Nutritional Revolution Podcast

Inside Maddy Natt’s 26.5-Hour Gravel Record: Tech, Tactics, and Mental Grit

• Season 6 • Episode 185

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In episode #185 we chat with gravel cyclist and 2026 Traka 560 record breaker, Maddy Nutt, as she shares behind-the-scenes insights from her latest epic rides. Tune in to learn more about her training, nutrition, gear, and mental resilience required to tackle the world's toughest gravel events. This episode is packed with practical insights for endurance athletes, gravel racers, and anyone interested in pushing physical limits in demanding environments. Tune in to learn from Maddy’s journey, strategies, and fun stories from the road!

KEY POINTS:

  • Maddy's transition from finance to professional gravel racing
  • Highlights and moments from her races, including her record breaking finish at Traka 560
  • How nutrition, gear choices, and fueling strategies impact ultra-distance performance
  • The role of AI and data-driven planning in her race prep
  • Practical tips on hydration, weight management, and race day logistics
  • Managing recovery and injury post-race, plus upcoming events including The Rift in Iceland

Please note that this podcast is created strictly for educational purposes and should never be used for medical diagnosis or treatment.

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ABOUT MADDY NUTT:

Maddy Nutt is a British gravel cyclist and endurance racer known for her fearless riding style, ultra-distance grit, and adventurous approach to off-road racing. Based in London, she transitioned from a career in finance to professional cycling after discovering a passion for gravel racing and endurance events. Since then, she has become one of the standout names in the international gravel scene, competing in events across Europe, Africa, and the Americas. 

Maddy has earned podium finishes and victories in major gravel races, including wins in the UCI Gravel World Series and standout performances at events such as Safari Gravel Race and Traka 560, where she absolutely crushed the record in 2026. Known for thriving in demanding endurance conditions, she has built a reputation for resilience, including famously finishing Traka 360 despite riding hundreds of kilometers with a shoulder ligament injury. 

Alongside racing, Maddy is also recognized for sharing the culture and community of gravel cycling through storytelling, travel, and social media content. Her personality, humor, and love of adventure have helped make her one of the most relatable and recognizable athletes in modern gravel racing. 

Timestamps:

00:00 - Meet Maddy Nutt: UK gravel star & endurance record-breaker

02:16 - Transition from finance to gravel racing: A passion turned pro

04:05 - Race highlights: The challenge of Traka 360 and setting records

06:38 - Race strategy: Setting time goals, pacing, and navigating remote routes

09:22 - Supporting equipment: Nutrition, hydration, and bike setup for ultra distances

13:24 - Managing nutrition: Food choices, gels, real food, and flavor fatigue

16:19 - Fueling plans: Carbs, fluids, and managing caloric intake during long races

22:16 - Race day logistics: Stops, support, and minimalist packing

25:10 - Using AI for race planning: Tires, weight, and route intelligence

29:24 - Race challenges: Water, support, and dealing with unexpected obstacles

34:24 - Post-race recovery: Rest, nutrition, and injury management

37:37 - Upcoming races: The Rift in Iceland and future plans

41:13 - Tips for real food intake during ultra-distance racing

44:21 - Understanding sodium loss and electrolyte needs in different climates

46:36 - Fun facts & closing: The lie about her childhood talent & where to follow her adventures

