Episode 119 - Juggling Shift Work and Triathlon with Age-Group athlete Jules Whitton

Juggling Shift Work and Triathlon with Age-Group athlete Jules Whitton

As a paramedic for the NSW Ambulance service, Julie Whitton juggles a lot! Crazy 12 hour shifts, often overnight, family and training for not one, but three sports.

As a quiet achiever and self professed introvert, she silently chips away at her goals. 70.3 is her distance of choice and she is weeks away from racing Hervey Bay 100.

As a shift worker with a hugely variable routine, training and nutrition looks very different to the average 9-5 triathlete.

So how does she fit training in around a rolling 9 day roster and 12 hour overnight shifts?
What strategies has she learnt work for her to toe the start line in the best possible shape she can?
And from a nutrition perspective, how has she overcome the challenges you face when mealtimes are not in your control.

Tune in to find out!

Links:

Connect with Jules on Instagram

Check how well you’re doing when it comes to your nutrition with our 50 step checklist to Triathlon Nutrition Mastery: dietitianapproved.com/checklist

Start working on your nutrition now with my Triathlon Nutrition Kickstart course: dietitianapproved.com/kickstart

It’s for you if you’re a triathlete and you feel like you’ve got your training under control and you’re ready to layer in your nutrition. It's your warmup on the path to becoming a SUPERCHARGED triathlete – woohoo!

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Episode Transcription

Episode 119: Juggling Shift Work and Triathlon with Age-Group athlete Jules Whitton

Taryn Richardson  00:00

Today's episode is Part 2 of our second age group triathlete in a bit of a new series that I've started all about how age group triathletes train and eat. And it is my pleasure to introduce you to Jules or Julie Whitton. She is based in New South Wales, Australia and is a paramedic for New South Wales Ambulance Service. So she's been a shift worker for around 18 years. Now, when you try and train for three sports and balance shift work, there's a lot of balls in the air and a lot of things you've got to juggle to fit everything into your life. So she has a really interesting perspective on how she manages training for herself with no set rhythm and routine and you know, shifts that can be all over the shop including overnight. And then how she manages her nutrition to support both shift working and her love of the sport of triathlon.  She's been doing triathlon for 10 years, which means she's definitely learned a thing or two about what works for her what definitely doesn't work for her. And I think it's really nice to hear how you would go about managing meshing those two things together. She joined the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program back in January 2023, so she's just finishing off Phase 3. She's also just done Western Sydney and is preparing for Hervey Bay 100 soon. Now I very much threw her in the deep end of podcasting. She has never done anything like this before. And you'll hear she very much is a silent achiever and a self professed introvert. So please give her a round of applause for sharing her story with us today.  

Taryn Richardson  01:46

Welcome to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. The show designed to serve you up evidence-based sports nutrition advice from the experts. Hi, I'm your host Taryn, Accredited Practicing Dietitian, Advanced Sports Dietitian and founder of Dietitian Approved. Listen as I break down the latest evidence to give you practical, easy-to-digest strategies to train hard, recover faster and perform at your best. You have so much potential, and I want to help you unlock that with the power of nutrition. Let's get into it.

Taryn Richardson  02:25

Welcome to the podcast, Jules!

Julie Whitton  02:27

Hey, Taryn. Thanks for having me.

Taryn Richardson  02:29

Thank you for agreeing to come on the podcast. I know it's not the easiest thing to do.

Julie Whitton  02:34

No, it's my first time so looking forward to it.

Taryn Richardson  02:37

Oh, you'd be pro after this one. So what I wanted to do was get you to share your journey as a triathlete and as an age grouper. One of the things that's really unique about you is that you are a shift worker. And there are a lot of people that do triathlon that are shift workers, ambulance workers, police officers. I've seen so many over my time, and I know that you've got some really good strategies that you can share with us. But before we get into that, how did you find and fall in love with the crazy sport of triathlon?

Julie Whitton  03:09

When I was a young kid, my dad did triathlons for a couple of years. So that started me in the Milo triathlons when I was about 10. I remember doing one of them. And then life happened changed. I got married, had my daughter. And then after I had her, I wanted to get my fitness back. And I tend to get bored just doing one thing but I absolutely love running. So I decided to get back into triathlon. Signed up for a Pink triathlon down in Melbourne that was in January 2013. So I did that one and just loved it. Absolutely loved it out on course, trained through winter, did done the Pink triathlon that year. And just got hooked and kept doing it ever since.

