The Nick Bare Podcast - 027: How To Properly Fuel For Endurance

Episode Date: August 14, 2023

If there's one thing I've learned over the past few years of endurance training, proper fueling is the most critical aspect of improving performance. And the truth is most people aren't fueling appropriately or understand how to fuel for their individual needs. So in this episode, I clear up some industry confusion and teach you why, what, and how to set up your fueling strategy to have more successful training sessions and race days. Save 10% at BPN Supps: https://bit.ly/nickbare10audio Follow for more:  IG: https://www.instagram.com/nickbarefitness/ YT: https://www.youtube.com/@nickbarefitness Topics: 00:00 Intro 1:22 Fueling for performance 10:01 “Anything will burn” 13:12 Why fueling is so important 21:31 Plan your fueling strategy 30:33 Train the way you race 34:56 Changes to my diet 41:35 Track your food 45:01 How to properly hydrate 53:48 Determining fueling requirements 57:08 My fueling strategy

If the furnace is hot enough, anything will burn. That is an invitation to say, eat whatever you want and how much of it, because when you're training at a certain level, your body will burn anything. And that's not the case. And I see a lot of athletes, specifically endurance athletes, fueling in that way. And if we're more strategic with our fueling strategy, if we're more intentional with the foods that we're consuming, we will see a huge difference not only in performance, but energy throughout the day and optimized recovery.

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So thank you guys. I appreciate you. And let's dive into the show. In today's episode, we are talking all about how to properly fuel a lot. for performance. And the reason I think this episode is so important is one because I used to make so many mistakes in in fueling for performance. And when I talk about fueling for performance, I'm primarily talking about training, running, weightlifting. I have found that fueling properly is more important for cardiovascular exercise and conditioning. It's important for strength training.

it's important for resistance training, but I've seen more positive benefits and the necessity for during cardiovascular conditioning and exercise. But fueling for performance also is in regards to showing up to your job and doing work and having the mental capacity and bandwidth and the energy for your family, your wife, your husband, your kids. The way that we fuel our body, allows us to show up for our responsibilities and perform to our highest level. And I've gone through a lot of chapters and seasons of life where I have not fueled properly. And I have felt the negative effects and consequences pretty quickly from my actions. So my goal with this episode is one, I want to talk about my experience with fueling for performance.

and we're talking primarily about food and supplements, but even more specifically, carbohydrates and electrolytes, as we dive deeper into endurance training. And I also really want to get across the message throughout this discussion and in this podcast. I would love for you to listen to this information and then directly apply some of the principles and lessons that I'm talking about.

and see and experience how it changes your training instantaneously. Like within days, you will see a big difference in your training. Now, what is fueling for performance? And I'm going to use the analogy of a car or a vehicle. A car or a vehicle is not going to go anywhere. It's not going to perform. It's not going to drive. unless you add fuel to it.

You can't just expect it to run off of fumes for an extended period of time. At some point, it balks, it stops, it shuts down. That's the reality. And let's take two different vehicles, for example. We have a Ferrari, a supercar, a race car, beautiful piece of machinery, and then we have a Toyota Corolla. Now, we can give both of these vehicles the same type and amount of fuel, but they're both going to perform differently.

And follow me through this because there's an explanation. The Ferrari has this engine that is just a masterpiece, and it is going to consume that fuel in a different way than the Toyota Corolla is going to, and it's going to have a greater output and performance. That Toyota Crolla is still going to use the fuel in a similar way, but it's not going to have the same performance. So my key takeaways with that message right there is fueling is important. Yes, it can make the biggest difference.

And you need it. It is necessary. It is required for output. But we still need to build the engine. We still need to build our. bodies. So the more efficient your body gets through training and a stimulus and adaptation and as it evolves and gets bigger and better and faster and stronger, it's going to use that fuel in a different way. It's going to consume that fuel and the economy in the way that it

it uses it will be different. So fueling is important, yes, but it is not the end all be all. You know, when I think of my body in terms of training and output and performance, I think of it in terms of an engine. And if you look at the greatest athletes in the world, their engines have been refined and built and forged over years and years and years. and it gets better and stronger and faster and more efficient, the more consistent stimulus is applied to that individual.

So we build this engine over time. That engine is always going to need fuel. And the more efficient that engine becomes, well, it's going to use that fuel in a different source and system of economy. So keep that in mind. Fueling is what we eat. It's when we eat it, and it's how much of it we consume.

It's food, it's water, it's supplements, it's electrolytes, it's vitamins, it's minerals, it's everything that we put into our body. And it's not just fueling around performance itself. It is everything that we consume on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis. It's something we have to be consistent with. Now, throughout this episode, you're going to, you're going to, you're going to, you're to hear me refer to a few supplements that BPN offers that we've created over the last couple years specifically for endurance fueling needs.

