How to Adapt Your Summer Fueling

Spring and summer bring an exciting shift into the heart of most athletes' competitive calendar. Days grow longer, temperatures rise, and both training intensity and race frequency ramp up. For athletes who maintained consistent training and fueling through winter, this season offers the perfect opportunity to take advantage of that solid foundation.

This article will guide you through some tips for adjusting your baseline fueling strategy to match the shifting demands of higher-intensity training and racing. This will allow you to fuel better, feel better, and go faster on those hot summer days.

1. Intensity-Matching Your Carbs

Here's the thing about summer training: everything gets cranked up a notch. Your intervals get harder, the temperature gets higher, and suddenly that steady winter fueling approach feels like it may not match up. It's not that your foundation was wrong—it's that now you need to adjust it strategically. Your carbohydrate needs will shift as such when the demand on your body becomes more anaerobic and glycolytic (AKA carbohydrate based).

Remember how you could cruise through those winter base miles munching on real food and feeling great? Well, summer intervals and racing play by a bit different rules.

When you're pushing into those higher zones—think threshold and VO2 efforts—your body switches into nearly full carb-burning mode. Additionally, the increased demand on the cardiovascular system pulls blood where it's needed and slows the digestive capabilities of your gut. It's like the difference between a campfire (steady and efficient) and a blowtorch (fast and intense). Both need fuel, but the blowtorch isn't capable or patient enough to wait for you to digest that nut butter bar.

• Match your fuel to your fire: As you introduce more Zone 3-4 work and VO2max intervals, your body increasingly relies on carbohydrates. Those winter months of teaching your body to process carbs efficiently now become your secret weapon. Now, you have a big, steady fire built and can toss on the lighter fluid when you need it.

• Periodized Approach: Consider matching your carb intake more precisely to your training schedule—higher carbs in simpler forms on the high-intensity days, moderate carbs on endurance or recovery days. Teach the body how to use that lighter fluid.

• Pre-Workout Timing: With higher intensity work, pre-workout fueling becomes more critical. Aim for easily digestible carbs ~2 hours before hard sessions to ensure glycogen stores are topped off. Practice your race-day plan when you have key workouts.

2. Hydration for Hot Weather

As temperatures rise, your hydration needs will change. More sweat = more sodium loss.

• Sweat Rate Recalibration: The warm summer weather will bring an increased sweat rate and electrolyte need compared to winter. Check out your clothing to see if you have white salt lingering after warm workouts. Do you look like a topo map? Then you are a salty sweater. You can even do pre/post-workout weighing and sweat testing with sensors.

• Electrolyte Adjustment: Your body will need both more fluid and more electrolytes in the summer temperatures. You can test run some different products to see what sodium level works for you. You want to find the sweet spot of feeling strong and consistent without overdoing it and feeling some GI distress. In general, most people find their sweet spot in the 500-700mg range of sodium per hour alongside 750-1000ml of fluid. Check out a pack like this one to get a sampler and test them out.

• Pre-Hydration Strategy: Start your hydration earlier in the day before key sessions, aiming for simple, low-sugar hydration you can sip on through the day rather than chugging sports mix right before your workout (because you “forgot to drink”). Consistent hot training days make hydration around the clock important. Some low-sugar hydration options like these can be a great tool throughout the day.

• Hydration in the Bottle: Consider testing more of a "hydration in the bottle, fuel in the pocket" approach. This means shifting your bottles to being more fluid and electrolyte focused and lower in carbohydrates. Not everyone will need or want to do this, but when it's hot it can help to separate your fueling and hydration so you aren't over indexing towards carbs when your body needs more fluid.

3. Key Recovery Practices

With increased training intensity comes greater recovery demands. Our summer days can be jam-packed from sunrise to sunset. You're creating more inflammation and burning more matches… and sometimes those evening workouts make it harder to wind down. Your body is basically running hotter in every sense.

• Protein: Continue prioritizing protein intake daily, even as you did in winter or build phases, but consider strategically ensuring you at least get a good dose of protein in within 30-60 minutes after your workouts to maximize nutrient uptake. Not sure where to start? This protein pack will get you going. Even endurance athletes are embracing higher protein levels and trying to get 1.8-2g per kilogram of bodyweight.

• The Golden Window: Take advantage of the 1-hour post-exercise window for optimal glycogen replenishment, especially when you have high-intensity sessions. Couple carbs with protein to get the most out of your recovery window. The best way to do this is through easy recovery shakes. You want a roughly 3 : 1 (carb : protein) ratio.

• Inflammation and Sleep: If you’re training late or are racing, sometimes winding down can be a challenge. On top of that, you are accumulating more inflammation from the increase in hard days. Firstly, we all need magnesium. Secondly, some natural sleep supplements can help you wind down and get settled into slumber.

4. Race Day Nutrition Rehearsal

Every key workout is a chance to practice. Not just what you eat, but how you carry it, when you consume it, and how your body responds when you're already working hard.

Some questions to answer during training: Can you actually open those chews when your hands are sweaty and you're breathing hard? Does that sports drink taste good when you're really hot and working hard? How does your stomach handle nutrition when your heart rate is redlined?

• Workout Simulations: Use higher-intensity workouts to simulate race conditions and practice your exact nutrition plan. Is it going to be through a high-carb drink mix? High-carb gels? Are you going to use bottles or packs? Get it dialed in.

• GI Tolerance Building: If you haven't already, gradually train your gut to tolerate higher carbohydrate intakes. We know there is a carb revolution happening and athletes are getting faster, doing more work, and feeling better because of it. During key training, practice gradually increasing your plan up to 90g/hour, roughly 10g/hr more per week is a good rule of thumb. For most athletes, this will be massively advantageous, but some advanced fuelers can play with higher amounts for longer events.

• Go-to Products: Finalize your race-day product selection now, so you're not experimenting during important events. Including having some options that you know work for you in case you show up unprepared or need last-minute fuel!

By adapting your current fueling habits to meet the changing demands of summer training, you'll be able to reap the benefits of all those hard workouts and race days. Remember that the principles remain consistent: fuel adequately for the work required, hydrate appropriately, and prioritize recovery. But the application becomes more precise as you approach your events.

The athletes who thrive during this transition are those who recognize that nutrition isn't just about fueling today's workout, but about supporting the cycle of training and recovery day over day.