Nutrition Advice For Travelling Triathletes

Travelling as an athlete can be tough - worrying about the journey itself, your kit and your bike, being in a new location.. Add nutrition into that as well and it can feel a bit overwhelming.

Nutrition when travelling doesn’t have to be stressful

The nutrition side of it doesn't have to be and a little bit of thought can go a long way! With a little bit of planning you can reduce the likelihood of any sort of illness associated with travelling and make it a positive experience where you're ready to perform at your best at the other end.

Do some internet research before you go

It's worth doing a bit of research on the ol' internet before you get wherever you're going on specific topics. Things like what the local cuisines are, whether there are any supermarkets close to where you're staying, whether the water is safe to drink, what the general food standards are like, and whether there are any timezone differences.

This helps to give you a roadmap for everything else - you can work out whether it's going to take more prep than you realised or whether it should be straight forwards.

Plan for the journey there

Are you just doing one short trip that's a few hours long, or do you have a long haul flight, perhaps a connecting flight or a stopover? Find out whether you have food included in your journey, or whether you have to provide for yourself for the entirety of your travel, or whether there's somewhere you can buy food when you stop.

It’s often best to take your own snacks, and I would usually advise a bit more than you think you will need. This isn’t just to scoff your face when you’re bored though! It’s in case of delays or unexpected scenarios. It's no fun being stuck without food and certainly doesn't help with optimum performance! Bringing your own snacks means you're much more likely to consume nutritious food that you enjoy and get on with too, rather than being forced into buying something just because it's all that's available.

Scope out your accommodation

You should also read up about your accommodation in advance too. Is it self catered? If so, does it have all of the equipment that you need to cook the food you had intended? If it's not self catered, does it have a restaurant? Can you look at the restaurant menus, or contact the hotel if not? And if it doesn't have a restaurant, start searching the local area for reputable restaurants that you might be able to go to. If you're part of a team or group this can be a good strategy - you can contact a restaurant in advance and see whether they could regularly cater for you.

Remember your kettle!

Another super handy tip within a tip if you're not in self-catered accommodation is to remember your kettle! If you have one that is. With a kettle you can still make things like couscous or noodles, which means you can fairly easily make some simple but healthy dishes by adding some vegetables and a protein source like tinned tuna, beans or legumes or cooked chicken. Oh that versatile kettle...

Stay hydrated

It's also important to remember to stay hydrated when you're travelling. It's all too easy to forget about hydration and just focus on food. Pack a couple of water bottles with you for the journey, and take ones that you can refill too - make use of cafes, restaurants or other clean water facilities. Electrolyte tablets or supplements can come in useful too, especially if you're travelling to warmer climates.

If you're going to warmer weather, make sure you don't go crazy in the first few hours or days in the sun and fry yourself before you actually realise what you've done. Keep drinking, including electrolytes, and be sensible about where you spend your time. Although it's tempting, don't spend all day walking around, checking out the local area, the athlete village or race HQ. If you can, save all of the tourist stuff until after your race!

Pick safe options in restaurants

If you decide to eat out then you should go for safe options. This means opting for plainer foods like fresh vegetables, a carbohydrate source like pasta, and a more traditional protein option like chicken, unexciting fish or tofu. If you start going for exotic meals, foods you've never tried before, you're more likely to end up with tummy problems like diarrhoea or sickness.

Save the fine dining and weird and wonderful food for after your race!

Bring your own…!

Another way to improve your nutrition while travelling is to 'bring your own' of certain things. There are 3 big areas to target: favourites, supplements, tupperware.

If you have any food favourites that you can't live without or you have something like a pre-race food ritual then make sure you bring that food with you. It's more likely it'll be tricky to find or you can't get hold of it and then you're stuck. So pack it in your suitcase so you can be stress free about your favourite food.

If you use any supplements, make sure you take your own. You should be using supplements that have been approved by a program like informed sport to reduce the risk of inadvertent doping, and supplements you've already tried and tested.

On this as well I would strongly encourage you NOT to buy random protein bars or similar supplements when you're visiting a country you don't know. You probably won't know what the manufacturing standards are and whether there's a risk of contamination of other drugs - it's not worth the risk.

Another useful thing you can do when travelling abroad is to take your own tupperware. I know it's not always practical because they can be bulky, but if you can do this it can really help with keeping your nutrition on track. It means you can do things like make and store leftovers which you can then take with you when you're out and about. This will help to ensure you're eating the right kind of foods that you've prepared, again reducing and risk of food contamination from restaurants or foods that you aren't sure of.

Maintain high hygeine standards

The last thing to consider is proper food and general health hygiene. Do the basics right - wash your hands before eating, try to minimise contact with potentially contaminated surfaces of high contact like door handles, wear a mask in public places.

It might sound like overkill, but you'll wish you had paid more attention when you develop a cough, cold or fever the day before your race.

Upper respiratory tract infections are common when travelling so you want to reduce your risk of this as well as other problems like gastro upset, so paying particular attention to your hygiene in the days before your race is super important.