Hello and welcome back to the Cook Eat Run podcast with x Miles. Today I'm chatting with Lara Giusti, the co founder and head chef at Veloforte We're going to be talking about nutrition for swimming, which is arguably the hardest sport to fuel for. But first, I'd love to hear a little bit more about how and why you started Veloforte
Well, hi Charlie. Thank you for inviting me on. it's a pleasure. I started Velaforte a little bit selfishly actually, because I was just astounded by the lack of natural sports nutrition on the market. So I think when you are, ah, active and you take care in your health and fitness, it always astounds me that you follow a healthy
diet. You try and do that day in, day out and when you put your body through its hardest paces, the options for sports nutrition were very limited to ultra processed, weird and wonderful, concoctions of, ingredients that you would never, ever normally eat. And that's what you're putting in your body when you're pushing yourself your hardest. So I thought there must be a better way, there must be a
more natural way to do that. So I actually started coming up with the recipes for Velaforte, really to fuel me and my husband through our sports, and it's really rolled itself out through there, really. So we started, you know, making our own prototype products in the kitchen and then sharing them with our friends and then they wanted to order some and it just became bigger and bigger and bigger. Ah, and here we are now, with a full complement of sports nutrition and wellness products.
Amazing. So what was your sport, what were you, your husband, you training for? Need the kind of sports nutrition.
So mark, my husband, cycling all the way, he was training for a really long ride, Manchester to London, to support ambitious about autism. and he was just really struggling. He was either under fuelling because he couldn't face taking on the gels and the dry, dusty energy bars that he was putting in his jersey pockets, or he was having really bad gastric side effects from taking on these, food that he just, his body wasn't used to eating. and so that was his challenge. And me, I'm a bit of
an omni sports person. I like to do a bit of running. I, ah, like to do, you know, strength and conditioning training. So it's just ways to sort of help me fuel and recover after my exercise. but yeah, it was just sort of a no brainer really, from I'm madly passionate about home cooking and using real food ingredients and to try incorporate those into our fueling strategies for our events, then that was just, you know, it was what we wanted to do and what we ended up being very successful doing.
I mean, I know a lot of people that use your products. I personally, I really like the, I don't know, the chews, the like ginger. I feel like I save them for the end of my runs when my stomach is feeling a bit and they just feel like quite nicely settling. They don't feel overwhelming. It's not like trying to shove down another gel and I feel like a lot of people who struggled with gels, or normal gels in particular, have found your products and they really work for them.
So, yeah, yeah, I think it's because we use a combination of sweet and savoury in most of our recipes. So the problem with fueling for any long endurance, exercise or session or event is that you get so bored with sweet en suite fuelling and you can't face to have another sugary, you know, gel or a bar. So we purposefully use spices and botanical ingredients that sort of break that sweet on sweet flavour fatigue. We want you to look forward
to your fueling. We want you to get excited about that. Oh, you know, my garmin's pinged at 20 minutes. It's now my next time to take on some energy. What am I going to have next? Am I going to have something with a little bit of mint in it to freshen my head? Am I going to have something with ginger in it because I'm feeling a little bit nauseous. It's going to settle my stomach. Our hydration mixes have herbs in them, so there's basil and there's,
sage. So it really challenges your taste buds and gives you that break and that sort of motivation to keep fueling.
I feel like the electrolyte drinks make quite good cocktails, like post run recovery cocktails.
I do have to say the most amazing hangover cure as well. So, but yes, so, yeah, so our, ah, activo, which is strawberry, and basil. It's got some lemon in there as well. Delicious. Shaken over ice with whatever tipple you want to add, you know. Yummy.
Might have to try that this weekend. Do you have a particular favourite product?
Well, I think the whole Vellaforte journey started with our endurance bars. It started with our energy bars which are based on an ancient italian recipe, Pam forte. So my husband, his family are italian. He's brought up with Panforti in his house. And, it was just a. It's rumoured to be what powered the roman legions to conquer the new world. So if it can power them, what
can it power you to do? So, we took an old family recipe and I tweaked it, you know, pom Forte's got lots of lovely, you know, brandies and spirits in it, so they all came out and fresh, orange zests and fruit juices went in and I altered the mix of nuts and fruits to give a really good endurance profile.
and our classico bar was born. And that is what really started Veloforte And so I guess my allegiances still are, ah, to our classico bar, which has just won two stars in the great Taste awards as well as of yesterday, which is amazing. So not only does it support your endurance exercise, but it is guaranteed to taste amazing, too. So, I think, yeah, I'm in love with those. I love the chews
as well. but also super proud of some of our newer product ranges which morph between, performance nutrition and wellness nutrition. So again, it's sort of supporting this 360 approach of what you put in, you get out. And it's not just when you're on the bike, on the run, in the water, swimming. It's everything that you do before, during and after that really helps your performance.