One of those is G1M Sport and the other is our electrolyte powder. Now, I created G1M Sport during an Iron Man prep because I cannot find a fuel source at the time that digested well, that tasted good, that worked well for an extended period of time. And I tested and tried every carbohydrate source under the sun until I finally found Cluster Dextrin. Now, Cluster Dextrin is a fast, gastric emptying carb source, which means it moves in and out of the stomach very quickly. It digest fast, and you can use it readily for an energy. source. So each scoop of G1M Sport has 20 grams of carbohydrates source from cluster dextrin. It's very easy on the stomach.

350 milligrams of sodium per serving and a full electrolyte profile. And then our electrolyte supplement alone, no carbohydrates, no sugar, naturally flavored and sweetened, 500 milligrams of sodium per serving, full electrolyte profile. and both of these supplements are what I use around my training and what I'm going to be referring to throughout this episode. So I just wanted to mention that prior to some of my reference throughout this episode. I will be talking a lot about G1M Sport,

which is what we consider our fuel source at BPN. And then our electrolyte powder is something that I heavily rely on, especially when it's as hot in Texas right now. At the time of this recording, it's August 3rd. I think we've had 27 days in a road now that have been over 100 degrees. And my training is ramping up in preparation for last man standing, which is an ultra a backyard ultra that I'm doing next month. And then I just announced that I'm running CIM, which is the California International

Marathon December 3rd. And in that race, I'm going for a sub 245 marathon. which will be an all-time PR for me. So as my volume of training ramps up and the weather here in Texas is pretty brutal right now, I've been consuming a lot of electrolytes, a lot of water, and I've also changed my fueling strategy, which I'll talk about throughout this episode,

and has been game-changing for me. Absolutely game-changing. Now, before we dive into this a little bit deeper, I wanted to talk about a quote that I've heard for years now. And if you've spent any time in the endurance space, you've probably heard this. I hear a lot of college athletes say this. I hear a lot of coaches say this.

And I would argue that it's pretty inaccurate, incorrect. And the quote is, if the furnace is hot enough, anything will burn. and I don't believe this. What that means to me, if the furnace is hot enough, anything will burn. That is an excuse. That is an invitation to say, eat whatever you want and how much of it you want.

Go to the buffet, load it up with French fries and burgers and ice creams and sweets. and refined carbs and processed foods, eat whatever you want and how much of it because when you're training at a certain level, your body will burn anything. And that's not the case. I would argue that that is improper fueling. And I see a lot of athletes,

specifically endurance athletes, fueling in that way. And if we're more strategic with our fueling strategy, if we're more intentional with the foods that we're consuming, we will see a huge difference not only in performance, but energy throughout the day and optimized recovery. And that's the goal. You know, my goal right now to give some context into things that I'll be talking about

and some of my approach and strategy going into, not necessarily the last man standing ultra, but because for the California International Marathon, my goal is to, like I said, run sub 245. So I want to maximize performance in training, but I also want to optimize race weight. So right now, I am about 200 pounds. My goal is to race at 190 pounds.

So over the next couple weeks, I have 10 pounds that I want to lose. And I have to be very intentional and strategic in the way that I'm eating and fueling and consuming to optimize performance, training, workouts, recovery, but also with the goal losing 10 pounds over that period of time. And we have a long, a long stretch from now until CIM, to make that happen. But to kind of lean into, if the furnace is hot, enough, anything will burn. I don't believe in this strategy. I don't believe in this approach.

And the things that we're going to talk about today will explain why. Now, there was a time when I wasn't fueling properly. And I would love to explain what that felt like. Like when I first started running, I was bonking all the time. And what bonking is, is in the middle of a workout or a race or a competition,

you hit this wall. And that wall is when you have no more energy reserves left over. You've tapped out all of your glycogen. You have no glucose circulating in the body for energy. You didn't fuel properly. I would bonk during all of these workouts, but even my first couple of marathons, where I just hit this wall

and part of that wall was a lack of conditioning but a lot of it was a lack of proper fueling strategy I just wasn't racing smart cramps I used to cramp all the time like full body seizure lower body cramps

calves hamstrings quads used to cramp all the time and then experiencing symptoms of dehydration headaches, crazy levels of thirst, fatigue, brain fog. A lot of people are actually walking around on a daily basis severely dehydrated and they don't even know it. And proper hydration technique is not just drinking more water, but it's ensuring you have enough sodium, salt, electrolytes in your food, in your supplements, in your body. So, you know, when I first started training, like I said, I was experiencing these bunks, these cramps, extreme symptoms of dehydration, and it's because

I wasn't fueling properly for workouts, but also throughout the day. I wasn't eating enough. And where I kind of started changing my thought process is when I started training with Natasha, who's my Ironman coach, who's a head coach of NVDM coaching. And I'll never forget the day. We were in the BPNHQ gym And I had a big bike workout And she used to put me through these massive bike workouts

These big gear workouts That would last anywhere from one hour To sometimes three hours You know, they were big bike sessions And then the closer we got to the race itself We would do six, seven hour bike sessions When the trainer And a lot of this was spending time

in some bigger gear work intervals, but a lot of the strategy behind those big workouts was getting my fueling plan and strategy in place. I mean, you would have seen me on the bike, on the trainer. I had bottles all around me and gels and bars and gus and all this stuff to make sure that my stomach was used to digesting food while on the bike and during intense training sessions. But I remember this day where I'm training with Intasha,

like I said, BPNHQ gym. And she's put me through this big workout. And I didn't fuel properly for that workout leading up to. I didn't have my bottle set out for the workout. I just thought I'm going to push through this. Mentally I can push through this. I don't need fuel. I'm too tough to fuel properly.

