Inside Maddy Nutt’s 26.5-Hour Gravel Record: Tech, Tactics, and Mental Grit

WEBVTT
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Hey, you guys, before we get into the episode today, I want to tell you something I'm really excited about.
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On June 2nd at 5 PM Pacific, I'm sitting down live with professional ultra runner Dani Moreno, and I want you in the room.
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We're calling it Fueling for Success.
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And here's why I think this one's going to be really special.
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Dani's heading into Broken Arrow 64K at the end of June, right in the heart of summer race season.
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And if you're gearing up for something big yourself, whether that's your own A race or something like Western States, this is the conversation you want to be a part of.
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We're going to talk about how Dani's fueling ahead of a key mountain race, how she handles hydration and gut training at the pro level, how she navigates recovery and injury setbacks, and what actually shifts in her nutrition when race season gets close.
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But honestly, the biggest appeal here is access.
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This is your front row seat to speak directly to a professional ultra runner and ask her your personal questions.
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Not a panel, not a webinar where you're muted the whole time.
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This is a real conversation with Dani and I'll be there too sharing how we've worked together from the sports nutrition side.
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So you're also getting a peek behind the curtain of what an athlete and nutritionist relationship actually looks like in practice.
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When you reserve your spot, you can also submit your questions ahead of time so we can make sure they get answered.
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We're capping this at only 15 people.
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That's intentional.
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This is meant to be intimate.
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So don't sit on this one, you guys.
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Grab your spot.
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The link is in the show notes.
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I'll see you on June 2nd.
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Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Nutritional Revolution Podcast.
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It's Kyla, your host, and today we have for you guys Maddy Nutt, and she's a British gravel cyclist and endurance racer, known for her fearless riding style, ultra-distance grit, and adventurous approach to off-road racing.
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She's based in London and transitioned from a career in finance to professional cycling after discovering a passion for gravel racing and endurance events.
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Since then, she has become one of the standout names in the international gravel scene, competing in events across Europe, Africa, and America.
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Maddy has earned podium finishes and victories in major gra major gravel races, including wins in the UCI Gravel World Series and standout performances at events such as Safari Gravel Race and Traka 560, where she absolutely crushed the record in 2026.
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Known for thriving in demanding endurance conditions, she has built a reputation for resilience, including famously finishing Traka 360 despite riding hundreds of kilometers with a shoulder ligament injury.
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Alongside racing, Maddy is also recognized for sharing the culture and community of gravel cycling through storytelling, travel, and social media content.
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Her personality, humor, and love of adventure have helped make her one of the most relatable and recognizable athletes in modern gravel racing.
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This is a super fun episode.
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You guys are going to love it.
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Enjoy.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to the Nutritional Revolution podcast.
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We have for you guys, Maddy Nutt Thank you so much for joining us, Maddy.
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Thank you for having me.
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I'm super pumped for our listeners.
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just crushed the Traka Yeah, the long one and I think I surprised a lot of people in doing so.
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Well, we definitely are going to dive into that.
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I'm super pumped to hear all about it.
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Before we start breaking all that down for our listeners, I'm going to have you give me your two truths and a lie in no particular order.
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Okay, in no particular order, I cannot drink cow milk.
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okay.
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I once won a television quiz show but I lost all the money on the last question and I used to ride a unicycle to school.
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That's a talent.
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oh man, that's impressive.
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Okay, well, none of these things did I discover in my researching of you.
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So these are good ones for sure.
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ah to ask me questions related to them or do you just have to go straight with what you think?
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just have to go straight with it.
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I just got to go straight.
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Sometimes I'll try and pry, but I really should just go for it.
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I wonder if the cow's milk thing is like a preference or if it's lactose intolerance.
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Lactose intolerance is very common.
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TV shows, not super common, but it is a good story.
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Writing a unicycle is impressive.
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Oh man.
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I think I don't know why.
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Maybe my brain's stuck on this, but I tend to always go with the middle one.
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So I'm going to go with that one.
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The once won a TV quiz show, but lost all the money on the last question.
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I think that might be the line.
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Maybe there's some truth to it and a little bit of twist.
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Maybe you did win the money.
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I don't know.
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And then I feel like it would be a cool story if we found out you rode a unicycle to school.
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So we're going to find out where to find out.
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OK, well, we will reveal the answer at the end of the episode for the listeners.
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So hang tight, you guys.
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But we're going to just dive in, just dive right in, because we only have Maddy for an hour here.
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So we want to learn all the the hot nuggets from you.
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But why don't you give us a little bit of background just on kind of leading up to truck?
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You did.
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Did you do truck on twenty twenty five?
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So I've done the oh 360 the past three years.
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So I started racing gravel properly like five years ago and this would be like my fifth season.
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And in 2023, that's when I first did the tracker.
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So I did the 360.
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It was a huge, that at the time, that was like a huge challenge.
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I would have viewed that race that year as like an ultra.
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And I actually would say, I was in a better state after the 560 this year than after the 360 the first year I did it.
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Wow, what do you attribute that to?
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fueling because the first year I did it I had an absolute nightmare mainly because and I don't want to blame my sister but my sister was my support crew and at the first feed zone she gave me an empty hydration vest and like I should have stopped and gone if this feels a bit light have you filled it up Yeah.
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But instead I just went off because I was like doing pretty well.
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So I was like, wow, I'm just going to keep going and then I'll solve this problem later.
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Not thinking, okay, I'm going to go three hours without water.
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And I started vomiting and yeah, I did finish.
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I like, I came fifth, which now if you say, oh, I came fifth in the track of 360 people, Oh my God, that's amazing.
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But obviously the level has gone up.
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So fifth in 2023 is nowhere near as good as fifth now, but I did still come fifth.
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just, had a real rough time doing that.
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man, yeah, that sounds very rough.
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uh So what was total duration at that point, the first attempt?
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First year?
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Oh god, I actually don't know but it could have been like 16 hours.
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Like I know it was long, maybe not quite as long as 16, maybe like 14, but I definitely chopped a fair few hours off that for when I did the 360 the next two years.
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And actually unbound, so unbound 200 I've done twice and I think I was four and a half hours faster last year than 2023.
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Yeah.
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That's insane.
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and I got like the same position, which shows that like the level has just gone up so much.
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my gosh.
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Were either of those the years where it was like the peanut butter mud?
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yeah.
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To be fair, the 2023 was peanut butter mud.
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So four and a half hours, including an hour and a half walking because of mud, but still, yeah.
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Shoot.
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Yeah.
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Wow.
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That is incredible.
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So do you think that is fueling?
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Do you think it's gear like bike components?
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Like, what do you think is?
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it's combination of lots of small things all adding up.
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I think nutrition is definitely a part of it.
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I think the bikes, equipment is a part of it.
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Obviously just training consistency over a long period of time, that's probably the main thing.
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I only started cycling when I was 20, so I think there's something in that, actually I didn't have that many years of training in me when I did the...
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Unbound for the first time, for example.
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And like just no experience.
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mean, I had no idea about the mud.
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I didn't have a mud stick and I just tried to ride through it and then just completely wrecked my bike basically, and then just walked for an hour.
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So I think, yeah, I think there's like lots of different small elements and then them all coming together to like make such a big improvement.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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All the little things.
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is really incredible.
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Just like, I mean, the bike technology just blows me away constantly.
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Um, and then all the research to coming out on nutrition, always fun, always fun as well.
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Um, so thinking about Troca five 60, which was just, what was it?
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Just like two, two weeks ago, three weeks ago now.
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Yeah, it was nearly three weeks ago and Unbound XL is only a week away so they're a bit too close.
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Yeah.
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for Unbound, do you start on Friday?
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Friday at 3pm.
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Okay, okay.
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We can talk about that, but I definitely want to hear about the 560 truck.
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What were you targeting initially time-wise for that?
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So when I initially looked at the course and I looked at the time for the fastest time that a woman's done it, I kind of had worked out after like wrecking Wicksford that I thought I could definitely beat the time, like the record time of the course, but I didn't know whether that would like, whether other people would also be able to beat the time, for example.
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like my actual goal was to do, was it 28 hours was what I was going for.