Taryn Richardson  03:56

It is a crazy addictive sport, isn't it?

Julie Whitton  03:58

Yeah, the actual feeling I get on race day is what drives me. I just absolutely love being out on course, the energy out there and going from swimming to riding and then to finish up with a run. I can't actually put a finger on it. I absolutely just love it.

Taryn Richardson  04:15

It's not the endorphin rush?

Julie Whitton  04:17

That's probably it. Constantly chasing that endorphin rush, that adrenaline and just that feeling you get.

Taryn Richardson  04:26

I love that feeling as well. I think I'm properly addicted to exercise for that reason, like just how good you feel after exercise. It's so different to somebody that doesn't exercise. They don't kind of get it but triathletes definitely get it. 

Julie Whitton  04:41

Yeah. And I can't get that any other way. Like I've finished a training session, finish a race and you're just on a high. But I'm sure there's other ways to get it but that exercise high and the feeling afterwards keeps me going. So I spent a number of years building myself up through the standard distance event. And then I had a go at the half Ironman, and I think the distance of that suited me. I liked the long training sessions. So I switched my primary focus to that and that's my preferred distance now. 

Taryn Richardson  05:11

Okay, so that's your happy place, that 70.3?

Julie Whitton  05:14

Yeah.

Taryn Richardson  05:14

How do you feel about full distance Ironman?

Julie Whitton  05:16

I have never done one. I will do one in the future. But at the moment, it's not the right time for me. When I go to a full distance race and watch it live or when I watch it online, watching the finish line, it gives me that same rush and I want to be out there. But there's a few other things in life now that take priority over the training required to do that distance. So it's on the table that's not in the plan yet.

Taryn Richardson  05:48

That's really smart. We tend to just go, you know, what's next, and what's next and what's next. And particularly if you've got people around you, they're like, you could do it, you could do an Ironman. And we ended up doing them earlier than were maybe ready for mentally or physically. And it's maybe not that endorphin rush that you are looking for or searching for. And I think it's smart to just like hit pause on plans, knowing that you'll do it when you are ready.

Julie Whitton  06:15

Yeah, I can definitely get that rush from the Half Ironman, I can manage it. The training load with work and family, I can manage all that to step it up to a full Ironman. Not so much the race itself but the training required for it is just not the right time yet.

Taryn Richardson  06:35

Yeah, a different kettle of fish. How do you as a shift worker as an ambo, how do you fit training into that sort of crazy weekly rhythm? 

Julie Whitton  06:44

I have an exceptionally understanding and practical coach who looks at my roster that changes regularly and he plots it out for me. I work on a 9 day week rather than the standard 7 day week. So I'll do four shifts, which are a couple of days shifts and then like an afternoon and a night shift that varies and then I have five days off. So we'll look at doing a couple of shorter sessions on my work days. Usually factoring in a rest day on one of them as well. And then maybe half hour in the morning before my day shifts that requires an early start. And then before an afternoon shift, I might get one or two hours done before I go to work, finish at midnight, get some sleep, do another session in the morning and then get an afternoon nap before my night shift. The day after my night shift is always a rest day because that allows me to sleep.  Then I've got four days where I can do uninterrupted training. So that's when we'll plan my longer sessions or morning afternoon sessions. So there's nothing consistent with my training. There's no run Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. There's no swim squads, you know, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. There's no long rides every Sunday morning or when trainer sets on Wednesday mornings, like, there's nothing consistent about that. But what I do have is nine days where I know exactly what I'm doing in regards to work. And then my coach switches things around and factors in my sleep more than I do and factors in my recovery more than I do, and then fills in the blanks.

Taryn Richardson  08:34

What a legend. That's what we need.

Julie Whitton  08:36

Yeah, I wouldn't be able to do it on my own. Well, I have trained without him. I've just done the same thing all the time and usually over train, which is quite a common thing. But yeah, he pulls me in line.

Taryn Richardson  08:48

That's really good. You need somebody to be accountable too but also somebody to kind of be outside of that box to go, that's silly Jules or let's do it this way. It's so much easier to just follow a plan when you have someone doing all that thinking because your brain definitely doesn't work sleep deprived. And you probably going to make a different decision after a night shift and be like, I feel pretty good, I'm gonna go train. But it's really smart to prioritise sleep, prioritise recovery, and then go and do some quality training.