Yeah, I've got the overnight oats to test that you kindly sent me that. I can't wait. I'm a big overnight oats fan, especially in this weather. They're such an easy kind of prep ahead. Chuck in the fridge, have them after a long run or after a run, or I take them to work to have them in the hospital while I'm going through patient notes and stuff.
Exactly. Good.
okay, so swimming. We've talked a bit about cycling and running. We talk about that a lot on the podcast. I think that's the area that people maybe feel not the most comfortable, but are most aware of sort of how to fuel and what to fuel with. But swimming is really challenging and I feel like as more people are transitioning towards triathlon and for me personally, this is quite a selfish, podcast episode because I want to do swim serpentine, which is next. I'm doing it next
summer, which is 2 miles. And I've got. I asked somebody today, I was like, do they provide snacks on the route? Because 2 miles, I'm going to be swimming for over an hour. I'm going to be thirsty, hungry, grumpy. So let's start at the beginning. How does swim fuellings differ to running and cycling?
So the joy of running and cycling is you have all these wonderful pockets to shove your energy products in, whether it's in your running belt, it's in your top tube bag on your bike, you know, you've got water holders, you can have hydration packs. Easy peasy. So if you want to fuel, if you want to run or cycle with fuel, and if you're running and cycling for long enough that demands you to fuel, then easy
peasy, right. You're going to shove whatever you fancy in whatever pockets, obviously swimming much harder. you've got the water nature of it. So, you know, whatever you're going to be fueling with needs to be in a waterproof packet. It needs to be easy to either shove in your wetsuit or down your swimsuit. it needs to be really quick to access, easy to open, liquid format rather than chewing, because chewing and swimming and water, very
difficult. so what we see is a lot of people who swim tend to focus on pre fuelling and post fuelling. And the intra swim fuelling is sort of, as you say, if you feel like you really need to fuel, then having an emergency gel, something that's really easy to open, take and carry on swimming, seems to be the preference for people who are swimming longer distances over an hour, over
an hour and a half. But for those shorter distance swims, if you're doing it up to 60 minutes, maybe up to 90 minutes, if you're pre fueling right, and you're taking your recovery fuelling seriously, you should be absolutely fine.
I just get really thirsty when I do swims the pool and I end up having kind of a bottle of electrolytes with my like, swim workout kind of taped to that at the end of the lane.
Yeah.
Would you suggest kind of having electrolytes pre swim then to try and kind of combat that?
Totally. There is a misconception because you're in the water, you don't sweat. You absolutely do sweat. And especially if in your pool, if you're in a heated pool, you will be sweating, you will be losing vital electrolytes and you won't be necessarily as aware of that. So it's really important to stay on top of your
electrolyte load. So, yes, pre fueling with electrolytes before you swim, you know, 500 mils of an electrolyte solution, you can have energy in there as well to sort of help with your pre fuelling. And then if you are in a pool, having a bottle pool side that you can every three or four lengths, have a good swig and keep going.
Brilliant. If you're out open water swimming, harder if you're on your own, obviously, to take electrites with you, but you can have electrolytes in your energy fuel as well, so lots of gels contain electrolytes. All of our gels contain an electrolyte load as well. So if you're taking on energy, you can also start taking on electrolytes there as well. And obviously, if you're doing ultra distances outdoors, then you should have some support boats with you that they can carry your
fuel for you. But it's all about the planning and the training of your gut and your fuelling as you're, as you're exercising, as you're swimming, as well as your support team as well. So they know exactly what you'll need. Need at what stage. But yes, hydration is something that's often overlooked. So yes, pre hydrating, post hydrating as well. So having a hydration mix as part of your recovery routine is best.