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Mm-hmm.
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so I went in thinking I'm going to go for 28 hours and I made a plan based off that.
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And basically as the race played out, I lowered that time target to 26 and a half.
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As I realized like, actually, no, I'm actually ahead of schedule.
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Like I arrived, I had like a last minute stop at a BP station that was the only place I hit that was, was going to be open during the time I hit it on the whole course.
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Whoa.
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arrived 15 minutes before it opened.
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I like, my one plan, like, and it was an extra stop, I didn't need it, I had enough nutrition on me, but just in case I really wanted it, and it's like a treat towards the finish, I was gonna go to this BP station and maybe get like a Coke, crisps or just something different.
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And annoyingly, I was so ahead of schedule that it wasn't open.
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So you didn't wait, you just kept going.
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Yeah, I just kept going through and then I had a backup, I had a plan B, which was there was a water fountain, 100 meters off course, like 200 meters further ahead.
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And that was my plan B.
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But I actually had enough, like, hydration on me.
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And I just thought about it and I was like, there's not, that's only two hours to go.
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I'm actually pretty happy with what I've got.
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I don't want to like faff or risk like getting lost or anything.
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So I just went to the finish.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So as we're talking about this, I probably think we should maybe brief some of our listeners that aren't familiar with the 560.
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And people are probably like, why didn't you stop at an aid station?
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So if you want to brief our listeners on how the 560 operates, that maybe that would help to when we're explaining some of this stuff.
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So there's absolutely no support.
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There's no aid stations and the route is so remote that unless you're going quite a lot slower than the pace I was going, you're not gonna hit any shops really.
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There was one shop, but it was at like 100 K in and when the route's 560 kilometers, it doesn't make sense to stop 100 K in.
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So I just carried all of my nutrition from the start, which was like, a bit of a gamble.
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I was trying to work out what to do, but I realized I didn't think there was anything else I could do because the shops were all at a point that I arrived at like two in the morning.
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So nothing was open.
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It was also a holiday in Spain that day on the first day we started racing, which I don't think a lot of people realize.
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So even the bars that the race organizers had told us would be open weren't open.
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Yeah, so even in terms of water, I just use fountains.
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Yeah.
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Dang, that's, yes, that is.
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Yeah, that is wild.
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And did you know it was gonna be a holiday?
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Or did you know that things would be closed?
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You did, yeah.
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yeah, just in case, because whenever I'm in Spain, there's always a holiday.
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Yeah.
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Smart, smart planning ahead.
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So, oh my goodness, so many questions.
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So how much did you weigh your pack out of curiosity?
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Like starting with everything you needed, like from the start?
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So I think I had just over three kilograms of fluids and that was how much I carried and then nearly three kilograms of nutrition.
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Yeah, I tried to be as efficient with how I carried it, so to carry as little weight as possible.
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So I carried quite a lot of carb powder and individual sachets so I could put carb powder in water, but.
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I did end up with some chunky things as well, because I also didn't want to just drink carb mix for 26 hours.
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So I also packed a lot of gels, which I wasn't sure how I would cope with over that period of time.
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thought a lot of people talking to people beforehand, people were saying, you can't have gels over that period of a race, but actually I think if you train your gut well enough.
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and you know that you respond well to gels and you don't have problems and you're not taking any caffeine gels, then actually like it was kind of okay.
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I didn't feel particularly bad for it.
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That's great.
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Do you do anything to clean out your mouth?
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Do you ever do gum or mouthwash with them?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Like, I actually had a filling for the first filling I've ever had in my life was this beer.
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And I just it's because I eat so much sugary stuff on the bike.
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And I spoke to the dentist about it.
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And they were like, you need to get like a straw for your bottles.
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And I was like, I can't do that.
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I can't see a straw in my pee dogs.
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Yeah, shoot.
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Yeah, we've talked to like we've had lots of ultra athletes on and we've heard different stories like one of them.
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She said her doctor gave her like prescription toothpaste, so she brushes her teeth with it before she starts her race.
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And then it like, I guess, helps like put an extra protective coating on before you start loading and all the like sugary stuff.
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And then we had another athlete do.
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like a minty gum you know throughout to help like pulse you know I think another one told us she like brushed her teeth at some point somehow.
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One of my friends did because he made a video of the Trakka 560 and when I was watching the video I saw him brushing his teeth and I was like, that's iconic.
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I'm so impressed that he's caring about his dental hygiene right now.
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Right.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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He should show this and that to his dentist.
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He's very dedicated.
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But yeah, I mean, I've heard different people say different things, right?
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It's like it doesn't feel good and they can feel like the sugar is basically building up on their teeth or just helps like for palatability and flavor fatigue to kind of like sort of clean out your mouth.
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But so OK, so three is a three and a half kilos of food, three and a half kilos of water potentially.
00:16:38.668 --> 00:16:41.008
Yeah, was like three and a half of water.
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It was like 3.2 kilos of water and then about three kilos of food.
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Okay, so just for our listeners, that's just, and that's not including like probably your pack and all this other stuff.
00:16:50.278 --> 00:16:58.947
For our listeners who want to know what that is in pounds, that's almost 14 pounds of water and food um for our American, Americans.
00:16:58.947 --> 00:17:06.642
like the fluids was a mix of carb mix, electrolyte, and just plain water.
00:17:06.642 --> 00:17:29.760
So I would always have one bottle with an electrolyte tab, one bottle with plain water, and I used my vest because it was two liters, have pure carb mix, which I hate because it makes the bladder, it's just so hard to maintain the bladder as like, especially when it's like flavored mix, it just affects the bladder, but like, for a race of that length.
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It was the only way could see myself getting enough carbs in.
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Mm-hmm.
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Do you start with them like cold or ice cubes in the middle when you started or was it cold in them?
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Did you start in the morning early morning?
00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:44.682
the fridge and we started quite early in the morning.
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Sometimes I freeze packs and bottles if I'm somewhere really hot and I've also got ice gels.
00:17:51.085 --> 00:17:56.507
So my nutrition sponsor Amacx does like ice gels, which are really good.
00:17:56.507 --> 00:17:57.387
Cool.
00:17:57.387 --> 00:17:59.560
Do you have to get them though, frozen?
00:17:59.560 --> 00:18:01.051
you freeze them?
00:18:01.707 --> 00:18:02.643
Okay.
00:18:02.643 --> 00:18:06.698
not frozen and then you put them in the freezer and then you can put them in your pocket.
00:18:07.035 --> 00:18:07.796
cool.
00:18:07.796 --> 00:18:11.105
There was one other company I think I saw doing that that wasn't Amacx.
00:18:11.105 --> 00:18:14.510
forget who it was now, but they were doing something like that.
00:18:14.510 --> 00:18:17.542
they called it like an ice gel or ice slushy or something.
00:18:17.542 --> 00:18:20.085
And I have tried one of those and they are very good.
00:18:20.085 --> 00:18:23.260
em nice if it's hot.
00:18:23.260 --> 00:18:24.584
I mean, I didn't need it for tracker.
00:18:24.584 --> 00:18:29.922
It wasn't too warm, but say today I went on an eight hour ride and I just went and got a Calippo halfway round.
00:18:31.365 --> 00:18:32.699
Do you have Calippos in the States?
00:18:32.699 --> 00:18:34.782
I feel like this might be a...
00:18:34.782 --> 00:18:38.153
we'll tell our listeners, because I don't think I know what a clip-o is either.
00:18:38.153 --> 00:18:47.347
Klippo's like, it's an ice lolly that's like a, it's like a frozen slushie in like a tube.
00:18:47.347 --> 00:18:49.669
So you can actually eat it whilst riding.
00:18:49.669 --> 00:18:53.951
Yes, that is to Americans called an Otterpop.
00:18:56.694 --> 00:18:58.096
That's our version of it.
00:18:58.096 --> 00:18:59.826
uh A Colif-O, cool.
00:18:59.826 --> 00:19:00.758
I didn't know about that.
00:19:00.758 --> 00:19:02.400
eh Yeah, we have Otterpops.
00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:06.145
I think there's another brand that's also similar, but I know exactly what you're talking about.
