Can beets make you a better runner?
Charlie is back with more nutritional knowledge that could give you the edge in your next race! Are beetroots the secret ingredient to a runner's success? Find out in today’s episode of Cook Eat Run, where Charlie chats with ICU dietitian and marathon winner Tom Hollis and Beet It Sports drink Brand Manager Jonathan Cartwright, about the power of nitrates in enhancing running performance.
Tom Hollis aka: Plantrunner
Tom, fresh off his Milton Keynes marathon victory, shares his personal strategy for tackling two marathons in 15 days and the role nutrition played in his recovery and triumph. From carb loading to the specifics of race day fueling, Tom gives us the lowdown on how he optimises his intake for peak performance.
Delve into the science behind nitrates, and why they might be more beneficial for recreational runners than elites. Plus, get practical advice on how to incorporate beetroot shots into your routine, and learn why a clean mouth might not be your best friend when it comes to nitrates…
Discover the potential of nitrates not just for race day, but also as a training aid, and explore the emerging trend of including nitrates in mid-race fueling.
Jonathan Cartwright: Beet It Sports
And if you're curious about the brand behind the beetroot magic, stick around for Charlie's interview with Jonathan Cartwright from Beet It Sports. Uncover the origins of Beet It, its evolution alongside groundbreaking research, and why its products might just be the natural performance enhancer for you.
Explore the range of nitrate products, from the classic shots to innovative crystals perfect for travel, and learn how to integrate them into your training and recovery — all while enjoying a special discount code for Cook Eat Run listeners when you purchase Beet It from the XMiles website.
Connect with Tom for more insights on nutrition and running at tomhollishealth.com and follow his journey on Instagram @plantrunner_rd.
Check out Beet It Sports beetroot shots and other products at https://www.beet-it.com/ / @beetitsport (also available at Xmiles.co.uk - remember to use discount code COOKEATRUN10 for 10% off site wide).
Connect with Charlie online @therunnerbeans / www.therunnerbeans.com
Grab a copy of Charlie’s book ‘Cook Eat Run’
The Cook Eat Run Podcast is sponsored by XMiles - the One Stop Nutrition Shop - use discount code COOKEATRUN10 for 10% off site wide at Xmiles.co.uk
This podcast is produced by Buckers at Decibelle Creative decibellecreative.com / @decibelle_creative
Transcript
>> Charlie: So, after chatting with Tom for the episode, and, spoiler alert, hearing
Speaker:him talk highly about nitrates and in particular
Speaker:Beatit sport products, I wanted to get in touch with the
Speaker:team at Beatit Sports to find out a bit more about the
Speaker:brand. And so, at the end of this episode, you can listen to me
Speaker:chat with Jonathan Cartwright from Beet It
Speaker:Theyve also kindly sponsored this episode of the Cook Eat Run
Speaker:podcast with X Miles. Listen in for a discount
Speaker:code to save across the whole of the ex miles range of nutrition
Speaker:products, including the Beatit Sport range.
Speaker:Welcome back to the Cook Eat Run podcast with X Miles.
Speaker:On the podcast today, I'm chatting with Tom Hollis about
Speaker:nitrates, beetroot and whether they can improve
Speaker:running performance. Tom Hm is an ICU
Speaker:dietitian and has worked for the NHS
Speaker:previously for ten years. Registered sport
Speaker:dietitian and super fast runner. In fact, he
Speaker:won the Milton Keys marathon over the
Speaker:weekend. Tom, how are you doing?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Hi, Charlie. Yeah, I'm very good, thank you.
Speaker:obviously, the day after a marathon,
Speaker:you're not at, tip top condition, but I am buzzing
Speaker:because I did not go into that, race expecting
Speaker:it to win it. I knew there was an outside
Speaker:chance, like one in
Speaker:ten, one in 20, but, yeah, really pleased.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So it was quite quiet on social media that you
Speaker:were even running? The first I saw of it
Speaker:was a little, hey,
Speaker:whoops, I won more later. so was that an
Speaker:intentional keeping it quiet, take the pressure off, or was
Speaker:it a last minute decision to run?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Both. So, yes, it was a very
Speaker:deliberate decision to keep it much
Speaker:more low key in terms of social media,
Speaker:even telling family and friends, because what
Speaker:I think, just to give it some context, I did
Speaker:London marathon 15 days before that. and, I, would normally
Speaker:say doing two marathons in the space of 15
Speaker:days at, 100% effort is
Speaker:not optimal, because I'm also
Speaker:a learning coach and it's not necessarily something that I would
Speaker:advise my runners to do
Speaker:routinely. but, I have a very specific goal
Speaker:for London to run 229.
Speaker:I was quite confident of doing that. Leading into
Speaker:it, training had gone well, and I
Speaker:talked a lot on social media about how I
Speaker:was going for it. All my family and friends knew I was going
Speaker:through some really specific goals. And because
Speaker:in the years leading up to it, even if
Speaker:I have doubts, I pretty much
Speaker:always ended up with what I wanted from
Speaker:races. So I think everyone around me just assumed
Speaker:that every single time I would hit whatever target it was that
Speaker:I was going for. And I've had so many messages of people
Speaker:saying, you'll smash it, oh, you'll definitely get it, blah,
Speaker:blah, blah. and loads on social media. And whilst everyone
Speaker:means well, and I really do appreciate
Speaker:the messages, I think it just loaded a
Speaker:bit more pressure on me that I didn't
Speaker:need when, actually, I just needed to be a bit more focused on
Speaker:the goal. And as you well know, on a marathon
Speaker:day, anything can happen to just slightly knock
Speaker:you off course. My heart rate was really
Speaker:high in the day, and I just don't think I was quite at
Speaker:100% or have been since,
Speaker:to be totally honest. because marathons hit your
Speaker:immune system quite hard.
Speaker:Anyway, I ended up, less
Speaker:than a minute off my goal. So 2
Speaker:hours 30 and 54. And I
Speaker:know everyone says it's an amazing time, I know
Speaker:it's a good time, and I'm lucky to be able to run those talents, but
Speaker:it wasn't quite what I set out
Speaker:for. so then hatched a plan with
Speaker:my own coach, Chris,
Speaker:to do Milton Keene's marathon 15
Speaker:days later, with serious downtime. In
Speaker:the meantime, we aim to
Speaker:get an England vest, which is a
Speaker:concept. Ah, that was new to me. so, basically, once
Speaker:you get to the masters age categories of
Speaker:v 35, v 40, and
Speaker:beyond, all the way up to at least v
Speaker:70, I believe
Speaker:you can now, for each race
Speaker:distance, there are about, three or four
Speaker:qualifying races that year where if you
Speaker:get in the top three in your age
Speaker:category, you then qualify for an
Speaker:England vest. So you get to wear a vest saying you're
Speaker:representing England at, that distance at the low
Speaker:end race later in the year. So London
Speaker:marathon was one of the qualifying marathons. And obviously, it's
Speaker:pretty hard to get the top three
Speaker:there. Milton Keynes was one of the other
Speaker:ones. And so I never considered it, but
Speaker:quite a spontaneous decision to just do it.
Speaker:And, so that was my own, was to get top
Speaker:three v 35s. Cause I'm
Speaker:clinging on to the b 35 group for another two months on
Speaker:v 40 in July. and, I
Speaker:knew that was a high chance. I knew there was an outside
Speaker:chance of overall podium looking
Speaker:at the previous year's results, and I
Speaker:did not expect to win the whole thing, but, I did,
Speaker:and it was a lot of fun. it was a very,
Speaker:very tough course. So times went out
Speaker:the window. Everyone faded
Speaker:really, really hard.
Speaker:But, for me, I was able to fade slightly less hard than
Speaker:everyone else and pick my way to the front.
Speaker:So it was really. It was good fun in invert
Speaker:cons.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, I mean, having done back to back marathons
Speaker:twice, it's not something for the faint hearted.