Julie Whitton  09:20

Yep. When I was a bit younger, I did push through and didn't get as much sleep as what I should. But yeah, now that the years are starting to catch up, sleep is definitely a priority and I feel it as well. I know my training suffers when I don't sleep properly and it's just not quality. And when you're not doing quality, it's just not worth it.

Taryn Richardson  09:41

Amen. So for people listening, what are your shifts involved? Do you do 12 hour shifts? Do you do 16 hour shifts? What does the shift look like?

Julie Whitton  09:51

Our day shifts are either 6:45 to 7pm or we might do a 6:00 till 6:00 shift. And then our afternoon shift is going to be 10:45 till 11pm and night shift is 6:45pm until 7am the next morning.

Taryn Richardson  10:10

Yep, so that was a 10:45am start till 11pm in the evening. 

Julie Whitton  10:16

Yes, that is the tricky one because you wake up at a normal time, thinking you've got a couple of hours in the morning to do training and then you go and do a 12 hour 15 minute shift and finish at 11pm if you finish on time. And then you get home and try and get some sleep. So I'm pretty lucky, I'm a good sleeper and I generally can get asleep pretty quickly. But there's obviously times with work that it might take some time to wind down from work. If you had a job that's caused a bit of an adrenaline rush at that 10pm time at night, it can take some time to come down from that.

Taryn Richardson  10:57

Yeah, I'm really interesting to be mindful of that, too. How far in advance do you get your roster and your shifts to know, can I do this event, or can I not do this event or am I going to be able to fit this training into this block?

Julie Whitton  11:12

Our roster goes for 9 weeks at a time but it only gets approved one week out so prior to that, it's a draft. So if there was an event at the end of the roster, I know, 8 or 9 weeks in advance whether I'm gonna be able to do it. But if there's an advance on the first weekend of the roster, it's a bit tight. I'm very fortunate that I have a really good management team around me that I can generally factor in doing a race and rostering according to that. Anything a few days prior to a race, I'll have a chat to the management team around me and and see if I can do a different shift to be able to have that one off. Just helps the fatigue levels and puts me in the best place possible for it. So because races so far in advance, they're planned so far in advance, I'm very particular with planning and organising myself so I'll know what I want to do. And then I'll set myself up for work to be able to do that.

Taryn Richardson  12:12

Yeah, I think that's good, planning ahead. You can't really commit to a 70.3 a few weeks out, like it's a long term thing. And so I was just wondering if you had any strategies like that, that you've learned about yourself to not shit the night before a race? Is there any other things in your schedule and your roster that you know you need, if you want to have a really good training session, or if you know that you're doing a race? Anything you have to kind of manipulate around shift work to get that right to set yourself up to tow the start line in the best possible shape?

Julie Whitton  12:43

There's not much I can do in regards to like a weekly roster factor. But one strategy I've got now is to take an annual leave block very soon before the race. So my coach suggested have a 3 week annual leave block a couple of weeks before a race. And then that way, I can focus solely on training, nutrition, sleep for three weeks uninterrupted, go back to work, do a couple of shifts which forces a natural taper and then go and do the race. So I can do that. That seems to be working well. And then try and get as many days off as possible before the race. And also make sure I've got a couple of days off after the race so I'm not rushing back to work. I can take the time after the race recover properly, travel properly, and then get back to work after having a couple of days of good nutrition and good rest.

Taryn Richardson  13:40

Yeah, super important. Like your nutrition doesn't finish at the finish line. You've got to actually extend that thinking and extend that planning beyond crossing the finish line so that you are recovering properly but also you're not impacting your immune system and getting sick and injured in a couple of weeks time.

Julie Whitton  13:59

Yeah, previous years, I've packed up after the race, got in the car, driven home. Sometimes that drive will be you know, up to 8-10 hours. So knowing what I know now from the Academy, I won't be doing that. I'll be allowing myself time to get proper nutrition in and continue that with a couple of days afterwards as well.

Taryn Richardson  14:21

Yeah, super important. What do you think has been some of the biggest challenges for you doing triathlon and shift work and getting your nutrition right for a very variable training program?