Okay, so we, you said a little bit there about kind of training the gut, and that's something that I really advocate for in run training. If you're planning on having a gel kind of midway through or partway through your swim, is that something you'd suggest then practising in your longer swim training, even if you're in the pool?
Absolutely, yeah, totally. You don't want any surprises on event day. So it is hard to coordinate, you know, treading water, opening a gel, taking it. What do you do with the packet no one wants, you know, sea pollution, shoving it back down you, you've got to practise it and you've got to know how that feels when you can't touch the bottom, and when you're slightly out of breath. So absolutely practise it in your training.
Make yourself do that. Even if you're doing a shorter training swim, still practise the fueling. It's not going to do you any harm, but the actual going through the motions, having your muscle memory, knowing what it's like to take on fuel while you're in the water is essential if you're on those longer swims. And you know you're going to have to take something when you're out there.
Just thinking about the logistics of this. for those just listening, you're kind of demonstrating as if you just have it in. But my wetsuit is a really hard to get into and you kind of don't want to let that water in. Once you're kind of cosy inside, could you shove it up the sleeve or.
Any opening is a goal, to put your fuel. So if it's easier to shove it in your sleeve, if you're wearing a sleeveless one, to put it in here rather than obviously down your neck. yeah, but practise, practise in the thing you're going to swim in. Practise fueling, wearing your outfit and where you're going to stash and re stash your packet after you've fueled.
I'm just imagining myself next summer in my like, local pool with like a wetsuit on, getting gels out and trying to film it. I mean, I'm already, it's already embarrassing enough, me trying to kind of film myself, have my workout, have my electrolytes. Now I'm going to be in the wetsuit with my gel, having a little snack.
As embarrassing as it may be, it's worth its weight in gold. So please do practise.
Yeah, yeah, that's really good tips. And so, again, selfishly, for those who are doing swim serpentine, it's part of the London classics. For those who don't know, that is when you complete the London marathon ride, 100 hundred mile bike ride and 2 miles in the serpentine. For me, I think that's going to take me an hour and a half ish. How would you recommend structuring? Do I feel for it? Like an hour and a half run with that pre,
load? Would I carb load before that? How would you recommend kind of leading up to that as my race day?
Yes. I mean, you want to perform at m your best, you want to enjoy it, so you don't want to hit that wall in the water. That's horrendous. So approach it like you would approach any event. Yes, you can carb load. We would always suggest that you don't do that in just one bowl of pasta in the night before. it sits too heavy in your stomach and you're bloated and, you don't sleep well. So in the three days running up, just generally increase the amount of
carbohydrates you take on with each meal. So, you know, have another little spoon of pasta, have another scoop of potato, have another slice of toast. It doesn't have to be huge mammoth portions. You're just trying to generally up your carbohydrate intake. And it's that slow increase in your carb intake that makes sure that your glycogen stores in your muscles and your liver are tip
top when you're entering that race. So, yes, have a carb focused, meal the night before your breakfast or the meal that you, enjoy before the start. It might not be a morning start. Should be two to 3 hours before the start line to allow your body time to properly digest it. Carb focus with low level protein, some healthy fats in there, something that you've eaten before. No surprises on event day. So if you love oats, have some oats.
Yeah, have it with some greek yoghurt. Have it with some fruits and some bit of honey or maple syrup to up that carbohydrate load in there. if you're like a scrambled egg lover, whole mil toast, scrambled eggs, you know, bagels and peanut butter and bananas. All of these are fantastic. And if you've tried it before and you know that it sits well in your stomach, go for something that,
you know works for you. Now, your start line, you know, if your start line is 3 hours ahead of your breakfast, you're going to need to top yourself up. So an hour before, we would suggest a little carbohydrate snack. And again, think about your hydration at that point. You can take on some electrolytes in that hour window beforehand. And that is the time, if you love caffeine, to take on caffeine.
So there's a lot of misconception about caffeine in that, ten minutes before, if you're on a run or a ride last hill or ten minutes before the end, I'm going to take my caffeine gel. And, no, it takes 45 to 60 minutes for caffeine to enter into your system and then it stays in your system for three to 4 hours. So use that time. Your hour before is the time to load with caffeine. If you like to fuel with caffeine and then, you know, by start line it's fully
absorbed. Your tip top, you're mentally switched on. Your perception of exertion is lowered and you're ready to like put in your all on that. Diving in on your first part of.
