💡 Fuel For Thought

The performance gap hiding in plain sight

A client recently pointed out that I talk about low energy availability quite a lot in these newsletters.

They’re right.

And believe it or not, this is me trying not to talk about it all the time.

The reality is that energy availability sits underneath almost everything we care about as endurance athletes. You can have the perfect recovery shake, the latest supplement and a meticulously calculated race-fuelling plan, but none of those can compensate for consistently asking your body to do more work than you’re giving it energy to support.

Ultra-endurance sport makes this particularly easy to get wrong. Training volumes are high, energy demands can be enormous, and underfuelling often creeps in through the ordinary stuff: a rushed breakfast, not eating enough around training, trying to “eat clean”, cutting back on easier days, or slipping back into weight-focused habits.

That’s also why it can be hard to recognise on your own.

A big part of my role is helping athletes step back and look at the full picture: what training is asking of them, where energy might be falling short, and which nutrition changes will actually make the biggest difference.

Over time, an energy gap can show up as poor recovery, persistent fatigue, declining performance, recurrent injuries, changes in mood, hormones, sleep, or immunity, and a body that simply isn’t adapting to training as well as it could.

So yes, I’ll probably keep sounding like a broken record.

Because eating enough isn’t the flashy part of sports nutrition. But it is the foundation that allows almost everything else to work.

And if you’re not sure whether your nutrition is really matching the demands of your training, that’s exactly the kind of question worth getting curious about.

Am I consistently giving my body enough energy to do the job I’m asking of it?

Sometimes the biggest performance gain comes from identifying what’s been missing and fixing it first.

🚀 Endurance Highlights

1️⃣ Eating culture, body image and underfuelling in competitive cycling

Over the last few years, I’ve been excited to see professional cycling shifting towards a more fuel-forward approach, moving away from “be as light as possible” and towards “fuel as well as possible”. Unfortunately, this recent study suggests there is still a long way to go in changing cycling culture. Researchers interviewed 11 competitive road cyclists in Britain to explore how the sport’s culture influences attitudes towards food, body weight and performance.

Across the interviews, performance was the dominant lens through which cyclists viewed food and their bodies. Participants described skipping meals, training fasted and deliberately underfuelling to reduce body weight, alongside strong pressure to look lean enough to be seen as a “proper cyclist”. Importantly, these behaviours were not occurring in isolation. Comments from teammates, coaches, and others, comparisons with what fellow riders were eating, and limited access to qualified nutrition support all reinforced the idea that lighter is better.

While this study focused on cyclists, I’ve seen many of the same attitudes in other endurance athletes. This was a small qualitative study, so it cannot tell us how common these experiences are, but it reinforces an important point: health and performance should not be competing priorities, and improving fuelling requires changing the environment around athletes, not simply educating individuals.

2️⃣ Do you need a caffeine break before racing?

Caffeine is one of the most established performance supplements for endurance athletes, but regular users are often told they need to cut back before racing to “reset” their sensitivity. This recent narrative review examined whether habitual caffeine intake reduces the performance benefits of an acute dose before endurance exercise.

Overall, habitual caffeine use does not appear to eliminate its performance benefit. Large analyses have found that regular users can still respond to an acute dose, while some longer-term studies suggest repeated daily exposure may gradually reduce the magnitude of the benefit in certain people. In other words, tolerance may develop, but it seems partial and highly individual rather than an inevitable loss of effect.

Importantly, the evidence doesn’t support routinely giving up caffeine before a race or simply taking a larger dose to compensate. The better approach is to test caffeine during training and individualise the dose, timing, and source based on performance response, gut tolerance, and sleep sensitivity.

🕵🏻‍♀️ Retail Finds*

This week's product review: Sul Nutrition Gels

Sul Nutrition recently reached out and sent me some samples of their 50 g carbohydrate gels to try.

Features & beenfits

• Facts per gel (72g): 206 kcal, 50 g carb, 0 g protein, 0 g fat and 400 mg sodium.
• Runny texture, not too thick.
• The packet is easy to open.
• 1:0.8 glucose:fructose ratio.
• Australian-based company.

Things to keep in mind

• Mostly sold through their website.
• $5.99 per gel or 16-pack for $79.95.
• The caffeine version has 150 mg of caffeine.

Final take

Having 50 g of carbohydrate in a single gel won’t suit everyone, but it can be very convenient for athletes aiming for a high carbohydrate intake. The caffeine and sodium are a little higher than I’d typically prefer, although whether that matters depends on what else you’re consuming alongside them.

From a value perspective, they’re also hard to beat. I haven’t come across another gel that provides this much carbohydrate for the price (10g carb per $1 AUD)

​Sul Nutrition have kindly offered 15% off your first order with the code SULFUEL15.

If you’re keen to try their products, you can use the code at checkout to save 15% on your first purchase.​​​​​​

👩🏻‍🍳 Kitchen Creations

​Download the recipe​​​

Bacon, potato and herbs breakfast casserole I've been testing by cooking several portions of breakfast at once, and this casserole has worked well. Consuming double the recommended portion may be more suitable in most cases.

I'm committed 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

🏃🏻‍♂️ 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 fuelling 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.