00:19:06.145 --> 00:19:12.807
And you can like ride them, like I actually can ride with them when my hands on the drops and then the tubes like here and then I can like drink from it.
00:19:12.807 --> 00:19:13.827
that's smart.
00:19:13.827 --> 00:19:14.749
I like that.
00:19:14.749 --> 00:19:20.431
You're acting on the internal cooling mechanisms with slushy, which is like what the literature says to do.
00:19:20.431 --> 00:19:23.491
ah Yeah, that's spot on.
00:19:23.491 --> 00:19:31.155
So were you when you're putting together all your nutrition for this and so finish time, you were out there for was it 26 and a half hours, you said?
00:19:31.155 --> 00:19:32.296
Or yeah.
00:19:32.296 --> 00:19:34.096
How are you thinking about like carbs?
00:19:34.096 --> 00:19:36.877
Are you thinking about carbs per hour and fluids per hour?
00:19:36.877 --> 00:19:39.769
Like when you're packing all your nutrition?
00:19:40.301 --> 00:19:47.477
So I roughly wanted to have about 500 ml of fluids per hour and then carbs, grams per hour.
00:19:47.477 --> 00:19:53.392
I was thinking about 80, but actually in practice, I don't think I hit 80.
00:19:53.392 --> 00:20:02.307
I like planned for and brought with me, I think I brought about 70 thinking I could stop at that BP and get some more for the end.
00:20:03.528 --> 00:20:04.003
But.
00:20:04.003 --> 00:20:08.023
In the end, I didn't eat everything and I had a gel explosion.
00:20:08.163 --> 00:20:13.304
So I put a load of my gels in a saddle bag and then some of them like exploded on each other.
00:20:13.304 --> 00:20:15.503
So I lost a few gels.
00:20:15.604 --> 00:20:17.663
But I also didn't finish everything.
00:20:17.663 --> 00:20:25.624
And I think that was also a case of just towards the end, you're just like, can't, I can't eat anything else.
00:20:25.624 --> 00:20:26.663
Just like struggling.
00:20:26.663 --> 00:20:33.450
I did have some normal real food, which also helped to kind of like balance things out, but I hadn't.
00:20:33.450 --> 00:20:35.859
measured exactly what was in that.
00:20:35.859 --> 00:20:40.605
I wanted something that made me think I was having lunch and dinner.
00:20:40.605 --> 00:20:50.933
oh Because I was like, I'm going through a whole day and then I'm going through a night, I don't want to miss lunch and dinner, which sounds peculiar because it is a bike race.
00:20:50.933 --> 00:20:56.798
But I made myself this ham, cheese and pesto wraps and I had one at lunch and one at dinner.
00:20:56.798 --> 00:20:59.601
And that was how I split up the day.
00:20:59.601 --> 00:21:03.273
So I stopped at lunchtime, had my wrap.
00:21:03.299 --> 00:21:07.460
filled all my water up, had a wee, and then I started riding.
00:21:07.480 --> 00:21:10.720
And then when the sun set, I did the same thing.
00:21:10.779 --> 00:21:15.920
The cheese and ham were maybe a little bit questionable by like 9 p.m.
00:21:17.500 --> 00:21:22.555
It had been like 13 hours ride time, but the cheese was a bit melted.
00:21:22.555 --> 00:21:23.556
Yeah.
00:21:24.116 --> 00:21:25.258
Bonus.
00:21:26.099 --> 00:21:27.161
Bonus.
00:21:27.311 --> 00:21:37.336
I think I really tested my stomach strength from eating that because I'm really not sure you should eat a ham cheese wrap after 13 hours but I was just craving something salty.
00:21:38.826 --> 00:21:48.215
I wonder like, I wonder like prosciutto and stuff like if that could be because like you these they're just like hanging that in a shop and room temperature, right?
00:21:48.215 --> 00:21:49.737
Yeah, that's a good point actually.
00:21:49.737 --> 00:21:51.219
I'm thinking what kind of ham.
00:21:51.219 --> 00:21:52.368
I use Mortadella.
00:21:52.368 --> 00:21:54.770
This is quite a bougie ham.
00:21:54.770 --> 00:21:58.384
Yeah, I use Mortadella.
00:21:58.785 --> 00:22:01.906
I think it was just the ham that I happened to buy.
00:22:02.448 --> 00:22:06.490
But yeah, Mortadella is probably on the safer side.
00:22:07.412 --> 00:22:08.843
But prosciutto would be better.
00:22:08.843 --> 00:22:12.155
But I really needed that salty snacks.
00:22:12.155 --> 00:22:17.240
And I also packed a couple of Snickers bars and I actually definitely should have packed more.
00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:21.663
because even though Snickers are quite sweet, they do have a salty kick to them.
00:22:21.663 --> 00:22:26.105
And I feel like they really satisfy that like need for salt.
00:22:26.105 --> 00:22:30.088
Although it only works if the race isn't too hot.
00:22:30.088 --> 00:22:35.205
If you've got a hot race, your Snickers turns into like a Snickers gel and it's not easy to eat.
00:22:35.205 --> 00:22:36.917
Just like chocolate mush.
00:22:37.638 --> 00:22:43.663
Did I read somewhere that you burned like it was like 15,000 calories over that?
00:22:44.865 --> 00:22:45.708
That's wild.
00:22:45.708 --> 00:22:46.478
Yeah, that's crazy.
00:22:46.478 --> 00:22:54.101
That's also why I packed those wraps because I was like, I know I'm burning and like I know I need carbs to fuel me, but I'm so many calories.
00:22:54.101 --> 00:23:05.155
I think actually it's good to just get something much more like satiating and like calorific dent in as well as just like eating sweets.
00:23:05.323 --> 00:23:05.903
Right.
00:23:05.903 --> 00:23:06.364
Yes.
00:23:06.364 --> 00:23:07.064
Yeah.
00:23:07.064 --> 00:23:11.227
Did you ever have any stomach or GI issues like throughout?
00:23:12.028 --> 00:23:12.907
That's amazing.
00:23:12.907 --> 00:23:13.949
Wow.
00:23:14.269 --> 00:23:14.710
Yeah.
00:23:14.710 --> 00:23:15.869
Good for you.
00:23:16.063 --> 00:23:17.132
Yeah.
00:23:17.132 --> 00:23:19.053
Have you dealt with stomach issues in past?
00:23:19.053 --> 00:23:21.634
Well, you said vomiting when you didn't have water in the first.
00:23:21.634 --> 00:23:22.023
Yeah.
00:23:22.023 --> 00:23:28.844
a real issue in 2023 where like, pretty much every race I like couldn't stomach my nutrition.
00:23:29.144 --> 00:23:38.183
And I think what I figured out that it was was it was anything of like, it was like how much grams of carbs I was putting in a bottle.
00:23:38.183 --> 00:23:42.384
So I just can't stomach more than 40 grams in 500 mils of water.
00:23:42.804 --> 00:23:56.364
And like everyone around me was like filling up bottles of like 80 grams of carbs, or like even 100 and I just don't think I can stomach like really highly concentrated carb mix.
00:23:57.124 --> 00:24:02.423
So yeah, would just that whole season really I was having issues with it.
00:24:02.423 --> 00:24:07.284
But I think also it was a case of getting used to it as well.
00:24:07.284 --> 00:24:08.844
And it might also be brand specific.
00:24:08.844 --> 00:24:13.124
I might have that I didn't get on with that particular mix and combination of carbs.
00:24:13.144 --> 00:24:19.251
Whereas like the watermelon mix that I had from Amox for the 560 like.
00:24:19.251 --> 00:24:22.358
I'm actually shocked that I was still enjoying it at the end.
00:24:22.358 --> 00:24:23.300
That's great though.
00:24:23.300 --> 00:24:24.721
That's good news.
00:24:24.722 --> 00:24:25.765
That is good news.
00:24:25.765 --> 00:24:28.449
Um, I haven't tried that, the watermelon flavor.
00:24:28.449 --> 00:24:29.181
That's good to know.
00:24:29.181 --> 00:24:30.173
will piss.
