Fueling Endurance - Nutrition for Runners, Cyclists & Triathletes

It's been one of the most popular supplements of the last few years. A lot of endurance athletes take collagen regularly, but what is it for, how should it be taken, and is there evidence it lives up to the claims? We’re joined by Assistant Prof. Jorn Trommelen, a protein researcher whose lab has done some of the most recent work in this area, to answer our questions. Timestamps: 04:00 - Intro and revisiting Jorn's previous episode (Ep. 73) 12:17 - What is collagen (in the body and as a supplement)? 16:53 - The different types of collagen - does it matter? 22:20 - How did collagen become so popular as a supplement? 30:10 - Why are the supplements always hydrolysed collagen or "collagen peptides"? 31:35 - Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership, T-12 course for athletes, eBook 33:51 - What are the theoretical reasons for taking collagen supplements? 35:28 - Do you actually need collagen or would any source of these amino acids work? 40:56 - Do you need to take Vitamin C along with collagen? 44:53 - State of scientific evidence for collagen - muscle, tendon, bone tissue. 1:01:57 - Jorn's summary and practical recommendations 1:10:11 - Wrap up Guest - Assistant Prof. Jorn Trommelen - Maastricht University Lab Website: m3-research.nl Research Profile: maastrichtuniversity.nl/j-trommelen Instagram: @nutritiontactics Studies mentioned in this episode: Aussieker T et al. Ingestion of a Whey Plus Collagen Protein Blend Increases Myofibrillar and Muscle Connective Protein Synthesis Rates. Med Sci Sports Exer. 2025. 57(3):544–554. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003596. Aussieker T et al. The Effects of Ingesting a Single Bolus of Hydrolyzed Collagen versus Free Amino Acids on Muscle Connective Protein Synthesis Rates. Med Sci Sports Exer. 2025. 57(11):2394-2408. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003788. Buchalski A et al. Collagen Supplementation on Tendon-Related Structural and Performance Outcomes: A Systematic Review. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. 2026. 11(1):130. DOI: 10.3390/jfmk11010130 Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 84 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.

Wearable sweat sensors have entered the market promising easy, accurate, repeatable, and in some cases, real-time feedback on sweat fluid and sodium losses. But do the claims live up to the hype? In this episode, we’ll unpack who these devices might be relevant to, the options currently available on the market, how they work, and most importantly, are they accurate? Timestamps: 01:01 - Fueling Endurance updates - eBook, Practitioner Membership, Podcast 05:31 - What are wearable sweat sensors? 12:08 - The first step - smart sweat patches 13:39 - Reusable, wearable sweat sensors 20:31 - Nix Biosensor device 22:38 - hDrop 23:09 - Flowbio - newly published validation study 28:47 - My own experiences and comparisons 35:06 - Where does this leave us now? 36:20 - Additional considerations 41:39 - The problem interpreting individual validation studies 43:29 - Wrap up Research mentioned in this episode: Baker LB. et al. (2020). Skin-interfaced microfluidic system with personalized sweating rate and sweat chloride analytics for sports science applications. Sci Adv. 6:eabe3929. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abe3929 Bandiera D. et al. (2026). Sweat sodium composition and sweat loss estimation through wearable sensors and predictive equations in dry and humid hot conditions. Front Physiol. 16:1717275. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1717275 Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.