And she forced me to go get my fuel sources. She forced me to go get electrolytes and add my bottles. And she said, Nick, I've learned over time because she is a professional triathlet that if you keep me fueled, I can train all day. And this is coming from someone who, you know, at the peak of her professional career, maybe was training three to four hours a day, running in the morning, swimming in the afternoon, spending time on the bike trainer in the evening or at night,

multiple training sessions. even if you look at some of these professional athletes or even CrossFit games athletes, they're training multiple times a day. And the way that they're training at such high levels of intensity and volume and recovering in between is by their fueling strategy and the food that they're consuming, not just throughout the day, but also around workouts.

Natasha taught me how to fuel properly. She taught me the importance and showed me the importance of consuming enough carbohydrates throughout the day, consuming enough calories throughout the day, using carbohydrates and electrolytes around training sessions so that we would optimize performance and also optimize recovery. And as soon as we started implementing a new fueling strategy,

I instantly saw the benefits, instantly saw the benefits. And in what I realized at that, that time and looking back after that, a lot of high performers. And I would put myself in that category. And I would also argue that if you're listening to this podcast or you follow my content, you are also someone who is a high achiever and strives for more, better, and an improvement. Like, go one more itself. I have a tattoo to my arm and thousands of other people have go one more tattooed on themselves.

that is a mission of constant improvement and adaptation and self-development in getting better, wanting to do more. And for a lot of people in that cohort, in that category, it's really easy to say, I'm going to do things that might be more difficult or challenging because it's going to make me stronger. It's going to make me harder. And if we apply that to nutrition and a proper fueling strategy, this is just my experience. It could be very unique to me.

But I used to look at training in that way. Maybe that's coming from a military background, but it would be fuel makes me weak. Water makes me weak. Electrolites make me weak. I need to train my body. I need to callous my mind and body to be harder to be able to perform without these things that are a quote-unquote crutch. They make me weaker.

That's what fuel was for me. So carbohydrates, like I said, and electrolytes and water were. I thought I can mentally outperform and outsmart these fueling strategies. And I quickly realize I can't. All the people that are performing better and stronger and have more energy and are recovering at a more efficient rate and are sleeping better, They're not applying the same, like, let's be hard strategy. They're training smarter rather than harder.

And I'm seeing them grow and develop and get better and improve. And then there was me fueling improperly, getting weaker, having less energy, not recovering properly, and actually declining. And the way that I changed that trajectory was a proper fueling strategy. That's why I really want to hammer in this message and this lesson for you guys. And we're going to get into some of the nuts and bolts of how to fuel properly. But that last section was the why. That's why fueling is so important.

Maybe you've trained in the past and you haven't fueled properly like me, thinking it was going to make you stronger and harder and more calloused. but the reality, it's the complete opposite. So if we fuel properly and we're consistent with it, we're going to see dramatic improvements to our performance, to our recovery, and every other aspect of our life. So let's talk everyday nutrition, because a fueling strategy is not what you're just consuming around workouts

and around training, but it's what you put in your own. your mouth, in your body, from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. And if you're training for a big goal and volume and intensity is increasing, you're training for an ultra or you're in a marathon prep for your first time, you can't always just rely on your body's natural signals to tell you when you're hungry to eat. I've personally seen that when I go into bigger training blocks. I lose a lot of my appetite.

And if I just relied on my appetite to guide my decisions of when and what to eat, I would always be under-eating. And this is, this for me is a strength that I've had because I have a deeper understanding of nutrition. I've trained for a lot of different events. And I've seen the positive benefits of how nutrition positively impacts, training and performance, I've gotten to a point now where if I'm going into a big training block, I will ignore my appetite and I will eat at certain times of the day based off of what I know I need to eat to hit my performance goals. If you're training a lot, if you're expending a lot of

calories, and you're just listening to your body for when it tells you you're hungry. You might be under eating. You might be under fueling. And you're gonna fuel this during the workouts. I've always trained with Jeff Cunningham, who is my running coach. I'm training with Jeff for CIM. Jeff is the official running coach for BPN.

