Episode 25

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Published on:

9th Aug 2024

Swimming Nutrition with Lara Giusti

Swimming Nutrition with Lara Giusti of Veloforte

This week on Cook Eat Run, Charlie chats with Lara Giusti, co-founder and head chef at Veloforte, about the unique challenges of nutrition for swimming. Lara shares her journey of creating Veloforte to provide natural sports nutrition options and offers invaluable tips on how to effectively fuel for swimming, especially for those tackling triathlons or long-distance swims.


The Birth of Veloforte

Lara discusses the inspiration behind Veloforte, driven by the need for natural sports nutrition. Learn how her personal experiences and passion for real food led to the creation of a product range that caters to athletes seeking healthier fueling options.



Challenges of Swimming Nutrition

Swimming poses unique fueling challenges due to the lack of storage options and the water environment. Lara explains how to pre-fuel and post-fuel effectively, and offers advice on intra-swim fueling for those longer sessions. Discover why hydration is just as crucial in swimming and how to manage it.



Practical Tips for Swim Fuelling

From the importance of practising your fueling strategy during training to the logistics of carrying and consuming gels while swimming, Lara provides practical tips to ensure you’re well-prepared. She also covers the importance of carbohydrate loading and how to structure your nutrition leading up to race day.



Product Highlights

Charlie and Lara discuss some of Veloforte's standout products, including the endurance bars, chews, and the newly launched overnight oats. Learn why these products are favourites among athletes and how they can fit into your training and recovery routine.



Connect with Veloforteand explore their range of natural sports nutrition products at Veloforte.com.


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 COOKEATRUN for 10% off site wide at Xmiles.co.uk


This podcast is produced by Buckers at Decibelle Creative decibellecreative.com / @decibelle_creative


Transcript
Charlie:

Hello and welcome back to the Cook Eat Run podcast with x

Charlie:

Miles. Today I'm chatting with Lara Giusti,

Charlie:

the co founder and head chef at Veloforte We're going to be talking

Charlie:

about nutrition for swimming, which is arguably the hardest sport to

Charlie:

fuel for. But first, I'd love to hear a little bit

Charlie:

more about how and why you started

Charlie:

Veloforte

Lara Giusti:

Well, hi Charlie. Thank you for inviting me on. it's a

Lara Giusti:

pleasure. I started

Lara Giusti:

Velaforte a little bit selfishly actually, because

Lara Giusti:

I was just astounded by the lack

Lara Giusti:

of natural sports nutrition on the market.

Lara Giusti:

So I think when you are, ah,

Lara Giusti:

active and you take care in

Lara Giusti:

your health and fitness, it always

Lara Giusti:

astounds me that you follow a healthy

Lara Giusti:

diet. You try and do that day in, day out

Lara Giusti:

and when you put your body through its hardest paces,

Lara Giusti:

the options for sports nutrition were very

Lara Giusti:

limited to ultra processed,

Lara Giusti:

weird and wonderful, concoctions of,

Lara Giusti:

ingredients that you would never, ever normally eat. And

Lara Giusti:

that's what you're putting in your body when you're pushing yourself your hardest.

Lara Giusti:

So I thought there must be a better way, there must be a

Lara Giusti:

more natural way to do that. So I actually started

Lara Giusti:

coming up with the recipes for Velaforte, really to fuel me

Lara Giusti:

and my husband through our sports, and it's

Lara Giusti:

really rolled itself out through there, really.

Lara Giusti:

So we started, you know, making our own

Lara Giusti:

prototype products in the kitchen and then sharing them with our

Lara Giusti:

friends and then they wanted to order some and it just

Lara Giusti:

became bigger and bigger and bigger. Ah, and here we are

Lara Giusti:

now, with a full complement of sports

Lara Giusti:

nutrition and wellness products.

Charlie:

Amazing. So what was your sport, what were you, your husband, you

Charlie:

training for? Need the kind of sports

Charlie:

nutrition.

Lara Giusti:

So mark, my husband, cycling

Lara Giusti:

all the way, he was training for

Lara Giusti:

a really long ride, Manchester to London,

Lara Giusti:

to support ambitious about autism. and he

Lara Giusti:

was just really struggling. He was either under

Lara Giusti:

fuelling because he couldn't face taking on the

Lara Giusti:

gels and the dry, dusty energy bars that

Lara Giusti:

he was putting in his jersey pockets, or he

Lara Giusti:

was having really bad gastric side effects

Lara Giusti:

from taking on these, food that he just, his

Lara Giusti:

body wasn't used to eating. and so that

Lara Giusti:

was his challenge. And me, I'm a bit of

Lara Giusti:

an omni sports person. I like to do a bit of

Lara Giusti:

running. I, ah, like to do, you know, strength and

Lara Giusti:

conditioning training. So it's just ways to

Lara Giusti:

sort of help me fuel and recover

Lara Giusti:

after my exercise. but yeah,

Lara Giusti:

it was just sort of a no brainer

Lara Giusti:

really, from I'm madly

Lara Giusti:

passionate about home cooking and using real food

Lara Giusti:

ingredients and to try incorporate those into

Lara Giusti:

our fueling strategies for our events, then

Lara Giusti:

that was just, you know, it was what we wanted to do

Lara Giusti:

and what we ended up being very successful

Lara Giusti:

doing.

