Triathlon Nutrition Academy

Is carb loading a myth? A paper published in June has social media convinced that it is.
A comment landed on my socials this week saying exactly that. It didn't appear out of nowhere. There is a new paper doing the rounds, the headlines have picked it up and sprinted into some pretty heavy clickbait territory, and they have taken it somewhere I don't think the authors ever wanted it to go. So I'm going to tell you exactly what that paper says, what it doesn't say and how to apply it to you as an age group triathlete.
I'll walk you through the 14 studies this whole argument rests on, why only 2 of them were double blinded and the detail in the research design that changes how you should read every one of those headlines. Then I'll show you brand new data on 27 real women racing at the 2024 World Champs, which I think is the far more important number for you.
IN THIS EPISODE:
What the June 2026 commentary actually did, and why it is not the carb loading study everyone thinks it is
How 10,422 papers were screened down to just 14
Why most of that research doesn't reflect how you actually race
What happened to muscle glycogen when athletes ate enough carbohydrate
Why I never wrote Matt Hauser a carb loading plan, and what that tells you about yours
The World Champs food diary data on what female age groupers really ate the day before their biggest race
The second problem with this research that nobody is talking about yet
What I want you to do differently before your next race
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 The comment that kicked this off
00:27 The paper behind the headlines, and what it actually is
02:58 From 10,422 papers down to 14
03:29 Why only two of them were double blinded
04:17 Riding with no fuel on board, and some of them fasted
05:42 The two studies the myth claim rests on
06:23 What actually happened to muscle glycogen
08:02 The one that was really a creatine study
09:33 Why I'm not calling this case closed
10:15 World Champs: only 26% hit their carb loading numbers
12:25 Train like a professional, eat like a beginner
12:48 Why Matt Hauser never needed a carb loading plan
14:34 There is a ceiling, but that doesn't mean your tank is full
15:40 The second problem nobody is talking about
16:26 Risk versus reward
17:54 What I want you to do before your next race
18:42 So, is carb loading a myth?
STUDIES MENTIONED
- Areta, J. L., [LILY: confirm the full author list from the paper before publishing]. (2026). Beyond belief? Absence of double-blinding and limited ecological validity in carbohydrate loading research. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2026-0058
- Burke, L. M., Hawley, J. A., Schabort, E. J., St Clair Gibson, A., Mujika, I., & Noakes, T. D. (2000). Carbohydrate loading failed to improve 100-km cycling performance in a placebo-controlled trial. Journal of Applied Physiology, 88(4), 1284-1290. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.2000.88.4.1284
- Tomcik, K. A., Camera, D. M., Bone, J. L., Ross, M. L., Jeacocke, N. A., Tachtsis, B., Senden, J., van Loon, L. J. C., Hawley, J. A., & Burke, L. M. (2018). Effects of creatine and carbohydrate loading on cycling time trial performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 50(1), 141-150. [https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000001401
- Jones, R. O., Areta, J. L., Bennett, S., Pugh, J., & Louis, J. B. (2026). Dose-response of dietary carbohydrate intake on skeletal muscle glycogen, gastrointestinal comfort and body composition in endurance-trained individuals in simulated preparation for competition. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 36(6), e70312. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.70312
- Fortis, H. O., Whitehead, A. E., Cronin, C. J., Johnson, K. O., Shepherd, S. O., Hackney, A. C., Close, G. L., & Strauss, J. A. (2026). From intention to execution: Pre-race nutrition behaviours, influences, and performance outcomes in female endurance athletes at the IRONMAN World Championships. European Journal of Sport Science, 26(7), e70193. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsc.70193
If you want carb loading laid out properly in a way that is easy to understand, with a planner and a calculator that does all of the hard maths for you, my Carb Loading Masterclass is at dietitianapproved.com/carb-loading.
Download the FREE audio series The 5 Biggest Nutrition Mistakes Costing You Time on Race Day
Recovery Accelerator Program
SUPPORT THE PODCAST HERE
CONNECT WITH TARYN
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
The Triathlon Nutrition Academy® is a podcast by Dietitian Approved®. All rights reserved.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You can eat really good food all day long and still have no idea how to fuel a triathlon.