The serpentine swim also bit tmI, but also the caffeine. A hot drink can help things get moving so that you can go to the loo before your race.
Very important, like, because when you're in the water you can wee, but not anything else. so yes, very important to try and be regular, to choose a food that, you know, sits well in your stomach to think about when you're going to fuel with your caffeine and then, you know, 20 minutes before a little extra, carbohydrate load a little gel or a half a banana or something to really get you tip top. You can fuel your
muscle glycogen stores in the three days beforehand. Then overnight when you're sleeping, your liver stores will drop. So the food that you take on in the morning and in the run up to the start line is topping up your liver stores again. So you want to enter it as full as you can. Because if you find that fueling during that swim, if it takes you an hour and a quarter, an hour and a half, if you find it really difficult to fuel, your body holds enough glycogen if you go in full for
up to 90 minutes. So you could finish it without taking on extra fuel or you could time it. If you are comfortable taking on gels, then you would time it more like a long run, more like a long ride. In that you would start to fuel within the first half an hour, 20 minutes, half an hour of
your swim. You know, take a gel and then little and often as you go through your swim because that improves your absorption and, it reduces the, risk of your gastric side effects if you do little and often fueling throughout the swim.
Guess more, more tricky in terms of like stopping and opening things. So maybe like that. Yeah, just the, like you said, kind of a gel every sort of half hourish in that you only hopefully need two in that one, one in each sleeve and you're good to go.
You're all fine.
Yeah.
Evenly balanced? Yes, totally. And then after, the important thing is that you really take your recovery fueling. Because if you haven't managed to take on energy during that 90 minutes swim, your glycogen levels are through the floor, you're in massive glycogen debt. So your focus on recovery fueling needs to be carbohydrates first and then your uptake within those 1st 30 minutes, which is your golden window of recovery, is improved by low level
protein. And then you can take on your fluids and electrolytes at the same time as well. So having a protein shake that is ready for you or a protein bar with carbohydrates in it is the best thing to do. As soon as you're out the water, warm up, have something to eat which is carbohydrate focused with protein, and restore your electrolytes either with electrolyte drink or having electrolytes
in your protein recovery shake. Then, you know, that you've ticked that box, you've kick started your recovery and then you've got two to 3 hours to have a proper balanced meal that you would, you know, have your proteins and your carbs and your green veggies and everything else, so. But it's in that 30 minutes window that your body is most receptive to topping up those stores again. And that's really going to help you if you are on back to back events. just help with your recovery in general.
Now, the water in the UK, unfortunately, and especially m recently, isn't the cleanest. It was the triathlon in Paris the other day and there was huge.
They delayed it for 24 hours, didn't they?
Yeah. I've been recommended by a friend with no scientific background or knowledge to have like a coke or something like that afterwards, almost as like a. Ah, I know. There's so much disgusting stuff in it that it will then balance out kill anything you've accidentally consumed.
A coke after is great for carb loading. Obviously, there needs to be a full sugar coke, not a zero. and any other, you know, carbonated, sugary drink will do as well. so, yes, you could have that. I don't think the chemicals within a coat will, will neutralise any of the, any of the bacteria or anything that you take on. it's a Coca Cola. If a Coca cola is something that you look forward to and you know you're going to want after you finish, then have
one. It's all about getting the carbohydrate in, in whatever form you want. Choose a form that suits you, that you enjoy, that you know, you're not going to get to the end and go, I can't face that, you know, train with it again. So if you're doing your long training swims, think about what would you have as your recovery? Is it a shake that you've tried and tested before, you know, sits well in your digestion? Is it a protein recovery bar? Is it a can of coke and
a packet of peanuts? You know, you're getting what you will need, your carbohydrates, your proteins and your salts from those foods. Choose something that you know you're going to stomach. the healthier the better.
And hopefully try and find bodies of water that are, on the cleaner side and just keep your mouth closed.
Yeah. At least with the serpentine, it's a lake, isn't it? So, you're hoping that there's no sewage contamination?
Yeah, unfortunately, I train, will be training in the Thames and it's. I haven't summoned it this year because it just looks so disgusting, or I've heard so many, they won't even throw.
The copses in after the Oxford Cambridge boat races anymore. So.