Julie Whitton  14:32

Definitely the inconsistency with eating times at work. Days off are easy, I can manage that. That's up to me. But at work, we've got no way of predicting or knowing when the phone's going to ring. People get sick when they get sick, they get when they get hurt. So just because I want to eat a snack at 10:30, doesn't mean I'm going to be able to. There's been uncountable times, numerous times over the years where I've missed meals and that's just something you have to manage, which obviously doesn't bode well for your next training session if you've missed a meal. That is just the way it is.  Eating early before the shift, you have to do that. That might be breakfast at 5am which by the time you get to 8am, when most people are eating breakfast, you're already hungry again. But if you don't, then you could miss breakfast as well. So the ability to have lunch at 12:30 is not guaranteed, you could be having lunch at 3pm. And also finishing work at 7pm makes it a bit difficult to manage dinner. So either wing it and hopefully have dinner at 6 if you get lucky. But most of the time, I'll just wait till I get home for dinner, which is either 7:30 or 8pm at night. Or if I am late home which is a reasonably regular occurrence as well, that'd be 8:30-9 o'clock before you're eating dinner. So there are long stretches, possibly without eating meal.

Taryn Richardson  15:57

Is there anything you can do to manage that? Like, can you keep things in your pocket or have stuff in the car to sneak in between?

Julie Whitton  16:04

Yeah, definitely, I need to eat. I love my food. And I'm not a very nice person to be around when I'm hungry. So I always have easy, quick meals. Keep a little cooler bag with me in the car and have something that I can eat on the way to a job. So I might only get like 5 or 10 minutes to eat it but that's enough to have half a sandwich. So anything that's easy to eat in your hand is good. I try and avoid the yoghurt while I'm at work because you know, if it doesn't stay cool, it doesn't stay good. So yeah, it's just a case of having a wide variety of food that you can eat easily.

Taryn Richardson  16:46

Yeah, and on the go and quickly. Even though it's not ideal, it's better than nothing.

Julie Whitton  16:51

That's the thing. And give yourself a bit of forgiveness as well. Obviously, there's an ideal way to eat, then there's a practical way to eat and then there's this sort of range where, you know, it's not quite right, but it's what I actually just need to do on this day, in this moment to get through. And when you can forgive yourself for that, that makes everything a little bit easier and just takes that weight off your shoulder. 

Taryn Richardson  17:14

That's a really important message, I think particularly as high performing triathletes who just want to do everything perfectly all the time. But sometimes done is better than perfect. And if that's going to make you a happier person to be around and your brain is going to work for work, and you're still doing a good job of recovering things like that, done is better than perfect.

Julie Whitton  17:33

Yeah, I've spent so many years, like a lot of female athletes, so many years, worried about what I'm eating, how I'm looking. It's gotten me into trouble a few times. So now it's just, this is what I'm doing, this is what I'm doing for me, this is what works for me at this time and that's okay.

Taryn Richardson  17:55

Yeah and put your blinkers on, you know, not getting distracted by other people on what they're doing. You just got to actually figure out you and your nutrition because it's so individual. And you're a different kettle of fish with everything that you juggle so it's it's good that you figured out a lot of those strategies to help you and then giving yourself a leave pass for you when it's not perfect too which is sounds like it's been almost like revolutionary in your thinking around food and nutrition. So what are some of the things that have changed for you over the last 9 months? You're almost finished the Academy program, almost and Alumni. Put the big girl pants on!

Julie Whitton  18:31

Recovery nutrition, definitely. I always knew you needed to eat something and drink something straight after a session but I didn't know what. So I've learned all my ratios were wrong. I had my timing right, I just didn't have what I was actually having. I was not having enough protein, I was having too many carbs, and sometimes not enough carbs. So getting that ratio right has been a real eye opener. 

Taryn Richardson  19:02

There's a reason that I put recovery first start, week one, like day one because most people don't know how to do it properly. And it's really easy to fix, you just need to know a framework for you. And then we've got the whole time to keep tweaking it and practicing it and perfecting it.

Julie Whitton  19:17

Yeah and having a few different options up the sleeve as well. Yeah, being aware of those different ratios. The next one would be pre training fuelling. So again, I knew I needed to eat something before training, that I just thought a banana was enough. So I just had my banana, go on my way, thinking I was doing everything right. Apparently not. And then knowing when to eat, when to fuel, and what sessions not to. And then with that knowledge, being able to choose when to fuel, when not to fuel based on what I've got coming up.  So obviously in the offseason, we might not fuel that particular training session but because we're 3 weeks out from a race, but we want to get some stuff in there as well. And that's obviously helped me with my gut training issues as well. Being able to run with food in the gut has been a really good experience and it's definitely helping. So eating the right thing, the right time, the right amount, and learning different options for that has been a big help.

Taryn Richardson  20:24

What's been the biggest shift in that space for you from what you're doing before versus what you're doing now?