Speaker:It's. I found my two weeks post
Speaker:Boston going for a five k tricky. So how did
Speaker:you. How did the mindset flip from
Speaker:or when did you decide after
Speaker:London. Right, let's go for this. And how did you kind of change your
Speaker:mindset from like. Right, that was about a gold time.
Speaker:This is about a placing.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: so yeah, just the whole approach was very different,
Speaker:like I say, because London have been quite
Speaker:pressurised and very public. Milton
Speaker:Keynes, about five people, knew
Speaker:six people maybe. And I really
Speaker:enjoyed that aspect. but it was just a little
Speaker:secret of mine and I felt
Speaker:much less pressure going into it. personally I was pretty
Speaker:chilled. I mean, at least from a
Speaker:running perspective, I felt quite
Speaker:chilled. Life was really chaotic in the week
Speaker:leading up to it. We've had. I mean, this stuff
Speaker:doesn't happen in London, but we had a
Speaker:two day power cut, where we had no. We have nothing in
Speaker:the house, no hot water, no
Speaker:heating, no lighting, blah, blah, blah. And when it
Speaker:finally came back on, all of our appliances
Speaker:had blown, like chaos for
Speaker:about, 300 houses in the surrounding area as well. And
Speaker:we're still not quite back to normal anyway. But.
Speaker:So life had been quite chaotic that week. And I got
Speaker:sick. So that, the first
Speaker:marathon I
Speaker:was probably harbouring something or my little
Speaker:boy had something and normally his
Speaker:bugs don't affect me. M and my wife got quite good
Speaker:immune systems. But then
Speaker:London knocked me off enough
Speaker:to get sick. In the meantime, I've already booked
Speaker:Milton Keynes. What have I done?
Speaker:and For the whole two weeks it's been lingering. Even now it's still
Speaker:lingering. So anyway, the buildup wasn't
Speaker:necessarily ideal, but, yeah, I
Speaker:really enjoyed the fact that it wasn't going to be
Speaker:time focused, that it was going to be about
Speaker:places really traditional racing in that
Speaker:sense, and just Just very
Speaker:different. but mainly just trying to
Speaker:just freshen up as much as possible.
Speaker:I had to keep a couple of runs, hidden on Strava
Speaker:because there are quite obviously marathon buildup runs. and I didn't
Speaker:want people to know.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yes.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: So, yeah, but I mean, aside from all the stuff that
Speaker:was going on in the background, just trying to be positive and chilled and
Speaker:sleep well and eat well and look after myself
Speaker:as much as possible and look forward to the day.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So was there anything you changed in terms of fueling
Speaker:wise from London to Milton
Speaker:Keynes, based on the fact that you were obviously trying to kind of
Speaker:recover and then did you do another full carb
Speaker:load and then race day? What did
Speaker:race day nutrition look like for you?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Yeah, another form carb load, which
Speaker:as you know, I take quite seriously. it's
Speaker:actually not that fun because when you're
Speaker:really trying to maximise a carb load, it's a
Speaker:pretty unhealthy diet. it's,
Speaker:you know, it's a lot of white, beige
Speaker:carbs, high sugar, low
Speaker:fibre, low fat, which for a couple
Speaker:of days you don't feel fantastic, but it's
Speaker:a means to an end to a good marathon time.
Speaker:To do that, twice in 15
Speaker:days was not that, fun, I have to
Speaker:admit. I'm good at it now. I know
Speaker:what food take. I know I've got a
Speaker:fairly good routine with it. So, I didn't actually change
Speaker:anything. I aimed for about eleven grammes of
Speaker:carbs per kilogramme of body weight on the.
Speaker:I'd normally say Friday and Saturday, but this was a Monday marathon
Speaker:so it was the Saturday and Sunday this time. and
Speaker:then on the day
Speaker:itself I kept things pretty similar as well.
Speaker:So, my morning is
Speaker:normally either bagels with marmite
Speaker:or crumpets with marmite, plus,
Speaker:electrolyte and carb drink that I usually
Speaker:have on my way to the race.
Speaker:And I do that for halves and for marathons.
Speaker:Usually about 80 grammes of carbs in 500
Speaker:mils. Just kind of sipping that slate over the
Speaker:last hour and a half of the race.
Speaker:Hour and a half of the build up towards the race.
Speaker:>> Charlie: and that's, that's one that you've made yourself, isn't it? Like
Speaker:ah, Tom Hollis special blend.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: It's not even that. It's not that complicated or special. But yes,
Speaker:it is one that I make myself and I do that. I make my
Speaker:own drinks for fueling throughout training. So
Speaker:it's become second nature now. So to Sunday long
Speaker:runs in mountain training blocks.
Speaker:Saturday is always about getting the scales out and making
Speaker:my own drink for the Sunday morning. a few different
Speaker:ingredients going in there, but I quite like
Speaker:being in control of it. and it's cheaper
Speaker:and it's better for the environment because I get to use my own reusable
Speaker:bottle each time. So yeah, all things
Speaker:that are quite appealing to me. and then on the
Speaker:way round again,
Speaker:I've converted to using my own liquid carb
Speaker:mix on the marathon
Speaker:itself. plus a couple of high
Speaker:caffeine gels that I take.
Speaker:First one at halfway, second one about 25
Speaker:minutes after that. And then for the final
Speaker:bit of the marathon, I finish whatever of
Speaker:the drink I should have. Oh, I
Speaker:didn't have in the first half. It is
Speaker:not nailed down yet. there are issues with
Speaker:it. Carrying your own bottle is
Speaker:annoying. There's no getting around it. so
Speaker:it's still a work in progress. But I do really like
Speaker:being in control, absolute control
Speaker:of having it with me at all times
Speaker:and being able to just sip regularly rather than
Speaker:with gels. For example, where you're taking quite large
Speaker:amounts, then a break, then a large amount, then a
Speaker:break. The other advantage of drinking
Speaker:your own carbs is
Speaker:you can be in control of your hydration at the same time. So
Speaker:I pretty much don't need to take anything on the
Speaker:on course
Speaker:drinks offerings, which again, just helps in terms of
Speaker:not breaking your momentum and your flow.
Speaker:but, it's not perfect. Carrying a 500
Speaker:mil bottle is a lot,
Speaker:particularly at the start of the race in one hand. So
Speaker:I'm thinking splitting it into 2250
Speaker:mil ones, and see how that goes. But
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So which gels do
Speaker:you use? You said you take a high caffeine. Which
Speaker:ones do you prefer?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: I have always got on well with the SAS products
Speaker:and I use the sis
Speaker:beta fuel nootropics ones, so they are
Speaker:pretty punchy. So they've got 200 milligrammes of caffeine
Speaker:in? yeah, a lot. And
Speaker:so, like I said, the first one about halfway,
Speaker:which for me is about 75 minutes. And then I have
Speaker:my second one about
Speaker:25 minutes after that. So around
Speaker:about 100 minutes in. Yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Okay. and I guess you've talked about
Speaker:like, the specifics of, like, it's a bit annoying carrying your own
Speaker:bottles. You're running for not that, long.
Speaker:For those of us that are running for an
Speaker:extra hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, we're going to need
Speaker:more bottles. So is there,
Speaker:how would you advise your running clients
Speaker:or your nutrition clients? Like, what kind of things do you suggest
Speaker:to them in terms of what people wanting
Speaker:to bring their own liquid carbs with
Speaker:them?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Good question. And I literally just got off a
Speaker:consultation with a client talking about
Speaker:exactly that. Ah, because she and I have been exploring her options
Speaker:for liquid carbs for London
Speaker:marathon. She's always had, obviously not going
Speaker:to name her by name. She's always had problems in the park with,
Speaker:fueling, mid run, particularly marathon
Speaker:distance. So we try to explore or
Speaker:making her own? Actually, no, not making her own. She was using
Speaker:a commercially available, sports product that you
Speaker:put into water. so lots of them do it again.