Charlie:

I mean, I know a lot of people that use your products. I personally,

Charlie:

I really like the, I don't know, the chews, the like

Charlie:

ginger. I feel like I save them for the

Charlie:

end of my runs when my stomach is feeling a bit

Charlie:

and they just feel like quite nicely

Charlie:

settling. They don't feel overwhelming. It's not like trying

Charlie:

to shove down another gel and

Charlie:

I feel like a lot of people who struggled with gels,

Charlie:

or normal gels in particular, have found your products and

Charlie:

they really work for them.

Lara Giusti:

So, yeah, yeah, I think it's

Lara Giusti:

because we use a combination of sweet and savoury

Lara Giusti:

in most of our recipes. So the problem with

Lara Giusti:

fueling for any long endurance, exercise

Lara Giusti:

or session or event is that you get so bored with sweet

Lara Giusti:

en suite fuelling and you can't face to have another

Lara Giusti:

sugary, you know, gel or a bar.

Lara Giusti:

So we purposefully use

Lara Giusti:

spices and botanical ingredients that

Lara Giusti:

sort of break that sweet on sweet flavour

Lara Giusti:

fatigue. We want you to look forward

Lara Giusti:

to your fueling. We want you to get excited about that. Oh,

Lara Giusti:

you know, my garmin's pinged at 20 minutes. It's now my

Lara Giusti:

next time to take on some energy. What am I going to have

Lara Giusti:

next? Am I going to have something with a little bit of mint in it to

Lara Giusti:

freshen my head? Am I going to have something with ginger in it because I'm feeling a little

Lara Giusti:

bit nauseous. It's going to settle my stomach.

Lara Giusti:

Our hydration mixes have herbs in

Lara Giusti:

them, so there's basil and there's,

Lara Giusti:

sage. So it really challenges

Lara Giusti:

your taste buds and gives you that break and that sort

Lara Giusti:

of motivation to keep fueling.

Charlie:

I feel like the electrolyte drinks make quite good cocktails,

Charlie:

like post run recovery

Charlie:

cocktails.

Lara Giusti:

I do have to say the most amazing hangover cure as well.

Lara Giusti:

So, but yes, so, yeah, so our, ah,

Lara Giusti:

activo, which is strawberry, and

Lara Giusti:

basil. It's got some lemon in there as

Lara Giusti:

well. Delicious. Shaken over ice with

Lara Giusti:

whatever tipple you want to add, you know. Yummy.

Charlie:

Might have to try that this weekend.

Charlie:

Do you have a particular favourite product?

Lara Giusti:

Well, I think the whole Vellaforte journey started

Lara Giusti:

with our endurance bars. It started with

Lara Giusti:

our energy bars which are based on an ancient

Lara Giusti:

italian recipe, Pam forte. So my

Lara Giusti:

husband, his family are italian. He's brought up with

Lara Giusti:

Panforti in his house. And, it was just a. It's

Lara Giusti:

rumoured to be what powered the roman legions

Lara Giusti:

to conquer the new world. So if it can power them, what

Lara Giusti:

can it power you to do? So, we took an old family

Lara Giusti:

recipe and I tweaked it, you know, pom Forte's

Lara Giusti:

got lots of lovely, you know,

Lara Giusti:

brandies and spirits in it, so they all

Lara Giusti:

came out and fresh, orange zests and fruit juices

Lara Giusti:

went in and I altered the mix of nuts and fruits

Lara Giusti:

to give a really good endurance profile.

Lara Giusti:

and our classico bar was born. And that is what really

Lara Giusti:

started Veloforte And so I guess my allegiances

Lara Giusti:

still are, ah, to our classico bar, which has just won

Lara Giusti:

two stars in the great Taste awards as well as of

Lara Giusti:

yesterday, which is amazing. So

Lara Giusti:

not only does it support your endurance exercise,

Lara Giusti:

but it is guaranteed to taste amazing, too. So,

Lara Giusti:

I think, yeah, I'm in love with those. I love the chews

Lara Giusti:

as well. but also super proud of some of our

Lara Giusti:

newer product ranges which morph between,

Lara Giusti:

performance nutrition and wellness

Lara Giusti:

nutrition. So again, it's sort of supporting this 360

Lara Giusti:

approach of what you put in,

Lara Giusti:

you get out. And it's not just when you're on the bike, on the run,

Lara Giusti:

in the water, swimming. It's everything that you do

Lara Giusti:

before, during and after that really

Lara Giusti:

helps your performance.