He has created all the running programs that we have in the free BPN training app. And every Wednesday, he hosts workouts for his athletes downtown Austin. And it rotates. one week is a track workout at the Austin High track, and that's typically a critical velocity workout. So intervals on the track,

and then the next week will be a tempo workout, multiple mile segments that's on this loop that we would go to in East Austin. So we'd rotate every other week. Track, critical velocity, tempo, east side. loop. And this one day, we were training on the track for a critical velocity workout. And I was running with a bunch of his athletes. And I was talking to this one female athlete of his. And she was struggling to make it through the workout that day. It was hot, but it was

early. You know, we'd start these workouts at 6 a.m. So it's hot, it's humid, but you're not talking like middle of the day, 1005, 110 degrees sun beating down on a.m. You know, we'd start these workouts at 6 a.m. So it's hot, it's humid. But you're not talking, like middle of the day, 105, 110 degrees, sun beating down on you. And we were kind of just getting started in the workout. And I would always like really put,

and I still do, really put emphasis on my fueling strategy for these bigger workouts. I make sure that the day leading up to, I've topped off muscle glycogen, eating an excessive amount of carbs, and in the morning of before those workouts, I'll have consumed maybe 1,500 milligrams of sodium and over 100 grams of carbs.

So I'm really strong going into these workouts. And I'll have a bottle of G1M sport that I'm sipping on throughout that workout to get more electrolytes and more carbs to sustain my energy sources. And we're starting this workout and I'm talking to this woman next to me and she kept falling out during the interval. She just could not keep up during this, this workout. So I kind of looked over to and I asked, you know, what did you, what did you eat before today's training session? Because that's my, my, always my go-to. If someone's falling out, are you just missing out on proper nutrition? It could be lack of sleep, lack of recovery.

It could be a lot of things. But my first question is always, let's address nutrition and diet. let's see if that's the issue. So I asked her, what did you eat before this morning's workout? She said nothing. I was like, okay, well, that instantly is an issue. But you can still get through a workout fasted as long as, you know, your muscle glycogen is replenished and filled up. And your body stores carbohydrates in the muscle and in the liver as glycogen.

It can store over 500 grams of carbohydrates in the muscle and in the liver as glycogen. And the bigger and more muscle you have, the more glycogen you can store. And your body can easily tap into this source and use it for energy. So then I ask her, okay, if you didn't consume anything before the workout and I know you're not consuming anything during the workout, what did you have for dinner last night? and she said, ah, some lean protein and some vegetables. Okay, well, then what did you have throughout the day leading up to that night? She said, uh, lean proteins and some vegetables again.

So instantly, I identified the issue. No energy sources prior to the workout, no energy sources being used during the workout. And yesterday, the day leading into a big critical velocity workout, I mean, this was probably 13 miles of total volume. Very little carbohydrates consumed, probably very little fat consumed as well, and just depleted of energy sources that the body can use to optimize performance.

And you do find this issue with a lot of endurance athletes because people who are training for endurance, especially at more elite levels, even amateur levels, but more elite levels, they're trying to be as light as possible. Because if you are light, you are faster, obviously. There's also a point of diminishing return where if you are light and depleted,

you can't perform at a certain level. And I share that story to say that fueling is not just what you consume the morning of a big workout, but it's a days leading up too. And this is why applying backwards planning, which might seem like common sense, but I can promise you it's not. Applying backwards planning to your training goals and your performance in relation to your nutrition is so important. And if you wait until the last minute, it's probably going to be too late.

Same thing applies to training and workouts and race day. We have to think of nutrition in terms of being proactive rather than reactive. And this is where everyday nutrition comes into play. So if we know we have a really big workout coming up, well, maybe the two to three days leading up to that big workout, we're going to increase carbohydrate intake to make sure muscle glycogen is topped off. In the morning of that big workout or race, we're going to make sure we're consuming enough of carbohydrates and electrolytes and fuel.

And we're ready to push our body. to its physical limits. But we can't just be reacted to that. Like, oh, I forgot to consume carbohydrates. I have a 20-mile workout coming up in 15 minutes. Let me go get a few carbs in my body and see what it does for me. No. Like, it's got to be days leading up too.

And like I said, your body is going to store carbohydrates in the form of muscle glycogen. You can store maybe 100 grams of carbs in the liver as glycogen and then the rest in the muscle. This isn't going to just like you can't consume a piece of bread, eat it, and it goes right into muscle glycogen. It takes about 24 hours to digest, assimilate, and then store in the muscle as glycogen. And that's why for someone training at more intense levels, ensuring you have enough carbohydrates in your day every single day is going to allow you to perform at these higher levels. And we want to train the way that we race. This is very applicable to, say, a marathon prep.

I've made this mistake before. I'm sure anyone on their first marathon or big race has. You know, you do all of your training and you don't practice or use gel, or goos during your big workouts. You don't practice carrying a handheld water bottle with carbohydrates and electrolytes. And you don't practice with any of this stuff. You're not training your gut on how to digest

and break down these sources while you're actually working out in training. And then come race day, and if you've ever signed up or ran a half marathon, 5K, full marathon, There's all these fuel sources all over the course. There's someone handing out apples and bananas and oranges and there's gels everywhere and salt tabs. And depending on what race you're doing, they might have different carbohydrate sources.

