Vegan Tri Fuel!
Fueling for a triathlon is WAY more stressful for me than it needs to be. I overthink everything!! And i recently was listening to a podcast that made SO much sense and told me to stop looking outside for what will work for me. every body is different. and we all have different tastes, metabolisms, fuel needs, and preferences. i mean… it’s so logical but for some reason i didn’t listen to that inner voice that told me to CHILL. until i heard that podcast (i so wish i remembered which one it was!).
SO. how am i planning to fuel for my first 70.3? I have no idea. i’m gonna try out a bunch of stuff while i train to see what i end up liking. Yesterday I did my first 40+ mile bike ride (yes… i’m behind schedule). and here’s what i did to fuel:
- Pre-workout: 2 hours before rolling out i had 2 PB cookies i made out of shakeology, peanut butter, agave, and oats. so tasty & got me some longer burning carbs (oats), fat (pb), and protein (shakeology). 20-30 minutes before my ride I had my pre-workout energize drink
- During-workout: 1/2 cherry larabar + 1/2 pb & jelly larabar. i swear the cherry one disappeared during my ride! i would have finished it but i couldn’t find it. i of course found it later in my jersey pocket but i swear it wasn’t there during the ride!! also during the ride i drank (not enough) water + a hydrating water that had electrolytes in it. For this ride i bought a packet of the vega brand hydration powder to mix with water. It was pretty tasty!!
- Post-Workout: right after the workout i had the vega brand tropical flavor recovery drink powder mixed w/water and then a little later (w/in the hour) i had shakeology w/a full banana.
So that all seemed to sit pretty well with my stomach and tasted good even when it was super sunny and hot(ish). I definitely should have been drinking more water but i am not comfortable yet doing the whole “grab the water bottle mid-ride and don’t crash” thing so i could only reach for my water when no cars were around. it all worked out though and i was so freaking pumped to have finished that challenging ride! there weren’t really any hills to speak of but there were a few little ones that had my legs working hard!! i really do love cycling once i’m mid-ride but for some reason i never feel like riding. hopefully that’ll change soon!!
I’ll keep posting when i try new things with my nutrition but like i said when i started… what works for me might not work for you!! be your own guinea pig! test things out! use basic common sense and learn from the experts but you don’t have to get it perfect. Try things out and see what works!