In the past decade, we've gone from low carb to high carb. Are we now heading towards a new era of personalised carb? In this episode I speak to two experts about exactly what exogenous carbohydrate oxidation is, how the testing works, who might benefit from this type of testing, and how to interpret the results. Timestamps: 04:09 - Tim and Gareth's background and research 10:50 - What is exogenous carbohydrate oxidation? 11:41 - How do you test exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rate? 16:26 - How should an athlete prepare for exogenous oxidation testing? 19:10 - The importance of doing the test properly 22:50 - Are we testing maximal oxidation capacity, or replicating race conditions? 23:44 - What's the real-world benefit of exogenous carbohydrate oxidation testing? 28:17 - Making this testing available to athletes 33:58 - Assumptions, caveats and limitations to exogenous oxidation testing 37:33 - The difference between relative and absolute exercise intensity - does it matter here? 40:52 - What happens when you overfeed carbohydrate during exercise 43:59 - Why Tim and Gareth only test for glucose (and not fructose) oxidation 47:13 - How carb intake recommendations are made based on test results 50:58 - Can you improve exogenous oxidation through exercise or gut training? 57:26 - The (very) high carb trend - will testing help prevent unnecessary carb intake? 1:00:48 - Who might benefit most from testing, and do gut issues predict oxidation abiilty? 1:07:35 - Unanswered questions in this area 1:10:37 - Bonus Round 1:13:42 - Summary, unanswered questions and wrap up Research mentioned in this episode: Podlogar T, Cooper-Smith N, Gonzalez JT, Wallis GA. (2025). Personalised carbohydrate feeding during exercise based on exogenous glucose oxidation: a proof-of-concept study. Performance Nutrition. 1:2. doi: 10.1186/s44410-025-00003-9 Dr Tim Podlogar: University of Exeter: experts.exeter.ac.uk/43996-tim-podlogar Instagram: @tpodlogar LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timpodlogar Prof Gareth Wallis: University of Birmingham: birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/sportex/wallis-gareth LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gareth-wallis-8291a441/ Oxidation testing service (Fuel Sync) coming in Jan 2026 Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.

Juggling training, nutrition, and day-to-day life can be a challenge. But throw in the complexities of Type 1 Diabetes, and it’s a whole new ball game. In this special episode to coincide with World Diabetes Day, I'm joined by co-founder of Enhance-d and former head of research at Team Novo Nordisk, Sam Scott. Sam gives us a peek into the world of diabetes management for the endurance athlete. We’ll discuss what Type 1 diabetes actually is, how it’s managed, the impact of exercise, and the innovations in devices and data management that are making life a little easier to make this all work. Whether you’re an athlete with Type 1, a nutrition practitioner, or you’re just curious what it’s all about, there’ll be plenty in this episode for you. Timestamps: 03:13 - Sam's background and how he came to work in diabetes and exercise 13:07 - What is Type 1 Diabetes and how is it managed? 25:57 - How does exercise affect blood glucose control with Type 1 Diabetes? 35:26 - Giving insulin with a pen vs a pump for athletes 41:38 - 'Closed loop' systems for glucose monitoring and insulin delivery in athletes 45:41 - Does high volume endurance training make diabetes management harder? 50:11 - Sam's role at Team Novo Nordisk (professional cycling team where all riders have Type 1 Diabetes) 56:59 - Tech and data insights, including Sam's role in founding Enhance-d, and the role of AI in diabetes management 1:08:28 - Very low carb diets and the very high carb (during exercise) trend in athletes with Type 1 Diabetes 1:11:33 - The future of nutrition, exercise and Type 1 Diabetes 1:14:13 - Summary and wrap up Sam's work: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sam-scott-phd-620a97a2/ Sam's book: Empowered: The Science of Exercise with Type 1 Diabetes (available from Amazon) Enhance-d (bringing together data on exercise and diabetes management): enhance-d.com Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.

There’s been a lack of clear guidelines around how much sodium to take before, during and after exercise, to optimise health and performance. That created a vacuum, which anyone with a vested interest was more than happy to fill with suggestions. But we’re now getting to the stage where we can make some more specific, quantifiable recommendations about sodium for endurance athletes, before, during and after exercise. I had the privilege of being invited to put these recommendations together, so in this episode, I’ll walk you through them. Timestamps: 02:37 - Do athletes need more sodium on a day-to-day basis? 14:42 - Sodium before exercise 25:25 - Sodium during exercise 44:32 - Sodium after exercise 49:28 - TLDL: Summary 52:13 - Unanswered questions Read the research paper (open access): McCubbin AJ. Sodium intake for athletes before, during and after exercise: review and recommendations. Performance Nutrition. 2025; 1:11. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s44410-025-00011-9 Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com.