00:24:30.173 --> 00:24:30.766
Yeah.
00:24:30.766 --> 00:24:33.568
told me about it before I was sponsored by them.
00:24:33.568 --> 00:24:38.272
And then when I got sponsored by them, she was like, you have to, you have to get the watermelon mix.
00:24:38.272 --> 00:24:45.666
And like, honestly, I, the fact that I could still drink it after 26 hours shows, it speaks a lot of words.
00:24:45.666 --> 00:24:46.767
That's huge.
00:24:46.767 --> 00:24:47.547
is, that is.
00:24:47.547 --> 00:24:47.666
Yeah.
00:24:47.666 --> 00:24:48.967
I mean, that's a huge part, right?
00:24:48.967 --> 00:24:52.946
Even when people get the flavor fatigue or the lack of desire to eat or drink.
00:24:52.946 --> 00:24:56.406
mean, if it's something that you just don't want to put down, that just makes it that much worse.
00:24:56.406 --> 00:24:59.426
And then you start to decline from there.
00:24:59.446 --> 00:25:04.686
So you expended around 15,000 calories over 26 and a half hours.
00:25:05.027 --> 00:25:08.846
Do you know how much you ended up taking in like calorically?
00:25:08.846 --> 00:25:09.787
Do you know?
00:25:09.787 --> 00:25:10.204
No.
00:25:10.204 --> 00:25:14.165
I don't think 15,000 I think that would have been hard.
00:25:16.728 --> 00:25:21.108
I'm actually not sure because I didn't keep any of the wrappers.
00:25:21.108 --> 00:25:35.757
So normally if I'm doing a really long training ride and I'm like really trying to nail my nutrition I'll like keep wrappers so that when I get back from the ride I can go okay how many grams of carbs did I eat and then I can like work out how many I did per hour.
00:25:35.757 --> 00:25:36.549
break.
00:25:36.692 --> 00:25:40.013
as a good way to keep track if I'm on track with my fueling.
00:25:40.013 --> 00:25:44.576
But when it's 26 hours, I was like, I'm not keeping these wrappers.
00:25:45.117 --> 00:25:46.388
Is there any bin I saw?
00:25:46.388 --> 00:25:48.500
I was like, wrappers in the bin.
00:25:48.938 --> 00:25:53.564
probably a distraction, too, like when you're searching through your stuff, if you're not putting it in the right place.
00:25:53.664 --> 00:25:57.150
And so, OK, so you said you had a bladder.
00:25:57.150 --> 00:25:58.530
Was it two liters?
00:25:58.827 --> 00:26:01.911
Yeah, two Lusablada and then two 600ml bottles.
00:26:01.911 --> 00:26:02.491
Nice.
00:26:02.491 --> 00:26:02.932
Okay.
00:26:02.932 --> 00:26:04.193
And you're rotating those.
00:26:04.193 --> 00:26:09.608
And did you ever run out of water at any points or did your water fountain like mapping serve you well?
00:26:09.758 --> 00:26:12.369
My water fountain math in was really good.
00:26:12.369 --> 00:26:22.174
stopped so I had three main stops where I refilled everything, but I did two additional stops to just top up the bottles because that's obviously a lot faster than taking the vest off.
00:26:22.174 --> 00:26:26.877
So I knew I could just add like 1.2 liters really easily by just refilling the bottles.
00:26:26.877 --> 00:26:32.121
And then I like purposefully had drunk out the bottles before the vest when I knew those were coming up.
00:26:32.121 --> 00:26:50.759
oh So yeah, I think what was lucky with this race, it's obviously not going to be the same with other races, is like there were a lot of water fountains that were just like freely accessible and like really speedy to use.
00:26:50.759 --> 00:27:00.551
Whereas like I'm thinking about my strategy for unbound next week and like that I don't think you get water fountains in the middle of Emporia, Kansas.
00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:01.701
right.
00:27:01.780 --> 00:27:02.272
Yeah.
00:27:02.272 --> 00:27:07.550
And it's the same kind of rules apply, no, are there no aid stations on that one as well?
00:27:07.852 --> 00:27:10.452
think there is one, but I don't...
00:27:10.452 --> 00:27:14.625
I think there's one that the organizers put on, but there's no...
00:27:14.625 --> 00:27:19.597
You're not allowed any support and you're supposed to use gas stations.
00:27:21.239 --> 00:27:31.434
But there also are trail angels and I don't know if they're out for the 350, but my experience of the 200 is you get quite a lot of locals out with like cool boxes and stuff like that.
00:27:31.434 --> 00:27:37.210
And not that you can't gamble on relying on them in your strategy because you have no idea where they're going to be.
00:27:37.210 --> 00:27:47.236
Rate I know that I ran out of water at one point last year in the 200 and like happened to come across people and I was like, well, this is amazing.
00:27:47.236 --> 00:27:48.618
I don't have to worry now.
00:27:48.618 --> 00:27:49.279
Yes.
00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:49.800
Yeah.
00:27:49.800 --> 00:27:50.461
Amazing.
00:27:50.461 --> 00:27:54.428
Do they allow that like trail angels in the truck as well or no?
00:27:55.289 --> 00:27:56.191
Okay.
00:27:56.701 --> 00:27:58.501
Or if they did, there were none.
00:27:59.603 --> 00:28:02.204
I think Trail Angels is a very American thing.
00:28:02.204 --> 00:28:10.048
I've only seen it one other place, which was in, I did a stage race in Columbia in February and it was just one stage.
00:28:10.048 --> 00:28:17.093
We had a Queen stage, which like had loads of climbing and just like at the top of one of the climbs, was someone handing out bags of water.
00:28:17.093 --> 00:28:21.915
But like, I've never seen that apart from in, yeah.
00:28:21.915 --> 00:28:24.193
uh unbound basically.
00:28:24.193 --> 00:28:25.996
Wow, okay, yeah.
00:28:25.996 --> 00:28:31.182
I've definitely heard of that on like trail running stuff too as well, maybe, who knows?
00:28:31.182 --> 00:28:32.221
Yeah.
00:28:32.643 --> 00:28:39.971
Okay, so I did see somewhere you, did you use AI to help like plan or gather some data for you in prepping?
00:28:40.137 --> 00:28:42.219
Yeah, so one of my friends works with AI.
00:28:42.219 --> 00:28:44.130
So she was like inputting.
00:28:44.130 --> 00:28:48.063
So we were like feeding the AI agent with some of the information.
00:28:48.063 --> 00:29:00.299
So things like my weight, my bike setup, like working out basically how much to carry based off the elevation profile and what was the most efficient thing, which tires to use.
00:29:00.299 --> 00:29:05.363
uh Yeah, we went with what AI said for the tires.
00:29:05.363 --> 00:29:08.105
We didn't go with what AI said for...
00:29:08.105 --> 00:29:14.971
what to carry because if you look at the profile, it doesn't make sense to carry all that weight because it was three huge Pyrenees climbs.
00:29:14.971 --> 00:29:21.384
Like it was completely front loaded with the climbing, but then we just like there was nowhere to refuel.
00:29:21.384 --> 00:29:26.969
So I just decided I have to carry everything.
00:29:27.769 --> 00:29:37.068
And then also to see whether like the power I expect that I can average over that distance, like what sort of time that would finish me in.
00:29:37.068 --> 00:29:37.680
Mm-hmm.
00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:42.579
to work out like, can I beat the record from the year before with like power I know I can hit?
00:29:42.579 --> 00:29:47.339
Like what sort of power do I need to average to like do it in 28 hours?
00:29:47.778 --> 00:29:48.845
so cool.
00:29:48.980 --> 00:29:52.211
It's obviously not a hundred percent accurate, but it's just helpful.
00:29:52.211 --> 00:29:54.324
felt like it's a really useful guide.
00:29:55.464 --> 00:30:06.374
Although I have to say when you chuck into, cause the first time we chuck stuff into AI and then said like, Oh, like where should we like, where's good to stop and feed?
00:30:06.795 --> 00:30:08.736
Like gave shops that weren't on the route.
00:30:08.736 --> 00:30:13.069
So I think AI is as useful as you make it.
