Even the fittest person in the world won’t win a 4+ hour event without the right fuel. This factor can level the playing field, or, in the case of the really savvy athlete, tip the scales in their favor. Regardless of how you train, everyone can eat a world class diet and care for their bodies like a professional.

Why do we care so much about eating and recovery? On the most basic level, every workout or event completed has a cost associated with it.

“Those who think they have no time for healthy eating, will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”

Edward Stanley

Some workouts are light, with minimal or no cost.

Others are off the charts difficult making 48-hour (or longer) recovery windows mandatory. The harder the workouts are, and the more frequently they occur, the more likely it is that you will begin to wear your body down.

More importantly, we can’t ignore the fact that your endurance lifestyle is deeply connected to how you work, play, and socialize.

In order to be at your best across the full spectrum of your life

what you do must be supported by smart food decisions. Your overarching goal as an endurance athlete is to train both consistently enough to maintain fitness and hard enough to force adaptation.

Eating for Performance: You Are What You Eat

It’s easy to focus on the “work” component of this as the numbers are sexy and alluring, but without a commensurate focus on the other 80% of your life, you will eventually begin to underachieve, possibly even break.

“Nutrition makes me puke.”

Jimmy Piersall

Taking your race goals into consideration, of course, it’s possible to outline a season where you have fun and get fit and are ready to hit it out of the park within your own race training window.