Threshold Performance Club | The fitness newsletter

Threshold #4 | Glucose

What do we all have in common?

We breathe.

We all need to drink water.

We all have blood sugar.

Glucose directly affects everyones blood sugar.

Glucose becomes a connection point between all humans.

So what?

Why dive into glucose tracking?

Once I had formally entered Ironman Weymouth, I went to the nth degree to optimise every aspect of my training. From a new bike (obviously), transitioning to a plant based diet and additionally delving into understanding my blood sugar levels.

I am a sucker for good marketing - specifically premium high performance brands - and naturally Supersapiens is the brand which attaches theirselves to endurance sports, notably sponsoring athletes such as Ironman World Champions Kristian Blummentfelt & Jan Frodeno (there are many others).

Seeing a device attached to the arms of the best athletes in the world - like the phenomena which is Whoop bands - naturally sparks interest. 

I immediately bought the 10 week training programme subscription to really hone my nutrition.

Some marketing activations are purely hype, however the affect of blood sugar highs & lows on performance and the general knock on effects on health are really serious.

At the most dangerous end of not understanding blood sugar, one can become diabetic which can lead to limb amputation. At the opposite end - understanding how to positively impact your blood sugar levels - studies have shown you can reduce cancerous tumours and bring your diabeties into remission ‘simply’ by understanding the food you consume.

On a far less serious note, a good understanding of blood sugar can help you run faster or slower because you can ensure you have enough energy stored in your body to sustain an intense training session or race.

The final point was my goal for glucose tracking, to improve my performance.

Where did my glucose tracking journey start?

Marketing.

Marketing is where my understanding of blood sugar tracking started - if I hadn’t seen the devices on top athletes I wouldn’t have ever considered purchasing Supersapiens.

Marketing is only as good as the product, and the truth is my experience with glucose tracking has been phenomenal. I now understand what I eat impacts my daily life and my training.

I started by installing the device. I then spent 72 hours behaving as normal - no change in diet or lifestyle. I then deep-dived into the data - there’s a dashboard filled with data & analytics in the Supersapiens app which is user friendly to digest.

The first thing I noticed was breakfast spiked my glucose - seriously high. Granola & berries, for me, created a spike which led to a sudden crash. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, my breakfast for years growing up had been sugary cereals - if a healthier granola breakfast did this to me, my highs and lows no doubt were far more severe prior in life.

I switched out the blueberries & switched to goji berries & nuts. My glucose spike reduced immediately.

Instant results.

Glucose tracking involves behaviour tracking - and this next part is incredibly important and by default valuable - I became hyper-obsessed with the following: is my mood and/or energy changing as a result of what I’ve eaten. This change in behaviour - making myself analyse how I feel  - has been vital qualitative data alongside the quantitative data.

I’ve become very aware that when I eat I expect an energy slump after a short burst or energy driven by the nutritional components of food I consume.

If I do experience this post-meal I know to avoid the specific foods, to adapt the quantities I’ve consumed (e.g. too much pasta over a short amount of time)or change the order I eat specific foods.My view is the more data I have at my fingertips, the more I can assess and optimise my consumption habits.

The final reason I delved into glucose tracking is for pure health reasons. I won’t spend too long here as the science is new, however there is increasing evidence which suggests elevated blood sugar levels reduce life expectancy. This is in part due to research showing blood sugar as the foundational reason for developing a wide variety of disease. Dr David Sinclair is the leading voice on longevity science. He has a podcast and a book published named Lifespan. I highly recommend reading and listening to his research on longevity and the effects of glucose on lifespan.

For both maximising my athletic ability and extending my healthy life span, glucose tracking is of paramount importance.

What has been my conclusion

Glucose tracking has transformed my understanding how nutrition affects my blood sugar levels. More transformative is how I can now marry up behaviour changes with glucose spikes and declines.

The relationship between food and weight is known, and easy to comprehend. The relationship between food and blood sugar - which until recently had to be taken inside a medical environment for the average person - is far less understood, I believe this stems from the fact you cannot see your blood sugar. But now I have the tools to visualise my glucose score, it becomes a tangible.

So, that’s what.

Shop natural supplements formulated to enhance performance: 

🌱💊 542 Performance Nutrition Daily Green’s ultimate super greens capsules are a perfect blend of superfoods, vitamins, minerals and wholefood-sourced ingredients enhancing your immune system to help you perform in training.

🍄 542 Performance Nutrition Mushroom+ capsules are single-ingredient, high-strength mushroom supplements, helping you deliver energy to your body for training.

💪 542 Performance Nutrition Marine Collagen is the highest quality, and most bioavailable source of collagen available, helping to provide structural integrity to joints and bones.

💤 542 Performance Nutrition Ashwagandha+ (KSM66) is formulated with Cordyceps & Ginseng to help combat stress and adrenal fatigue, while also supporting the immune system, energy levels & mental performance. 

🏋️‍♂️ 542 Performance Nutrition Plant Protein delivers 17g of premium vegan protein per serving with just 1.5g of carbs, 88 calories & no artificial sweeteners.

🏋️‍♂️ 542 Performance Nutrition Whey Protein delivers 22g of premium whey protein per serving with just 1.2g of carbs, 108 calories & no artificial sweeteners.

Big gear cycling session: 52 minutes

Warm up:

• 15 minutes @ 100-125 watts

Main set:

• 10 minutes @ 75% of FTP

• 1 minute @ 100 watts

• 10 minutes @ 75% of FTP

• 1 minute @ 10- watts

• 10 minutes @ 75% of FTP

Recovery

• 5 minutes @ 60-110 watts

That’s a wrap for week 4.

You can keep up to date with my training over on Strava or Instagram here.

Again, disclaimer, I’m multiple coffees in, hopefully the content is more valuable than a couple of grammar mistakes.

Have a great week.

Robert