Charlie:

Yeah, I've got the overnight oats to test that you

Charlie:

kindly sent me that. I can't wait. I'm a big overnight oats fan, especially in

Charlie:

this weather. They're such an easy kind of prep ahead.

Charlie:

Chuck in the fridge, have them after a long run or after a

Charlie:

run, or I take them to work to have them

Charlie:

in the hospital while I'm going through patient notes and

Charlie:

stuff.

Lara Giusti:

Exactly. Good.

Charlie:

okay, so swimming. We've talked a bit about

Charlie:

cycling and running. We talk about that a lot on

Charlie:

the podcast. I think that's the area that people

Charlie:

maybe feel not the most

Charlie:

comfortable, but are most aware of sort of how to

Charlie:

fuel and what to fuel with. But swimming is really

Charlie:

challenging and I feel like as more people are

Charlie:

transitioning towards

Charlie:

triathlon and for me personally, this

Charlie:

is quite a selfish, podcast episode because I want to do swim

Charlie:

serpentine, which is next. I'm doing it next

Charlie:

summer, which is 2 miles. And

Charlie:

I've got. I asked somebody today, I was

Charlie:

like, do they provide snacks on the route? Because 2 miles, I'm

Charlie:

going to be swimming for over an hour. I'm going to be

Charlie:

thirsty, hungry, grumpy.

Charlie:

So let's start at the beginning. How

Charlie:

does swim fuellings differ to

Charlie:

running and cycling?

Lara Giusti:

So the joy of running and cycling is you have

Lara Giusti:

all these wonderful pockets to shove your energy

Lara Giusti:

products in, whether it's in your running belt, it's in your top

Lara Giusti:

tube bag on your bike, you know, you've got water

Lara Giusti:

holders, you can have hydration packs.

Lara Giusti:

Easy peasy. So if you want to fuel, if

Lara Giusti:

you want to run or cycle with fuel, and if

Lara Giusti:

you're running and cycling for long enough that

Lara Giusti:

demands you to fuel, then easy

Lara Giusti:

peasy, right. You're going to shove whatever you fancy in whatever

Lara Giusti:

pockets, obviously swimming much harder.

Lara Giusti:

you've got the water nature of it. So,

Lara Giusti:

you know, whatever you're going to be fueling with needs to be in a

Lara Giusti:

waterproof packet. It needs to be easy to either

Lara Giusti:

shove in your wetsuit or down your swimsuit. it

Lara Giusti:

needs to be really quick to access, easy to

Lara Giusti:

open, liquid format rather than

Lara Giusti:

chewing, because chewing and swimming and water, very

Lara Giusti:

difficult. so what we see is

Lara Giusti:

a lot of people who swim tend to focus on pre

Lara Giusti:

fuelling and post fuelling. And the

Lara Giusti:

intra swim fuelling is sort of, as you say, if

Lara Giusti:

you feel like you really need to fuel, then

Lara Giusti:

having an emergency gel, something that's really easy to

Lara Giusti:

open, take and carry on swimming,

Lara Giusti:

seems to be the preference for people

Lara Giusti:

who are swimming longer distances over an hour, over

Lara Giusti:

an hour and a half. But for those shorter distance

Lara Giusti:

swims, if you're doing it up to 60

Lara Giusti:

minutes, maybe up to 90 minutes, if

Lara Giusti:

you're pre fueling right, and you're taking your

Lara Giusti:

recovery fuelling seriously, you should be

Lara Giusti:

absolutely fine.

Charlie:

I just get really thirsty when I do

Charlie:

swims the pool and I end up having kind of a

Charlie:

bottle of electrolytes with my like, swim

Charlie:

workout kind of taped to that at the end of the

Charlie:

lane.

Lara Giusti:

Yeah.

Charlie:

Would you suggest kind of having electrolytes

Charlie:

pre swim then to try and kind of combat

Charlie:

that?

Lara Giusti:

Totally. There is a misconception because you're

Lara Giusti:

in the water, you don't sweat. You absolutely do sweat. And

Lara Giusti:

especially if in your pool, if you're in a heated pool,

Lara Giusti:

you will be sweating, you will be losing vital

Lara Giusti:

electrolytes and you won't be necessarily as aware

Lara Giusti:

of that. So it's really important to stay on top of your

Lara Giusti:

electrolyte load. So, yes, pre fueling with

Lara Giusti:

electrolytes before you swim, you know, 500

Lara Giusti:

mils of an electrolyte solution, you can have energy in

Lara Giusti:

there as well to sort of help with your pre

Lara Giusti:

fuelling. And then if you are in a pool, having

Lara Giusti:

a bottle pool side that you can every three or

Lara Giusti:

four lengths, have a good swig and keep going.