00:30:13.069 --> 00:30:18.652
And sometimes it's not useful, but like it definitely was helpful with some stuff, but it.
00:30:18.652 --> 00:30:22.521
it did spit out places that I'm like, that's not on the route.
00:30:22.923 --> 00:30:24.423
No, get you in trouble.
00:30:24.423 --> 00:30:26.525
Do you know what AI source you guys were using?
00:30:26.525 --> 00:30:30.865
Was it her companies or was it like Claude or Chad or Claude?
00:30:30.865 --> 00:30:32.928
OK, good to know.
00:30:32.928 --> 00:30:34.249
Put that out there for the listeners.
00:30:34.249 --> 00:30:39.951
Be careful with Claude suggested snack shops on the route for your events.
00:30:39.951 --> 00:30:52.962
um So having packed all your stuff on you, I know that's a tactic a lot of um like competitive racers will do just so they don't have to stop and spend the time at aid or cruise stops or anything like that.
00:30:52.962 --> 00:31:08.565
Do you, I mean, if there were any, or even just having to go into the shops and think about what you're gonna grab from the shop and stand in line and pay for it and all that stuff, I mean, do you think carrying it outweighed even having to stop and think about that?
00:31:08.565 --> 00:31:10.856
And having not had to carry as much weight?
00:31:11.127 --> 00:31:12.988
I think so.
00:31:12.988 --> 00:31:14.730
I think it's so race dependent.
00:31:14.730 --> 00:31:19.971
Like I don't know what I'm going to do for Unbound yet because Unbound is obviously flatter.
00:31:20.612 --> 00:31:23.973
But I get really bad decision fatigue.
00:31:23.973 --> 00:31:31.686
I think having that element of like, unless I had like scripted out, this is exactly like practice.
00:31:31.686 --> 00:31:33.438
This is what I'm buying.
00:31:33.438 --> 00:31:36.579
And I know, and I go in and I just buy that stuff.
00:31:36.579 --> 00:31:37.425
I think.
00:31:37.425 --> 00:31:47.284
If I went in with an open mind, I could 10 minutes looking around the shelves, especially because it's like foreign petrol station.
00:31:47.284 --> 00:31:48.394
That's quite exciting.
00:31:48.394 --> 00:31:56.871
And I could end up like spending exactly like you never know what I'm gonna end up with.
00:31:57.833 --> 00:32:10.944
So I do think from that aspect, but then at the same time, like if you don't have to carry all your nutrition, be quite nice to like even things like uh Like just get bag of crisps, like have something different, have something salty.
00:32:10.944 --> 00:32:17.469
I'm not gonna carry a bag of crisps on the start, but I'd probably quite like one towards the end.
00:32:17.469 --> 00:32:18.231
Mm-hmm.
00:32:18.231 --> 00:32:19.284
Yeah.
00:32:19.426 --> 00:32:23.498
What did what ended up being like your total stop time throughout?
00:32:23.660 --> 00:32:26.886
think it was 28 minutes, including the hike bikes.
00:32:27.502 --> 00:32:29.730
you had to hike your bike too in the truck.
00:32:29.730 --> 00:32:31.179
Oh wow.
00:32:31.179 --> 00:32:37.866
was one like really bad hike a bike that was like over a landslide, which I definitely spent like almost 10 minutes doing.
00:32:37.866 --> 00:32:42.211
So I think my stop time was under 20 minutes.
00:32:42.338 --> 00:32:43.323
Wow.
00:32:44.051 --> 00:32:53.096
Yeah, it was, I was very efficient, which I surprised myself because I didn't think, I thought I was going to faff, but I managed just to not faff.
00:32:53.111 --> 00:32:54.794
Wow, that is amazing.
00:32:54.794 --> 00:32:58.919
Do you, so you mentioned stopping eating your wrap, going pee.
00:32:58.919 --> 00:33:01.060
How many times did you pee throughout the race?
00:33:02.443 --> 00:33:05.366
Is that normal for you or do feel like that was not enough?
00:33:05.420 --> 00:33:06.721
I feel like maybe not enough.
00:33:06.721 --> 00:33:10.162
Like not on a normal day do I only wee three times.
00:33:10.202 --> 00:33:15.365
But I would say though, I've done eight hour races and not weed.
00:33:15.425 --> 00:33:20.868
So like, yeah, I think I, I mean, I mean, I'm a big sweater.
00:33:20.868 --> 00:33:22.444
I'm a real big sweater.
00:33:22.444 --> 00:33:28.133
So I wonder where that, so that yeah, it's, it's, it's leaving me but for another method.
00:33:28.133 --> 00:33:34.215
oh And maybe I didn't drink quite enough, but.
00:33:35.079 --> 00:33:40.646
I obviously didn't inhibit my performance from not drinking enough.
00:33:42.190 --> 00:33:48.057
But I also, with the three pee stops, I did them at the three spot stops where I was filling up my water.
00:33:48.057 --> 00:33:53.108
So I didn't stop six times, I stopped three times and did everything in one go.
00:33:53.108 --> 00:33:53.999
Yeah.
00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:54.839
Smart.
00:33:54.839 --> 00:33:55.500
Smart.
00:33:55.500 --> 00:33:55.891
Yeah.
00:33:55.891 --> 00:34:00.324
Minimize the amount of like getting on and off the bike and getting going again and all that.
00:34:00.324 --> 00:34:02.384
I think that's that's super smart.
00:34:02.766 --> 00:34:09.108
I saw that it looked like you had voice notes from family and friends to get you through the night.
00:34:09.478 --> 00:34:10.992
I thought that's a great idea.
00:34:10.992 --> 00:34:11.431
Yeah.
00:34:11.431 --> 00:34:16.032
Yeah, I had this idea where I was like, I'd never ridden all night before.
00:34:16.032 --> 00:34:21.592
I'd ridden in the dark, but I'd never ridden like on my own over a whole night.
00:34:21.771 --> 00:34:24.211
And I was just worried that I'd get sleepy.
00:34:24.211 --> 00:34:29.791
So I like said to some family and friends, like, can you send me like just anything to keep me awake?
00:34:29.791 --> 00:34:33.211
And I just got the most eclectic mix of stuff.
00:34:33.711 --> 00:34:35.512
One of my friends was so cute.
00:34:35.512 --> 00:34:38.483
She just like read some poems, some of her favourite poems.
00:34:38.483 --> 00:34:45.987
And then like, I had one friend like make a whole DJ set for me and like sing through all of these songs.
00:34:45.987 --> 00:34:49.528
Some people just gave me life updates.
00:34:49.528 --> 00:34:52.409
My sister read TV, like film scripts.
00:34:52.409 --> 00:34:54.670
So just some of our favorite movie scenes.
00:34:54.670 --> 00:34:57.452
She just read the script, like with all the accents.
00:34:58.353 --> 00:35:04.371
But it was really entertaining because it meant that I was just listening to my headphones.
00:35:04.371 --> 00:35:05.190
Yes.
00:35:05.190 --> 00:35:06.574
Yeah, that's great.
00:35:06.574 --> 00:35:14.164
Were you like speaking of headphones during the day, do you listen to music or anything else when you're racing or is it more like that's not happening?
00:35:14.164 --> 00:35:15.456
You're just like zoned in.
00:35:15.456 --> 00:35:21.121
I saved them because they were a set of like MP3 headphones rather than linked to my phone.
00:35:21.121 --> 00:35:26.945
I basically didn't want to use my phone battery because I didn't know how long my phone battery would last and I didn't want to bring a portable charger.
00:35:26.945 --> 00:35:29.097
So I used headphones that were separate.
00:35:29.097 --> 00:35:32.670
So I knew they only had a life of eight hours.
00:35:32.670 --> 00:35:37.614
So I was like, I'm not going to put them on until I think it was 10 PM.
00:35:38.155 --> 00:35:42.418
And I was like at 10 PM I could, cause that would be like an hour and a bit into darkness.
00:35:42.418 --> 00:35:54.108
And like the first hour you're like, you've got motivation to ride in the dark because you've just started riding in the dark and then I put them on so it was like kind of like a treat for myself for like the hardest part of the race.
