Jan Frodeno, undoubtedly one of the greatest triathletes of all time, cemented his status as a legend in his final season as he headed into retirement with an incredible record.
The 42-year-old German closed out a storybook career which brought him Olympic gold and three IRONMAN World Championship titles with a season which included an epic victory at the PTO US Open in August.
Now enjoying retirement, Frodeno spoke to GQ about what he believes is triathlon’s fourth discipline – nutrition – as he drew back the curtain on his fuelling strategies.
Jan Frodeno and Man vs Food
Sharing his approach to food in training and racing, Frodeno started by revealing the macronutrient breakdown of his diet when in training mode, adding that the portions are sizeable enough to draw a few raised eyebrows in restaurants.
“In numbers, I need about 800 grams of carbs, 160 grams of protein, and about the same amount of fat, per day. To give you an idea, that’s 16 cups of rice spread over a day if I’m getting ready for a hard training day or a race. It can feel like an eating competition at times!”
Breakfast of a champion
On race day, Frodeno has a very specific routine, which includes oats and a coffee, before sipping on an energy drink to keep him going during the nervous waiting period ahead of the starting gun.
“I wake up 3 hours before the race, so usually around 3:30 a.m. I do a little stretching, mobility and breathing exercises and then prepare a coffee. My race day brekky is usually a big bowl of overnight oats and that is the last solid thing I’ll eat until after the race. I sip on an energy drink until the race start.
“About 15 minutes before the gun goes off I’ll have a caffeine gel. On the bike I aim for 130 grams of carbs per hour. I make this up through gels and a carb concentrate in my drink bottles, which I try to start taking in from the get go.
“Once I get out on the run I go down to about 80 grams of carbs per hour, so a gel every 20 minutes. After that I can’t see any sweets for a while and need a cold beer to celebrate. Although I’m mostly alcohol-free, there’s no better way to recover and reward myself on a hot summer day without hurting the next day.”
Adjusting to retirement
After retirement, Frodeno found his appetite has gone down as his training has decreased, and was quick to point out that he would be making sure he stayed in shape despite the temptations to give in to his sweet tooth.
“I have already noticed my appetite going down a bit, and I think vanity will prevent my sweet tooth from taking over. But I look forward to having more time to invest in finding out about different flavours, herbs, spices and ways of cooking – I live to eat so I guess I’ll still have to train quite a bit.”
Finishing with a note on the importance of fuelling properly, the German shared his belief that lighter is not better, despite his previous opinion on the matter and is happy to see the next generation making eating enough a priority.
“It used to be transitions were the fourth discipline, but it has indeed become food. We used to go off as little nutrition as possible, thinking that lighter is better, but that’s changed to more calories equals more energy, which turns into speed and stamina. The next generation is definitely taking a much healthier approach than we did.”