Fish oil, or omega-3 supplements, are one of the most widely used supplement among the general population. But there's also been suggestions of specific benefits for athletes. So what exactly are omega 3’s? What do they do in the body? What foods and supplements do they come from, and most importantly, do the benefits live up to the marketing hype when it comes to health and performance? Studies/Websites mentioned: AIS Sports Supplements Framework - Fish Oil (Group B): https://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/supplements/group_b/other/fish-oils Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. This includes working out the carbohydrate needs for runners (road and trail) and cyclists for different types of training sessions. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com. Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, TriDot, Run Dot or Humango) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. The new-look Version 2 app has just launched, providing an even better user experience. To get 20% off your first month, go to fuelin.com and enter the code FE20 at checkout.

If you’ve ridden a bike or run more than an hour or so in your life, you’ve probably considered the composition of what you’re drinking during those efforts. But what actually makes a good sports drink? Is it taste, carbs, electrolytes, osmolality, colouring, or all of the above? And is there actually an optimal drink mix that we should be looking for? Or is that a well spun marketing myth? Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the freshly released Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com. Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, TriDot, Run Dot or Humango) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. The new-look Version 2 app has just launched, providing an even better user experience. To get 20% off your first month, go to fuelin.com and enter the code FE20 at checkout.

We’ve all experienced that cool mint sensation from toothpaste, mouthwash, or mint flavoured foods before. So when you’re racing in a hot environment, can this cooling sensation change how hot you feel, or even help you perform better? And is there any downside to this? Or like a lot of things in science, is it maybe not that simple? Podcast Guest: Dr Erica Gavel-Pinos - University of Alberta, Canada. Erica's online presence: X: @EricaGavel LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/erica-gavel/ Instagram: @gavelerica Papers mentioned: Meta-analysis of menthol mouth rinsing: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-024-00679-8 Erica's study of menthol in thermoneutral conditions: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16071016 Erica's study of menthol in female athletes: https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2020-0414 AI in sports nutrition paper mentioned: Solomon T & Laye M. (2025). The sports nutrition knowledge of large language model (LLM) artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots: An assessment of accuracy, completeness, clarity, quality of evidence, and test-retest reliability. PLoS One. 20(6):e0325982. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325982 Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the freshly released Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com. Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, TriDot, Run Dot or Humango) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. The new-look Version 2 app has just launched, providing an even better user experience. To get 20% off your first month, go to fuelin.com and enter the code FE20 at checkout.

Imagine being able to predict what your sweat rate is going to be at any given running pace or power output, in different weather conditions, with reasonable accuracy. Well, now you can. In this episode Prof Ollie Jay (Thermal Ergonomic Laboratory, University of Sydney), one of the brains behind this new tool, joins us to discuss how it all came together, how accurate it is, and how to best use it. Have you gone to plan your fluid needs for training or race day, but weren’t sure how much sweat you’re going to lose? Do you train in a cool environment for an event in a hot environment? Or you just don’t have the time to measure sweat losses in multiple training sessions to understand your needs? This is the podcast for you. Podcast Guest: Prof. Ollie Jay - Thermal Ergonomics Laboratory, University of Sydney. Ollie's online presence: X: @ollie_jay13 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ollie-jay-793a1b11/ Instagram: @thermalerglab Sweat Rate calculator and papers mentioned: Sweat Rate Calculator: sweatratecalculator.com Validation - Indoor Exercise: https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00829.2023 Validation - Outdoor Exercise: https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00831.2023 Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. The T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And the freshly released Fueling Endurance Practitioner Membership provides access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com. Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, TriDot, Run Dot or Humango) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. The new-look Version 2 app has just launched, providing an even better user experience. To get 20% off your first month, go to fuelin.com and enter the code FE20 at checkout.