Speaker:Sas do theirs, Morton do theirs.
Speaker:tailwind do theirs. Loads of them do them
Speaker:down. So she was using those
Speaker:and she was using like a hydration pack for
Speaker:one litres worth and, then carrying
Speaker:an additional bottle in her hand as
Speaker:well. So she was
Speaker:in total going to be having 1250
Speaker:mils worth of volume on her,
Speaker:which was two and a half, 80 gramme sachets of carbs.
Speaker:So about 200 grammes of carbs. she was
Speaker:aiming to go around about three and a half hours.
Speaker:but there are other issues which I completely get when
Speaker:you're out there a bit longer. things get a bit warmer,
Speaker:which can be a bit grosser. You know, if you're
Speaker:drinking your own liquid carbs
Speaker:mix and it's just slowly boiling away
Speaker:in the sun, that's going to be gross if it's a hot day,
Speaker:three and a half, 4 hours in. So I do get, that,
Speaker:but as ever, it's all about
Speaker:trying these things in training, particularly
Speaker:on your long weekend runs.
Speaker:and, not, you really have to try and
Speaker:replicate all of it. Not just
Speaker:the amount of carbs, but how it feels sitting
Speaker:on you, that volume, that weight, how often you need to
Speaker:drink and so on. And so for some people, they might think,
Speaker:well, that's definitely, not worth the effort. I will use gels
Speaker:or I'll use what's on the course. So every person
Speaker:is slightly different. And obviously some people just do
Speaker:not get on well with sports nutrition products
Speaker:at all and are adamant that they need to eat real
Speaker:foods or something a bit closer to that. I have always
Speaker:in the past, kind of tried to steer
Speaker:away from that because I just think if
Speaker:you can tolerate sports products,
Speaker:you're going to be far more likely to get closer to
Speaker:the amount of carbs per hour that would benefit your
Speaker:performance. But, yes, some people just
Speaker:really struggle.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. Okay, so let's take it
Speaker:to the main topic of today. I could talk about this all day,
Speaker:as you and I have talked many times. We
Speaker:go down a bit of a rabbit hole.
Speaker:First question, did you take any
Speaker:like beetroot nitrates in the lead up to either of your two
Speaker:marathons or have you ever before?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Yes, and pretty much always
Speaker:for any race of significance. I have
Speaker:done, for, I would say the last
Speaker:at least five years.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Wow, okay.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Yeah, pretty much. If I've got them, which is most
Speaker:of the time, then I will have them
Speaker:for anything,
Speaker:a meaningful race where the outcome is really
Speaker:important to me. You know, if I was doing a summer
Speaker:series of five k's, for example,
Speaker:I might not necessarily do it for each
Speaker:one, because they're not the cheapest
Speaker:products, necessarily. So
Speaker:I might be a little bit more sparing in terms of where
Speaker:I use them. But, yeah, like I say, for any meaningful
Speaker:race, pretty much always. And yes, that
Speaker:included London and Milton keys
Speaker:marathons.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Okay, so let's go back to kind of basics. Why. Why
Speaker:are nitrates beneficial? Why do you take them? Someone who's obviously
Speaker:done a lot of research into sports nutrition and
Speaker:performance, why are you taking them? And why
Speaker:should the everyday runner, rather than like
Speaker:necessarily elite runners, be thinking about taking
Speaker:them?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Yeah, and, actually,
Speaker:before I kind of go into the why,
Speaker:it's. There's actually, you could say there's more
Speaker:benefit for the non elite runners than the
Speaker:elite runners. Interestingly, this
Speaker:is one, ergogenic, so, performance
Speaker:enhancing area, or aid,
Speaker:where it looks a lot of the research
Speaker:points towards there being more benefit,
Speaker:potentially, for untrained,
Speaker:relatively speaking, or recreational
Speaker:athletes, runners, than towards the
Speaker:ending end of the spectrum, which is different to a lot of.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Finally.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: No, finally, for super
Speaker:shoes, it's often the other way, isn't it? It's thought to be the
Speaker:fast buyers that you get that, x
Speaker:percent improvement in performance, but
Speaker:it's all the other way for Beatru. And
Speaker:there's, there's some theories as to why that might be,
Speaker:but just to kind of boil it down to what it is. So
Speaker:it's all about not the beetroot per
Speaker:se, but something
Speaker:called nitrates. So,
Speaker:dietary nitrates are something that are, ah,
Speaker:in a few different types of vegetables.
Speaker:So some dark green,
Speaker:leafy vegetables, things like
Speaker:spinach, rocket,
Speaker:rainbow chard. It's actually in lettuce.
Speaker:I think it's in kale. I can't remember. When I say
Speaker:it's in it, I mean in significant amounts to make a
Speaker:difference. and it's also in Vietroit.
Speaker:what happens when you eat nitrates
Speaker:is they're converted to
Speaker:nitrite in your mouth. I
Speaker:won't get too technical from a chemistry
Speaker:perspective, because I think we need to necessarily.
Speaker:But so the bacteria in your, in
Speaker:your mouth, so your oral microbiome
Speaker:converts nitrate to
Speaker:nitrite, and then the nitrite is
Speaker:converted to something called nitric oxide. So
Speaker:nitric oxide or no you sometimes see it, is
Speaker:known to be a really powerful and useful
Speaker:molecule that we have naturally in our bodies
Speaker:anyway. So we, there are two ways to
Speaker:produce it. One is that, pathway
Speaker:that I've just talked about, and the other is their
Speaker:endogenous pathway. So it's naturally done
Speaker:within the body through a separate
Speaker:pathway. we know that, nitric
Speaker:oxide is what's called a
Speaker:vasodilator. So it
Speaker:increases the diameter of some blood
Speaker:vessels to improve, blood flow.
Speaker:So it can actually be used to treat high blood
Speaker:pressure, for example, by widening
Speaker:blood vessels, and can be used therapeutically in
Speaker:medicine. And is,
Speaker:But, so that's one role
Speaker:for it. But it is
Speaker:thought to have lots of other kind of physiological roles that
Speaker:we are, we know a bit less about, but, ah, are just starting to
Speaker:understand. But the important thing of what it
Speaker:does from a running
Speaker:perspective, and it's been researched quite
Speaker:heavily for the last, say,
Speaker:ten years plus 15 years, even a little
Speaker:bit longer, is it shown to
Speaker:improve your running economy or
Speaker:exercise economy. And what that means is it's,
Speaker:it's lowering the oxygen
Speaker:costs of any
Speaker:exercise that you're doing. In other words,
Speaker:making you slightly more efficient, at what you're
Speaker:doing. And that's potentially really
Speaker:amazing because there are kind of three
Speaker:markers that are thought to
Speaker:mainly define your performance at running,
Speaker:which is your vo two max. So your
Speaker:maximum oxygen uptake, your
Speaker:lactate threshold, so the point at which your
Speaker:lactate starts rising exponentially,
Speaker:and your running economy or your exercise
Speaker:economy. And, it was often thought that there's very few
Speaker:things that can change that third one. but
Speaker:nitrates is potentially one. So
Speaker:that's why it's being researched so
Speaker:heavily. And we're not talking about
Speaker:massive changes, it's not going to transform
Speaker:your running, but we're talking
Speaker:about a percent here or there.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. Which, let's face it,
Speaker:we're all looking for the marginal gains, aren't we?
Speaker:So.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Yeah, and I definitely am for
Speaker:myself as well. So knowing that there is
Speaker:that potential benefit there, I always
Speaker:feel like it's something I could do and
Speaker:therefore something I will do just to kind of try and
Speaker:tick every box. there's, I
Speaker:mean, I can talk a little bit more about, the research, if you
Speaker:like. It just kind of depends. where do you want to go?