Lara Giusti:

Brilliant. If you're out open water

Lara Giusti:

swimming, harder if you're on your own,

Lara Giusti:

obviously, to take electrites with you, but you can

Lara Giusti:

have electrolytes in your energy fuel as well,

Lara Giusti:

so lots of gels contain electrolytes. All of our

Lara Giusti:

gels contain an electrolyte load as well. So if you're taking

Lara Giusti:

on energy, you can also start taking on electrolytes there as

Lara Giusti:

well. And obviously, if you're doing ultra

Lara Giusti:

distances outdoors, then you should

Lara Giusti:

have some support boats with you that they can carry your

Lara Giusti:

fuel for you. But it's all about the

Lara Giusti:

planning and the training of your gut

Lara Giusti:

and your fuelling as you're, as you're

Lara Giusti:

exercising, as you're swimming, as well as your support

Lara Giusti:

team as well. So they know exactly what you'll need. Need at

Lara Giusti:

what stage. But yes, hydration is something

Lara Giusti:

that's often overlooked. So yes, pre

Lara Giusti:

hydrating, post hydrating as well. So having a

Lara Giusti:

hydration mix as part of your recovery

Lara Giusti:

routine is best.

Charlie:

Okay, so we, you said a little bit there about

Charlie:

kind of training the gut, and that's something that I really advocate for in

Charlie:

run training. If you're planning on having

Charlie:

a gel kind of midway through or partway through

Charlie:

your swim, is that something you'd suggest then practising in

Charlie:

your longer swim training, even if you're in the pool?

Lara Giusti:

Absolutely, yeah, totally. You don't want any

Lara Giusti:

surprises on event day. So it is

Lara Giusti:

hard to coordinate, you know, treading water, opening

Lara Giusti:

a gel, taking it. What do you do with the packet no one

Lara Giusti:

wants, you know, sea pollution, shoving it back down

Lara Giusti:

you, you've got to practise it and you've got to

Lara Giusti:

know how that feels when you can't touch the

Lara Giusti:

bottom, and when you're slightly out of breath. So

Lara Giusti:

absolutely practise it in your training.

Lara Giusti:

Make yourself do that. Even if you're doing a shorter

Lara Giusti:

training swim, still practise the fueling.

Lara Giusti:

It's not going to do you any harm, but the actual going through

Lara Giusti:

the motions, having your muscle memory, knowing what it's

Lara Giusti:

like to take on fuel while you're in the

Lara Giusti:

water is essential if you're on those longer swims. And you

Lara Giusti:

know you're going to have to take something when you're out there.

Charlie:

Just thinking about the logistics of this. for those just

Charlie:

listening, you're kind of demonstrating as if you just have it in. But my

Charlie:

wetsuit is a really hard to get into and

Charlie:

you kind of don't want to let that water in. Once you're kind of cosy

Charlie:

inside, could you shove it up the

Charlie:

sleeve or.

Lara Giusti:

Any opening is a

Lara Giusti:

goal, to put your fuel. So if it's easier to

Lara Giusti:

shove it in your sleeve, if you're wearing a sleeveless one, to put it

Lara Giusti:

in here rather than obviously down your neck.

Lara Giusti:

yeah, but practise, practise in

Lara Giusti:

the thing you're going to swim in. Practise fueling,

Lara Giusti:

wearing your outfit and where you're going to

Lara Giusti:

stash and re stash your packet after you've fueled.

Charlie:

I'm just imagining myself next summer in my like,

Charlie:

local pool with like a wetsuit on, getting

Charlie:

gels out and trying to film it. I mean, I'm

Charlie:

already, it's already embarrassing enough, me trying to kind

Charlie:

of film myself, have my workout, have my

Charlie:

electrolytes. Now I'm going to be in the wetsuit with my

Charlie:

gel, having a little snack.

Lara Giusti:

As embarrassing as it may be, it's worth its weight in

Lara Giusti:

gold. So please do practise.

Charlie:

Yeah, yeah, that's really good tips. And

Charlie:

so, again, selfishly, for those who are doing swim

Charlie:

serpentine, it's part of the London classics. For those who don't

Charlie:

know, that is when you complete the London marathon

Charlie:

ride, 100 hundred mile bike ride

Charlie:

and 2 miles in the

Charlie:

serpentine. For me,

Charlie:

I think that's going to take me an hour and a

Charlie:

half ish. How would you recommend

Charlie:

structuring? Do I feel for it? Like an hour and a

Charlie:

half run with that pre,

Charlie:

load? Would I carb load before that? How

Charlie:

would you recommend kind of leading up to

Charlie:

that as my race day?

