Feeling fatigued in the final 6 weeks before a triathlon - any nutritional or training advice?

[billard]

@threecrosses Amazing thank you so much for all of your help, I really appreciate it! It's not til you lay it out in front of you that you see the patterns sometimes!

 

[susanedgar37]

@billard That sounds like under 2000 calories a day. I'm 5'3, 165, way less active than you, and I lose weight around 1800 a day.

 

[momcares]

@billard I would say you're underfueling. I'm much shorter than you, weigh less than you, and do not exercise anywhere near to your volume nor am I training for anything, but I eat the same amount as you do to maintain my weight! (5'4" and 130lbs)

 

[susanedgar37]

@billard Absolutely. You're underfueling.

 

[threecrosses]

@susanedgar37 Yeah, if I'm triathlon training, my breakfast is NOT just porridge unless that's directly preworkout and I'm planning on having something with protein afterwards, and my lunch had best include carbohydrate and a substantial protein sources, even if it's in the form of soup or salad. You may not be getting adequate protein OR carbs. You really want 20 grams of protein in your workout recovery meal at a minimum, and 40 is optimal if you are a masters athlete. It sounds like you only have "protein" (meat?) with dinner, but having it spread throughout the day is FAR FAR FAR superior from a muscle protein synthesis perspective. Source: my dietitian just wrote a book on this (https://www.amazon.com/High-Performance-Nutrition-Masters-Athletes-Antonucci-ebook/dp/B08HCTTXPF)

 

[billard]

@threecrosses Thank you for this! So this is why I'm starting on a protein shake in the afternoon too. Sandwich is usually a tuna or ham so a little bit there too so spreading it out throughout the day.

I'm lactose intolerant so can't benefit from the glory of Greek yoghurt haha. So have to work around it.

Can I ask why you wouldn't recommend porridge? I find it fills me up more than just cereal and I don't love eggs.

 

[jlmetcalf]

@billard I'm not lactose intolerant, but I don't digest whey protein well, so I use vegan protein powder in my oatmeal (that's the same as porridge, right?). I also add peanut butter (or powdered peanut butter), chia seeds, and milk (I like dairy milk, but you could use soy to retain most of that protein), and top with a banana. This comes out to about 35 g of protein and 550 calories per serving. You can definitely build a high-protein oatmeal!

I do eat a fair amount of dairy to hit my protein goals, but there are great plant-based options (and, of course, meat) as well, particularly if you're looking for a maintenance amount of protein rather than muscle-building.

 

[threecrosses]

@billard Porridge is fine--I'm not saying remove it, just add some source of protein ideally. EDIT: I'm lactose intolerant too, but I've had several stress fractures and read enough about the benefits of dairy and now just pop a lactaid pill and eat the yogurt.

 

[billard]

@threecrosses Huh interesting! Those tablets are life saving but they don't stop the gas for me so I keep it for one offs. Lactose free milk still has calcium and all the benefits of milk so I use that.

I take a calcium and vitamin d tablet every day, it was recommended to me after discovering osteoporosis ran in the family.

I might see if I can find some lactose free Greek yoghurt or get back into quark - it has very low levels of lactose so would recommend

 

[samolub]

@billard Maybe you've already tried just eating yogurt, but most yogurt is pretty close to being lactose free. It's sour because the bacteria has eaten up most of the lactose. My son and my sister are both lactose intolerant and are able to eat our homemade yogurt.

 

[billard]

@samolub Yeah it's one of those things for me I can't handle. Alpro is pretty good now though and the lactofree range in the UK means I get enough choice.

However quark (closer to cottage cheese I guess?) is fine. It's very annoying hahah.

 

[samolub]

@billard Aw bummer, good thing there are a lot of other ways to get protein!

 

[threecrosses]

@billard A lot of studies show we don't absorb the calcium from supplements well. You'll only be getting 50% of what's on the label . Good news though--cruciferous vegetables like collards, kale, and broccoli are good calcium sources. So is tofu treated with calcium carbonate.

My only issue with quark is it's so darn hard to eat enough given how small subatomic particles are.

 

[billard]

@threecrosses Huh interesting! I thought the vit d helped with that but that's good to know!

Also never knew that about those veggies too, how interesting. Thank you for the tips!

 

[bkegler27]

@billard I do tris too! What distance are you doing? Are you taking a full rest day? Eating plenty and especially getting your veggies and whole grains in? You might be doing too much high intensity - you didn’t say the length or distance of your workouts but I’d half are high intensity I would say it’s highly probably it’s too much. Are you following a plan or just training how you want?

 

[billard]

@bkegler27 I'm doing a sprint - my running holds me back. I'm coming back from a steroid injection behind my kneecap that's held me back for years so I feel strong now, but I know that'll probably ease off!

My runs are both intervals as they're recovery plans, so currently on 2 mins fast run, 1 min walk for 20 mins and it'll just about get to 5k by race day. Fully expecting to have to walk some!

Spin is obviously high intensity, the other cycle I do is to/from my open water swim and is just like a zone 2/3 cycle so pretty gentle.

Swimming I do drills in the pool, trying to hit 2 mins/100m. And open water is just endurance or steady state for the distance, I tend to do 1000m.

I do have 2 proper rest days because of the brick, but I've been steadily losing a little bit of weight so I'm probably not eating enough right? I'm not paying huge attention to my diet aside from getting enough protein and eating when hungry but I eat a balanced diet. So maybe I need to concentrate on eating more and better foods.

 

[hol]

@billard I just got finished with doing a triathlon from a similar height and training load from you-I didn’t count calories but I ate a (healthy) fuckton. Your body needs lots of fuel to perform and recover well-and at 5’9 145, your weight won’t impede your performance so no need to lose

 

[billard]

@hol Congrats! Hope it went well

Okay that's good to hear, definitely taking it on board and already ordering a huge tub of peanut butter to get me started haha.

Any tips on good bulky things to eat? It's a fine line to tread - I can't deal with loads of food before a workout.

 

[hol]

@billard It’s good to just eat lots throughout the day as opposed to just before/after a workout. But I got a lot of my calories from rice/pretzels/peanut butter tbh. I try to get most of my energy from meat/vegetables/fruit, but endurance sports require lots of carbs and carbs like rice are cheap and easy to make, eat, and digest.

 

[milandulovic]

@billard Add dried fruit, nuts, granola, seeds. Anything that has dense but healthy calories. Dates filled with peanut butter are one of my favorites.