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, I mean, I think. I think
Speaker:talking more about like how, like, how do
Speaker:you do it? Like, when we're talking about adding
Speaker:nitrates into our diet, beetroots in are we talking
Speaker:about cooking with extra beetroot? So
Speaker:I know that I saw a lot of people taking shots
Speaker:of beetroot in the days leading up to the London
Speaker:marathon, sharing on social media with them, you know, they're
Speaker:like blood red mouth. So
Speaker:how do you take the nitrates or take the
Speaker:beetroot to get the most benefit and, how much?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Yeah, that's good. Okay. Yeah. So let's keep it really
Speaker:practical. So, like I mentioned, there are different variations.
Speaker:Vegetables that naturally have higher nitrate
Speaker:levels in them. But in order to get
Speaker:close to the amount of
Speaker:nitrates, that is evidence based from the
Speaker:research, to give you the dose effect
Speaker:needed, you'd need eating really large
Speaker:amounts of this spinach or
Speaker:rocket or beetroot or lettuce
Speaker:and.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So on, which doesn't go well with a car blade.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Exactly. Exactly right. So on a day to day
Speaker:basis, if you've got healthy, fairly balanced diet,
Speaker:then you might be including some or lots of these things.
Speaker:Anyway, and I try to, but in
Speaker:that two day period with low
Speaker:fibre, particularly advice leading into
Speaker:a race, particularly a marathon, it doesn't really tell you
Speaker:well because you're. Yeah, exactly
Speaker:right. So you're not telling to have a load of dark
Speaker:green, leafy veggies during that period,
Speaker:which is where things like beetroot
Speaker:shots come in because, well,
Speaker:a, they are the most heavily researched form
Speaker:of nitrates because it's a way of controlling the amount
Speaker:that you're taking because it's a commercially available
Speaker:product. but also they are the most practical
Speaker:way to get this dose in. So, the
Speaker:dose that I'm talking about is about 300 to 400
Speaker:milligrammes of, of nitrate. You can get that, in
Speaker:about 500 mils of
Speaker:beetroot juice itself. Now that's
Speaker:a lot of beetroot juice.
Speaker:But so what is now more
Speaker:practical is in the last few years, plus,
Speaker:you've been able to get the concentrated beetroot shots
Speaker:that you've been talking about. And that is what most people
Speaker:will use. And each one of those shots will
Speaker:have one kind of evidence based
Speaker:dose of nitrate that, is
Speaker:likely to have a
Speaker:very small impact on
Speaker:your running economy and therefore potentially
Speaker:performance. M.
Speaker:There is some evidence
Speaker:that taking it, ah, chronically, that is
Speaker:for a few days, up to six days before the
Speaker:race, has, some additional
Speaker:benefit
Speaker:beyond race, morning or pre
Speaker:race. But that's,
Speaker:in my opinion, not
Speaker:conclusive. So again, if you
Speaker:want to absolutely tick every box, then you could do
Speaker:that by taking it regularly in the days leading into
Speaker:the event. and there's some evidence that your
Speaker:muscles act as a
Speaker:nitrate reservoir, so you do store some of
Speaker:it. But, from my reading, and I've done a literature
Speaker:review on this when I did my sports nutrition postgrad
Speaker:a few years ago and I've checked and
Speaker:I don't believe there's anything to kind of contradict this recently,
Speaker:really. It's all about your pre, if you have to
Speaker:prioritise it, it would be your pre race dose
Speaker:of nitrates and you want that to be
Speaker:at least an hour and a half before
Speaker:your race. So somewhere between about 3 hours before
Speaker:and an hour and a half before, in
Speaker:order for that pathway that I talked about to have taken
Speaker:effect. Whilst I think of it, because it
Speaker:is an important, quite weird thing to mention.
Speaker:M I mentioned about the oral microbiome having
Speaker:an impact. So the bacteria being
Speaker:key to that first, conversion. So
Speaker:you don't want to have a really clean
Speaker:mouth when this is happening. So
Speaker:there were studies to show that if you had
Speaker:an antibacterial mouthwash, for
Speaker:example, during or
Speaker:shortly after, that process of taking the
Speaker:nitrates, it would disrupt it significantly and your
Speaker:levels of nitric oxide would not raise to anywhere near the same
Speaker:extent. So glue is a bit gross, which you
Speaker:don't have a clean mouth, which unfortunately
Speaker:isn't necessarily what you want because you, you kind of feel
Speaker:like you do want to clean your mouth because you've just taken this
Speaker:bright red thing that's going to stay in your mouth for
Speaker:hours, or your tongue at least.
Speaker:But unfortunately you kind of need to link it there. I've
Speaker:tried to look for how
Speaker:long you need to not have
Speaker:cleaned your mouth before and after. And I don't
Speaker:like clear answer on that, unfortunately.
Speaker:So I tend to kind of,
Speaker:me personally brush my teeth,
Speaker:etcetera, early on marathon
Speaker:day, maybe 4 hours
Speaker:out, something like that, depending on time,
Speaker:and then maybe have breakfast and a cup of tea and
Speaker:blah, blah, blah. and then maybe an hour after that,
Speaker:then I would do the beetroot
Speaker:shot, and in between that
Speaker:and starting the race, I wouldn't be taking any chewing gum, and
Speaker:obviously wouldn't be brushing my teeth or mouthwash or anything like
Speaker:that.
Speaker:>> Charlie: But is it okay, do you think, to kind of just swill
Speaker:your mouth out with water so that you get rid of that flood red
Speaker:teeth look, or are you personally trying to kind of
Speaker:avoid that and you just don't smile at anyone on the way to the
Speaker:race and hope that the race photos turn out
Speaker:okay.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: As far as I'm aware, then I don't think water would
Speaker:change that at all. I don't think it would make a significant change. Your
Speaker:bacteria, it's where you're more kind
Speaker:of aggressively, intentionally
Speaker:cleaning your. That it makes a difference. That's my
Speaker:understanding, anyway.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Interesting. Okay. And so that's pre
Speaker:race. I've heard of some people using
Speaker:them during the race, or sterka, have just come out
Speaker:with a gel that contains 350 milligrammes
Speaker:of nitrates within their, carb gel. So is
Speaker:there benefits, especially for maybe people that are running
Speaker:longer, as in not longer distance, but running for a
Speaker:longer period of time? Is there a benefit for them
Speaker:of taking it during the race?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Possibly. I've not seen anything
Speaker:conclusive in research to say that
Speaker:there should be. but it's something that I've
Speaker:considered myself as well, because, like we talked about at
Speaker:the start here, because I'll make my own
Speaker:fuel for marathons, there's the potential
Speaker:there to add in nitrates in one
Speaker:form or another. but
Speaker:I've decided not to. And also, I guess if you're adding in the
Speaker:beetroot shots in your drink,
Speaker:if you get spinaches, that could get quite
Speaker:messy, potentially. anyway, but
Speaker:I guess if you're a four hour
Speaker:plus marathon, then it could
Speaker:make some sense that you're getting the benefit
Speaker:of that, later in the race. But
Speaker:the half life. Sorry.
Speaker:The raised nitric oxide levels
Speaker:in the blood, and in the
Speaker:muscles, to my understanding, it's not like it comes
Speaker:up and then comes down really quickly. It comes
Speaker:up and stays there for a fair few
Speaker:hours. So it's.
Speaker:There's no need for my understanding
Speaker:to be taking it mid race rather than before. I could be wrong,
Speaker:but not from whatever it.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Okay, interesting. So I guess people
Speaker:could, if they are, you could use it as the
Speaker:gel if they're doing something like a five k, and then at least
Speaker:you've got the carbs, but you want it an hour and a half ish
Speaker:before the race. So
Speaker:have it as your kind of pre run, five k
Speaker:snack on the way to the race.
Speaker:I might have to do some testing with that, but, you mentioned that
Speaker:you used.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: I just won that. Sorry to interrupt you, but I think.