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Hey, you guys, before we get into the episode today, I want to tell you something I'm really excited about. On June 2nd at 5 PM Pacific, I'm sitting down live with professional ultra runner Dani Moreno, and I want you in the room. We're calling it Fueling for Success. And here's why I think this one's going to be really special. Dani's heading into Broken Arrow 64K at the end of June, right in the heart of summer race season. And if you're gearing up for something big yourself, whether that's your own A race or something like Western States, this is the conversation you want to be a part of. We're going to talk about how Dani's fueling ahead of a key mountain race, how she handles hydration and gut training at the pro level, how she navigates recovery and injury setbacks, and what actually shifts in her nutrition when race season gets close. But honestly, the biggest appeal here is access. This is your front row seat to speak directly to a professional ultra runner and ask her your personal questions. Not a panel, not a webinar where you're muted the whole time. This is a real conversation with Dani and I'll be there too sharing how we've worked together from the sports nutrition side. So you're also getting a peek behind the curtain of what an athlete and nutritionist relationship actually looks like in practice. When you reserve your spot, you can also submit your questions ahead of time so we can make sure they get answered. We're capping this at only 15 people. That's intentional. This is meant to be intimate. So don't sit on this one, you guys. Grab your spot. The link is in the show notes. I'll see you on June 2nd. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Nutritional Revolution Podcast. It's Kyla, your host, and today we have for you guys Maddy Nutt, and she's a British gravel cyclist and endurance racer, known for her fearless riding style, ultra-distance grit, and adventurous approach to off-road racing. She's based in London and transitioned from a career in finance to professional cycling after discovering a passion for gravel racing and endurance events. Since then, she has become one of the standout names in the international gravel scene, competing in events across Europe, Africa, and America. Maddy has earned podium finishes and victories in major gra major gravel races, including wins in the UCI Gravel World Series and standout performances at events such as Safari Gravel Race and Traka 560, where she absolutely crushed the record in 2026. Known for thriving in demanding endurance conditions, she has built a reputation for resilience, including famously finishing Traka 360 despite riding hundreds of kilometers with a shoulder ligament injury. Alongside racing, Maddy is also recognized for sharing the culture and community of gravel cycling through storytelling, travel, and social media content. Her personality, humor, and love of adventure have helped make her one of the most relatable and recognizable athletes in modern gravel racing. This is a super fun episode. You guys are going to love it. Enjoy. Hello everybody and welcome back to the Nutritional Revolution podcast. We have for you guys, Maddy Nutt Thank you so much for joining us, Maddy. Thank you for having me. I'm super pumped for our listeners. just crushed the Traka Yeah, the long one and I think I surprised a lot of people in doing so. Well, we definitely are going to dive into that. I'm super pumped to hear all about it. Before we start breaking all that down for our listeners, I'm going to have you give me your two truths and a lie in no particular order. Okay, in no particular order, I cannot drink cow milk. okay. I once won a television quiz show but I lost all the money on the last question and I used to ride a unicycle to school. That's a talent. oh man, that's impressive. Okay, well, none of these things did I discover in my researching of you. So these are good ones for sure. ah to ask me questions related to them or do you just have to go straight with what you think? just have to go straight with it. I just got to go straight. Sometimes I'll try and pry, but I really should just go for it. I wonder if the cow's milk thing is like a preference or if it's lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance is very common. TV shows, not super common, but it is a good story. Writing a unicycle is impressive. Oh man. I think I don't know why. Maybe my brain's stuck on this, but I tend to always go with the middle one. So I'm going to go with that one. The once won a TV quiz show, but lost all the money on the last question. I think that might be the line. Maybe there's some truth to it and a little bit of twist. Maybe you did win the money. I don't know. And then I feel like it would be a cool story if we found out you rode a unicycle to school. So we're going to find out where to find out. OK, well, we will reveal the answer at the end of the episode for the listeners. So hang tight, you guys. But we're going to just dive in, just dive right in, because we only have Maddy for an hour here. So we want to learn all the the hot nuggets from you. But why don't you give us a little bit of background just on kind of leading up to truck? You did. Did you do truck on twenty twenty five? So I've done the oh 360 the past three years. So I started racing gravel properly like five years ago and this would be like my fifth season. And in 2023, that's when I first did the tracker. So I did the 360. It was a huge, that at the time, that was like a huge challenge. I would have viewed that race that year as like an ultra. And I actually would say, I was in a better state after the 560 this year than after the 360 the first year I did it. Wow, what do you attribute that to? fueling because the first year I did it I had an absolute nightmare mainly because and I don't want to blame my sister but my sister was my support crew and at the first feed zone she gave me an empty hydration vest and like I should have stopped and gone if this feels a bit light have you filled it up Yeah. But instead I just went off because I was like doing pretty well. So I was like, wow, I'm just going to keep going and then I'll solve this problem later. Not thinking, okay, I'm going to go three hours without water. And I started vomiting and yeah, I did finish. I like, I came fifth, which now if you say, oh, I came fifth in the track of 360 people, Oh my God, that's amazing. But obviously the level has gone up. So fifth in 2023 is nowhere near as good as fifth now, but I did still come fifth. just, had a real rough time doing that. man, yeah, that sounds very rough. uh So what was total duration at that point, the first attempt? First year? Oh god, I actually don't know but it