Someone's handing out shots of liquor and bacon and potatoes. I mean, depending on what race you do, there's everything out there on those courses. So for a lot of people, they don't train with any of these fuel sources. And then come race day, they treat it like buffet. And they're just grabbing everything and anything. This is my first two races. I did the same thing. I got to a point my first two marathons where one, I wasn't trained and conditioned properly.

I wasn't fueled properly. Didn't know what I was doing. And during all my train up, all my practice, I didn't use any fuel sources. and then come race day after mile 12 and I started balking and sucking hard, I'm thinking I need fuel. I need something in my body to keep me going. So I'm grabbing the orange from one woman. I'm grabbing a gel from another guy and salt tabs.

And I at one point grabbed the potato in my second marathon ever that was filled with salt. And instantly my stomach just goes all haywire. and now I'm searching for a bathroom and I feel like I'm going to throw up and I'm also going to poop my pants and it's just like a nightmare on the course and this happens to so many people and I share that story

that is probably so familiar to so many different people, especially those who have signed up in completed races that you have to train the way that you race. And I love treating my big workouts during a marathon prep or a build or any endurance preparation, the same is race day. I will practice my carbohydrate loading technique,

the three or four days that I plan to use leading up to a race, I'll do that same approach and test different things for my big workout days. And in the morning of a big workout, I will test what I'm going to do the morning of race day. and during these big workouts, I test my nutrition strategy, my fueling strategy that I'm going to implement on race day. We want to be proactive

rather than reactive. We want to be proactive in a sense of what we're consuming on an everyday basis leading up to bigger workouts. We also want to be proactive in terms of testing how we're going to

fuel for competition or for race day. We want to know what works, when it works, how it works. But we need to train the way that we race. You will hear people in the military always say, train the way we fight, train the way we fight. Through repetition and repetition and repetition and consistency, that is what allows us to fight in a way that is so prepared and so proactive. We want to train the way that we're going to be racing. Now, something that I've actually recently changed in my fueling strategy,

I feel is very applicable to this and I want to share. You know, the last couple months, I wasn't necessarily in a endurance prep. I did my bodybuilding competition the end of March, 2023. I was running throughout the entire year. For most of the year, my mileage was around 25 to 30 miles a week. So it wasn't a lot of volume, not a crazy amount of intensity. I was spending more time in the weight room than my endurance training.

And then on the back half of the year, I transitioned to these two endurance preps being last man standing and going to CIM. So now my running mileage is about 60 to 65 miles a week. And my strength training is actually decreased. Now, what I know about myself and my body and what I like to eat and when I like to eat and what feels the best is I personally prefer a higher fat, moderate carb diet. So if I wasn't training for an endurance event right now, my diet would probably look something like 200 to 250 grams of protein a day, 250 to 300 carbs a day max, sometimes even much lower than that, and primarily using carbs around workouts.

And then dietary fat intake would be anywhere from 125 to 170, maybe. Definitely a higher fat diet. A lot of those fat sources coming from whole eggs, grass fed, grass finished beef, salmon, nut butters, stuff like that. I feel better on a higher fat diet in terms of just energy, mental clarity, gut health, digestion, everything. But what I was finding as I was ramping up my running volume was that it just wasn't working for me. I was I was kind of balking through bigger runs and workouts

endurance related, not strength related I was extremely fatigued after a run and then throughout the day and I felt like I wasn't recovering very well like going back into a run the next day I just felt like my body wasn't ready to run again

So I made a slight change and I saw the biggest difference. And honestly, that change in my diet a few weeks ago is what led me to wanting to do this episode. Because everyone's body is different, right? There's no perfect diet. There's no perfect blueprint. But I encourage you to experiment and try different things and document and refine and retest and to see what works best for you. This is a clear example. for me. So what I did is I maintained protein intake at 200 grams a day. I bumped carbohydrate intake

to a minimum 500 grams a day. And I decreased dietary fat intake to about 80 grams a day. Now, this is pretty loose because I'm not tracking very strictly, but I'm just pretty aware of what I'm consuming. I'll track every couple days to just make sure I'm eating enough and hitting my carbohydrate goals. But the biggest changes I made is I increased carbohydrate intake, a decreased dietary fat intake. Now, we know that fat is more chlorically dense than carbohydrates. A gram of fat is nine calories per gram. A gram of carbohydrates and protein is four calories per gram. And if you didn't know, a gram of alcohol is seven calories. per gram.

So I kept calories actually the same, but I increased carbs, decreased fat. And the changes that I saw were, like I said, almost instantaneously within like 48 hours. My runs felt significantly easier. I finished the runs feeling stronger. My energy throughout the day after the run and into the evening was better. I was sleeping better and I was waking up the next morning able to run much easier. I was recovering at a more optimal rate just by changing around and manipulating two macronutrients, carbs and fats.