Speaker:>> Charlie: No, don't worry.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: They're confused with nitrates as well, because
Speaker:the, other, I guess, most commonly researched
Speaker:ergogenic aid from a m nutrition
Speaker:perspective is caffeine. And you
Speaker:notice the impact of caffeine rather, right. You feel
Speaker:stimulated, you feel more alert.
Speaker:There is a tangible impact on how you feel.
Speaker:And so some people assume
Speaker:that nitrates, beetroot shots, whatever,
Speaker:aren't working in that commerce because they don't
Speaker:feel anything. But you won't. It's not like caffeine where
Speaker:you get that kind of stimulated effect. It's a more
Speaker:subtle effect that hopefully will benefit your
Speaker:performance but you won't notice why. I just
Speaker:want to point out.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Okay, good to know. Because I feel like yeah you kind of,
Speaker:especially if you're spending some money on it, you want to feel the bang for your
Speaker:buck. But hopefully it translates
Speaker:to improved performance times just while I'm on
Speaker:that. So if anyone does want to
Speaker:try, beat it. You can save 10% on x
Speaker:miles with the code cookeatrun ten.
Speaker:They are the one stop shop for all your fueling
Speaker:needs including pre, post and mid race nutrition.
Speaker:So stock up on those essentials and if you want to give
Speaker:beta a try, this is the place to buy it.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Just on that note. Actually I'm not filled with beta
Speaker:at all, but they are products that I've generally used,
Speaker:in fact exclusively used for nitrates over the
Speaker:years. And some people don't get on with the
Speaker:shots because they find it just too
Speaker:intense from a flavour perspective. too
Speaker:earthy, just too much so they
Speaker:have Laura recently brought out like a
Speaker:crystals option. So they're a
Speaker:bit more versatile in how you take them. So you could have them with
Speaker:your porridge or with some yoghurt or
Speaker:even in a salad or something like that. So it's the same
Speaker:dose being detected slightly differently.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah I've seen those actually. They have those, the shot
Speaker:and a more a ah, bigger like bottle that. Then
Speaker:if you're doing the kind of build up that you can then use,
Speaker:pour out your own 70 mils or whatever you need.
Speaker:And they've got all of those on xml so go and cheque it out. I'll leave a
Speaker:link in the description box so that everyone
Speaker:can have a look. so we've talked a little bit about
Speaker:kind of dosage when to do it, but
Speaker:would you ever use these for your
Speaker:like training runs? Like the ones that
Speaker:are like these are a key training run or
Speaker:is it just for race day for you?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: I think if I'm being completely honest, if
Speaker:money was no object, I might use
Speaker:them a bit more in training because there is benefit
Speaker:there. So a lot
Speaker:of the evidence points towards it
Speaker:being most effective for kind of
Speaker:sub maximal training.
Speaker:So not when you're absolutely,
Speaker:exhausting yourself to the limit.
Speaker:which in my interpretation might
Speaker:be of benefit to the marathon because for a lot
Speaker:of the marathon you are running out sub maximal
Speaker:effort. there is
Speaker:more m recently evidence to
Speaker:show that it could be beneficial for shorter
Speaker:interval and higher intensity work.
Speaker:but yeah, more traditionally it's been associated with that
Speaker:sub maximal effort. And there is
Speaker:potential benefit there in terms of using it for training
Speaker:because if that oxygen cost of that
Speaker:training session is lower,
Speaker:then it's going to feel a bit easier. Your
Speaker:recovery might be slightly improved, which
Speaker:in turn might be a confidence boost, etcetera. And
Speaker:also, yet again, practising things
Speaker:for race day that you wouldn't want to leave for
Speaker:race day itself. So I
Speaker:probably would use them a little bit more
Speaker:regularly in training, if, like I
Speaker:said, if price wasn't a factor. but
Speaker:as it is, it tends to be perhaps
Speaker:once or twice a training block. I will use them for training.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And so you mentioned sort of the recovery aspect
Speaker:of like if it feels easier if you're not having to exert yourself so
Speaker:much to hit the paces necessarily.
Speaker:And they also beta have a product that's
Speaker:designed for recovery or they
Speaker:post it as recovery, which has cherry juice
Speaker:with it. Is that something you've tried? How does that
Speaker:work? Is there benefits to taking nitrates for
Speaker:recovery? Or is it more the cherry juice that they're
Speaker:using there for the recovery aspect?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: I haven't tried it and, I would love to at some
Speaker:point. but the tart cherry
Speaker:juice thing has been around again for a few years
Speaker:as being powerful in terms
Speaker:of recovery. But you do need to be quite
Speaker:clever in terms of what when you use it. Because,
Speaker:if you're kind of
Speaker:reducing inflammation, and
Speaker:oxidation from training
Speaker:too often, then you can actually be blunting the
Speaker:adaptation that you want from that
Speaker:training. But I do know that it's used
Speaker:quite a lot at elite level and can
Speaker:be beneficial for sleep as well. So sleep quality, which
Speaker:is something that we're all striving for.
Speaker:but no, I've not used that product. And
Speaker:I also. I'm not
Speaker:totally. No, I don't really know about
Speaker:nitrate and its role in recovery or the
Speaker:composition of the tea, I'm afraid.
Speaker:>> Charlie: No problem. I just. I'm interested. I keep getting given
Speaker:the sleepy girl, cocktail on
Speaker:instagram, TikTok, which is like
Speaker:tart, cherry juice, magnesium and
Speaker:I think sparkling water or something. That's supposed to
Speaker:be the, you know, the key to sleeping well. And I haven't
Speaker:tried it yet, but I'm actually quite tempted.
Speaker:Are there any downsides other than we've mentioned
Speaker:cost to taking the nitrates of the
Speaker:beetroot shots?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: well, in terms of side effects,
Speaker:no, not really. So, apart from
Speaker:the one that most people will have
Speaker:experienced, which is,
Speaker:discolouration of
Speaker:who and we, for once.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And I was wondering how you're gonna.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Say here, but let's just go with pooh. And
Speaker:we're both new parents, so
Speaker:that's kind of appropriate. And, which can be
Speaker:pretty alarming, actually, when you
Speaker:do it for the first time.
Speaker:Not everyone gets it to the same extent, actually,
Speaker:but most people do. And, sometimes you
Speaker:can forget that you've. That you've taken it.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. Then you're guilty of
Speaker:that.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Okay. That's what's going on here. Yeah, I'm not. I
Speaker:haven't. I'm not bleeding from
Speaker:tindamo. It can be
Speaker:quite alarming. But, it's obviously not, you
Speaker:know, that's not damaging at all. It's just a sign of your body
Speaker:processing it. but beyond that, ah,
Speaker:in a lot of the literature and the literature review
Speaker:that I did back in the day, there are
Speaker:basically no side effects or in effects to
Speaker:be concerned of.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Great. So basically, if you're
Speaker:interested, give it a try. Test it in training.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And then use it for race day.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: It is very, very low risk.
Speaker:you know, it may benefit you. You may feel that it doesn't
Speaker:benefit you. It is 100%
Speaker:legal. It is. You know,
Speaker:the beetroots and the vegetables that it's naturally found in
Speaker:are healthy anyway. So they're good additions to your.
Speaker:To your diet and to your overall health. and although I
Speaker:say, you know, price is a potential barrier in terms
Speaker:of things that you can do,
Speaker:those small one percenters
Speaker:to improve your training, it's pretty low cost compared
Speaker:to some of the other things. Super shoes and so on.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. And cook, eat, run, ten
Speaker:gives you a 10% discount. So if you are interested in trying
Speaker:it, use that on x miles and, let us know how you
Speaker:get on. Well, Tom, thanks so
Speaker:much for joining me today. Where can people find you if they want
Speaker:to follow you on Instagram, Strava, or work with you
Speaker:for run or nutrition coaching?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: So, Maury, let's start with my
Speaker:Instagram, which is plant runner
Speaker:Rd, which is where I am
Speaker:moderately active on. trying to go a bit more,
Speaker:but, could definitely go for improvement there.