Lara Giusti:

Yes. I mean, you want to perform at m your best,

Lara Giusti:

you want to enjoy it, so you don't want to hit that

Lara Giusti:

wall in the water. That's horrendous. So

Lara Giusti:

approach it like you would approach any event. Yes, you can

Lara Giusti:

carb load. We would always suggest that you don't do

Lara Giusti:

that in just one bowl of pasta in the night before. it

Lara Giusti:

sits too heavy in your stomach and you're bloated

Lara Giusti:

and, you don't sleep well. So in the three

Lara Giusti:

days running up, just generally increase the amount of

Lara Giusti:

carbohydrates you take on with each meal. So, you know,

Lara Giusti:

have another little spoon of pasta, have another scoop of

Lara Giusti:

potato, have another slice of toast. It doesn't have to

Lara Giusti:

be huge mammoth portions. You're just trying to

Lara Giusti:

generally up your carbohydrate intake.

Lara Giusti:

And it's that slow increase in your carb

Lara Giusti:

intake that makes sure that your glycogen

Lara Giusti:

stores in your muscles and your liver are tip

Lara Giusti:

top when you're entering that race. So,

Lara Giusti:

yes, have a carb focused, meal

Lara Giusti:

the night before your breakfast or the meal that

Lara Giusti:

you, enjoy before the start. It might

Lara Giusti:

not be a morning start. Should be two

Lara Giusti:

to 3 hours before the start line to allow your body

Lara Giusti:

time to properly digest it.

Lara Giusti:

Carb focus with low level protein, some

Lara Giusti:

healthy fats in there, something that you've eaten

Lara Giusti:

before. No surprises on event day.

Lara Giusti:

So if you love oats, have some oats.

Lara Giusti:

Yeah, have it with some greek yoghurt. Have it with some fruits and

Lara Giusti:

some bit of honey or maple syrup to up that

Lara Giusti:

carbohydrate load in there. if you're like

Lara Giusti:

a scrambled egg lover, whole mil toast,

Lara Giusti:

scrambled eggs, you know, bagels and peanut butter and bananas.

Lara Giusti:

All of these are fantastic. And if you've tried it before and

Lara Giusti:

you know that it sits well in your stomach, go for something that,

Lara Giusti:

you know works for you. Now, your

Lara Giusti:

start line, you know, if your start line is 3

Lara Giusti:

hours ahead of your breakfast, you're going to

Lara Giusti:

need to top yourself up. So an

Lara Giusti:

hour before, we would suggest a little carbohydrate

Lara Giusti:

snack. And again, think about your hydration at that point. You can

Lara Giusti:

take on some electrolytes in that hour

Lara Giusti:

window beforehand. And that is the time, if you

Lara Giusti:

love caffeine, to take on caffeine.

Lara Giusti:

So there's a lot of misconception about caffeine in

Lara Giusti:

that, ten minutes before, if you're on a run or a

Lara Giusti:

ride last hill or ten minutes before the

Lara Giusti:

end, I'm going to take my caffeine gel. And,

Lara Giusti:

no, it takes 45 to 60 minutes for

Lara Giusti:

caffeine to enter into your system and then it

Lara Giusti:

stays in your system for three to 4 hours.

Lara Giusti:

So use that time. Your hour

Lara Giusti:

before is the time to load with caffeine. If you like to fuel with

Lara Giusti:

caffeine and then, you know, by start line it's fully

Lara Giusti:

absorbed. Your tip top, you're mentally switched

Lara Giusti:

on. Your perception of exertion is

Lara Giusti:

lowered and you're ready to like put in your all on

Lara Giusti:

that. Diving in on your first part of.

Charlie:

The serpentine swim also bit

Charlie:

tmI, but also the caffeine. A hot drink

Charlie:

can help things get moving so that you can go to the loo

Charlie:

before your race.

Lara Giusti:

Very important, like, because when

Lara Giusti:

you're in the water you can wee,

Lara Giusti:

but not anything else.

Lara Giusti:

so yes, very important to try and be regular,

Lara Giusti:

to choose a food that, you know, sits well in your

Lara Giusti:

stomach to think about when you're going to fuel with your caffeine

Lara Giusti:

and then, you know, 20 minutes before a little

Lara Giusti:

extra, carbohydrate load a little gel or a

Lara Giusti:

half a banana or something to really get you tip

Lara Giusti:

top. You can fuel your

Lara Giusti:

muscle glycogen stores in the three days beforehand. Then

Lara Giusti:

overnight when you're sleeping, your liver stores will drop.

Lara Giusti:

So the food that you take on in the morning and in the

Lara Giusti:

run up to the start line is topping up your liver stores again.

