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Nenet Susa's avatar

i love the substack writings that cover multiple topics, thanks for sharing your knowledge

Gordo Byrn's avatar

Thanks Nenet - this one ran a bit long so I’m going to tighten my game (a bit 😉) going forward.

Joshua Derrick's avatar

What do you think of Marco Altini's work on fat oxidation? Seems like you can get the best of both worlds by eating fairly (not fully) low-carb and then carb loading and fueling carbs during the actual event.

One of my goals in 2026 is to not use sports nutrition except for during key races. I should be able to fuel without it for almost every workout.

Gordo Byrn's avatar

Most high-performance athletes discover they need to boost carbohydrate intake (year round) to achieve their ultimate potential. They also discover they adapt faster to training at a higher body weight than they'd expect.

Big Picture: It's essential to ensure we are getting enough total energy to fuel training, recovery and adaptation. Too often low-carb becomes low-energy intake, which leads to breakdown and burnout.

I talk about sports nutrition management in my book as well as this article:

https://feelthebyrn.substack.com/p/top-amateur-nutrition

Like you, most of the year, I don't use much sports nutrition. However, training at high rates of intake is an important part of my race-specific preparation. You'll want to document and test your intake strategy well before race day.

Hope this helps,

G

Neil Drouet's avatar

Interested to follow Henry Huffer's journey - while I'm not a new athlete, I feel like I'm starting back at the beginning to a large extent!

Gordo Byrn's avatar

I've been a "huffer" a few times in my journey. It's a common profile for men.

g