Yes, yeah, but, yeah, the serpentine is at least a little bit more. It's probably bird poo rather than human pigeon poop. Yeah. talking of kind of open water, is there a difference in fueling needs in an open water swim versus, like, the training in the pool that probably most people are doing as a more regular, you know, get that, getting their swimming miles in?
Yeah. I don't think you should underestimate the force of nature that is open water swimming. So it's temperature, it's tidals, it's currents, it's general weather around you, it's the impact of waves on your stroke style. so if you can do some open water training,
if that is what your event is, then do it. training in the pool is great for endurance and understand you can practise your fueling and hours and hours of repetitive muscle memory and everything else, but actually training in the conditions that you're going to do your inventing is paramount to success, really. Things like the tides and the waves. It will increase your energy demands. So what you are comfortable fueling in with endurance swimming in the pool, you should consider to
increase your energy intake. So we would suggest, you know, 45 to 60 grammes of carbs per hour, if you're swimming over those 90 minutes, is what you should be focusing on. You may feel that you need more than that in open water swimming. So it's better to carry more fuel and not need it than to carry less and find that you're hitting the wall, that you're really struggling with your energy levels.
Good advice. Do you have any kind of final top tips for people taking on a swimming challenge or just kind of new to perhaps fueling for swimming?
just try and, try and try the different types of fuels on the marketplace. Find one that you enjoy, that you want to fuel with, because in that moment when you're battling a wave or even in, like in the serpentine, where there's lots of swimmers around you, and that's a
very new experience as well. Normally, your swimming training will just be you in a lane or very few swimmers, in a lake or wherever, but having that volume of swimmers, the splash that's going on around you, the turbulence in the water, choose, something that you're gonna, you're not, you're not gonna brace yourself for fueling you're gonna enjoy the taste of and you, and you look forward to, you know, sits well in your digestion as well.
So it's all about practise, you know, it's, you know, fail to prepare, prepare to fail, all of that.
Thank you so much, Zara. Is there anything we can be looking out for coming soon from Belleforte? Any sneaks, sneak peeks to any products?
I'm always busy developing new products. we have around 30 products on the market now from energy bars, protein recovery bars, gels, our natural gels, which are a blend of plant based syrups versus sort of synthetic sugars, and we've got chews, hydration shakes. our wellness range is fantastic as well. So, again, alongside our performance bars, our wellness snack bars, our ot snack bars, which are no added sugar, they're great things to chuck in your
commute bag and just have at your desk as well. They just won great taste awards as well, so that's fantastic. And obviously, we've just launched, as you said, our overnight oats, which are brilliant. So they're everything in one pack. Give it a good shake. Just add, water and you've got your carbs and your crunchy seeds and your source of protein and your fibres and all of the good stuff in there. You don't have to think about it. So it's
like one pack fits all. So, yeah, really excited about those.
Amazing. Well, I will leave a link in the show notes to some of my favourite products. And for those products that are available on xmiles, you can save 10% with the code cook, eat, run. And that will save on all of the Vellaforte products on xmiles, you can save your 10%. So, yeah, give them a try. People that are new to the brand, give those. I highly recommend the chews. And, it sounds like I'm going to be ordering some more bars because they sound absolutely delicious.
And, yeah, so give them. Give them a go. Thank you so much for listening to. This week's episode of the Cook Eat. Run podcast with x miles for regular listeners. Firstly, thank you. Your support means so much. And for those that have taken advantage of the discount codes in the past, yay. I know it's been a little confusing, but we're sticking with one simple discount code from now on. Cook, eat, run. All one word, all uppercase, no months, no
numbers. Each month, that discount code will give you 10% off the brands we're chatting about in the shows so that you. Can stock up on your favourites and. Try out new nutrition products. So if you want to try the. Amazing Veloforte products, you can save 10% across the range at xmiles.com. throughout the month of August with the code cookeatrun, my personal faves are the ginger chews, although I'm really excited to try the overnight oats made with real food and complete with
16 grammes of plant based protein. I've got the apple and cinnamon flavour to try out, but they've also got a strawberry and coconut which sounds ideal for summer, and a smooth cocoa tea. Please do share the podcast with friends or on social media if you've enjoyed the episode, and feel free to send topic and guest suggestions. Next week we're tackling another hot topic, weight loss and running can you have goals for both? Make sure to subscribe
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