Nutrition for ultra-endurance cyclists – building resilience

Good nutrition for winter training
jill
September 24, 2024

You reap what you sow.

That’s what my late dad taught me, especially when it came to gardening.

As an avid gardener, I know it’s the quality of the soil that creates the roots, shoots and blooms every year.

My dad used to brew nutrient rich compost. He’d add it to his garden every winter. Needless to say, the Spring blooms were consistently stunning.

It’s exactly the same with nutrition for ultra-endurance cyclists, you reap what you sow.

An endurance cyclist needs to build nutritional resilience

As you come to the end of your race season, your focus inevitably turns to next season’s goals. This is the time to build nutritional resilience.

Just like the performance enhancing soil in my Dad’s garden, good nutrition, over time, creates reserves of resilience. This allows you to train hard, recovery effectively, encourage adaptations, maintain your immune system, and manage your stress.

As an ultra-endurance cyclist, if you’ve got next season’s goals in mind and are planning big mileage in all kinds of weather and terrain, you’re going to need deep reserves.

This is the secret to creating consistent performance season after season, and if Joe Barr (he who puts the Barr in BarrUltra) isn’t the example of that, I don’t know who is!

If you want to be resilient – eat like this.

No matter what your eating style is, don’t waste any opportunity to reach for nutrient rich nutrition.

This will require a plan.

From a macronutrient point of view, quality carbohydrates fuel your day, your training and recovery, while proteins and essential fats build and repair the multiple systems that make up your performance infrastructure.

Systems such as metabolic, muscular, cardiovascular, neural, immune, and digestive.

I bet you’ve got your macronutrients in fair shape, it’s more likely the micronutrients you forget about.

The importance of micronutrients for ultra-endurance cyclists

Micro amounts of things like manganese, molybdenum, copper, selenium, silica/silicon, to name a few, have a significant impact on your ability to create and sustain performance, as well as enhance recovery and adaptation.

They do this by functioning as co-factors in key metabolic actions, reactions and adaptations.

From creating energy in the form of ATP (Adenosine trial-phosphate), to playing a vital role in mitochondrial function and production, to supporting neuromuscular functioning, the list is endless. As an ultra-endurance athlete the demand you place on cellular functioning is higher than normal.

For you, it’s important to take in a full range of micronutrients every day. If you do, you’ll be well on your way to building nutritional resilience. Likewise, if you miss them, your performance will eventually stall, no matter what your macronutrient status is.

Manage your micronutrients

If you want to build your micronutrient reserves, it’s as simple as choosing whole, unprocessed, nutrient rich foods day after day.

Just like my dad’s garden, you grow performance capability and physiological wellbeing from the ground up.

Simple isn’t always easy though, is it?

You need a series of tasty, nutrient rich meal and snack options that are rich in micronutrients.

Something like this chickpea salad sandwich, from Angela Liddon’s, Oh She Glows cookbook.

Chickpeas are one of nature’s best sources of molybdenum, selenium, magnesium, B-vitamins and soluble fibre. When it comes to depositing micronutrients in your resilience account, they deliver!

They’re also a great source of complex carbohydrate and protein. Meanwhile, celery and red peppers are rich in antioxidants, vitamin C, K, A, copper, etc.

Give it a try.

Ingredients

1-15oz can chickpeas

2 stalks celery

3 spring onions, finely chopped

¼ cup (60ml) dill pickle, finely chopped

¼ cup (60ml) red pepper, finely chopped

2-3 tablespoons of mayonnaise

1 clove garlic, chopped

1.5-tsp yellow mustard

2-tsp minced fresh dill, 1tsp dried dill (optional)

1.5-tsp lemon juice

Coarse black pepper and salt to taste

Method

1. Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and mix. It’s as simple as that!

2. Serve with toasted wheaten bread or a wholewheat wrap.

3. Enjoy!


I’m Jill, a performance nutrition coach who specialises in endurance nutrition. There are a number of ways to work with me. I also offer a complimentary zoom chat so head on over to our contact form and let’s get you up and on your way.