If you train regularly, eat “well,” and still feel like your body isn’t responding the way it should, this is something that should be on your radar. Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) is a common thing I see in clinic and even though it’s more well known now than years ago, most people aren’t sure how to assess if it’s something that is affecting them. It can be tricky as it’s not extreme, not always intentional and it can affect the weekend warrior just as easily as it can affect an elite athlete. What is RED-S? RED-S occurs when the body doesn’t have enough energy available to support both exercise and normal physiological function. It was once known as the Female Athlete Triad, which focused on: We now know ...
Tart Cherry Juice: The Natural Sleep and Recovery Booster for Active Women and Perimenopause
Tart Cherry Juice: A Natural Support for Sleep, Recovery, and Inflammation If you’ve ever found yourself tossing and turning at night or waking up feeling sore and tired after training, tart cherry juice could be for you. Poor sleep, muscle soreness, and lingering fatigue are common complaints among both athletes and women navigating perimenopause. But what if something as simple as a glass of tart cherry juice could help? Tart cherry juice, especially from Montmorency cherries, has been studied for its benefits on sleep, recovery, inflammation, and even heart health. It’s one of those small, evidence-based tweaks that can make a noticeable difference to how you feel and perform. Natural Melatonin for Better Sleep Tart ...
Maximise Your Race: The DIY Sweat Test for Athletes
Nailing your nutrition and staying hydrated is like rocket fuel for your performance. However, we are all very different when it comes to hydration, genetics, build and ethnicity all have different sweat rates. That's why the sweat test is your secret weapon to fine-tune your race day nutrition plan. I'm here to show you how to do your own sweat test so you can rock your runs and rides. Firstly, you want to do the test on a day with the same temperature and humidity to your race day, this will give you the best results & accuracy for race day. Let's Go! This is what you need to do: Now for the maths to calculate your sweat rate: Sweat Rate (L/hr) = (Pre-workout weight - Post-workout weight + Fluid Intake) / Workout ...
Be a Marathon Rockstar: Fuel Your Success from Start to Finish
I work with a range of running levels from novice to the well-seasoned ultra-athlete. This blog has information for all runners; however, it is intended for the newer marathon runners. I ran my first half marathon with no knowledge of running, nutrition or recovery. I went in 100%, I trained at 100%, every run was at effort, I thought if I ran every run as fast as I could, I would naturally start to run faster, wow, was I wrong! I was under fuelling, not intentionally, I truly believed I was eating well at the time. I trained with an old school phone (way before owning a Garmin) that shouted out when I had hit another “k” that I for some strange reason decided to not take to the event. This all led to a bucket load of excitement at the ...
Simple (but important) Things to Know about Electrolytes
Are you one of those athletes with rings of white on your hat post-training? Are you feeling fatigued at the end of a session? Are you feeling smashed for the day post-training sessions? Are you training in your luteal phase? Answered yes to any of these? You may need to consider an electrolyte replacement. What are Electrolytes? Electrolytes are salts that are found in nature in the form of minerals. They have an electrical charge, either a positive or a negative ion, that is part of our nerve communication system. They speak to the opposite ion; the negative will communicate with the positive i.e. opposites attract! I mean do opposites really attract? I don’t know about that but in this case, they do! In addition ...