Lara Giusti:

So you want to enter it as full as you can. Because

Lara Giusti:

if you find that fueling during that swim, if

Lara Giusti:

it takes you an hour and a quarter, an hour and a half,

Lara Giusti:

if you find it really difficult to fuel, your body

Lara Giusti:

holds enough glycogen if you go in full for

Lara Giusti:

up to 90 minutes. So you could finish it

Lara Giusti:

without taking on extra fuel or

Lara Giusti:

you could time it. If you are comfortable taking on gels, then

Lara Giusti:

you would time it more like a long run, more

Lara Giusti:

like a long ride. In that you would start to fuel

Lara Giusti:

within the first half an hour, 20 minutes, half an hour of

Lara Giusti:

your swim. You know, take a gel and then little

Lara Giusti:

and often as you go through your swim because that

Lara Giusti:

improves your absorption and, it

Lara Giusti:

reduces the, risk of your gastric side

Lara Giusti:

effects if you do little and often fueling throughout the

Lara Giusti:

swim.

Charlie:

Guess more, more tricky in terms of

Charlie:

like stopping and opening things. So maybe like that. Yeah,

Charlie:

just the, like you said, kind of a

Charlie:

gel every sort of half hourish in

Charlie:

that you only hopefully need two

Charlie:

in that one, one in each sleeve and you're good to go.

Lara Giusti:

You're all fine.

Charlie:

Yeah.

Lara Giusti:

Evenly balanced? Yes, totally. And

Lara Giusti:

then after, the

Lara Giusti:

important thing is that you really take your

Lara Giusti:

recovery fueling. Because if you haven't managed to take on energy

Lara Giusti:

during that 90 minutes swim, your

Lara Giusti:

glycogen levels are through the floor, you're in massive

Lara Giusti:

glycogen debt. So your focus on recovery fueling

Lara Giusti:

needs to be carbohydrates first and

Lara Giusti:

then your uptake within those 1st 30

Lara Giusti:

minutes, which is your golden window of

Lara Giusti:

recovery, is improved by low level

Lara Giusti:

protein. And then you can take on your fluids and electrolytes at the

Lara Giusti:

same time as well. So having a protein shake

Lara Giusti:

that is ready for you or a

Lara Giusti:

protein bar with carbohydrates in it

Lara Giusti:

is the best thing to do. As soon as you're out the water,

Lara Giusti:

warm up, have something to eat which is

Lara Giusti:

carbohydrate focused with protein, and restore your

Lara Giusti:

electrolytes either with electrolyte drink or having electrolytes

Lara Giusti:

in your protein recovery shake. Then, you know, that

Lara Giusti:

you've ticked that box, you've kick started your

Lara Giusti:

recovery and then you've got two to 3 hours to have a

Lara Giusti:

proper balanced meal that you would, you know,

Lara Giusti:

have your proteins and your carbs and your green

Lara Giusti:

veggies and everything else, so. But it's in that

Lara Giusti:

30 minutes window that your body is most receptive to

Lara Giusti:

topping up those stores again. And that's really going to help you if you

Lara Giusti:

are on back to back events. just help with

Lara Giusti:

your recovery in general.

Charlie:

Now, the water in the UK,

Charlie:

unfortunately, and especially

Charlie:

m recently, isn't the cleanest. It was the

Charlie:

triathlon in Paris the other day and there was huge.

Lara Giusti:

They delayed it for 24 hours, didn't they?

Charlie:

Yeah. I've been recommended by a

Charlie:

friend with no scientific background or

Charlie:

knowledge to have like a coke or something

Charlie:

like that afterwards, almost as like a. Ah, I know. There's so

Charlie:

much disgusting stuff in it that it will then

Charlie:

balance out kill anything you've

Charlie:

accidentally consumed.

Lara Giusti:

A coke after is great for carb

Lara Giusti:

loading. Obviously, there needs to be a full

Lara Giusti:

sugar coke, not a zero. and any

Lara Giusti:

other, you know, carbonated, sugary drink will do as

Lara Giusti:

well. so, yes, you could have that. I don't

Lara Giusti:

think the chemicals within a coat will, will

Lara Giusti:

neutralise any of the, any of the bacteria or anything that you

Lara Giusti:

take on. it's a Coca Cola. If

Lara Giusti:

a Coca cola is something that you look forward to and you

Lara Giusti:

know you're going to want after you finish, then have

Lara Giusti:

one. It's all about getting the

Lara Giusti:

carbohydrate in, in whatever form you want.