Speaker:Strava is just Tom Horace. and
Speaker:then my website is
Speaker:tomhorrishealth.com m
Speaker:which is probably first pull of cord if you're
Speaker:interested in coaching and
Speaker:other nutrition services that I provide.
Speaker:And actually if you wanted to look at this topic in
Speaker:particular, I've got a blog on there which if you scroll
Speaker:back a few pages, I did three separate
Speaker:consecutive blogs on nitrates for
Speaker:endurance running.
Speaker:>> Charlie: I will link to all of that in the show notes so that people can get
Speaker:directly, direct access to you, including the
Speaker:Strava with the hidden runs. Are you going to share them now?
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Yeah, maybe.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So. Jonathan, thank you so much for joining me on the
Speaker:podcast today. I'm so
Speaker:excited to learn a little bit more about
Speaker:Beatit and the company, the products. Can we
Speaker:start a little bit with how and why beat it was
Speaker:formed?
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, of course. So Beetit is part of James white
Speaker:drinks. So we're based up in Suffolk
Speaker:and we've been going since 1986,
Speaker:actually. The company, we've been pressing beetroot
Speaker:since 2005, so quite a long time.
Speaker:And really, the whole sort of beat
Speaker:it in the sense of a sports brand really
Speaker:came about, from the research. So it was
Speaker:researchers up in Scandinavia, back in
Speaker:2006, they found that nitrate
Speaker:helped to increase nitric oxide production in the
Speaker:body, that helped to lower high blood
Speaker:pressure and they were looking to try and find a natural
Speaker:source of it, basically. So at the time they're using
Speaker:things like nitrate salts, potassium salts and things like that.
Speaker:So at the time we were the only sort of beetroot
Speaker:pressing company, so in the UK. So they contacted
Speaker:us. We said, yeah, that's fine. We didn't have much
Speaker:expectations about, you know, what was going to be useful
Speaker:or what they find. and yeah, they did find
Speaker:that helped to lower high blood pressure. In
Speaker:2009, some researchers down in the University
Speaker:of ex today sort of thought, well, maybe that might
Speaker:help in athletic performance. We can help improve blood
Speaker:flow and oxygen around the body. So that's when
Speaker:they started to investigate the effects of beetroot juice on
Speaker:sports and endurance performance. And then, in
Speaker:2011, we sort of rebranded then, so
Speaker:from beat it to beat it sport because we kind of followed the
Speaker:research, really. so yeah, that's kind of where it all started.
Speaker:And since then, it's sort of snowboard really, with a lot
Speaker:of new papers that have come out, a lot of new applications
Speaker:that's been found in different sporting types as well. So,
Speaker:it's been an interesting journey and it's an interesting one. Now there's
Speaker:this still lots of research that's coming out today. So.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So were you just pressing beet for
Speaker:beetroot juice as a. Just, a drink or to include
Speaker:in some of your other drinks? Anyway. And then it just so
Speaker:happens that it is an amazing product for
Speaker:athletes and general health.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, so we. I mean, James White, we've always been pressing fruits and
Speaker:vegetables. So we do all sorts of natural
Speaker:juices. We have, a, product called Big Tom, which is
Speaker:a spice tomato mix. We do.
Speaker:>> Charlie: I've drunk many of those over the years.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. So any sort of fruit and veg, we
Speaker:try to press it. We make it into a product. So it came
Speaker:quite naturally to us. and obviously a lot of the beets are, grown in Cambridge, which
Speaker:is not far away from us in Ipswich. So,
Speaker:yeah, at the start we just thought it'd be
Speaker:interesting to press, I guess press a beetroot juice, as
Speaker:a healthy drink. We also do a carrot juice as well. So we're
Speaker:a big fan of keeping nature quite simple, you know, not adding
Speaker:anything else in. so, yeah, we were already kind of
Speaker:sort of pressing it. So it's quite easy for us to supply
Speaker:the researchers in the beginning.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So it's kind of. Yeah, as you say, it's sort of snowboard from there.
Speaker:So we've talked kind of a
Speaker:little bit about in this episode about runners
Speaker:using it. But do you work with a range of athletes to, improve?
Speaker:Because I guess it's not just running where you can,
Speaker:you want kind of effort and exertion levels
Speaker:to be lowered.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, I
Speaker:guess the kind of basis of our consumers
Speaker:are endurance based. So whether that's on the bike or
Speaker:runners, that's because that's where the research sort of started
Speaker:from, helping to delay the onset
Speaker:of exhaustion. So. And then, it
Speaker:was about 2015, 2016, some
Speaker:researchers looked at what happens to, improving
Speaker:things like intermittent sprinting and, reaction time
Speaker:and strength and force production. So once
Speaker:they found that out, a lot of
Speaker:sports nutritionist dietitians that work with these
Speaker:professional teams, they then contacted us because they were looking
Speaker:at using the products for a different
Speaker:basis. So we supply a lot of
Speaker:teams, in the states, a lot of NFL
Speaker:teams, NCAA d one teams, NBA
Speaker:teams. So I guess the products are applicable to
Speaker:quite a wide range of sports now. and there's a lot of evidence
Speaker:now it's not only just insurance, but
Speaker:also how it can help with things like team sports and
Speaker:independent sprinting and things like that. So
Speaker:yeah, quite a wide range, but for different, different
Speaker:outcomes, I suppose. Different, different applications.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, I hadn't even thought about it. That side. Obviously,
Speaker:we're very focused on kind of
Speaker:nutrition for running and cycling,
Speaker:with x miles and with myself being a runner. So, yeah,
Speaker:that's interesting. And do you get to go over and watch any of the
Speaker:games or are you strictly, send the supplies and hope
Speaker:for the best?
Speaker:>> Charlie: I'd love to. yeah, they're usually very, very busy people, so
Speaker:I, don't get time to go out there. I've been out to the states, but
Speaker:not to see any sport. But, yeah, I'd love to experience it. I think,
Speaker:it's a bit of a crate.
Speaker:>> Charlie: You need a research trip, see how they're putting it into
Speaker:action.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, why not?
Speaker:>> Charlie: So that's kind of the elite side of it. How
Speaker:would you, or how does b six sport
Speaker:suggest that the everyday runner
Speaker:cyclist trying to improve their own personal performance use
Speaker:the products?
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, so I guess the kind of dosing principle remains the
Speaker:same. what the researchers found is that, the
Speaker:higher trained you are, the
Speaker:less effects you'll get from it. and it's usually
Speaker:down to, I guess, the training status. So if you're an elite
Speaker:athlete, you might get a one or 2% improvement.
Speaker:I guess the room for improvement, or the ceiling is a
Speaker:lot, lower in the sense
Speaker:that, they're already quite close to their maximum, whereas for
Speaker:the average person like myself, who's not sort of highly
Speaker:trained, I guess, the room for improvement is
Speaker:greater. and I think it's a lot of these elite athletes may already
Speaker:have a diet that's rich in nitrate already. Perhaps they might
Speaker:already be quite tuned to producing nitric oxide
Speaker:already as well. So, yeah, and that's what the research has shown.
Speaker:So the lower the trains you are, the chances are, the higher
Speaker:the benefits that you're going to get. but yeah, the dosing is still
Speaker:the same, so you still use it in the days leading up to the race.
Speaker:and yeah, like I said before, there's a lot of research
Speaker:every year that's coming up that increases our understanding of it.
Speaker:So, yeah, that just helps
Speaker:for the kind of general public, I guess, just to
Speaker:understand how, how nitrate can
Speaker:benefit their performance. And, the other is the same, whether you're
Speaker:elites or non elites, you know, there's still
Speaker:been, you know, benefit that can, that can help you so
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So how many bottles do you think you need if you've not trained for a
Speaker:marathon and you need to be performing on race
Speaker:day?
