What to Eat Before an Early Morning Workout, According to a Sports Dietitian
It's early, you're groggy, but your training plan calls for intensity. Here's how to fuel well for those early morning workouts.
Susan Kitchen is a Sports Certified Registered Dietitian (CSSD), USA Triathlon and Ironman Certified Coach, accomplished endurance athlete, and published author. She owns Race Smart, an endurance coaching and performance nutrition practice that works with athletes as they strive toward optimal health, fitness, and peak performance.
It's early, you're groggy, but your training plan calls for intensity. Here's how to fuel well for those early morning workouts.
The distances may be the same, but the fueling strategies are not. When making a foray into off-road or gravel triathlon, use this guide from sports nutrition expert Susan Kitchen to adapt your standard triathlon nutrition plan for rugged conditions.
Regular bloodwork - whether at the doctor’s office or self-ordered - can provide key insights into your athletic performance and fueling needs. Susan Kitchen explains which tests to order at the lab and how to interpret them like a pro.
Sports nutrition expert Susan Kitchen explains why triathletes should focus on quality, not quantity, in their off-season nutrition.
Options abound for athletes looking for a turbocharged boost - but caffeine can only go so far during a workout or a race. Use this guide to figure out your optimal dose (and why you shouldn't count on it to save you from poor fueling).
Don't let your race be derailed by poor fueling! This step-by-step guide will help you calculate an individualized triathlon fueling plan based on your specific nutritional needs for sprint-, Olympic-, half iron-, and iron-distance racing.
Timing is everything when it comes to recovery nutrition—in the age of convenience (stores), we've tapped a sport performance registered dietitian for expert advice on decoding the labels inside gas stations' shiny glass cases.
Your body runs on hormones - learn how to feed them right with this men's guide to eating for hormone health.
What you eat and how much you eat relative to your training can make a big impact on hormone health for women in endurance sports.
Racing a 70.3 requires some nutritional planning.
Read on for what to eat the night before your first sprint triathlon, the morning of your race, and during the big event itself.
A sports-certified Registered Dietitian lays out how to fuel during a strength-focused training block (and no, you don't have to choke down a million protein shakes).
Not sure what to eat while training for a 70.3? This day-by-day meal plan pairs your nutrition with the workouts in one of our most popular half-iron training plans.
Lionel Sanders fueled his way to second place at May's Ironman World Championship race using an unusual (but very Canadian) ingredient. Here's what you need to know about using maple syrup in your triathlon fueling plan.
We put dozens of drinks, gels, chews, and bars to the test and picked out best bets for every palate preference—from unflavored to “wow, that’s weird!” These were our favorites.
Nothing can stop you from feeling like #1 on race day - except for #2. Sports certified Registered Dietitian Susan Kitchen explains how to prevent GI distress and stay out of the port-a-potty.
Some professionals say exercising on an empty stomach is the magic behind a leaner, meaner fat-burning machine, yet others warn against it.
How much sodium should you take in during a triathlon training session or race?
The "calories burned" metric on your fitness tracker is probably wrong. A Registered Dietitian how to do the (accurate) math yourself.
Follow these guidelines for nutrition during the off-season.
Going out? Ordering in? Eat this, not that.
Everything you need to know about eating for optimal performance as you count down to the big day.