And what I realized I was probably doing as I started ramping up my training volume, like right now I'm running between 8 and 10 miles a day. I'll take like one day off a week But to give an example of this week so far Monday I ran 10 miles Tuesday I ran 10 miles Wednesday I ran 8 miles Today is Thursday I ran 10 miles this morning

So 8 to 10 miles a day And when I was doing this With my carbs being lower and fat being higher I was feeling extremely fat Fat being higher and struggling to make it Through some of those runs Now with that minor change and I'll talk about some other changes I made as well.

I feel so much better, so much better. Muscle glycogen is topped off. I'm making sure I don't do any workouts fasted. So before every run, I have two scoops at G1M sport, which has given me 40 grams of carbohydrates and 700 milligrams of sodium. I'll consume that 20 to 30 minutes before my run every single day. so I have carbohydrates in the form of glycogen that my body can tap into for some of these longer workouts, these bigger runs. I have a readily accessible energy source being glucose that I just digested from the carbohydrates in G1M Sport right before that run.

So I'm supplying my body with the energy it needs to perform and recover and then show up the next day being able to perform and recover. So that's one change that I've made recently. I encourage you guys, try it. Track your food. A lot of people have never tracked their food before. So I've heard individuals say, yeah, I'm consuming like 500 grams of carbs a day. And when you have them do a food journal and actually track their food, you realize they're consuming 225 grams of carbs a day.

Some people think they're consuming 4,000 calories a day. When you have them log their food and track it, they're only consuming 2,000 calories a day. On the opposite side of the spectrum, some people think they're consuming 2,000 calories a day, and they're actually consuming 5,000 calories a day. So this is a really easy exercise to do. You can either do it manually just by writing down your food

in like a journal and then adding up all of the macronutrients and the calories afterwards. You don't have to do this every day, maybe every couple days, just to make sure you're on track and consistent. or you can download an app like there's free apps My Fitness Pal you can download which you might actually have to pay for now

a lot of these what were free apps are now paid services My Fitness Pal is an app you can download on your phone that allows you to track your food it has a big database you can like search

banana or ground beef or oats for example and it'll pop up, you add it to your meal, you put in the amounts, you can either weigh your food. I weigh a lot of my food to be pretty accurate, whether that's like 40 grams of oats or eight ounces of ground beef. Or you can just estimate. You can say that looks like about a half cup or a full cup or that looks like it's about four ounces of meat or chicken or, you know, you can estimate if you want to. another good app that I recommend is from my good friend Dr. Lane Norton. It's called Carbon.

This is an app that you pay for, but I use carbon myself and I highly recommend it. It has some cool AI built into that, which helps you either gain, maintain, or lose weight based off of the way ends and it will manipulate your calories and your maconutrients to assist your weight gain, loss, or body composition goals. So My Fitness Pal or Carbon are good calorie and macronutrient tracking apps. And like I said, you don't have to track your food every single day and make it become a religion. But track every couple days to make sure you're on track. I mean, if you're anything like me, I'm consuming very similar foods and meals from day to day. So I don't have to track every day. But, you know, just make sure you're consuming enough because.

Because like I said, if you fuel properly, you're going to see the positive benefit in your performance and your recovery. But if you don't know how much you're consuming and of what, it's really hard to get started. So having an understanding of what you're consuming will give you a good baseline, which you can then modify and make changes and manipulate to test different. levels of carbohydrates or fats or calories and see how it affects your performance. Now, not only are calories and carbohydrates very important for performance, especially some these higher, more higher intensity, higher volume, fitness requirements, but also electrolytes are extremely important. Now, I have a story for you.

I did this from my first two marathons, and I learned the importance of electrolyte consumption, but also the significance of proper hydration. Now, when a lot of people think of properly hydrating, we think of just liquids or water. And in preparation for my first marathon, I thought, okay, even though it's February here in central Texas,

it's cooler, I want to be hydrated. Because I know being properly hydrated will help me run at my best ability. So what I did, the day before the race, is I went to HEB, and I got two one gallon jugs of water. My goal was to drink both of those jugs of water to be properly hydrated. This just goes to show my lack of fueling requirements when I feel. first started running. Everyone's got to start somewhere, so it's okay, you're going to make the mistakes. And what I ended up doing by drinking two gallons of water the day before my first marathon without even knowing it is that I diluted my electrolyte concentration. My body's electrolyte

concentration, I pretty much depleted because I flushed it with just water. Now, I could have avoided this by adding more salt to the food I was consuming the day leading up to, adding an electrolyte powder to those gallon jugs to maintain a proper electrolyte concentration in my body. And by flushing all of the electrolytes in my body, not all, but the concentration out, I was at a higher risk for dehydration and cramping during the race. And that's what happened. came mile 16 full body cramps and seizures.