00:35:54.108 --> 00:35:54.809
Mm-hmm.
00:35:54.809 --> 00:35:55.951
That's great.
00:35:55.951 --> 00:35:59.974
And are you doing any caffeine, like, leading into or through the night?
00:36:00.465 --> 00:36:08.322
I had three caffeine gels, one at, I want to say 2am, one at 4am, one at 6am?
00:36:08.623 --> 00:36:09.853
But that was it.
00:36:09.934 --> 00:36:10.414
Wow.
00:36:10.414 --> 00:36:12.994
Are they 75 milligram or 100?
00:36:13.655 --> 00:36:15.074
Okay, nice.
00:36:15.074 --> 00:36:17.956
they amy...
00:36:17.956 --> 00:36:20.684
never taken one and I didn't take any.
00:36:20.684 --> 00:36:21.635
Gotcha, yeah.
00:36:21.635 --> 00:36:23.326
And no caffeine gum too.
00:36:23.326 --> 00:36:24.639
I know that's like a popular thing.
00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:26.240
people use, no.
00:36:26.342 --> 00:36:27.853
Yeah, cool.
00:36:27.853 --> 00:36:30.626
I mean, and do feel like you noticed a boost from it?
00:36:30.626 --> 00:36:32.829
Like caffeine?
00:36:33.971 --> 00:36:34.335
Hmm.
00:36:34.335 --> 00:36:41.182
drink so much coffee normally that I like, I'm probably quite immune to caffeine.
00:36:41.864 --> 00:36:47.688
I should probably hold back on the coffee so that when I take caffeine in races it affects me.
00:36:47.688 --> 00:36:50.228
I feel a big jolt of the caffeine.
00:36:50.228 --> 00:36:53.751
um That is a tactic that you can certainly try, right?
00:36:53.751 --> 00:36:55.541
um Let's see.
00:36:55.541 --> 00:37:01.835
wanted to ask you too about, so you said no GI issues, but no muscle cramping, none of that happening?
00:37:01.980 --> 00:37:19.096
No, after the race I had some like weird sensations in my lower back but I had no cramping, I just, I've had and to be fair I've still got it now just like slight nerve pain in my back but I think that was just from sitting down for so many hours.
00:37:19.190 --> 00:37:19.751
Right.
00:37:19.751 --> 00:37:20.452
Yes.
00:37:20.452 --> 00:37:20.891
Yeah.
00:37:20.891 --> 00:37:22.072
In that position.
00:37:22.072 --> 00:37:26.576
And then you had some of the weight on your back and the pack, right?
00:37:26.576 --> 00:37:27.376
Yeah.
00:37:27.376 --> 00:37:31.297
Did you train with that much weight on your bike too?
00:37:31.956 --> 00:37:42.498
I trained with the weight on my back quite a lot, but I didn't train with, a couple of times I trained with a weighted bike actually, but not that weighted.
00:37:42.498 --> 00:37:44.139
Yeah, wow.
00:37:44.478 --> 00:37:48.239
Yeah, that is so like wild to me.
00:37:48.239 --> 00:37:51.518
OK, so what does it look like when you cross that finish line?
00:37:51.518 --> 00:37:54.679
Like how like are you hungry?
00:37:54.679 --> 00:37:56.478
Are you wanting to go to sleep?
00:37:56.478 --> 00:37:58.159
Are you able to put food down?
00:37:58.159 --> 00:38:01.306
What does that look like in the first couple hours after you cross the finish line?
00:38:01.420 --> 00:38:04.300
I think I was just in such a strange state.
00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:06.380
Like I couldn't really eat.
00:38:06.380 --> 00:38:13.340
I didn't really want to eat, but like I was, I definitely was hungry, but I just felt like I couldn't eat.
00:38:13.340 --> 00:38:21.519
I had a churro from a friend and then I tried to, I showered and then I was like, okay, I need to eat.
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:25.019
And I went to a cafe, but it took ages to get a seat.
00:38:25.019 --> 00:38:31.221
And by the time, like while I was waiting to get a seat, I ended up fainting because I hadn't eaten enough.
00:38:31.221 --> 00:38:31.501
this.
00:38:31.501 --> 00:38:32.255
Yeah.
00:38:32.255 --> 00:38:42.532
Yeah, so I ended up fainting and then the cafe gave me like a fresh orange juice which picked me up massively and then I had a steak sandwich.
00:38:42.532 --> 00:38:45.103
I was just like, I need steak.
00:38:45.324 --> 00:38:48.605
I think it was like one of those things where like I'd clearly done so much muscle damage.
00:38:48.605 --> 00:38:51.938
I was just like, ooh, I want right now, it's like proper protein.
00:38:51.938 --> 00:38:56.070
And also I just wanted like, yeah, something really like hearty.
00:38:56.536 --> 00:38:59.371
And then I did make a protein shake.
00:38:59.784 --> 00:39:02.956
when I got back, but that was like several hours after the finish.
00:39:02.956 --> 00:39:04.818
Yeah, wow.
00:39:04.818 --> 00:39:11.864
Do you think the fainting was like glucose or like hydration like blood volume related?
00:39:12.385 --> 00:39:13.284
Yeah.
00:39:14.686 --> 00:39:15.476
Yeah.
00:39:15.476 --> 00:39:19.280
I think it'd been like nearly two hours before I had something substantial.
00:39:20.164 --> 00:39:20.735
Yeah.
00:39:20.735 --> 00:39:21.394
Wow.
00:39:21.394 --> 00:39:25.894
then again, for our listeners, so you did it in you were planning for 28.
00:39:25.894 --> 00:39:28.295
You did it in 26 and a half.
00:39:28.894 --> 00:39:39.494
And when you're planning ahead of the before you start the race, you're planning for 28, which is already going to break the course record for both men and women or both women.
00:39:39.554 --> 00:39:40.034
Women.
00:39:40.034 --> 00:39:40.235
OK.
00:39:40.235 --> 00:39:44.094
And then you are as you're going along, you're realizing, man, I'm ahead of schedule.
00:39:44.094 --> 00:39:46.315
What's going through your mind like?
00:39:46.411 --> 00:39:49.572
I was like, have I somehow calculated this wrong?
00:39:49.572 --> 00:39:52.731
I was like, am I really only doing this in 26 and a half hours?
00:39:52.731 --> 00:39:56.711
I was like getting a bit confused at one point being like, am I really going that much faster?
00:39:56.711 --> 00:40:03.211
And then I was like, oh, well, I guess I have averaged, I can't remember what I averaged, but I was like, oh, I am averaging this.
00:40:03.211 --> 00:40:06.492
Cause like I had average speed as a metric on my screen.
00:40:06.492 --> 00:40:07.291
So I can see that.
00:40:07.291 --> 00:40:10.351
And I was like, well, yeah, I am on target.
00:40:10.711 --> 00:40:12.211
What I'm ahead of target.
00:40:12.211 --> 00:40:15.244
And it's only flat to go apart from one climb.
00:40:15.244 --> 00:40:16.016
Yeah.
00:40:16.043 --> 00:40:18.704
So I was like, well, I guess I will finish.
00:40:18.704 --> 00:40:22.244
I was a bit confused, but then I was just like, this is amazing.
00:40:22.244 --> 00:40:24.969
Clearly, this plan's paid off.
00:40:24.969 --> 00:40:25.498
Yes.
00:40:25.498 --> 00:40:26.000
Yeah.
00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:27.179
What a pleasant surprise.
00:40:27.179 --> 00:40:31.862
Usually it's like you're troubleshooting stuff when you're racing and this is like, yeah, that's incredible.
00:40:31.862 --> 00:40:36.905
ah And you broke the course record for women.
00:40:36.905 --> 00:40:40.170
Was it for men as well at the end, the 26.5?
00:40:40.170 --> 00:40:43.402
fastest man, I think he did it in just under 24.
00:40:43.402 --> 00:40:44.744
Okay, okay.
00:40:44.744 --> 00:40:48.847
But man, 26.5 is incredible, incredible.
00:40:48.847 --> 00:40:51.050
Just crushed.