could have been like 16 hours. Like I know it was long, maybe not quite as long as 16, maybe like 14, but I definitely chopped a fair few hours off that for when I did the 360 the next two years. And actually unbound, so unbound 200 I've done twice and I think I was four and a half hours faster last year than 2023. Yeah. That's insane. and I got like the same position, which shows that like the level has just gone up so much. my gosh. Were either of those the years where it was like the peanut butter mud? yeah. To be fair, the 2023 was peanut butter mud. So four and a half hours, including an hour and a half walking because of mud, but still, yeah. Shoot. Yeah. Wow. That is incredible. So do you think that is fueling? Do you think it's gear like bike components? Like, what do you think is? it's combination of lots of small things all adding up. I think nutrition is definitely a part of it. I think the bikes, equipment is a part of it. Obviously just training consistency over a long period of time, that's probably the main thing. I only started cycling when I was 20, so I think there's something in that, actually I didn't have that many years of training in me when I did the... Unbound for the first time, for example. And like just no experience. mean, I had no idea about the mud. I didn't have a mud stick and I just tried to ride through it and then just completely wrecked my bike basically, and then just walked for an hour. So I think, yeah, I think there's like lots of different small elements and then them all coming together to like make such a big improvement. Yeah. Yeah. All the little things. is really incredible. Just like, I mean, the bike technology just blows me away constantly. Um, and then all the research to coming out on nutrition, always fun, always fun as well. Um, so thinking about Troca five 60, which was just, what was it? Just like two, two weeks ago, three weeks ago now. Yeah, it was nearly three weeks ago and Unbound XL is only a week away so they're a bit too close. Yeah. for Unbound, do you start on Friday? Friday at 3pm. Okay, okay. We can talk about that, but I definitely want to hear about the 560 truck. What were you targeting initially time-wise for that? So when I initially looked at the course and I looked at the time for the fastest time that a woman's done it, I kind of had worked out after like wrecking Wicksford that I thought I could definitely beat the time, like the record time of the course, but I didn't know whether that would like, whether other people would also be able to beat the time, for example. like my actual goal was to do, was it 28 hours was what I was going for. Mm-hmm. so I went in thinking I'm going to go for 28 hours and I made a plan based off that. And basically as the race played out, I lowered that time target to 26 and a half. As I realized like, actually, no, I'm actually ahead of schedule. Like I arrived, I had like a last minute stop at a BP station that was the only place I hit that was, was going to be open during the time I hit it on the whole course. Whoa. arrived 15 minutes before it opened. I like, my one plan, like, and it was an extra stop, I didn't need it, I had enough nutrition on me, but just in case I really wanted it, and it's like a treat towards the finish, I was gonna go to this BP station and maybe get like a Coke, crisps or just something different. And annoyingly, I was so ahead of schedule that it wasn't open. So you didn't wait, you just kept going. Yeah, I just kept going through and then I had a backup, I had a plan B, which was there was a water fountain, 100 meters off course, like 200 meters further ahead. And that was my plan B. But I actually had enough, like, hydration on me. And I just thought about it and I was like, there's not, that's only two hours to go. I'm actually pretty happy with what I've got. I don't want to like faff or risk like getting lost or anything. So I just went to the finish. Yeah, yeah. So as we're talking about this, I probably think we should maybe brief some of our listeners that aren't familiar with the 560. And people are probably like, why didn't you stop at an aid station? So if you want to brief our listeners on how the 560 operates, that maybe that would help to when we're explaining some of this stuff. So there's absolutely no support. There's no aid stations and the route is so remote that unless you're going quite a lot slower than the pace I was going, you're not gonna hit any shops really. There was one shop, but it was at like 100 K in and when the route's 560 kilometers, it doesn't make sense to stop 100 K in. So I just carried all of my nutrition from the start, which was like, a bit of a gamble. I was trying to work out what to do, but I realized I didn't think there was anything else I could do because the shops were all at a point that I arrived at like two in the morning. So nothing was open. It was also a holiday in Spain that day on the first day we started racing, which I don't think a lot of people realize. So even the bars that the race organizers had told us would be open weren't open. Yeah, so even in terms of water, I just use fountains. Yeah. Dang, that's, yes, that is. Yeah, that is wild. And did you know it was gonna be a holiday? Or did you know that things would be closed? You did, yeah. yeah, just in case, because whenever I'm in Spain, there's always a holiday. Yeah. Smart, smart planning ahead. So, oh my goodness, so many questions. So how much did you weigh your pack out of curiosity? Like starting with everything you needed, like from the start? So I think I had just over three kilograms of fluids and that was how much I carried and then nearly three kilograms of nutrition. Yeah, I tried to be as efficient with how I carried it, so to carry as little weight as possible. So I carried quite a lot of carb powder and individual sachets so I could put carb powder in water, but. I did end up with some chunky things as well, because I also didn't want to just drink carb mix for 26 hours. So I also packed a lot of gels, which I wasn't sure how I would cope with over that period of time. thought a lot of people talking to people beforehand, people were saying, you can't have gels over that period of a race, but actually I think if you train your gut well enough. and you know that you respond well to gels and you don't have problems and you're not taking any caffeine gels, then actually like it was kind of okay. I didn't feel particularly bad for it. That's great. Do you do anything to clean out your mouth? Do you ever do gum or mouthwash with them? Yeah. Yeah. Like, I actually had a filling for the first filling I've ever had in my life was this beer. And I just it's because I eat so much sugary stuff on the bike. And I spoke to the dentist about