And I didn't learn my lesson after my first marathon, did the same thing on the second marathon because I didn't realize what I was doing. I just assumed that I was cramping up because of lack of conditioning and proper training. But in reality, I was experiencing full body cramps and seizures because I flushed my body's electrolyte concentration. I was dehydrated.

and electrolytes play such vital, significant importance in the body, not just for training and performance, but for so many just fundamental cellular processes in the body from muscular contraction to mental processing. We need electrolytes in our body to survive. And the more that we train, the more stimulus, we provide to our body, the more that we sweat, we need to replenish what we're taking out.

And that's why an electrolyte supplement can be very beneficial. If you're a heavy sweater, you need to be consuming even more electrolytes, salting more of your food. Everyone sweats in different concentrations. And a few years ago, I actually did this amazing experiment with Natasha. again, my Ironman coach, and we did a sweat analysis test. And this was an eye-opener for me. You know, a lot of people are afraid of salt because salt has been deemed this salt and sodium, this unhealthy hypertension-driven substance.

And we should remove all salt from our diet. And a few years ago, I remember when I first got into the bodybuilding and fitness, space. It was salt-free that and this and reduced sodium and Mrs. Dash seasonings were really popular, which was a sodium-free seasoning blend. And for a lot of sedentary people who aren't moving their body, who aren't sweating, who don't have movement on a daily basis and are consuming a highly processed diet, yes, those people should be monitoring the sodium in their diet.

But for a very active people who are sweating, who are working out, who are performing, who are also generally eating a cleaner diet that is less processed and has less additives and salt already added to it through the processing, they would benefit. Those people will benefit. You will benefit by adding salt. salt to your meals or using an electrolyte supplement. So like I was saying, a few years ago, I did a sweat analysis with Natasha. And it was a, it was actually a workout with Jeff's team one day.

And we were on the east side loop in Austin. It was a big workout. It was probably like 12 to 14 miles. And it was in the summer here in central Texas. It was hot. It was really humid that day. I remember. So what we did for this test and we worked with this company.

for it. We weighed myself before the workout started, and we weighed myself after the workout was over. We had to document the temperature that day, the humidity level, how much weight I lost from beginning the workout to the end, and how much, how many fluids I consumed during that work on itself in terms of ounces. And the way this test works is it was a patch that I stuck on my arm.

And it soaked up a lot of my sweat. It was like a galls. And after the workout was over, we stuffed this super sweaty, soaking wet galls into this test tube with all the data that we documented. We send it in to be analyzed. And it came back a few weeks later saying that

During that workout, I lost, I believe, off top of my head, like 2,600 milligrams of sodium in an hour based off of the water that I consumed during that workout, the weight that I lost, the temperature, the humidity level. And that blew my mind. 2,600 milligrams of sodium per hour I lost. So for me to maintain optimized performance and recovery during a big endurance block or training session, that's what I would have needed to consume before, during, after to replenish. So when people hear 500 milligrams of sodium per serving in electrolytes, they're like, whoa, that's a lot. Well, it depends. If you're super sedentary and you're not moving and you're not working out and you're not sweating,

that might be a lot for you. If you are training, you're sweating, you're moving, you're eating a very clean, low-processed diet, you might need multiple scoops of that a day, plus adding, you know, salt, sea salt to your meals to make sure you're getting enough electrolytes. So not only are calories and carbohydrates important for fueling performance, but electrolytes play a huge role in your hydration levels,

your performance, your recovery, As soon as your hydration levels start to decrease, and this is from fluid intake and electrolyte concentration, as soon as dehydration symptoms start to show or your body starts to become dehydrated, your performance instantaneously decreases. And the more dehydrated you become, the more significantly, your performance decreases.

So the way that you maintain optimal performance during these big workouts, Stay on top of your caloric intake on a daily basis, but especially during workouts, your electrolyte consumption, fluid consumption. This will allow you to optimize performance and recovery. Now, what will determine your fueling requirements? This is the last thing I really want to dive into. We have to consider the volume and intensity of workouts. Ask yourself the question as well.

will you be tapping into glycogen stores? If you're tapping into glycogen stores, you're probably training more than 60 to 90 minutes in a workout. Will you be sweating a lot? Is it hot? Is it humid? Are you a salty sweater? The way you determine if you are a very salty sweater

is you can do one of those sweat analysis kits. You can just find online. There's a lot of companies and organizations that offer them. When you sweat, if you look at your clothing or your hat, for example, do you have white lines all over it? When you go to a big workout and you're done, do you have dried salt crystals in your face, on your arms, on your body? I mean, I know I'm a salty sweater.