Lara Giusti:

Choose a form that suits you, that you

Lara Giusti:

enjoy, that you know, you're not going to get to the end and go, I can't face

Lara Giusti:

that, you know, train with it again. So

Lara Giusti:

if you're doing your long training swims, think

Lara Giusti:

about what would you have as your recovery? Is it a

Lara Giusti:

shake that you've tried and tested before, you know, sits well

Lara Giusti:

in your digestion? Is it a protein

Lara Giusti:

recovery bar? Is it a can of coke and

Lara Giusti:

a packet of peanuts? You know, you're getting

Lara Giusti:

what you will need, your carbohydrates, your

Lara Giusti:

proteins and your salts from those

Lara Giusti:

foods. Choose something that you know you're

Lara Giusti:

going to stomach. the healthier

Lara Giusti:

the better.

Charlie:

And hopefully try and find bodies of water that are, on

Charlie:

the cleaner side and just keep your mouth closed.

Lara Giusti:

Yeah. At least with the serpentine, it's a lake, isn't it? So,

Lara Giusti:

you're hoping that there's no sewage contamination?

Charlie:

Yeah, unfortunately, I train,

Charlie:

will be training in the Thames and it's. I haven't

Charlie:

summoned it this year because it just looks so disgusting, or I've

Charlie:

heard so many, they won't even throw.

Lara Giusti:

The copses in after the Oxford Cambridge boat

Lara Giusti:

races anymore. So.

Charlie:

Yes, yeah, but, yeah,

Charlie:

the serpentine is at least a little bit

Charlie:

more. It's probably bird poo rather than

Charlie:

human pigeon poop. Yeah.

Charlie:

talking of kind of open water, is there a difference in

Charlie:

fueling needs in an open water swim

Charlie:

versus, like, the training in the pool that probably most people are

Charlie:

doing as a more regular, you know, get that, getting

Charlie:

their swimming miles in?

Lara Giusti:

Yeah. I don't think you should underestimate the

Lara Giusti:

force of nature that is open water swimming.

Lara Giusti:

So it's temperature, it's

Lara Giusti:

tidals, it's currents, it's general

Lara Giusti:

weather around you, it's the impact of

Lara Giusti:

waves on your stroke style. so

Lara Giusti:

if you can do some open water training,

Lara Giusti:

if that is what your event is, then do it. training

Lara Giusti:

in the pool is great for endurance and

Lara Giusti:

understand you can practise your fueling and

Lara Giusti:

hours and hours of repetitive muscle memory and

Lara Giusti:

everything else, but actually training in the

Lara Giusti:

conditions that you're going to do your inventing

Lara Giusti:

is paramount to success, really.

Lara Giusti:

Things like the tides and the waves. It will

Lara Giusti:

increase your energy demands. So what

Lara Giusti:

you are comfortable fueling in with

Lara Giusti:

endurance swimming in the pool, you should consider to

Lara Giusti:

increase your energy intake. So we would suggest, you know,

Lara Giusti:

45 to 60 grammes of carbs per hour, if you're

Lara Giusti:

swimming over those 90 minutes, is what you should be

Lara Giusti:

focusing on. You may feel that you need

Lara Giusti:

more than that in open water swimming. So

Lara Giusti:

it's better to carry more fuel and not

Lara Giusti:

need it than to carry less and find

Lara Giusti:

that you're hitting the wall, that you're really struggling with your energy

Lara Giusti:

levels.

Charlie:

Good advice. Do you have any kind of final top

Charlie:

tips for people taking on a swimming

Charlie:

challenge or just kind of new

Charlie:

to perhaps fueling for swimming?

Lara Giusti:

just try and, try and try the different types

Lara Giusti:

of fuels on the marketplace. Find one that you enjoy,

Lara Giusti:

that you want to fuel with, because in

Lara Giusti:

that moment when you're battling a

Lara Giusti:

wave or even in, like in the

Lara Giusti:

serpentine, where there's lots of swimmers around you, and that's a

Lara Giusti:

very new experience as well. Normally, your swimming

Lara Giusti:

training will just be you in a lane or very

Lara Giusti:

few swimmers, in a lake or

Lara Giusti:

wherever, but having that volume of swimmers, the splash

Lara Giusti:

that's going on around you, the turbulence in the

Lara Giusti:

water, choose, something that

Lara Giusti:

you're gonna, you're not, you're not gonna brace yourself for fueling

Lara Giusti:

you're gonna enjoy the taste of and you, and you look forward to,

Lara Giusti:

you know, sits well in your digestion as well.

Lara Giusti:

So it's all about practise, you know, it's, you

Lara Giusti:

know, fail to prepare, prepare to fail, all of

Lara Giusti:

that.

Charlie:

Thank you so much, Zara. Is there anything we can be looking out

Charlie:

for coming soon from Belleforte? Any

Charlie:

sneaks, sneak peeks to any products?