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, I mean, I recommend taking it in training
Speaker:so there aren't any side effects.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Okay.
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: It does turn your weeping.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Right. So you can't get around that. But, it's just a
Speaker:juice. You know, we don't have any fibre in there. So people often get a bit
Speaker:concerned about how it's going to sit in the stomach with the products.
Speaker:You're taking it in the days before, you can take it any time of the day.
Speaker:By doing this, you're basically sort of banking up the
Speaker:nitrate in the muscles. So they found out, a couple of years ago that
Speaker:nitrate gets stored in the muscle. So similar to how we
Speaker:carb load before a race, you want to sort of load up
Speaker:the stores of nitrate. So when you start to run the
Speaker:marathon, you're not only using what you have in your bloodstream,
Speaker:but your body will draw it from the stores as well.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Okay.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So that, that's, I guess, one reason why. Why
Speaker:we preload on it. And, yeah, it's also because
Speaker:the nitrate in the body helps. It's been shown to
Speaker:cause more. It takes time, I guess, for the adaptations,
Speaker:to occur rather, than just having it sort of on the day off.
Speaker:You, do get a benefit taking it on the delve, but
Speaker:the research has shown. Yeah, there's much, much
Speaker:more sort, of pronounced benefits, I guess if you take
Speaker:it over about six days, leading up to the race.
Speaker:So, yeah, one or two shots a day.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. And would you recommend people use it
Speaker:in training just to text sort of how it
Speaker:feels and also to get those benefits maybe before their long run or
Speaker:before a hard workout in the weeks leading up to
Speaker:the marathon. So that then the pink wee and
Speaker:the. And the taste, I guess, is not such
Speaker:a shock on race week.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, like with anything, always trout training
Speaker:first. We don't get any sort of negative
Speaker:feedback. like I say, it's been used by over
Speaker:300 different, studies now as well. So it's
Speaker:literally thousands of athletes. and the only side effect is it does
Speaker:to any wheat pink. So. But like with everybody, everyone's
Speaker:different. You know, they haven't been tested in the lab. So, you know, make sure
Speaker:you try it yourself. and, yeah, I guess it's
Speaker:just getting you to something new that's part of a routine. But because you're having
Speaker:it in the days before, any time of the day, even on the day of
Speaker:the race, you've taken about 2 hours before. So by the
Speaker:time you start to run, you would
Speaker:have fully digested it anyway. And it's only a 70 mil volume, so
Speaker:it's not like a pint's worth that you've got to choke through,
Speaker:which is what you would have done if we didn't sort of develop
Speaker:the product back in 2011, into concentrated
Speaker:shots. yeah, definitely trout training. like I say, it's
Speaker:something which you kind of. It's more of a bolt on to what you're
Speaker:already doing. So some people say, oh, do I still need
Speaker:to take gels? Do I still need to worry about my hydration? I mean, yes, you
Speaker:do. Obviously, you need your energy still.
Speaker:This, beetroot juice just helps you to be more efficient with the energy
Speaker:that you are consuming. So it sort of lowers
Speaker:the energy costs of exercise, basically. So still stick to
Speaker:everything else you're doing. Just an extra bolt
Speaker:on. That's got a lot of research evidence behind it. Yeah. To help you.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So it's kind of like the nutrition equivalent of a supershoe.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. I mean, the percentage improvements are quite similar, actually.
Speaker:Yeah. So on average, on endurance,
Speaker:so time taken to reach exhaustion,
Speaker:that's usually what they measure on. It varies from around
Speaker:about five to 7% improvement in the time
Speaker:taken to reach exhaustion. So, And some
Speaker:people say, yeah, would I feel it? It's not like
Speaker:caffeine. It's not like a stimulant where you feel, you know, like elated. It's
Speaker:something which I guess you'd only kind of feel it
Speaker:if you know what, you'd usually start to feel
Speaker:fatigued on a run or a race. You might feel it then that you've
Speaker:got a bit more gas in the tank to keep going, because that's,
Speaker:that's effectively what the shots do. They enable you to
Speaker:run a little bit further into your week's exhaustion because you're
Speaker:more efficient with the fuel that you've got. so, yeah, it's
Speaker:no, no caffeine, because a lot of people are sort of ordering
Speaker:a caffeine thing. So it's not, it's not a stimulant, but,
Speaker:>> Tom Hollis: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: That's, that's the nice thing about it, really. It's just all
Speaker:natural.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And so you've got the 70 millilitres that are kind of the
Speaker:pre packaged. You've also got some ones that are mixed with
Speaker:cherry juice.
Speaker:So what are those ones. How are they different from the ones that
Speaker:are just kind of standalone beet
Speaker:charts?
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, so the sour cherry, it is a mixture. So we've
Speaker:got, it's roughly half and half. So sour cherry
Speaker:is 58% and the beetroot is 42%.
Speaker:So what we've done is we've mixed the two
Speaker:concentrates, sour cherry and beetroot. They're
Speaker:both known to be rich in antioxidants.
Speaker:and then there's a lot of research that's shown that
Speaker:antioxidants such as sour cherry can help
Speaker:lower sort, of muscle soreness or the symptoms of
Speaker:that after a run. And it does that by
Speaker:lowering the, the inflammation that you get after
Speaker:exercise. So,
Speaker:yeah, it's very different. Obviously, it does have a bit of
Speaker:nitrate in from the beetroot that's in there. It's not as much as you would
Speaker:have from the beetroot shop, but it's all really about
Speaker:the combination of antioxidants that you get, from a
Speaker:mixture, and it's also ready to drink as well. So you don't have to worry about
Speaker:pouring out, mixing. You can just quickly shot
Speaker:it back.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And still taking that before
Speaker:or. Because often with the cherry juice, it's
Speaker:recommended to have that afterwards. So it's kind of like you take it before your
Speaker:long run or your marathon, and then you're still going to get
Speaker:the benefits from the cherry juice afterwards.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. So we did actually initially recommend having it just
Speaker:after the, exercise or race, but then we had a lot
Speaker:of feedback from some professors in the sort of
Speaker:world of sour cherry, I guess, and they were saying that really at
Speaker:the moment, the consensus is that there's more benefits if
Speaker:you were to take it before and
Speaker:afterwards. So they kind of coined the term, pre
Speaker:covering, which is, even though it's a recovery product, you have
Speaker:to start before. So. And the reason being,
Speaker:they think, is because just, by taking it afterwards, it's kind
Speaker:of too late, so the damage is done, and you're trying to sort of get it in
Speaker:once the damage has been caused. Whereas if you can get the antioxidants
Speaker:in sort of pre, then your
Speaker:body sort of has it there to use it when it
Speaker:needs to, I suppose so. So we, we've used a dosing
Speaker:where we do, sort of two or three days before and
Speaker:then two or three days afterwards. So it's something which is sort of
Speaker:dose before and dose afterwards. Initially, we didn't want
Speaker:to do that because it kind of crosses over the beach,
Speaker:at sports as well. but we
Speaker:were kind of always led by the science and, when we are told by
Speaker:professors what they think it should be done in the area, which
Speaker:they are, the experts in, we'd be silly to ignore that.
Speaker:So yeah, we've taken it on board. and yeah, that's the kind of
Speaker:recommended way to do it.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So that's one of the other products. You've also got the big
Speaker:bottles of the concentrate
Speaker:and then are they crystals? They kind
Speaker:of the powder, how does that
Speaker:work?
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, so the crystals are, 100% beetroot juice.
