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Fueling Your Winter Workouts...

Monday, 24 November 2014 00:10

By Chris Carmichael (triathlon.competitor.com)

Let’s face it—the stretch from Halloween through New Year’s is a minefield of dietary indiscretions. It’s hard to avoid packing on a few extra pounds with everyone shoving high-sugar, high-fat foods in your face. And to make matters worse, most triathletes significantly decrease their training volume in these same months—what I call the “soft season,” the exercise space that falls between full-fledged training and being a couch potato.

It’s during this season that our coaches often scale back their triathletes’ training sessions to one workout per day, with a goal of two to three sessions per sport per week. In most cases, especially for time-crunched athletes and those not preparing for iron-distance goals, weekday workouts run about 45–90 minutes with longer sessions on the weekends...

With the overall reduction in energy expenditure and shorter workouts, you can help thwart gradual weight gain by following this easy tip: Don’t take in any calories during workouts lasting up to 75 minutes. You start these workouts with enough stored carbohydrate energy (glycogen) to achieve high-quality training efforts. At easy-to-moderate intensities, this no-extra-fuel window can even stretch to 90 minutes. READ MORE