I enable endurance athletes to overcome lack of energy and gut upset so that they can fuel their bodies with confidence and race to their full potential. Subscribe to my weekly 'Fuelling with Purpose' newsletter to receive endurance nutrition insights directly in your inbox.
Fuelling With Purpose β 24 March 2026
π‘ Fuel For ThoughtYour brain runs on glucose. Are you feeding it?Your brain runs on glucose. Not motivation, not grit, not a good playlist. Glucose. This is a fact I wish more athletes could keep in mind (pun intended). When you're training or racing, your muscles and your brain are competing for the same fuel. And your muscles are loud, they demand glucose fast, and they usually win. So when supply runs low, your brain doesn't wait it out, it starts pulling the emergency brake. That mid-race voice telling you to quit? That's not weakness. That's your central nervous system doing its job with the resources you've given it. The skipped breakfast, the gel you left in your pocket, the carbs you cut because you thought you didn't need them for an easy session. Those decisions have consequences that show up in your head long before they show up in your legs. I see this regularly, athletes who are putting in the training but hit the wall mid-race when their legs still had something left, can't make themselves lace up for a Tuesday session, or finish a big morning and spend the rest of the day staring at a screen. Flat, unmotivated, mentally foggy... and blaming themselves for it. The frustrating part is that these gaps are often small and fixable. A missed pre-run snack. An underfuelled recovery window. A race-day strategy built around gut fear rather than what your brain actually needs to keep you moving. Willpower is not a nutrition strategy. The next time your mind tells you to stop, slow down, or give up, before you accept that narrative, ask yourself: When did I last eat, and was it enough? π Endurance Highlights1οΈβ£ Performance and physiological factors in 24-hour ultra-marathon runningEven though participation has grown substantially, the research behind the 24-hour format has remained fragmented and largely unsummarised. This narrative review synthesises decades of evidence across performance, nutrition, pacing, and physiology to address that gap.β The findings challenge some widely held assumptions about what predicts success. Body composition variables, including body mass and body fat percentage, showed no meaningful predictive value once training and experience were accounted for. What did matter was prior experience, pacing discipline, and nutrition. Better performers maintained steadier effort throughout the race, ran an energy deficit despite high carbohydrate intakes, and peak performance consistently occurred between 40 and 50 years of age, suggesting accumulated race experience and refined fuelling strategies matter more than physiology alone. From a practical standpoint, the review confirms that training, nutrition, and pacing are the three pillars of 24-hour performance and that optimal nutrition, alongside experience and pacing, is a key predictor of success. Athletes progressively deviated from their planned nutrition in the final quarter of the race, largely due to gastrointestinal discomfort, highlighting how much fuelling strategies need to be flexible enough to withstand the cumulative stress of a 24-hour effort. 2οΈβ£ Sodium bicarbonate and running performance: what the evidence actually showsWhile the benefits of bicarb soda (or sodium bicarbonate) on short, high-intensity efforts are well documented, interest in its use for endurance running has been growing. This meta-analysis pooled data from 11 randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials to evaluate the effect of a single oral dose on continuous running performance. The 126 participants were mostly competitive male runners, with performance tests ranging from 1 to 30 minutes. Before accounting for publication bias, bicarb showed a small but statistically significant performance benefit. Once the authors accounted for both publication bias and participant withdrawals due to gastrointestinal symptoms, the benefit was no longer statistically significant. GI symptoms occurred in nearly 30% of participants taking bicarb versus just 2.6% on placebo. The authors also flagged that females were severely underrepresented across the literature, making it impossible to draw firm conclusions about sex-specific effects. For endurance runners, this matters. In a context where gut function is already under pressure. If you're going to trial bicarb, establishing individual tolerance in training long before race day is essential. π΅π»ββοΈ Retail Finds*This week's product review: Cinnabon Filled Hot Cross BunsOn top of being delicious, these hot cross buns are an endurance-fuelling dream. Here's why. Features & benefits
Things to keep in mind
Final take 50g of carbs per serving and relatively low fat is hard to find in many conventional products. If you're looking to incorporate energy-dense options for your next ultra or a great pre-training snack, these hot cross buns are a great choice. p.s. Is there a product you'd like me to review? Hit reply and let me know. ββββ π©π»βπ³ Kitchen CreationsI'm committing to sending the most valuable endurance nutrition newsletter. I want to make sure that every piece of content you receive includes information that helps you on your journey toward achieving your personal best. Happy fuelling! Gaby | Endurance Nutrition Specialist ππ»ββοΈ Want to work together?When youβre ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
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Gaby Villa
I enable endurance athletes to overcome lack of energy and gut upset so that they can fuel their bodies with confidence and race to their full potential. Subscribe to my weekly 'Fuelling with Purpose' newsletter to receive endurance nutrition insights directly in your inbox.
π‘ Fuel For Thought The gap your training plan can't fix Yesterday I received this email from a client: "It makes such a huge difference to fuel properlyβ¦ especially during my longer runs. I feel so good for the rest of the day. Compared to the old days when I was soooo overtired and struggled with fatigue." One month in. That's all it took. What worries me, and why I keep coming back to this, is that the exhaustion she described isn't unusual. Constant fatigue, heavy legs, and struggling to...
π‘ Fuel For Thought Here's why you're hungrier on rest days I see this pattern constantly in practice: an athlete trains hard all week, hits a rest day, and suddenly finds themselves hungrier than usual. Their normal meals don't seem to cut it. They eat, and an hour later, they're back in the kitchen. And more often than not, they can't figure out why. Does this sound familiar to you, too? Here's what's actually going on. Physical activity has a suppressing effect on appetite. It's almost like...
π‘ Fuel For Thought Last woman standing, and what got Tammy there Last week, Patto from the Backyard Ultra Podcast sat down with IntensEAThlete and Fuel To Thrive Academy graduate Tammy Lovett, who has now completed three backyard ultras, breaking 24 yards every single time, including a top 10 Australian performance at Redβs Backyard Ultra last year. In this episode, Tammy shares her journey through backyard ultras and how nutrition became an asset in taking her PB from 25 to 38 yards. She...