Dr James Anderson is a dentist, a Triathlon Nutrition Academy athlete and one of the most organised humans you will ever meet. Smoothie bags prepped in the freezer. Snack bags packed for every work day. Quality food, every single day. He was still eating the wrong things at the wrong time for three sports, and he had no idea until he went looking for the gaps. In this episode James shares what changed between joining the Academy and crossing the line at his first 70.3 in New Mexico, including the quadrathlon that scared him into taking the detail seriously, what carb loading and sodium loading did for his cramping and headaches, and the moment on the run where his fuel stopped working and he had to think his way to the finish line.
WHAT YOU WILL TAKE AWAY
Why eating healthy and fuelling for triathlon are two completely different skills
What being super organised with food still misses when you are training for three sports
How conflicting advice online leaves smart, capable athletes stuck in paralysis by analysis
What carb loading and sodium loading did for a big athlete racing at altitude
How to troubleshoot on course when your race nutrition stops working, instead of taking a DNF
Why James is leaving his bike computer and Strava behind next time
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Eating well and fuelling for triathlon are not the same thing
00:33 Meet Dr James Anderson, dentist and TNA athlete
01:47 The bike shop moment and a very optimistic swim time
05:26 Fitting three sports around a full time job and a business
06:40 The Apple Blossom story
09:04 Organised, disciplined and eating the wrong things at the wrong time
10:40 Why a smart, capable guy could not work it out on his own
12:51 The Mount Taylor quadrathlon reality check
16:27 How the nutrition actually went at his first 70.3
19:16 Open water panic and the note in the swim cap
25:00 What he would do differently next time
29:18 The Power Hour crew and what is next
31:10 Nobody is born knowing this
GUEST
Dr James Anderson is a dentist based in New Mexico, USA, a Clydesdale age grouper and a Triathlon Nutrition Academy athlete who has just finished phase three of the program. He fell for the sport after seeing his first triathlon bike in a bike shop, raced sprint distance for three years and Olympic distance for two, and recently completed his first 70.3, the longest event he has ever raced. He is not on social media, so the best place to find him is in the TNA Power Hour.
WANT THIS FOR YOURSELF
Nobody is born knowing how to fuel three sports and you will not learn it at school or at uni. Get your name on the list for the next cohort of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy.

Download the FREE audio series The 5 Biggest Nutrition Mistakes Costing You Time on Race Day
Recovery Accelerator Program
SUPPORT THE PODCAST HERE
CONNECT WITH TARYN
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
The Triathlon Nutrition Academy® is a podcast by Dietitian Approved®. All rights reserved.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Want to build your own carb loading plan? Grab my complete Carb Loading Masterclass here: https://www.dietitianapproved.com/carb-loading
A giant bowl of pasta the night before your race is not carbohydrate loading. Not even close.
In two decades of working with age group triathletes, Taryn has never met one who carb loads properly. This episode fixes that once and for all. It breaks down the science of carbohydrate loading, why it is genuinely free speed out on the course, and the handful of mistakes that leave you feeling bloated, heavy and fading in the back half of your race.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
What carbohydrate loading actually is, and why it is not the same as demolishing a pasta dinner
Why carb loading delays fatigue rather than making you faster, and how it is worth 1 to 3% performance out on course
The five common mistakes that leave you bloated and heavy (you are almost certainly doing at least one)
Why the number on the scales going up is a sign you have done it right, not a reason to panic
Whether women really do carb load worse than men, and what the research actually says
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 The pasta party myth
01:44 Why no triathlete carb loads properly
03:38 What carbohydrate loading actually is (glycogen, the fuel tank and supercompensation)
06:07 Free speed: why it delays fatigue instead of making you faster
07:21 The evidence: 90 minutes and a 1 to 3% gain
08:44 The five mistakes that leave you bloated and heavy
14:20 Do women carb load worse than men?
