How 4 of Canada’s Top Cyclists are Eating for Peak Performances
Did you know that Hugo Houle once ate a Big Mac during a race and Svein Tuft drank a beer finishing up the zoncolan climb? Neither did I! Besides these fun facts there was a lot more to learn from four of Canada’s top professional cyclists who joined me during an insightful authentic conversation put on by Bridge the Gap and Leah Kirchmann this week to discuss sports nutrition for developing cyclists.
Legendary road cyclist Svein Tuft, Astana pro team cyclist Hugo Houle, Liv Giant pro cyclist Alison Jackson and Team DSM professional cyclists Leah Kirchmann shared their experiences with:
- on bike nutrition
- the importance of carbohydrate intake
- the restrictive culture seen within cycling
- being adaptable and why it matters
- enjoying the journey of being a professional cyclist
- fat adaptation and low carb diets
Alison shares some insights about one team culture that could have easily taken her down a slippery slope of poor nutrition habits, and how she prepared for this so that she could manage her own nutrition with confidence, despite their agenda.
Hugo shares stories of managing weight and the importance of dialing in your nutrition to meet the needs of your training, including what happens the day before your races.
Svein hammers home the importance of fueling the work as a young athlete, his experiences with extreme diets, and why you should leave the 1% tactics until you’re a seasoned pro over in Europe.
Leah speaks to experiences related unintentional under fueling and what to be mindful here, as well as some important messages about understanding what works for you and your gut during racing and training, so that you aren’t having to manage gastrointestinal distress and how she turned this challenge around for herself.
With a good touch of humor, all of these professional cyclists shared down to earth stories and practical information that all athletes can use to guide their own nutrition choices for every day nutrition, training and racing.
Check out the full video here on YouTube and share with any athletes who may enjoy and benefit from our discussion.
Follow me here on Prokit for more upcoming sports nutrition and sport science articles and podcasts. I’ll keep you up to date with what’s new in the science and how to bring it to life in your training. You can also check out some of my Prokit collections like the Performance Hub, MINDSET and RED-S collections.
This session was sponsored by Bridge the Gap and The Feed. Check out The Feed to meet all of your training and racing sports nutrition needs today and build your first box!
Keep the rubber side down and see you out on the roads.