00:40:51.050 --> 00:40:56.862
okay, so how are you recovering your body after that knowing unbalance a few short weeks away?
00:40:56.862 --> 00:40:59.233
Yeah, it's a good question.
00:41:00.233 --> 00:41:07.038
Just trying to like sleep, trying to like eat a lot like I found after the race.
00:41:07.038 --> 00:41:11.800
I mean, still now it's been like three weeks and my appetite is crazy.
00:41:13.431 --> 00:41:33.559
I really like especially like the few days after the race, like I had just an insane appetite and I'm just I've always been like a real fan of like intuitive eating and listening to my body and like if I'm craving, I really crave certain food groups at certain times, specifically like healthy fats.
00:41:33.559 --> 00:41:42.385
Like I'll really crave, I'll be like, I really need like tahini or I really need avocado or I'm really craving some peanut butter.
00:41:42.385 --> 00:41:50.088
And I feel like I just listen to those cravings and then I think that's gonna help me best to recover.
00:41:50.856 --> 00:41:52.190
So yeah, I've just been doing that.
00:41:52.190 --> 00:42:02.418
But the main thing, Recovery wise it's been tough as like struggling with like the nerve pain which has become like it's just not pleasant.
00:42:02.418 --> 00:42:11.371
I don't think I'm causing myself any long-term damage by still training but it's not comfortable to ride if you've got like shooting nerve pain.
00:42:11.371 --> 00:42:12.432
Oh no.
00:42:12.432 --> 00:42:13.143
Yeah.
00:42:13.143 --> 00:42:14.135
Shoot.
00:42:14.135 --> 00:42:16.990
Are you doing any um like e-stim?
00:42:16.990 --> 00:42:23.456
Do you have like the like electro things, pads you like stick on your back and they like vibrate kind of like tingle?
00:42:23.456 --> 00:42:24.565
That's actually good idea.
00:42:24.565 --> 00:42:25.637
I've not done that.
00:42:25.637 --> 00:42:27.117
I've had a couple of sports massages.
00:42:27.117 --> 00:42:28.896
I've seen a chiropractor.
00:42:30.056 --> 00:42:33.909
I actually doing mobility work has made a big difference.
00:42:33.909 --> 00:42:36.670
Like doing mobility before riding has made a big difference.
00:42:36.670 --> 00:42:43.762
But I do think I just need to accept that I did do a ridiculous ride and like my body does need to recover from that.
00:42:43.762 --> 00:42:47.172
So I've actually, I've changed my race schedule for after Unbound.
00:42:47.172 --> 00:43:12.498
I was meant to race again and do a a one day race and then a four day stage race quite soon after and I've just like re- like reflected on it and been like actually I need to recover like if I have a slight injury now it's only gonna be worse if I don't take a break so I'm gonna take a break after Unbound and then build for the rift in Iceland cool.
00:43:12.498 --> 00:43:13.800
my gosh.
00:43:13.940 --> 00:43:15.684
Wait, tell us about the rift.
00:43:15.684 --> 00:43:16.614
What's the distance?
00:43:16.614 --> 00:43:17.235
How many days?
00:43:17.235 --> 00:43:18.231
What's going on?
00:43:18.231 --> 00:43:22.371
a brand new distance this year, which is 330k.
00:43:22.552 --> 00:43:25.612
So I've done the 200 before.
00:43:25.612 --> 00:43:33.552
Last year I had a really bad crash in the 200 and I landed on a rock on my face and then I split my face open.
00:43:33.831 --> 00:43:36.851
And the scar has only just gone down.
00:43:36.851 --> 00:43:40.512
Like I had a really big scar on my face last year.
00:43:41.452 --> 00:43:44.931
So yeah, this year I'm doing the new 330.
00:43:45.384 --> 00:43:51.713
an insane course like Iceland's just the best place to ride a gravel bike.
00:43:52.844 --> 00:43:55.719
It's super cool, it feels like you're on another planet.
00:43:56.266 --> 00:43:57.809
ah, I'll have to get over there.
00:43:57.809 --> 00:43:59.137
Gotta get over there.
00:43:59.137 --> 00:44:01.557
Honestly, it's like if people are like, what race should I do?
00:44:01.557 --> 00:44:07.760
I'm always like the rift is the one like, okay, it's not gonna be a balmy summer's day, but it could be sunny.
00:44:07.760 --> 00:44:10.514
And it's not too hot.
00:44:10.615 --> 00:44:13.559
And the views are so worth it.
00:44:13.559 --> 00:44:14.380
Wow.
00:44:14.380 --> 00:44:17.047
Oh, I'm to have to Google this after.
00:44:17.181 --> 00:44:18.614
And you go off the day after the race.
00:44:18.614 --> 00:44:21.536
That's what, like I say every time I've done it.
00:44:21.536 --> 00:44:30.836
Yeah, I think actually every year I've done it, I then will always chuck in a couple of days in like a camper van, like seeing somewhere in the island afterwards.
00:44:30.836 --> 00:44:33.056
Well, they work vacation.
00:44:33.077 --> 00:44:34.757
We're going to begin.
00:44:34.757 --> 00:44:35.978
I love that.
00:44:36.119 --> 00:44:39.201
OK, so we had a couple questions from our listeners.
00:44:39.201 --> 00:44:49.965
I think we might have covered a little bit of this, but someone said you knew that this managed holidays holiday was happening and the stores would be closed and packing all your stuff.
00:44:50.626 --> 00:44:51.606
Let's see.
00:44:51.956 --> 00:44:54.130
trying to include more real foods.
00:44:54.130 --> 00:44:56.835
saw you did, he says some savory crepes.
00:44:56.835 --> 00:45:05.487
But he said, what gut training did or didn't have to happen to know if that would work with mixing it with gels, like your ham and cheese wrap.
00:45:05.568 --> 00:45:06.831
Did you test any of that before?
00:45:06.831 --> 00:45:07.913
question.
00:45:07.913 --> 00:45:20.380
I would say I think just the way I eat on rides generally, I'm always just like always pushing myself to eat real food as well as ride food, like as well as like sports nutrition.
00:45:20.380 --> 00:45:26.806
So I think it's just that kind of like I sometimes make a wrap with like nut butter.
00:45:26.806 --> 00:45:37.847
I don't I don't think I've ever done a savory wrap, but like I've eaten wraps on the bike before I've eaten like uh ham and cheese croissant mid-ride before.
00:45:37.847 --> 00:45:48.510
Like I've always, I always have like really pushed myself with food because I think if you do, then you're like, you're training your gut essentially to be able to do that.
00:45:48.510 --> 00:45:49.871
Yeah, 100%.
00:45:52.476 --> 00:45:57.315
if GI issues have ever derailed a race or a hard training day for you, this one's for you.
00:45:57.315 --> 00:46:05.155
We have a free gut training framework that walks you through how to actually train your gut to handle fuel under race conditions because your gut is trainable.
00:46:05.155 --> 00:46:07.356
Most athletes just don't know how to do it.
00:46:07.356 --> 00:46:15.115
We've linked the free guide in the show notes, so just go ahead and check out the show notes, grab the link, and we will send it to you for free right to your inbox.
00:46:15.164 --> 00:46:31.963
I also just generally am like, really, I try and eat a super varied diet because for example, migration gravel racing Kenya, I've done that times, like, you don't know what food you're necessarily going to get in a stage race like that, you don't have control over what you're going to eat.
00:46:31.963 --> 00:46:40.983
So I think you have to like, to do a race like that, you have to be able to just your stomach has to be able to be used to anything and everything.
00:46:40.983 --> 00:46:46.157
And just like responding to whatever there is and like being like okay I can eat that.
00:46:46.157 --> 00:46:47.108
Yeah.
00:46:47.108 --> 00:46:51.835
Okay, wait, what is the wildest thing you've ever eaten during a race?
00:46:51.835 --> 00:46:54.860
Yeah, it makes me think of like fried crickets or something.
00:46:55.643 --> 00:46:55.967
Yeah.
00:46:55.967 --> 00:47:15.739
one morning where they didn't have any oats and they didn't have anything that was like similar to oatmeal and there was bread and the only other carb I could find was like sweet potato so I did a sweet potato sandwich with ketchup I was like it's basically three carbs.