Lara Giusti:

I'm always busy developing new

Lara Giusti:

products. we have around 30 products on the market now

Lara Giusti:

from energy bars, protein recovery bars,

Lara Giusti:

gels, our natural gels, which are a

Lara Giusti:

blend of plant based syrups versus sort of synthetic

Lara Giusti:

sugars, and we've got chews,

Lara Giusti:

hydration shakes. our

Lara Giusti:

wellness range is fantastic as well. So,

Lara Giusti:

again, alongside our performance bars,

Lara Giusti:

our wellness snack bars, our ot snack bars, which

Lara Giusti:

are no added sugar, they're great things to chuck in your

Lara Giusti:

commute bag and just have at your desk as well. They

Lara Giusti:

just won great taste awards as well, so that's fantastic. And

Lara Giusti:

obviously, we've just launched, as you said, our overnight

Lara Giusti:

oats, which are brilliant. So they're everything

Lara Giusti:

in one pack. Give it a good shake. Just add, water

Lara Giusti:

and you've got your carbs and your crunchy seeds and

Lara Giusti:

your source of protein and your fibres

Lara Giusti:

and all of the good stuff in there. You don't have to think about it. So it's

Lara Giusti:

like one pack fits all. So,

Lara Giusti:

yeah, really excited about those.

Charlie:

Amazing. Well, I will leave a link in the show notes

Charlie:

to some of my favourite products. And for

Charlie:

those products that are available on xmiles, you can

Charlie:

save 10% with the code cook, eat,

Charlie:

run. And that will save on all of the

Charlie:

Vellaforte products on xmiles, you can save your 10%.

Charlie:

So, yeah, give them a try. People that are new to the

Charlie:

brand, give those. I highly recommend

Charlie:

the chews. And, it sounds like I'm going to be ordering some more

Charlie:

bars because they sound absolutely delicious.

Charlie:

And, yeah, so give them. Give them a go.

Charlie:

Thank you so much for listening to.

Charlie:

This week's episode of the Cook Eat.

Charlie:

Run podcast with x miles for regular listeners.

Charlie:

Firstly, thank you. Your support means so much. And for those

Charlie:

that have taken advantage of the discount codes in the past,

Charlie:

yay. I know it's been a little confusing, but we're sticking

Charlie:

with one simple discount code from now on.

Charlie:

Cook, eat, run.

Charlie:

All one word, all uppercase, no months, no

Charlie:

numbers. Each month, that discount code will give you

Charlie:

10% off the brands we're chatting about in the shows

Charlie:

so that you.

Charlie:

Can stock up on your favourites and.

Charlie:

Try out new nutrition products.

Charlie:

So if you want to try the.

Charlie:

Amazing Veloforte products, you can save 10% across the

Charlie:

range at xmiles.com. throughout the month of

Charlie:

August with the code cookeatrun, my

Charlie:

personal faves are the ginger chews, although I'm really excited

Charlie:

to try the overnight oats made with real food and complete with

Charlie:

16 grammes of plant based protein. I've got the

Charlie:

apple and cinnamon flavour to try out, but they've also got a strawberry and

Charlie:

coconut which sounds ideal for summer, and a smooth cocoa

Charlie:

tea. Please do share the podcast with friends or

Charlie:

on social media if you've enjoyed the episode, and feel free to

Charlie:

send topic and guest suggestions. Next week we're

Charlie:

tackling another hot topic, weight loss and running

Charlie:

can you have goals for both? Make sure to subscribe

Charlie:

to the show so that you never miss an episode. Thanks again

Charlie:

for listening.

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About the Podcast

Cook Eat Run
Real food talk for runners... evidence based nutrition for the 5K to ultra marathon
Cook Eat Run, a podcast that talks to runners about real food. Hosted by Charlie Watson; Registered Dietitian, author of Cook Eat Run, and thirteen time marathoner. I believe that nutrition shouldn't be complicated, this podcast brings you evidence based nutrition advice specifically for runners. Everything you wanted to know but weren't sure who to ask. Plus everyday runners achieving amazing things, from couch-to-5K through to multi-stage ultra marathoners.
Proudly produced by Decibelle Creative

About your hosts

Charlie Watson

Profile picture for Charlie Watson
Hello, I’m Charlie – a runner, Registered Dietitian and lover of travel. I believe anyone can run a marathon, I’ve transitioned from non-runner to 16 x Marathoner and Six Star Finisher. My content champions fad-free, accessible wellbeing through fitness, nutrition and living life to the full. The Cook Eat Run podcast brings you evidence based nutrition advice specifically for runners. Everything you wanted to know but weren't sure who to ask.

Annabelle (Buckers) Buckland

Profile picture for Annabelle (Buckers) Buckland
Buckers is an award winning podcaster and producer, and founder of Decibelle Creative.
With a background in Radio production and presenting, Buckers brings her creative approach to our clients' podcasts, from idea conception through to launch. She also co-hosts the award winning comedy podcast At Least You Didn't.
Proudly fuelled by ADHD Buckers is also passionate about raising awareness and understanding of neurodiversity.