it. And they were like, you need to get like a straw for your bottles. And I was like, I can't do that. I can't see a straw in my pee dogs. Yeah, shoot. Yeah, we've talked to like we've had lots of ultra athletes on and we've heard different stories like one of them. She said her doctor gave her like prescription toothpaste, so she brushes her teeth with it before she starts her race. And then it like, I guess, helps like put an extra protective coating on before you start loading and all the like sugary stuff. And then we had another athlete do. like a minty gum you know throughout to help like pulse you know I think another one told us she like brushed her teeth at some point somehow. One of my friends did because he made a video of the Trakka 560 and when I was watching the video I saw him brushing his teeth and I was like, that's iconic. I'm so impressed that he's caring about his dental hygiene right now. Right. Yes. Yes. He should show this and that to his dentist. He's very dedicated. But yeah, I mean, I've heard different people say different things, right? It's like it doesn't feel good and they can feel like the sugar is basically building up on their teeth or just helps like for palatability and flavor fatigue to kind of like sort of clean out your mouth. But so OK, so three is a three and a half kilos of food, three and a half kilos of water potentially. Yeah, was like three and a half of water. It was like 3.2 kilos of water and then about three kilos of food. Okay, so just for our listeners, that's just, and that's not including like probably your pack and all this other stuff. For our listeners who want to know what that is in pounds, that's almost 14 pounds of water and food um for our American, Americans. like the fluids was a mix of carb mix, electrolyte, and just plain water. So I would always have one bottle with an electrolyte tab, one bottle with plain water, and I used my vest because it was two liters, have pure carb mix, which I hate because it makes the bladder, it's just so hard to maintain the bladder as like, especially when it's like flavored mix, it just affects the bladder, but like, for a race of that length. It was the only way could see myself getting enough carbs in. Mm-hmm. Do you start with them like cold or ice cubes in the middle when you started or was it cold in them? Did you start in the morning early morning? the fridge and we started quite early in the morning. Sometimes I freeze packs and bottles if I'm somewhere really hot and I've also got ice gels. So my nutrition sponsor Amacx does like ice gels, which are really good. Cool. Do you have to get them though, frozen? you freeze them? Okay. not frozen and then you put them in the freezer and then you can put them in your pocket. cool. There was one other company I think I saw doing that that wasn't Amacx. forget who it was now, but they were doing something like that. they called it like an ice gel or ice slushy or something. And I have tried one of those and they are very good. em nice if it's hot. I mean, I didn't need it for tracker. It wasn't too warm, but say today I went on an eight hour ride and I just went and got a Calippo halfway round. Do you have Calippos in the States? I feel like this might be a... we'll tell our listeners, because I don't think I know what a clip-o is either. Klippo's like, it's an ice lolly that's like a, it's like a frozen slushie in like a tube. So you can actually eat it whilst riding. Yes, that is to Americans called an Otterpop. That's our version of it. uh A Colif-O, cool. I didn't know about that. eh Yeah, we have Otterpops. I think there's another brand that's also similar, but I know exactly what you're talking about. And you can like ride them, like I actually can ride with them when my hands on the drops and then the tubes like here and then I can like drink from it. that's smart. I like that. You're acting on the internal cooling mechanisms with slushy, which is like what the literature says to do. ah Yeah, that's spot on. So were you when you're putting together all your nutrition for this and so finish time, you were out there for was it 26 and a half hours, you said? Or yeah. How are you thinking about like carbs? Are you thinking about carbs per hour and fluids per hour? Like when you're packing all your nutrition? So I roughly wanted to have about 500 ml of fluids per hour and then carbs, grams per hour. I was thinking about 80, but actually in practice, I don't think I hit 80. I like planned for and brought with me, I think I brought about 70 thinking I could stop at that BP and get some more for the end. But. In the end, I didn't eat everything and I had a gel explosion. So I put a load of my gels in a saddle bag and then some of them like exploded on each other. So I lost a few gels. But I also didn't finish everything. And I think that was also a case of just towards the end, you're just like, can't, I can't eat anything else. Just like struggling. I did have some normal real food, which also helped to kind of like balance things out, but I hadn't. measured exactly what was in that. I wanted something that made me think I was having lunch and dinner. oh Because I was like, I'm going through a whole day and then I'm going through a night, I don't want to miss lunch and dinner, which sounds peculiar because it is a bike race. But I made myself this ham, cheese and pesto wraps and I had one at lunch and one at dinner. And that was how I split up the day. So I stopped at lunchtime, had my wrap. filled all my water up, had a wee, and then I started riding. And then when the sun set, I did the same thing. The cheese and ham were maybe a little bit questionable by like 9 p.m. It had been like 13 hours ride time, but the cheese was a bit melted. Yeah. Bonus. Bonus. I think I really tested my stomach strength from eating that because I'm really not sure you should eat a ham cheese wrap after 13 hours but I was just craving something salty. I wonder like, I wonder like prosciutto and stuff like if that could be because like you these they're just like hanging that in a shop and room temperature, right? Yeah, that's a good point actually. I'm thinking what kind of ham. I use Mortadella. This is quite a bougie ham. Yeah, I use Mortadella. I think it was just the ham that I happened to buy. But yeah, Mortadella is probably on the safer side. But prosciutto would be better. But I really needed that salty snacks. And I also packed a couple of Snickers bars and I actually definitely should have packed more. because even though Snickers are quite sweet, they do have a salty kick to them. And I feel like they really satisfy that like need for salt. Although it only works if the race isn't too hot. If you've got a hot race, your Snickers turns into like a Snickers