00:47:15.739 --> 00:47:17.184
Yeah, there you go.
00:47:17.184 --> 00:47:18.545
Layer them on.
00:47:18.757 --> 00:47:19.978
Exactly.
00:47:19.978 --> 00:47:41.456
I'm a massive foodie and I have to say something like that is like a painful thing to eat because I like eating like good food and like food I'm excited about but I actually for someone who is so picky about like what they cook and the food they make at home I'm so good at just canning that mid-race for like I need carbs.
00:47:41.456 --> 00:47:43.177
I'm just gonna eat whatever.
00:47:43.297 --> 00:47:43.847
that's good.
00:47:43.847 --> 00:47:45.777
Being able to adapt in the moment.
00:47:45.998 --> 00:47:49.139
OK, and the other question we had here, sodium loss.
00:47:49.139 --> 00:47:50.581
How do you know your losses?
00:47:50.581 --> 00:48:02.568
If you live and train in an area like London, but then are going to go race somewhere in South America, how do know how your sodium losses are going to change in these different climate environments when you're training in something cooler?
00:48:03.092 --> 00:48:04.472
That's a really good question.
00:48:04.472 --> 00:48:06.914
So I've done uh sweat testing.
00:48:06.914 --> 00:48:16.447
So I know what I roughly lose, but that was in like a heat chamber in the UK, but I guess that was at heat.
00:48:16.447 --> 00:48:23.389
So I'm not sure whether that changes based off different environments.
00:48:23.389 --> 00:48:28.371
Is it not just the sweat loss that, like the volume of sweat loss rather than...
00:48:28.371 --> 00:48:31.472
like the sweat rate rather than the sodium concentration.
00:48:31.472 --> 00:48:33.628
Is sodium concentration not fixed?
00:48:34.023 --> 00:48:36.224
It is not fixed.
00:48:36.224 --> 00:48:40.367
No, we're doing some testing with some of our athletes and it does, there's some sway.
00:48:40.367 --> 00:48:45.440
There's some sway and there does appear to be sway with menstruating women during different phases of the cycle too.
00:48:45.440 --> 00:48:57.559
It's minor, but yeah, and humidity is, it seems to be a factor, at least with the testing device we're using right now, there seems to be like an inverse correlation with higher humidity and lower sodium concentration in the sweat.
00:48:57.661 --> 00:49:03.804
So I think there's like a, there's this, it's not a dramatic range, but there's some wiggle room in there.
00:49:03.932 --> 00:49:06.186
Well, I'm just a really salty sweaters.
00:49:06.186 --> 00:49:08.898
I just know I have to take on like strong electrolytes.
00:49:08.898 --> 00:49:21.264
I think that's like my solution to any of this is just like because I know I've got I'm on the extreme end of like sodium loss that therefore I just need to replace as much as I physically can.
00:49:21.264 --> 00:49:22.387
yeah, that's smart.
00:49:22.387 --> 00:49:22.708
Smart.
00:49:22.708 --> 00:49:23.449
Bring it in.
00:49:23.449 --> 00:49:29.329
And if you find your do you find your like craving salty stuff too when you are riding or when you get off the bike?
00:49:29.873 --> 00:49:33.195
all of my life, every day, every moment, I'm craving salt.
00:49:33.195 --> 00:49:38.597
I'm honestly the biggest salt eater.
00:49:38.597 --> 00:49:47.043
When I was younger, can remember going to people's houses, other friends' houses, and their parents being worried about how much salt I was putting on my food.
00:49:47.043 --> 00:49:52.726
It was definitely something that has regularly come up where people are I'm concerned about how much salt you eat.
00:49:52.726 --> 00:49:55.327
But then having had blood stumps and stuff, there's nothing.
00:49:55.327 --> 00:49:58.438
I actually did at one point go and have blood stumps because I was like...
00:49:58.608 --> 00:49:59.949
Is there something wrong?
00:49:59.949 --> 00:50:01.103
Like why am I eating so much salt?
00:50:01.103 --> 00:50:04.242
But everything's completely balanced and I think it is just not up.
00:50:04.242 --> 00:50:05.599
I lose so much salt.
00:50:05.599 --> 00:50:06.836
I eat so much salt.
00:50:06.836 --> 00:50:07.297
Yes.
00:50:07.297 --> 00:50:08.208
Yeah, totally.
00:50:08.208 --> 00:50:09.498
Okay.
00:50:09.498 --> 00:50:11.735
So we have to jump back to your two truths and a lie.
00:50:11.735 --> 00:50:12.458
So let's see.
00:50:12.458 --> 00:50:16.445
You said, he said you rode a unicycle to school.
00:50:16.445 --> 00:50:22.389
You can't have cow's milk and you once won a TV show, but you lost all the money on the last question.
00:50:22.389 --> 00:50:24.440
I thought that one was the lie.
00:50:24.440 --> 00:50:26.961
Which one was your lie?
00:50:27.130 --> 00:50:29.092
It was cow milk, the lie.
00:50:29.092 --> 00:50:31.362
Yeah.
00:50:31.943 --> 00:50:39.385
Cow milk, I don't like cow milk as like, I wouldn't drink it neat, but I can drink it and I'll have it with like cereal and stuff.
00:50:39.385 --> 00:50:46.849
It's just once I played To Choose and Lie with someone and they did this whole dramatic thing about how they couldn't cope with how opaque it is.
00:50:46.849 --> 00:50:52.532
And I just love that as like, if I need to defend the lie, I feel like it's such an easy one to defend because you're like, it's gross.
00:50:52.532 --> 00:50:54.112
It's like, you can't look through it.
00:50:54.112 --> 00:50:55.706
Why would I want to drink it?
00:50:56.681 --> 00:50:57.661
That's great.
00:50:57.661 --> 00:50:58.202
They do.
00:50:58.202 --> 00:51:04.565
They've done em hydration studies on cow's milk and it's actually one of the best like electrolyte replacements.
00:51:04.565 --> 00:51:09.409
It's the fastest way to rehydrate, but no one wants to drink milk when they're out.
00:51:09.510 --> 00:51:12.030
Yeah, it's like faster than an electrolyte product.
00:51:12.030 --> 00:51:13.081
It's really fascinating.
00:51:13.081 --> 00:51:17.454
Just the natural combination of the molecules that are in cow's milk.
00:51:17.454 --> 00:51:19.902
But fun fact for you.
00:51:19.902 --> 00:51:21.577
Yeah, this has been so fun.
00:51:21.577 --> 00:51:24.646
feel like I could ask you a bajillion more questions, but I want to be mindful of your time.
00:51:24.646 --> 00:51:27.081
Where can our listeners find you and follow you?
00:51:27.496 --> 00:51:30.380
So on Instagram, it's Maddy Nutty.
00:51:30.380 --> 00:51:32.623
And then I also have a YouTube channel.
00:51:32.623 --> 00:51:34.936
And I actually, we made a video.
00:51:34.936 --> 00:51:39.972
We made a little documentary film for the tracker and it should be out in about a month.
00:51:39.972 --> 00:51:42.516
So watch this space.
00:51:42.516 --> 00:51:45.829
And if anyone's in the UK, we'll do a screening in London.
00:51:45.945 --> 00:51:46.686
fun.
00:51:46.686 --> 00:51:47.885
Okay.
00:51:47.885 --> 00:51:51.507
And so in a month, so that would be like end of June for listeners.
00:51:51.507 --> 00:51:52.398
Okay.
00:51:52.898 --> 00:51:53.469
Great.
00:51:53.469 --> 00:51:53.960
Okay.
00:51:53.960 --> 00:51:57.481
We'll check out her YouTube in mid to end of June.
00:51:57.481 --> 00:52:03.005
And we'll link that to the show notes for the listeners, your Instagram and your YouTube so people can check that out.
00:52:03.005 --> 00:52:04.936
And thank you again so much for joining us, Maddy.
00:52:04.936 --> 00:52:06.186
This has been so fun.
00:52:06.324 --> 00:52:07.851
Thanks so much for having me.