathletes is creating a strategy for maintaining hydration state during this grueling event. Triathletes should find a well- tolerated sports beverage and develop a drinking schedule that results in the smallest possible weight loss by the end of the competition. Developing a workable drinking strategy of a carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage (typically between .25 to .5 liter every 15 minutes) may be the single most important ergogenic act a triathlete can do.

There is concern that triathletes who wear wet suits during the swimming phase of the triathlon (if the water temperature is warm) may predispose themselves to heat stress during the cycling and running portions of the race. A study evaluating this issue found that a wet suit did not adversely affect body temperature during the cycling and running stages, provided that the athlete maintained a good hydration state.⁴⁷ The importance of good hydration as it relates to triathlon performance is the theme of numerous studies, all of which state that hydration is one of two keys to a successful race (the other being maintenance of carbohydrate stores). Nevertheless, despite the importance of hydration, it appears that triathletes are rarely successful at maintaining good hydration during a competition, with a water-related weight loss that commonly exceeds 4 percent.⁴⁸ Triathletes may also be predisposed to hyponatremia (low blood-sodium level), which is a result of using replacement fluids (typically plain water) that contain no electrolytes.^49,50 An assessment of athletes completing an Ironman triathlon found that athletes lose an average of 5.5 pounds (2.5 kilograms) in body weight, and athletes with hyponatremia had fluid overload despite modest fluid intakes.⁵¹ These findings imply that even modest consumption of fluids that contain no sodium may increase the risk of hyponatremia. Both body water loss and hyponatremia are factors that influence performance, but these factors also place the athlete at health risk. Replacing sufficient fluids in the correct volume and of the right type is therefore critical for the athlete's safety and performance.⁵²

Consumption of sufficient energy is needed. The energy requirement for carbohydrate in a triathlete exceeds the body's ability to store it. Therefore, triathletes should develop a strategy for adequate consumption of carbohydrate energy during a race (typically 1 to 1.5 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per hour).⁵³ To do this, athletes should find sports beverages that contain carbohydrate in a form and concentration that are well tolerated. Some triathletes have found that carbohydrate gels, bananas, or crackers can be consumed during the cycle portion of the race (taken with a water chaser). If this is tolerated, it is an excellent way to boost the carbohydrate fuel level in the body before the beginning of the running portion of the race. Nutrition interventions capable of providing more fluids and carbohydrates to triathletes do work and lead to improvements in endurance performance.⁵⁴

Triathletes run the risk of overtraining. Getting sufficient rest and tapering exercise before a race have been shown to be two of the best training strategies a triathlete can follow. By contrast, triathletes who increase the training frequency before an important race are not likely to do their best. Sufficient rest is just as important for a strong performance as sufficient training.

Planning a meal schedule for longer distances tends to take a back seat. The triathlon covers different distances, depending on whether it's a sprint, the Olympic distance, a long course, or the Ironman. The sprint can take as little as 45 minutes to complete, and the Ironman often takes longer than 10 hours. Regardless of the competition distance, triathletes train hard—and they find themselves juggling their training with work or school. Eating and drinking often take a back seat to all the other demands of life, yet they are critically important to the success an athlete can realize. The only solution is to sit down and develop a schedule that includes working, training, eating, resting, and drinking. All should be treated as having equal importance.

Many (if not most) triathletes have more than one workout each day, and some race weekly or every second week. This places a tremendous energy requirement on the athlete that is commonly not met. The more time an athlete takes to train, the less time there is to eat, so there is a natural conflict between the increased requirement for energy and the reduced time to supply what is needed. This problem makes a clear case for planning time for eating as much as planning time for training. If an athlete's training has a fixed schedule (it usually does) but the eating doesn't, the athlete will suffer.