gel and it's not easy to eat. Just like chocolate mush. Did I read somewhere that you burned like it was like 15,000 calories over that? That's wild. Yeah, that's crazy. That's also why I packed those wraps because I was like, I know I'm burning and like I know I need carbs to fuel me, but I'm so many calories. I think actually it's good to just get something much more like satiating and like calorific dent in as well as just like eating sweets. Right. Yes. Yeah. Did you ever have any stomach or GI issues like throughout? That's amazing. Wow. Yeah. Good for you. Yeah. Have you dealt with stomach issues in past? Well, you said vomiting when you didn't have water in the first. Yeah. a real issue in 2023 where like, pretty much every race I like couldn't stomach my nutrition. And I think what I figured out that it was was it was anything of like, it was like how much grams of carbs I was putting in a bottle. So I just can't stomach more than 40 grams in 500 mils of water. And like everyone around me was like filling up bottles of like 80 grams of carbs, or like even 100 and I just don't think I can stomach like really highly concentrated carb mix. So yeah, would just that whole season really I was having issues with it. But I think also it was a case of getting used to it as well. And it might also be brand specific. I might have that I didn't get on with that particular mix and combination of carbs. Whereas like the watermelon mix that I had from Amox for the 560 like. I'm actually shocked that I was still enjoying it at the end. That's great though. That's good news. That is good news. Um, I haven't tried that, the watermelon flavor. That's good to know. will piss. Yeah. told me about it before I was sponsored by them. And then when I got sponsored by them, she was like, you have to, you have to get the watermelon mix. And like, honestly, I, the fact that I could still drink it after 26 hours shows, it speaks a lot of words. That's huge. is, that is. Yeah. I mean, that's a huge part, right? Even when people get the flavor fatigue or the lack of desire to eat or drink. mean, if it's something that you just don't want to put down, that just makes it that much worse. And then you start to decline from there. So you expended around 15,000 calories over 26 and a half hours. Do you know how much you ended up taking in like calorically? Do you know? No. I don't think 15,000 I think that would have been hard. I'm actually not sure because I didn't keep any of the wrappers. So normally if I'm doing a really long training ride and I'm like really trying to nail my nutrition I'll like keep wrappers so that when I get back from the ride I can go okay how many grams of carbs did I eat and then I can like work out how many I did per hour. break. as a good way to keep track if I'm on track with my fueling. But when it's 26 hours, I was like, I'm not keeping these wrappers. Is there any bin I saw? I was like, wrappers in the bin. probably a distraction, too, like when you're searching through your stuff, if you're not putting it in the right place. And so, OK, so you said you had a bladder. Was it two liters? Yeah, two Lusablada and then two 600ml bottles. Nice. Okay. And you're rotating those. And did you ever run out of water at any points or did your water fountain like mapping serve you well? My water fountain math in was really good. stopped so I had three main stops where I refilled everything, but I did two additional stops to just top up the bottles because that's obviously a lot faster than taking the vest off. So I knew I could just add like 1.2 liters really easily by just refilling the bottles. And then I like purposefully had drunk out the bottles before the vest when I knew those were coming up. oh So yeah, I think what was lucky with this race, it's obviously not going to be the same with other races, is like there were a lot of water fountains that were just like freely accessible and like really speedy to use. Whereas like I'm thinking about my strategy for unbound next week and like that I don't think you get water fountains in the middle of Emporia, Kansas. right. Yeah. And it's the same kind of rules apply, no, are there no aid stations on that one as well? think there is one, but I don't... I think there's one that the organizers put on, but there's no... You're not allowed any support and you're supposed to use gas stations. But there also are trail angels and I don't know if they're out for the 350, but my experience of the 200 is you get quite a lot of locals out with like cool boxes and stuff like that. And not that you can't gamble on relying on them in your strategy because you have no idea where they're going to be. Rate I know that I ran out of water at one point last year in the 200 and like happened to come across people and I was like, well, this is amazing. I don't have to worry now. Yes. Yeah. Amazing. Do they allow that like trail angels in the truck as well or no? Okay. Or if they did, there were none. I think Trail Angels is a very American thing. I've only seen it one other place, which was in, I did a stage race in Columbia in February and it was just one stage. We had a Queen stage, which like had loads of climbing and just like at the top of one of the climbs, was someone handing out bags of water. But like, I've never seen that apart from in, yeah. uh unbound basically. Wow, okay, yeah. I've definitely heard of that on like trail running stuff too as well, maybe, who knows? Yeah. Okay, so I did see somewhere you, did you use AI to help like plan or gather some data for you in prepping? Yeah, so one of my friends works with AI. So she was like inputting. So we were like feeding the AI agent with some of the information. So things like my weight, my bike setup, like working out basically how much to carry based off the elevation profile and what was the most efficient thing, which tires to use. uh Yeah, we went with what AI said for the tires. We didn't go with what AI said for... what to carry because if you look at the profile, it doesn't make sense to carry all that weight because it was three huge Pyrenees climbs. Like it was completely front loaded with the climbing, but then we just like there was nowhere to refuel. So I just decided I have to carry everything. And then also to see whether like the power I expect that I can average over that distance, like what sort of time that would finish me in. Mm-hmm. to work out like, can I beat the record from the year before with like power I know I can hit? Like what sort of power do I need to average to like do it in 28 hours? so cool. It's obviously not a hundred percent accurate, but it's just helpful. felt like it's a really useful guide. Although I have to say when you chuck into, cause the first time we chuck