I'm a very salty sweater, especially in the summer. If you look at my hat, my clothes, my face, my skin, like, I have white lines all over my shirt and my shorts and my hat. and my hat when I was out in Eugene Oregon running with Cam Haynes a few months ago when I was on the Lyft Run Shoot podcast

we finished a 20 mile run through the mountains of Eugene Oregon and I looked at everyone else I was running with and no one had like white lines or sweat all over them and after we finished the run we went to a diner

and I went to the bathroom to clean up and I looked at myself in the mirror and I had white crystallized salt all over my face my ears, my nose, my forehead. It's because I'm a salty sweater. Like, naturally, I'm just a salty sweater. So I require personally more electrolytes

based off of my individual personalized needs. How often are you training? What has our diet been like the last 24 to 48 hours? That will affect our fuel and requirements for these workouts. What type of workout are we doing? Is it a strength-focused workout, bodybuilding or hypertrophy-focused workout? Is it a run?

Is it a big bike? Is it a tempo run or a critical velocity track workout or an easy run? All these different types of workouts require different fuel requirements. We all as individuals require different levels of fuel. You know, me being a 200-pound male who has a significant amount of muscle mass, lean muscle mass, and is a heavy sweater, my fueling, or sorry, a salty sweater, my fueling requirements are going to be completely different than a 120 pound female who is not a salty sweater. They are not going to require as much carbohydrate intake as I do, as much sodium as I do. for someone who is larger and bigger and strength trains and runs,

I require a lot of fuel and a lot of electrolytes to maintain my level of performance and recovery. So the way that I use G1M sport and electrolytes specifically around my training sessions right now, I wanted to provide some practical application for those two products because, like I mentioned in the beginning, those are two products. specifically created under the BPN product line for endurance athletes. I'm going to look at, again, going through this list, what determines my fuel and requirements, what kind of work on am I doing?

How long is that work on going to be? What is the weather like? Knowing that I'm a bigger guy, I'm a saltier sweater, before every run that I do. And right now, like I said, my average morning run is between 8 and 10 miles. That takes me anywhere of front.

from 60 minutes to 75 minutes, maybe 80 minutes. I do two scoops of G1M sport before every run, 20 to 30 minutes before every run. So that's supplying me 40 grams of carbohydrates and 700 milligrams of sodium before going out on a run. That's my pre-run nutrition. Now, again, I'm going to reinforce I'm putting an emphasis on my everyday nutrition

being a higher carbohydrate, so I'm ensuring my muscle and liver glycogen is topped off. I could probably store, like, being my size and my amount of lean muscle mass, this is just a guess, but maybe 700 to maybe even 900 grams of glycogen between my liver and my muscles. That's how I can, how much carbohydrate I could probably store in my body.

Now, I could be way off, but that is my guess. It's my estimate. So I'm always consuming G1M sport prior to a run. Throughout the day, then, I'll have an additional one to two scoops of our electrolyte powder. So 500 milligrams of sodium per serving. And then every meal that I consume, I add salt to. And that's just ensuring that I'm getting enough sodium in my diet for the amount that I'm sweating right now being, you know, considering the conditions of the weather. It's hot, it's humid.

I'm sweating a lot during these easy runs. Now, if I'm doing a longer run, say, for example, I'm going for a 90 to 120 minute run. I will have about three scoops of G1M sport, plus maybe an extra scoop of electrolytes before that run. And I'll carry a just handheld water bottle. You can get a handheld Nathan's water bottle on Amazon for like 15 bucks. and I'll put an additional two scoops of G1M sport in that bottle. So I'm ensuring that I've had carbohydrates before, carbohydrates and electrolytes before that run,

and then I have it for during the run. Again, optimising performance and facilitating recovery. And if I do a bigger, say, tempo or track workout, well, I'm going to be adding more carbohydrates to that pre-run meal. So I might add a English muffin with a banana, maybe some peanut butter and honey, just to get more fuel in me. So a lot of this is going to be testing a process, trusting the process, and then refining a process.

There are principles, like I shared throughout this episode, on how to fuel properly for performance and to facilitate and optimize recovery and those principles are things that I would recommend. Everyday nutrition, high carbohydrate diet, topping off muscle glycogen, using carbohydrates and electrolytes during, before, after, around your training sessions. You're going to have to try, experiment, test new things,

document how it's working for you, and refine your process. and you want to do this during a training block and during big workouts so that when you get to race day you have a plan, you have a strategy that you can implement and use. So it's testing, testing, testing,

refining, locking in a strategy and then implementing that strategy. And the truth is when you go to do another training block maybe a year later, that strategy might be completely different. You might try something new. but follow the fundamentals, follow the principles, track your nutrition, experiment, test, refine, and if you fuel properly, you can train forever.

That's the reality of it. So I really wanted to reinforce and hammer in. Fueling is so important. It's so important for optimizing performance, the way you feel throughout the day, you're energy levels, how you show up for your work and your family outside of just training. And it makes the biggest difference. It's made the biggest difference for me. And I see that as one of my competitive advantages.

It's knowing how to fuel properly and being open-minded to different fueling techniques. So I hope you guys enjoy this episode. I really hope it helps. My goal with this one is for you to really understand that you might be under fuel. and through under fueling, you are underperforming and underrecovering. So thanks for tuning in. And as always, go on more.