Speaker:So they're just vacuum dried
Speaker:basically, and then it's milled, so it's 100%
Speaker:natural. The reason why we made that product is
Speaker:because a lot of people understand the benefits of beetroot,
Speaker:but they either don't like the taste or they don't like the idea of
Speaker:what it's going to taste like. It's often the latter. People have an
Speaker:idea of what it's going to be. so we wanted to have a product
Speaker:which enabled people to sort of
Speaker:benefit from beetroot,
Speaker:but is a bit more palatable.
Speaker:So the crystals are great for like sprinkling over things like
Speaker:breakfast cereals, porridge, oats. I personally have it mixed in with
Speaker:yoghurt. You just get the natural sweetness of beetroot, which
Speaker:is great. So you don't get the oathy taste that you get from the liquid form
Speaker:and yeah, ah, it's just a bit more versatile. We had some ultra
Speaker:runners who are really keen on it because they're having a
Speaker:top up dose of nitrate mid, you know,
Speaker:100k or whatever, they're running these crazy distances.
Speaker:And rather than carrying a shot, which is obviously a little bit more weight, but
Speaker:to little bit bulkier, they can just put a little sachet
Speaker:down in their pocket and they can add it to their drink at
Speaker:feed station. So, and if people are travelling abroad
Speaker:as well, it's lightweight, so yeah, I guess it's
Speaker:the same purpose, but it's just another way of
Speaker:getting the nitrates in. If the shots are a bit too intense for you.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, I guess for travelling, people travelling with hand luggage only,
Speaker:that's a, you know, if they're trying to take a couple of shots, it's a lot of their
Speaker:liquid. you know that you're only allowed to take this little bag,
Speaker:so you don't want to waste the space necessarily, or not
Speaker:waste it, but you know, use a lot of your space with.
Speaker:>> Charlie: It's a lot of beetroot to drink all in one go if you don't
Speaker:have in it.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. Or an expensive mistake if you if you get caught.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, they should be okay. It's around 100 mil, but like you say, it is still
Speaker:something you got to try and fit in there, in.
Speaker:>> Charlie: The bags, but yeah, and there's big debate over
Speaker:whether gels are liquid or not when you're going through those
Speaker:sorts of things, so.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, true.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Sounds like travelling, that could be a really
Speaker:good option for people to use the crystals.
Speaker:yeah, definitely.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Most people who are having
Speaker:maybe breakfast at the hotel, a lot of people have porridge at the hotel
Speaker:or something. You can just, you know, quickly rip open the
Speaker:sachet and mix it in or have it with the yoghurt
Speaker:if that's your thing. So, yeah, it's just a bit more versatile, I
Speaker:guess, which hopefully gets more people
Speaker:sort of on board with a brand.
Speaker:>> Charlie: and so what sets beat it sport apart from
Speaker:other kind of brands or products that
Speaker:are boasting the fact that they've contained nitrates for
Speaker:performance?
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. So I think the key thing, well there's a number of things
Speaker:really, but the most important thing with
Speaker:beetroot or any sort of nitrate related product
Speaker:is how much nitrate is
Speaker:in a serving and is it enough to
Speaker:cause a performance benefit and if it is, is it
Speaker:consistent batch to batch? So one thing that we found very
Speaker:early on was that nitrate varies from beets you
Speaker:get in the garden, in the supermarket to even our regular juice that
Speaker:we do. So when we gave it to the researchers, they just
Speaker:found that it fluctuated all over the place and it's really hard for
Speaker:them to do robust research when you've got
Speaker:inconsistencies like that. So we
Speaker:took a lot of time to get it right. we
Speaker:use sort of high nitrate beetroot, I guess,
Speaker:and then we standardise every batch. So every
Speaker:shot has got, at least 400 milligrammes of
Speaker:nitrate in. So I guess there
Speaker:are many competitors out there, obviously in the UK,
Speaker:elsewhere in the world as well. But we actually test
Speaker:every single competitor product when it is launched, to
Speaker:see how much nitrate is in there. And does it stack up to what they
Speaker:claim? We don't release these to the public
Speaker:because, I think we'll probably get.
Speaker:>> Charlie: A lot of legal, don't want to.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Get sued, especially in the states, but, we've been quite
Speaker:shocked actually. There's some products out there in the states that are claiming
Speaker:400 milligrammes. they've got less than
Speaker:ten. So it shows that people
Speaker:are often misled, which is quite frustrating for
Speaker:us because that's where a lot of the research and development
Speaker:came. From our perspective, we wanted to make sure that we
Speaker:were standardising it. another thing is that we
Speaker:keep it literally 100% natural. So there's only
Speaker:two ingredients in our shots. If you look at other nitrate
Speaker:products, you'll probably see a handful of ingredients.
Speaker:A lot of them aren't natural, they're
Speaker:preservatives. so we keep it really clean, really natural. We're
Speaker:in form sport as well, so any athlete has that
Speaker:assurance. and we're also the product that's been used
Speaker:by all the research. So any beetroot related
Speaker:research that's been done over the last sort of 15
Speaker:years, about 90% of them have used our
Speaker:product. So they know that our product has actually been
Speaker:tested. we haven't funded any research
Speaker:so we're just the ones
Speaker:that can provide the researchers with a product that has a standardised
Speaker:dose. And we do a placebo shot as well
Speaker:which has no nitrate. So they can do a
Speaker:crossover, double blind study. So
Speaker:that's why they use us. they trust us. So
Speaker:a lot of these dietitians and the nutritionists,
Speaker:that's why they come to us, because they read about the research, they'll
Speaker:see that they used our products and they come to us. So
Speaker:I guess we're the most credible, in
Speaker:that sense that we are actually tested. I don't
Speaker:think there's many products out there that's probably tested as much as
Speaker:us. and yeah we're quite sort of proud of that. I think
Speaker:it's is something which sets us apart from the rest. Yeah,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Great. And if people want to find out more about the
Speaker:products, where can they go other than x
Speaker:miles which have the product? And we have got 10% off
Speaker:code for listeners with the product, the
Speaker:code cook, eat, run ten which will save across
Speaker:xmls including the Beatit sport products.
Speaker:But yeah, where can people go to find more?
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, great. I mean xmiles is a great resource, as
Speaker:well. We have our own website, beatitude.com, where we have
Speaker:info on there. we have our own Instagram page
Speaker:where we post infographics, information,
Speaker:videos, content. If there's something where
Speaker:if someone has a question that we can't answer online, just drop
Speaker:us an email, contact us on our website. We've got
Speaker:things like brochures, booklets we can send out as a
Speaker:PDF always happy to jump on a call as
Speaker:well. We often speak to athletes who
Speaker:have certain events where they want some bespoke
Speaker:advice. If it's back to back and even how do I
Speaker:dose? So, yeah, just reach out to us directly
Speaker:or look on our website. That's probably the best way.
Speaker:Fab.
Speaker:>> Charlie: well, thank you so much. It was so interesting. I've actually got a
Speaker:box here ready in front of me to test
Speaker:out as part of my training to see
Speaker:how I get on in training and then hopefully use them for Berlin Marathon
Speaker:at the end of the summer.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Oh, brilliant. Brilliant. It's in, is it? September Berlin, isn't it?
Speaker:Yeah, no, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, it'll come around soon, but yeah, yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: It's been, a pleasure chatting with you and hope you go well
Speaker:with the products that's. Now you get on.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Will do. Thank you so much.
Speaker:Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of the
Speaker:Cook Eat Run podcast with xmls. Don't forget
Speaker:to get all of your nutrition products from xmls,
Speaker:the one stop store for your nutritional needs. Try out
Speaker:some new gels. Try out the beat it sport range. I know that
Speaker:I've got literally a box sitting right in front of me and I can't
Speaker:wait to try it out. Next week's
Speaker:episode is with Jamie. Jamie running
Speaker:on Instagram and we are doing a deep dive into
Speaker:Sterka products. I'm talking about his favourites. I've
Speaker:ordered some products for me to try, so don't forget to join us
Speaker:next week and hit that subscribe button so you never miss
Speaker:an episode. Don't.
