💡 Fuel For Thought

The foundation isn't basic. It's everything.

I recently asked my current and past clients to share one thing that had changed for them since we started working together. An overwhelming majority talked about how much the adjustments they made to their everyday nutrition had impacted their health, their performance, and their life.

Funny thing is when someone comes to me wanting support, daily nutrition is almost never what they have in mind. They're thinking about carbohydrate targets, electrolytes, what to eat in the final hours before a race. Those things matter, and we absolutely work on them. But none of it lands the way it should if the layer underneath is broken.

Nourishing your body consistently with enough energy and the right nutrients isn't step two or three in the process. It's the ground everything else is built on.

I hear two objections to this more than any other. The first is that athletes don't see their daily nutrition as a problem, it's the race stuff that needs fixing. The second is that addressing it sounds like a lot of work: a complicated overhaul, separate meals, more planning time on top of an already full life. What my clients tell me is that neither turned out to be true. The frameworks we work through fit into real life: the same meals the rest of the family is eating, adjusted with purpose rather than replaced entirely.

Foundation gets mistaken for basic. It's not. It's the reason the training adaptations stick, the reason race-day fuelling actually works, the reason you can sustain the load week after week. Before we talk about optimising anything else, we have to make sure the ground floor is solid.

🚀 Endurance Highlights

1️⃣ Kristian Blummenfelt and the energy demands of elite triathlon

One of the things I love most about the Norwegian Method is how seriously they take nutrition as a driver of performance and a non-negotiable part of the training system (here's a video where I break this down). This case study measured the total daily energy expenditure of Olympic and Ironman World Champion Kristian Blummenfelt across two training camps, alongside three years of training data.

Blummenfelt averaged around 1,380 training hours per year (that's a minimum of 4h per day 🤯). His measured daily energy expenditure ranged from 7,019 to 8,506 kcal/day. His recorded energy intake reached up to 6,360 kcal/day (a gap the researchers attributed to underreporting, which is common at very high intake levels). On his biggest training days, carbohydrate intake alone exceeded 1,000 g.

These numbers are elite-level, but the principle applies at scale. Achieving a high training volume is only possible if the right nutrition is in place to sustain it. If you're carrying fatigue, struggling to hit your sessions, or not recovering between them, your nutrition may not be keeping pace with your training load.

2️⃣ Fuelling by feel: Does the theory translate into practice?

Most endurance athletes understand the principle of adjusting fuel intake to match training demands, but a new observational study suggests the real-world application falls well short of guidelines. Researchers tracked 46 triathletes and runners over 12 weeks, collecting nearly 4,000 days of self-reported food logs and training data to examine how carbohydrate intake related to daily training load.

When individual data was examined, only 26% of athletes showed even a moderate correlation between training load and carbohydrate intake. Fasted training was common, with 65% of athletes doing it at least once per week, and those training fasted more frequently also tended to report lower overall carbohydrate intakes.

Periodising carbohydrate around training is a cornerstone of endurance nutrition. Most athletes think they're adjusting. The data confirms what I see in practice: most aren't. Worth asking yourself which group you fall into.

🕵🏻‍♀️ Retail Finds*

This week's product review: Woolworths Flavoured Jellies

I usually do my grocery shopping online and I recently got excited when I came across these pouches exploring down the aisles.

Features & benefits

• Facts per pouch (95g): 79 kcal, 18.5 g carb, 0 g protein,0 g fat and 40 mg sodium
• No refrigeration required
• More carb-dense than most baby food pouches

Things to keep in mind

• Concentrated apple juice
• Too sweet
• Not Low FODMAP

Final take

This can be an option for someone looking for alternatives to energy gels. However, for more natural and less sweet options, fruit puree and baby food pouches may be more suitable. ​​

👩🏻‍🍳 Kitchen Creations

​Download the recipe​​​

Greek Yogurt Bagel Bites At 15g of protein per bagel, these bites can be a great addition for a snack, add your preferred sweet before training or pair with something savoury and crunchy for a midday snack.

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Happy fuelling!

Gaby | Endurance Nutrition Specialist

🏃🏻‍♂️ Want to work together?

When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​Take the FREE Endurance Nutrition Audit. Not sure if your fuelling strategy is working? This quick 3-minute audit will reveal exactly where you stand and what adjustments could help you perform at your best.
2. ​Book a FREE strategy call. Need expert advice on your next best step? Let’s chat! In this commitment-free call, I’ll help you identify key areas to improve and map out a fueling approach tailored to your endurance goals.
3. ​Join the Fuel To Thrive Academy. Ready to take action? My signature program gives you the ultimate fuelling roadmap to unlock your full potential in sport and life, with proven strategies that have helped endurance athletes fuel smarter, perform better and break records.