18:23 How to build your own carb loading plan
22:37 The five big takeaways
STUDIES MENTIONED
- McLay, R. T., Thomson, C. D., Williams, S. M., & Rehrer, N. J. (2007). Carbohydrate loading and female endurance athletes: Effect of menstrual-cycle phase. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 17(2), 189-205. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.17.2.189
- Tarnopolsky, M. A., Zawada, C., Richmond, L. B., Carter, S., Shearer, J., Graham, T., & Phillips, S. M. (2001). Gender differences in carbohydrate loading are related to energy intake. Journal of Applied Physiology, 91(1), 225-230. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.2001.91.1.225
- James, A. P., Lorraine, M., Cullen, D., Goodman, C., Dawson, B., Palmer, T. N., & Fournier, P. A. (2001). Muscle glycogen supercompensation: Absence of a gender-related difference. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 85(6), 533-538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s004210100499
- Wismann, J., & Willoughby, D. (2006). Gender differences in carbohydrate metabolism and carbohydrate loading. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 3(1), 28-34. https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-3-1-28
BUILD YOUR OWN CARB LOADING PLAN
You cannot copy a carb loading plan from your training buddy, your coach or the internet, because it is so individual. So Taryn has taken everything she teaches inside the Triathlon Nutrition Academy and put it into a complete carb loading masterclass, open to the public. Three video lessons, just over an hour, plus the exact tool she uses with her athletes to calculate your specific numbers and build your plan. Grab it here: dietitianapproved.com/carb-loading

Download the FREE audio series The 5 Biggest Nutrition Mistakes Costing You Time on Race Day
Recovery Accelerator Program
SUPPORT THE PODCAST HERE
CONNECT WITH TARYN
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
The Triathlon Nutrition Academy® is a podcast by Dietitian Approved®. All rights reserved.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thinking about putting Challenge Roth on your bucket list? Three TNA athletes just raced it, and they are telling you exactly what to get right before you sign up.
Three TNA athletes share what it really takes to race Challenge Roth, from importing race nutrition into Australia to riding through Solar Hill. Real lessons on fuelling, logistics and pacing for anyone with this iconic full distance race on the bucket list.
Jo, Lisa and Leanne are all TNA athletes, all from Queensland, and they have just ticked one of triathlon's biggest bucket list events off the list: Challenge Roth in Bavaria, Germany. In this episode they share what training for and racing this iconic full distance event was really like, from importing race nutrition into Australia to talking themselves through a mid-race gut issue on the run.
In this episode you will learn:
Why Australians book Challenge Roth through a travel company, and how fast the race actually sells out
What to pack, and import, when the on-course sports nutrition brand is not sold at home
How to handle a mid-race gut issue without abandoning your fuelling plan
Why nailing your everyday training nutrition is what actually gets you to the start line healthy
Why hiring a bike for race day can cost you more than it saves
What Solar Hill is really like, and why it might make you cry
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Cold open: why you should never hire a race bike
00:41 Meet Jo, Lisa and Leanne, fresh from racing Challenge Roth
01:04 What Challenge Roth actually is, and why Solar Hill is legendary
02:06 Did the race live up to the hype
02:36 Leanne on her 19th full distance race, and feeling her best yet
03:10 Jo's emotional swim start and watching Lucy Charles-Barclay
04:33 5am beers and the Bavarian party atmosphere
05:02 Lisa on finally racing the event she watched her husband race in 2018
05:27 Getting a start line spot, and why you need a travel company
07:02 Packing and importing race nutrition from Australia to Germany
08:42 Smuggling Tim Tams, Vegemite and a confiscated jar through customs
09:19 Travelling with family, bike bags and European train stairs
10:38 Arriving early to acclimatise to the European heatwave
13:00 What they would have changed about their preparation
14:03 Testing a new tri suit at the swim practice, not on race day
14:37 Did race day nutrition go to plan
15:11 Lisa's mid-race stomach upset, and how dry pretzels fixed it
16:55 Jo losing her appetite in the carb-loading days before the race
17:50 Race morning timing, and eating on an 8:15am wave start
20:17 Jo's decision to build her own race after a stress fracture
24:10 Solar Hill: riding through a wall of 300,000 people
26:40 What they would change if they raced it again tomorrow
32:31 Their best advice if Roth is on your bucket list
33:37 How long it actually took to prepare
34:24 Why nailing everyday training nutrition kept them consistent
35:43 Practising on gravel, and an 18 month lead-in block
37:06 Confidence in your coach, and the surprises on race day
39:42 What's next: Norseman, a sub four hour marathon and a Roth return
45:10 Final thoughts and a well-earned rest

Jo Hurley, Lisa McDonald and Leanne Coghill are all Triathlon Nutrition Academy athletes and all Queenslanders, who travelled to Bavaria this year to take on Challenge Roth between them.
