This week in the Bindi Athlete Interview Series, I interviewed Audrey Hall, an exceptional middle distance and mountain runner. Audrey has had an intense upbringing in sport and suffered from numerous injuries.
athletes
LIVING THE DREAM – WITH BRENDEN WHEELER
In this week’s issue of the Bindi Athlete Interview Series, I had a chat with Brenden Wheeler, a long course triathlete who also works in the Air Force. Brenden did his first triathlon on a whim back in 2018 and was hooked from there.
ACHIEVING THE IMPOSSIBLE – MATT MACPHERSON
I had the pleasure of interviewing Matt for this edition of the Bindi Athlete Interview series. Matt is a hard-working and honest athlete, who often works 14-16 hour days and still manages to qualify for Kona. He achieves the impossible every day and here is how he does it….
THE SAND RUNNER – KATIE LOVIS
I had the thrill of interviewing, Katie Lovis last week, an incredible and inspiring ultrarunner who lives in Margaret River, Western Australia. Katie recently completed the entire Cape to Cape trail in Western Australia in a single day and broke the female record for the 129km in 17 hours 23 minutes.
I BELIEVE I CAN FLY – WITH JESS WALDRON
It’s impossible not to be in awe of Enduro rider, Jess Waldron, a young, fresh and fair faced 18-year-old rider with guts and a gorgeous smile, from Albany in Western Australia. Today I had the fortune to interview her for the Bindi Athlete Blog and as the first athlete I interviewed for the series, we sure did hit it off to a great start!
How to Carb Load for Race Day
Getting ready for a big race? Wondering what all the carb-loading hype is about? The purpose of carbohydrate loading is to give you the energy you need to complete an endurance event with less fatigue and to improve your athletic performance on race day. Heavy training will deplete your muscle glycogen stores, so in the lead up to a race a combination of tapered training and increased carbohydrate intake with have your muscles replenished and perfectly primed for race day.
The importance of nutrition for travelling athletes
Athletes will usually thrive around a routine of training and recovery including healthy nutrition and plenty of sleep. At home and within our familiar environment, we have everything we need to stay on track. But when it comes to racing it can involve travelling, leaving our regular routines and disruption of sleep and even time zones. So, how do we retain progress while on the road, and arrive in the best shape possible? Here are some of the best tools for staying on track with nutrition, even while you’re on the road.
PLAN FOR THE WORST, EXPECT THE BEST: MANAGING RACE DAY EXPECTATIONS
Next up on the endurance race calendar is Ironman Western Australia. As you all probably know, Busselton is home to Bindi HQ and we can’t help it, we are totally in love with this beautiful part of WA. But as IMWA race day grows nearer and triathletes are making final adjustments to their race plans and nutrition, we thought we’d talk about the elephant in the room – or in this case – the sharks in the water.
Race day Nutrition Plan for Ironman
Racing an Ironman can be one of the most exhilarating and incredible experiences of your life. It can also be a totally awful day and a lot of this comes down to your nutrition choices. If you’ve watched or raced an Ironman you’ve seen it before; athletes blowing up on the bike, vomiting on the run, cramping, collapsing at the finish line and being carted off into the medical tent. Ironman racing can get messy at best and dangerous at worst. This can happen to a lesser degree in other sports, but Ironman is a day when you can’t hide from your nutritional decisions.
Is carb-cycling right for you?
Athletes commonly vary between easy and hard days in training. It can be an advantage to plan food and nutrition around these training cycles and use a technique called carb-cycling. As sports nutrition shows us, some diet changes can help enhance our athletic performance, particularly in weight sensitive sports. They can even help us lose fat and improve performance, which is particularly helpful as we get closer to a race or competition.