When we think of injury prevention for runners, cyclists and triathletes we tend to focus on non-nutrition factors - training loads, shoes, biomechanics, stretching, foam rolling, strength and conditioning, and so on. But what about nutrition - does it have a role to play too? We're joined by sports dietitian and ultra-runner Erin Colebatch, whose current research seeks to answer this question. Podcast Guest: Erin Colebatch - University of South Australia & Ultra Appetites Erin's online presence: X/Twitter: @ErinColebatch Instagram: @ultraappetites Website: ultraappetites.com.au Erin's research mentioned: Colebatch, EA et al. (2025). Diet, risk of disordered eating and running-related injury in adult distance runners: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. J Sci Med Sport. In Press. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2025.02.001 Trail Running Food Resource Mentioned: This free online tool allows you to filter and compare over 180 different sports nutrition and real food options for endurance athletes. findtrail.co/food Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. The newly released T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. And soon-to-be-released, the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Resources will provide access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com. Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, and TriDot or Run Dot) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. The new-look Version 2 app has just launched, providing an even better user experience. To get 20% off your first month, go to fuelin.com and enter the code FE20 at checkout.

You’ve probably heard of periodised training before, and maybe even periodised nutrition. But what does it actually mean? In this episode I explain what periodised nutrition means for endurance athletes, how it’s changed over the years, whether it's important or not, and the key points to get you started. Fueling Endurance eBook | T -12 Race Nutrition Course | Practitioner Resources The Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask, and contains insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. The soon-to-be-released T -12 self-guided course will help prepare you for your next event, with online tools, guides, information and instructions to take you through the 12 weeks leading up to race day. Also soon-to-be-released, the Fueling Endurance Practitioner Resources will provide access to online tools and calculators I use all the time when working with endurance and ultraendurance athletes. For more into on each of these, check out fuelingendurance.com. Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, and TriDot or Run Dot) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. To get 20% off your first month, go to https://www.fuelin.com/ and enter the code FE20 at checkout.

We’ve often talked about the benefits of carbohydrate for runners, cyclists and triathletes, but for many people there’s an underlying concern - does eating all those carbs increase the risk of developing diabetes or heart disease? It’s certainly a common message that’s pushed online in some circles, but is this really the case? In this episode I speak to diabetes researcher and clinical dietitian Dr Nicola Guess from the University of Oxford, who has often been asked this exact question by concerned runners, cyclists and triathletes. We break down what science tells us about the underlying cause of diabetes, how carbohydrate, exercise and body composition fit into the picture, whether high carb diets are a risk factor for chronic disease in their own right, and whether the approach should be different based on the level of training and fitness, age, family history, and existing health conditions. Podcast Guest: Dr Nicola Guess - University of Oxford and private practice clinical dietitian Nicola's online presence: Instagram: @dr.nicola.guess Blog/Substack: drguess.substack.com Diabetes risk calculators mentioned: AUSDRISK Calculator (Australia): https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/risk-calculator/ Diabetes UK: https://riskscore.diabetes.org.uk/start American Diabetes Association Risk Test: https://diabetes.org/diabetes-risk-test Fuelin: This episode is supported by Fuelin, the world's first training-based nutrition app. It syncs with your training plan (in TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, and TriDot or Run Dot) and creates a personalised nutrition plan, built around your training schedule and tailored to your goals. You’ll see adjustments in your fuelling both within and outside of training sessions, using a traffic light system to adjust your carb intake to fuel appropriately for your needs. To get 20% off your first month, go to https://www.fuelin.com/ and enter the code FE20 at checkout. Fueling Endurance eBook: At over 260 pages, the Fueling Endurance eBook contains answers to 49 of the most common nutrition questions that runners, cyclists and triathletes ask. Covering the first two years of the podcast, the eBook contains additional insights, tips, and quotes from experts and athletes. Every copy sold helps cover the cost of making the podcast. Purchase directly from https://fuelingendurance.com/ or search Fueling Endurance on Amazon for the Kindle version.