Overtraining, Under Recovery, and Energy Availability: The Connection

As sports science evolves, more and more understanding around the relationship between endurance training, recovery, and nutrition are developing. When most athletes and coaches think about overreaching or overtraining, they think training too hard or too much - and the solution is just take a few days off. Yet we’re beginning to discover that overtraining is really a misnomer. A better term perhaps would be ‘chronic under-recovery syndrome’ where low energy availability (and carbohydrate availability) underpins this concept.

In this podcast, I discuss some of the recent research on this topic, and some of the key ideas to understand as it relates to performance, recovery, and nutrition for endurance athletes and ways to avoid heading down the path of non-functional overreaching or overtraining.

References:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33651630/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34181189/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23247672/

Unbound Gravel Recap + Ultra-Endurance Nutrition Science to Practice

Ultra-endurance sport is a funny thing. Athletes, for some reason, have a desire to push themselves to extremes and reach new heights in their endurance. A critical piece to this is nutrition and fueling to maintain the performance for moving the body for hours and hours.

In this episode of the podcast, I first break down my experience at the infamous Unbound Gravel 200 mile gravel race in the Flint Hills of Kansas, my first true ultra-endurance race. I recap the nutrition demands, how the race went down, and some of the challenges I faced.

I then zoom out and share wisdom on the general principles of nutrition for ultra-endurance. I pull from the latest research and then do my best to translate the science into practice to help you with your endurance goals this summer.

Resources:

Nutrition Considerations for Ultra Endurance research review

Relationship of Carbohydrate Intake during a Single-Stage One-Day Ultra-Trail Race with Fatigue Outcomes and Gastrointestinal Problems: A Systematic Review 

Follow me on Instagram: @intheflownutrition

Strava: http://strava.com/athletes/jacksonlong

ep. 66 | Uri Carlson RDN and the flow state of real food and real performance

Uri Carlson is a registered dietitian and mountain athlete hailing from Breckenridge, Colorado where she works with a multitude of athletes to help them fuel their life and athletic goals through an emphasis on real food and a positive relationship to nutrition and sport.

To learn more about Uri, follow her on Instagram @uri_carlson and via her website, innerwildnutrition.com.

ep. 65 | The Plant-Based Athlete | Need to Know Nutrients and Example Day of Eating

In this second installment of my plant-based athlete nutrition series, I dive into the practical side of things and discuss the need-to-know nutrients to consider as a plant-based athlete and how to get them from food, as well as a sample day of eating for a moderate training plant-based athlete. I talk about carbs, protein, iron, calcium, and more so hopefully this is helpful for the new and experienced plant-powered athlete alike!

Show Notes/Resources

Plant-Based vs. Animal-Based Protein Research 2021: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-021-01434-9

Fiber TEDx Talk: http://bit.ly/takeepicdumps

Vitamin D + athletes podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5oDo0JbcGmy1uCZquqdnhp?si=EvzmeCh3Rimnjjsnim3mnQ

ep. 64 | The Plant-Based Athlete | Getting Started

I'm excited to kick off 2021 with a series of episodes meant to help guide new and experienced plant-based athletes alike towards success. This time of year, people are definitely thinking about their lifestyle choices, whether its diet or exercise or sustainability wise, and I firmly believe that choosing to eat more plants is one of the most impactful and simple ways to actually make a difference in our everyday lifestyle. The science is there, the logic is there, and the support is here.

So, over the next month or so I will be sharing this multi part series explaining how best to start and thrive on a plant-based diet as an athlete. This first installment is about how to get started, which is often the most challenging part. So if you're brand new to eating a plant-based diet and you're an athlete, or are thinking about taking the plunge towards eating more plants, this episode is for you. If you have specific questions, or things you'd like me to cover or bring up over the course of this series, send me an email and I'll respond on the show.

In future installments, I’ll cover the key nutrients of interest, fueling as a plant-based endurance athlete, meal guides, and much more so stay tuned!

Show Notes:

Ethical resources:

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows by Dr. Melanie Joy (plus her amazing TED Talk)

Environmental resources:

EAT-Lancet Commission: https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/

Our World In Data: Environmental Impacts of Food Production: https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food

Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987

Nicholas Carter on the Plant Proof Podcast: https://plantproof.com/our-diet-is-destroying-the-planet-with-environmental-researcher-nicholas-carter/

Resources for getting started:

Plant-Based Sports Nutrition by Matt Ruscigno and D. Enette Larson

The Plant Based Cyclist by Nigel Mitchell

Vegan diets: practical advice for athletes and exercisers: https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-017-0192-9