Fuel like a pro! Nutrition tips from Ryan Gilchrist
Want to know how to fuel like a pro? Don’t we all! Ryan Gilchrist shares his secrets to elite performance.
Words: Zoe Wilson | Photos: Matt Rousu, Piper Albrecht
Ryan Gilchrist is riding for Yeti Shimano in the Enduro World Cup this year, his first year into Elite. Travelling and racing all over the world throws up some nice nutrition challenges, so we wanted to find out what he eats day-to-day and how he manages his race nutrition. Whatever he is doing is working with great results so far. Read on for the inside line.
The day-to-day
The day-to-day of a professional athlete is gruelling. Ryan reports an average rest day he is using around 2800 calories per day, with more when training and up to 6000 calories for an Enduro World Cup race. This means Ryan is very conscious that fuelling strategies are needed to ensure he is eating enough to fuel performance and support recovery. Ryan eats consistently day-to-day (unless at home being spoiled by Mum’s cooking) and measures what he eats so he knows exactly what the body is getting and can make changes if needed.
Ryan’s typical base day:
Breakfast: Bowl of oats (luckily for us he’s given us his favourite recipe)
Lunch: Usually keeping it simple by eating leftovers from last night’s dinner
Dinner: Always a base of carbohydrate (pasta, rice, or potatoes), a protein source (lean chicken, fish, beef, beans, or tofu) and vegetables
Snacks: Fruit, dried seaweed, a can of tuna or 10 pistachios (“I have a strange habit – I only allow myself exactly 10. No more, no less. I don’t know when that started or why I do it but it's just something strange I do.”). Or, if after something sweet, some >70% dark chocolate.
Dessert: Greek yoghurt, muesli, and a scoop of protein powder
A little look at this typical day and you can see a good variety of mostly unprocessed foods with a focus on providing good quality carbohydrates for fuelling and protein for recovery and repair. Ryan doesn’t rely as much on supplements as we often think athletes do. Some simple protein powder and creatine is all he takes on the daily. Where his day varies is what he eats around training and the phase of training he is in. He’ll add sports nutrition products where necessary.
Ryan's Oats recipe
- 1/2 cup quick oats
- 40g Plant Purity Protein Powder (I use P3 Swiss chocolate)
- 200ml soy milk (or any milk alternative)
- Sprinkle of chia seeds
- 1tbsp LSA
- Handful of sultanas or dried fruit mix
- Honey to taste
- 1 tsp instant coffee (a sin amongst coffee drinkers)
Race Day
Ryan reports not ever bonking during a race and feeling as though he is managing his nutrition well. He follows some key race nutrition strategies like eating his pre-race meal 2-3 hours before so it’s fully digested and fuelling proactively rather than reactively during a race. He also notes that this race nutrition plan is only possible because of the single-day Enduro format which means he can take a few days to re-fuel and recover post-race.
Ryan’s race day nutrition is typically comprised of Clif bars, Clif blocks (dubbed ‘bonk blocks’) and gels with bottles of sports drink or electrolyte mix. A good focus on hydration and easily digestible and available carbohydrate to fuel the legs.
Ryan’s go-to race-day nutrition plan
Pre-race: A double serve of oats 2.5 hours before race start then a Clif bar before the start of the first stage.
During: Ryan plans his nutrition for the bottom of each stage. “I find it useful to have a plan for what I’m going to eat at the bottom of every stage. So, after I finish rolling my legs out, I’ll smash half a bar and stick a couple of bonk blocks to the top tube (the longer the liaison the more bonk blocks). I’ll eat the bonk blocks as I make my way to the next stage, and I find this to be a nice way to time my liaison, so I’ll have eaten half of the blocks when I’m halfway up the hill. As the day goes on, I’ll occasionally hit a caffeine bonk block to zing me back up.” The only solid food Ryan might eat is some plain white rice in the feed zone.
Hydration: Ryan is also proactive when it comes to electrolyte replacement, carrying a zip-lock bag of electrolyte tablets and extra salt to sprinkle into his bottle.
Recovery: After a race Ryan is proactive, too. He takes 40g of Purity Plant Protein mixed with water or soy milk as a start before heading for a full meal. This goes along with his other recovery habits like soaking in sodium carbonate, elevating his legs and doing some mobility work.
Travel like a pro
One of the things we wanted to know, was how does Ryan handle all the travel of the Enduro circuit from a nutrition point of view and boy, did he give us some good tips!
– Always take race nutrition. It can be hard to find or expensive overseas. It’s also smart as you can be sure there are no banned substances or contaminants.
– Eat the same food while away as at home. “I know it's not very culturally immersive, but I know my body responds well to it.” This requires a bit of planning by finding a larger supermarket on the way to a race.
– To keep cost down, buy non-perishables like pasta, rice or oats in bulk. This is the birth of the famous “Carb Corner”, a regular feature on Ryan’s socials where photos of absurd piles of carbs get to shine.
– When you can, after the racing is done, enjoy yourself. Ryan only eats out at the end of the season, “I love my routine and saving money but those carbonara feeds and all-you-can-eat sushi sessions in Finale are some of the most core memories from my trip.”