Discussion
If I'm honest, unless you're looking to go close to the hour mark, I would just focus on eating healthily and leave it at that.
I'm not clear on whether you're new to triathlon or not, but assuming you are:
www.tritalk.co.uk is an excellent resource.
Practice transitions. And get elastic laces for your trainers.
Finally, since the initial quesiton was nutrition, the single area to focus if you're already eating healthily IMHO, is refuelling after a training session, as there may be days when you swim and bike/run and you need to recover adequately from one to perform in the other.
Good luck. Triathlon is ace, addictive and irritatingly expensive. Ooooh, shiny thing....
I'm not clear on whether you're new to triathlon or not, but assuming you are:
www.tritalk.co.uk is an excellent resource.
Practice transitions. And get elastic laces for your trainers.
Finally, since the initial quesiton was nutrition, the single area to focus if you're already eating healthily IMHO, is refuelling after a training session, as there may be days when you swim and bike/run and you need to recover adequately from one to perform in the other.
Good luck. Triathlon is ace, addictive and irritatingly expensive. Ooooh, shiny thing....
Aha - OK - well then definitely have a skim over TriTalk. There's lots of advice to be gleaned from the search button there - it works, for a start.
If you're just after getting round and having fun, which is what most people do, myself included, at their first tri then it's easy. Be fit, turn up, swim, try really hard not to put your helmet on backwards, bike, run, grin like a fool.
Regards food, what I meant was if you're swimming in the morning, then planning on running, biking or doing a brick (biking, then running) in the evening, you'll want to make sure you've eaten well after the swim so you've enough energy to complete the second session of the day. It isn't carbo loading as such, just being aware that the normal bowl of Cornflakes and a sarnie at lunch might not cut it if you've swum for an hour and then try and do another hour of cardio later in the day.
Anyway, don't over-think it and have fun.
If you're just after getting round and having fun, which is what most people do, myself included, at their first tri then it's easy. Be fit, turn up, swim, try really hard not to put your helmet on backwards, bike, run, grin like a fool.
Regards food, what I meant was if you're swimming in the morning, then planning on running, biking or doing a brick (biking, then running) in the evening, you'll want to make sure you've eaten well after the swim so you've enough energy to complete the second session of the day. It isn't carbo loading as such, just being aware that the normal bowl of Cornflakes and a sarnie at lunch might not cut it if you've swum for an hour and then try and do another hour of cardio later in the day.
Anyway, don't over-think it and have fun.
Hoddo, we have a forum running in the Sports section, there are a few 'triathletes' on PH.
PH Triathlon
Smitters is referring to replacing lost carbs rather than carb loading. You should make sure you consume something within the 20 minutes after a session to bring your glycogen stores back up. A bit of protein also helps repairs damaged muscles. Otherwise you'll be rather lethargic doing your next session.
It's important in any sport, but typically training for triathlon means you have more training sessions, and your recovery is more important. Carb loading is more for big races where you should really start with an excess of carbs. For a sprint distance it's probably not necessary.
PH Triathlon
Smitters is referring to replacing lost carbs rather than carb loading. You should make sure you consume something within the 20 minutes after a session to bring your glycogen stores back up. A bit of protein also helps repairs damaged muscles. Otherwise you'll be rather lethargic doing your next session.
It's important in any sport, but typically training for triathlon means you have more training sessions, and your recovery is more important. Carb loading is more for big races where you should really start with an excess of carbs. For a sprint distance it's probably not necessary.
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