If Challenge Roth, or your first full distance race, is on your radar, the Triathlon Nutrition Academy is where we help you build a fuelling plan you can trust on race day. Get on the waitlist here.
Download the FREE audio series The 5 Biggest Nutrition Mistakes Costing You Time on Race Day
Recovery Accelerator Program
SUPPORT THE PODCAST HERE
CONNECT WITH TARYN
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
The Triathlon Nutrition Academy® is a podcast by Dietitian Approved®. All rights reserved.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pros are fuelling at up to 200 grams of carbs an hour. Should you be chasing that number too?
High carb fuelling is the hottest topic in endurance sport right now, and the numbers keep climbing. INEOS Grenadiers are fuelling their riders at up to 150 grams of carbs an hour on big Touar de France stages, and pro triathlete Cameron Wurf recently said he took on 200 grams an hour on the bike in a recent Ironman (yes, 200, in one hour). Every age grouper watching that unfold is tempted to copy it. In this episode Taryn breaks down the real science behind high carb fuelling, why it works for the pros, and the one thing most age group triathletes skip completely before they try to chase that number themselves.
You'll learn:
Why the pros are pushing carb intake so high, and what the official guidelines actually say
The genuine recovery benefits of higher carb fuelling, backed by real research
Why eating past your absorption ceiling can wreck your race instead of fuelling it
Why your fuelling ceiling is nothing like the pro's ceiling, and why that's completely fine
A real athlete example of building fuelling tolerance the right way, over time, not overnight
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Why high carb fuelling is exploding in endurance sport
01:24 Meet Taryn and what this episode covers
02:19 The science behind pro level carb intake
03:42 The recovery benefits backed by research
04:08 The catch: high dropout rates from gut issues
05:14 Why there is a ceiling on how much carb can help you
05:38 The cycling study that found more was not always better
06:34 Where unused carbs actually go
07:01 Why your absorption capacity is not the same as anyone else's
08:07 The trap of copying the pro's number
09:39 How the pros actually built their tolerance
10:51 Why gut training is not a DIY podcast protocol
11:54 What you can start doing today
13:34 Case study: Lynn's fuelling turnaround
15:11 The real takeaway: find your number, not theirs
REFERENCES
- King, A. J., O'Hara, J. P., Morrison, D. J., Preston, T., & King, R. F. G. J. (2018). Carbohydrate dose influences liver and muscle glycogen oxidation and performance during prolonged exercise. Physiological Reports, 6(1), e13555. https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.13555 | PubMed
- Viribay, A., Arribalzaga, S., Mielgo-Ayuso, J., Castañeda-Babarro, A., Seco-Calvo, J., & Urdampilleta, A. (2020). Effects of 120 g/h of carbohydrates intake during a mountain marathon on exercise-induced muscle damage in elite runners. Nutrients, 12(5), 1367. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12051367 | PubMed
- Urdampilleta, A., Arribalzaga, S., Viribay, A., Castañeda-Babarro, A., Seco-Calvo, J., & Mielgo-Ayuso, J. (2020). Effects of 120 vs. 60 and 90 g/h carbohydrate intake during a trail marathon on neuromuscular function and high intensity run capacity recovery. Nutrients, 12(7), 2094. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12072094 | PubMed
- Hearris, M. A., Pugh, J. N., Langan-Evans, C., Mann, S. J., Burke, L., Stellingwerff, T., Gonzalez, J. T., & Morton, J. P. (2022). 13C-glucose-fructose labeling reveals comparable exogenous CHO oxidation during exercise when consuming 120 g/h in fluid, gel, jelly chew, or coingestion. Journal of Applied Physiology, 132(6), 1394–1406. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00091.2022 | Free full text
- Wilson, P. B. (2026). A narrative review of the high-carbohydrate fueling revolution (≥100 g/h) in the professional peloton. Sports Medicine, 56(2), 295-313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-025-02372-6
Our final cohort of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy for the year is opening again soon. If dialling in your race fuelling and training your gut to handle it is something you need to work on, register your interest now.
Download the FREE audio series The 5 Biggest Nutrition Mistakes Costing You Time on Race Day
Recovery Accelerator Program
SUPPORT THE PODCAST HERE
CONNECT WITH TARYN
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
The Triathlon Nutrition Academy® is a podcast by Dietitian Approved®. All rights reserved.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.