stuff into AI and then said like, Oh, like where should we like, where's good to stop and feed? Like gave shops that weren't on the route. So I think AI is as useful as you make it. And sometimes it's not useful, but like it definitely was helpful with some stuff, but it. it did spit out places that I'm like, that's not on the route. No, get you in trouble. Do you know what AI source you guys were using? Was it her companies or was it like Claude or Chad or Claude? OK, good to know. Put that out there for the listeners. Be careful with Claude suggested snack shops on the route for your events. um So having packed all your stuff on you, I know that's a tactic a lot of um like competitive racers will do just so they don't have to stop and spend the time at aid or cruise stops or anything like that. Do you, I mean, if there were any, or even just having to go into the shops and think about what you're gonna grab from the shop and stand in line and pay for it and all that stuff, I mean, do you think carrying it outweighed even having to stop and think about that? And having not had to carry as much weight? I think so. I think it's so race dependent. Like I don't know what I'm going to do for Unbound yet because Unbound is obviously flatter. But I get really bad decision fatigue. I think having that element of like, unless I had like scripted out, this is exactly like practice. This is what I'm buying. And I know, and I go in and I just buy that stuff. I think. If I went in with an open mind, I could 10 minutes looking around the shelves, especially because it's like foreign petrol station. That's quite exciting. And I could end up like spending exactly like you never know what I'm gonna end up with. So I do think from that aspect, but then at the same time, like if you don't have to carry all your nutrition, be quite nice to like even things like uh Like just get bag of crisps, like have something different, have something salty. I'm not gonna carry a bag of crisps on the start, but I'd probably quite like one towards the end. Mm-hmm. Yeah. What did what ended up being like your total stop time throughout? think it was 28 minutes, including the hike bikes. you had to hike your bike too in the truck. Oh wow. was one like really bad hike a bike that was like over a landslide, which I definitely spent like almost 10 minutes doing. So I think my stop time was under 20 minutes. Wow. Yeah, it was, I was very efficient, which I surprised myself because I didn't think, I thought I was going to faff, but I managed just to not faff. Wow, that is amazing. Do you, so you mentioned stopping eating your wrap, going pee. How many times did you pee throughout the race? Is that normal for you or do feel like that was not enough? I feel like maybe not enough. Like not on a normal day do I only wee three times. But I would say though, I've done eight hour races and not weed. So like, yeah, I think I, I mean, I mean, I'm a big sweater. I'm a real big sweater. So I wonder where that, so that yeah, it's, it's, it's leaving me but for another method. oh And maybe I didn't drink quite enough, but. I obviously didn't inhibit my performance from not drinking enough. But I also, with the three pee stops, I did them at the three spot stops where I was filling up my water. So I didn't stop six times, I stopped three times and did everything in one go. Yeah. Smart. Smart. Yeah. Minimize the amount of like getting on and off the bike and getting going again and all that. I think that's that's super smart. I saw that it looked like you had voice notes from family and friends to get you through the night. I thought that's a great idea. Yeah. Yeah, I had this idea where I was like, I'd never ridden all night before. I'd ridden in the dark, but I'd never ridden like on my own over a whole night. And I was just worried that I'd get sleepy. So I like said to some family and friends, like, can you send me like just anything to keep me awake? And I just got the most eclectic mix of stuff. One of my friends was so cute. She just like read some poems, some of her favourite poems. And then like, I had one friend like make a whole DJ set for me and like sing through all of these songs. Some people just gave me life updates. My sister read TV, like film scripts. So just some of our favorite movie scenes. She just read the script, like with all the accents. But it was really entertaining because it meant that I was just listening to my headphones. Yes. Yeah, that's great. Were you like speaking of headphones during the day, do you listen to music or anything else when you're racing or is it more like that's not happening? You're just like zoned in. I saved them because they were a set of like MP3 headphones rather than linked to my phone. I basically didn't want to use my phone battery because I didn't know how long my phone battery would last and I didn't want to bring a portable charger. So I used headphones that were separate. So I knew they only had a life of eight hours. So I was like, I'm not going to put them on until I think it was 10 PM. And I was like at 10 PM I could, cause that would be like an hour and a bit into darkness. And like the first hour you're like, you've got motivation to ride in the dark because you've just started riding in the dark and then I put them on so it was like kind of like a treat for myself for like the hardest part of the race. Mm-hmm. That's great. And are you doing any caffeine, like, leading into or through the night? I had three caffeine gels, one at, I want to say 2am, one at 4am, one at 6am? But that was it. Wow. Are they 75 milligram or 100? Okay, nice. they amy... never taken one and I didn't take any. Gotcha, yeah. And no caffeine gum too. I know that's like a popular thing. people use, no. Yeah, cool. I mean, and do feel like you noticed a boost from it? Like caffeine? Hmm. drink so much coffee normally that I like, I'm probably quite immune to caffeine. I should probably hold back on the coffee so that when I take caffeine in races it affects me. I feel a big jolt of the caffeine. um That is a tactic that you can certainly try, right? um Let's see. wanted to ask you too about, so you said no GI issues, but no muscle cramping, none of that happening? No, after the race I had some like weird sensations in my lower back but I had no cramping, I just, I've had and to be fair I've still got it now just like slight nerve pain in my back but I think that was just from sitting down for so many hours. Right. Yes. Yeah. In that position. And then you had some of the weight on your back and the pack, right? Yeah. Did you train with that much weight on your bike too? I trained with the weight on my back quite a lot, but I didn't train with, a couple of times I trained with a weighted bike actually, but not that weighted. Yeah, wow. Yeah, that is so like wild to me. OK, so what does it look like when you cross that finish line? Like how like are you hungry? Are you wanting to go to sleep? Are you able to put food down? What does that look like in the first couple hours after you cross the finish line? I think I was just in such a strange state. Like I couldn't really eat. I didn't really want to eat, but like I was, I definitely was hungry, but I just felt like I couldn't eat. I had a churro from a friend and then I tried to, I showered and then I was like, okay, I need to eat. And I went to a cafe, but it took ages to get a seat. And by the time, like while I was waiting to get a seat, I ended up fainting because I hadn't eaten enough. this. Yeah. Yeah, so I ended up fainting and then the cafe gave me like a fresh orange juice which picked me up massively and then I had a steak sandwich. I was just like, I need steak. I think it was like one of those things where like I'd clearly done so much muscle damage. I was just like, ooh, I want right now, it's like proper protein. And also I just wanted like, yeah, something really like hearty. And then I did make a protein shake. when I got back, but that was like several hours after the finish. Yeah, wow. Do you think the fainting was like glucose or like hydration like blood volume related? Yeah. Yeah. I think it'd been like nearly two hours before I had something substantial. Yeah. Wow. then again, for our listeners, so you did it in you were planning for 28. You did it in 26 and a half. And when you're planning ahead of the before you start the race, you're planning for 28, which is already going to break the course record for both men and women or both women. Women. OK. And then you are as you're going along, you're realizing, man, I'm ahead of schedule. What's going through your mind like? I was like, have I somehow calculated this wrong? I was like, am I really only doing this in 26 and a half hours? I was like getting a bit confused at one point being like, am I really going that much faster? And then I was like, oh, well, I guess I have averaged, I can't remember what I averaged, but I was like, oh, I am averaging this. Cause like I had average speed as a metric on my screen. So I can see that. And I was like, well, yeah, I am on target. What I'm ahead of target. And it's only flat to go apart from one climb. Yeah. So I was like, well, I guess I will finish. I was a bit confused, but then I was just like, this is amazing. Clearly, this plan's paid off. Yes. Yeah. What a pleasant surprise. Usually it's like you're troubleshooting stuff when you're racing and this is like, yeah, that's incredible. ah And you broke the course record for women. Was it for men as well at the end, the 26.5? fastest man, I think he did it in just under 24. Okay, okay. But man, 26.5 is incredible, incredible. Just crushed. okay, so how are you recovering your body after that knowing unbalance a few short weeks away? Yeah, it's a good question. Just trying to like sleep, trying to like eat a lot like I found after the race. I mean, still now it's been like three weeks and my appetite is crazy. I really like especially like the few days after the race, like I had just an insane appetite and I'm just I've always been like a real fan of like intuitive eating and listening to my body and like if I'm craving, I really crave certain food groups at certain times, specifically like healthy fats. Like I'll really crave, I'll be like, I really need like tahini or I really need avocado or I'm really craving some peanut butter. And I feel like I just listen to those cravings and then I think that's gonna help me best to recover. So yeah, I've just been doing that. But the main thing, Recovery wise it's been tough as like struggling with like the nerve pain which has become like it's just not pleasant. I don't think I'm causing myself any long-term damage by still training but it's not comfortable to ride if you've got like shooting nerve pain. Oh no. Yeah. Shoot. Are you doing any um like e-stim? Do you have like the like electro things, pads you like stick on your back and they like vibrate kind of like tingle? That's actually good idea. I've not done that. I've had a couple of sports massages. I've seen a chiropractor. I actually doing mobility work has made a big difference. Like doing mobility before riding has made a big difference. But I do think I just need to accept that I did do a ridiculous ride and like my body does need to recover from that. So I've actually, I've changed my race schedule for after Unbound. I was meant to race again and do a a one day race and then a four day stage race quite soon after and I've just like re- like reflected on it and been like actually I need to recover like if I have a slight injury now it's only gonna be worse if I don't take a break so I'm gonna take a break after Unbound and then build for the rift in Iceland cool. my gosh. Wait, tell us about the rift. What's the distance? How many days? What's going on? a brand new distance this year, which is 330k. So I've done the 200 before. Last year I had a really bad crash in the 200 and I landed on a rock on my face and then I split my face open. And the scar has only just gone down. Like I had a really big scar on my face last year. So yeah, this year I'm doing the new 330. an insane course like Iceland's just the best place to ride a gravel bike. It's super cool, it feels like you're on another planet. ah, I'll have to get over there. Gotta get over there. Honestly, it's like if people are like, what race should I do? I'm always like the rift is the one like, okay, it's not gonna be a balmy summer's day, but it could be sunny. And it's not too hot. And the views are so worth it. Wow. Oh, I'm to have to Google this after. And you go off the day after the race. That's what, like I say every time I've done it. Yeah, I think actually every year I've done it, I then will always chuck in a couple of days in like a camper van, like seeing somewhere in the island afterwards. Well, they work vacation. We're going to begin. I love that. OK, so we had a couple questions from our listeners. I think we might have covered a little bit of this, but someone said you knew that this managed holidays holiday was happening and the stores would be closed and packing all your stuff. Let's see. trying to include more real foods. saw you did, he says some savory crepes. But he said, what gut training did or didn't have to happen to know if that would work with mixing it with gels, like your ham and cheese wrap. Did you test any of that before? question. I would say I think just the way I eat on rides generally, I'm always just like always pushing myself to eat real food as well as ride food, like as well as like sports nutrition. So I think it's just that kind of like I sometimes make a wrap with like nut butter. I don't I don't think I've ever done a savory wrap, but like I've eaten wraps on the bike before I've eaten like uh ham and cheese croissant mid-ride before. Like I've always, I always have like really pushed myself with food because I think if you do, then you're like, you're training your gut essentially to be able to do that. Yeah, 100%. if GI issues have ever derailed a race or a hard training day for you, this one's for you. We have a free gut training framework that walks you through how to actually train your gut to handle fuel under race conditions because your gut is trainable. Most athletes just don't know how to do it. We've linked the free guide in the show notes, so just go ahead and check out the show notes, grab the link, and we will send it to you for free right to your inbox. I also just generally am like, really, I try and eat a super varied diet because for example, migration gravel racing Kenya, I've done that times, like, you don't know what food you're necessarily going to get in a stage race like that, you don't have control over what you're going to eat. So I think you have to like, to do a race like that, you have to be able to just your stomach has to be able to be used to anything and everything. And just like responding to whatever there is and like being like okay I can eat that. Yeah. Okay, wait, what is the wildest thing you've ever eaten during a race? Yeah, it makes me think of like fried crickets or something. Yeah. one morning where they didn't have any oats and they didn't have anything that was like similar to oatmeal and there was bread and the only other carb I could find was like sweet potato so I did a sweet potato sandwich with ketchup I was like it's basically three carbs. Yeah, there you go. Layer them on. Exactly. I'm a massive foodie and I have to say something like that is like a painful thing to eat because I like eating like good food and like food I'm excited about but I actually for someone who is so picky about like what they cook and the food they make at home I'm so good at just canning that mid-race for like I need carbs. I'm just gonna eat whatever. that's good. Being able to adapt in the moment. OK, and the other question we had here, sodium loss. How do you know your losses? If you live and train in an area like London, but then are going to go race somewhere in South America, how do know how your sodium losses are going to change in these different climate environments when you're training in something cooler? That's a really good question. So I've done uh sweat testing. So I know what I roughly lose, but that was in like a heat chamber in the UK, but I guess that was at heat. So I'm not sure whether that changes based off different environments. Is it not just the sweat loss that, like the volume of sweat loss rather than... like the sweat rate rather than the sodium concentration. Is sodium concentration not fixed? It is not fixed. No, we're doing some testing with some of our athletes and it does, there's some sway. There's some sway and there does appear to be sway with menstruating women during different phases of the cycle too. It's minor, but yeah, and humidity is, it seems to be a factor, at least with the testing device we're using right now, there seems to be like an inverse correlation with higher humidity and lower sodium concentration in the sweat. So I think there's like a, there's this, it's not a dramatic range, but there's some wiggle room in there. Well, I'm just a really salty sweaters. I just know I have to take on like strong electrolytes. I think that's like my solution to any of this is just like because I know I've got I'm on the extreme end of like sodium loss that therefore I just need to replace as much as I physically can. yeah, that's smart. Smart. Bring it in. And if you find your do you find your like craving salty stuff too when you are riding or when you get off the bike? all of my life, every day, every moment, I'm craving salt. I'm honestly the biggest salt eater. When I was younger, can remember going to people's houses, other friends' houses, and their parents being worried about how much salt I was putting on my food. It was definitely something that has regularly come up where people are I'm concerned about how much salt you eat. But then having had blood stumps and stuff, there's nothing. I actually did at one point go and have blood stumps because I was like... Is there something wrong? Like why am I eating so much salt? But everything's completely balanced and I think it is just not up. I lose so much salt. I eat so much salt. Yes. Yeah, totally. Okay. So we have to jump back to your two truths and a lie. So let's see. You said, he said you rode a unicycle to school. You can't have cow's milk and you once won a TV show, but you lost all the money on the last question. I thought that one was the lie. Which one was your lie? It was cow milk, the lie. Yeah. Cow milk, I don't like cow milk as like, I wouldn't drink it neat, but I can drink it and I'll have it with like cereal and stuff. It's just once I played To Choose and Lie with someone and they did this whole dramatic thing about how they couldn't cope with how opaque it is. And I just love that as like, if I need to defend the lie, I feel like it's such an easy one to defend because you're like, it's gross. It's like, you can't look through it. Why would I want to drink it? That's great. They do. They've done em hydration studies on cow's milk and it's actually one of the best like electrolyte replacements. It's the fastest way to rehydrate, but no one wants to drink milk when they're out. Yeah, it's like faster than an electrolyte product. It's really fascinating. Just the natural combination of the molecules that are in cow's milk. But fun fact for you. Yeah, this has been so fun. feel like I could ask you a bajillion more questions, but I want to be mindful of your time. Where can our listeners find you and follow you? So on Instagram, it's Maddy Nutty. And then I also have a YouTube channel. And I actually, we made a video. We made a little documentary film for the tracker and it should be out in about a month. So watch this space. And if anyone's in the UK, we'll do a screening in London. fun. Okay. And so in a month, so that would be like end of June for listeners. Okay. Great. Okay. We'll check out her YouTube in mid to end of June. And we'll link that to the show notes for the listeners, your Instagram and your YouTube so people can check that out. And thank you again so much for joining us, Maddy. This has been so fun. Thanks so much for having me.

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Kyla Channell, MS

Host