Julie Whitton  20:29

The amount. So I always just ate a banana, or a couple of teaspoons of some sausage. And so now I'm eating the full amount of carbohydrates that I need and not having any issues. 

Taryn Richardson  20:43

There you go. How long did it take you to get there? 

Julie Whitton  20:45

Probably 6 months.

Taryn Richardson  20:46

I think that's good to highlight because nutrition is not a thing that can change overnight. Particularly if you're used to doing something and you've done it for 10 years, you can't suddenly go, alright, now I'm going to do this and it's all going to be smooth sailing. Your gut is super trainable so whatever you were doing, it is just used to that. And then if we want to shake it up, it is going to take a little bit of time for us to adapt and deal with that. So I think it's good for people to hear that that change is a 6 month process, it's not a quick fix. This is shifting overnight and we're going to be perfectly dialed in with everything after week one.

Julie Whitton  21:22

Yeah. And it's an ongoing process as well. Like, I'm definitely not 100% there. Still learning and still practicing different things as well. Trying not to practice too much at the moment being race season. But yeah, definitely, there's a few things I'll tweak during the offseason and then try different things which is what I can do confidently with the knowledge that I've got now. 

Taryn Richardson  21:45

Yeah, amazing. So pre training and recovery are the two big things. Is there anything else?

Julie Whitton  21:50

Yeah, carb loading as well. I've never eaten a bowl of pasta before the race, like the night before. I used to just have chicken, rice and veggies for dinner and couple of sports drinks leading, like the day before. That's what I thought carb loading was.

Taryn Richardson  22:06

Yep. 

Julie Whitton  22:08

So now, I haven't had many opportunities to practice it. But I know my numbers now and I'm building my way up slowly.

Taryn Richardson  22:17

Yeah, cool. Most people think they're just throwing a few extra bowl of pasta or something for dinner is carb loading. And it is definitely nowhere near what we need to actually like physically super compensate up those muscle glycogen stores. So  that's definitely another big sort of steep learning curve into how to actually do that properly. And then, like you said, it is something that does take time to practice and tweak and evolve over the years, too.

Julie Whitton  22:44

Yeah, and I think that one's going to take more than 6 months because when to do it, is obviously, you can do it in training but yeah, there's not many training sessions you do that are going to be the length of the full race. So practice in training, but really, you can only practice it leading into a race. So that one's gonna take a few years to really nail.

Taryn Richardson  23:10

Yeah, and that's okay. So three big things.

Julie Whitton  23:14

Yeah, they're my three. Obviously, you know, every week I'm learning something new but yeah, they're the three.

Taryn Richardson  23:20

Okay, cool. I always just like to know. It's for my own personal enjoyment.

Julie Whitton  23:25

Yeah. The race nutrition, obviously, again, that's another one to practice each race with some different targets. But that won't all get to practice in a couple of weeks. 

Taryn Richardson  23:33

Yeah. So what's next on the cards here? What's the grand plans for 2024 and beyond?

Julie Whitton  23:39

So 2024 is looking at, again, primary focus for half Ironman. I don't have any races locked in at the moment, but there's definitely some on the radar. Primarily ones, I've either done before and I enjoy, or ones I haven't done before that have been on the radar for some time. So definitely looking at Huskisson soon. I've never raised Husky before. And I'll probably go out to Hell of the West again. I really like it out there. I like the country dry heat. So yeah, that's my spot out there. And then, yeah, the back end of 2024, not sure yet. I'll just have a look at what races are around and see what I feel like. In saying that, obviously, we always want to improve. So I'll keep training to become quicker and try and move myself from that middle group up into the top of the middle with my training load and time, I don't think I'm ever going to be at the top of the age group. But I still want to improve myself and yeah, get as quick as I can.

Taryn Richardson  24:08

It's like suffering in the heat.  Yeah, you don't have to win to have a good time and to improve. Everyone's different and some people it's getting on the podium and some people it's just finishing the damn thing.

Julie Whitton  25:00

Yeah. So I just want to do better. Like there's a few race I've got unfinished business at. So I'll see how close I can get to that business.

Taryn Richardson  25:09

Okay, nice. I feel like you had a little fire in your belly from some of those things ready to go.

Julie Whitton  25:15

Yeah, definitely.

Taryn Richardson  25:16

You're a quiet, little achiever, I think. There's like a fire burning in there but you don't necessarily let that on.

Julie Whitton  25:22

Yeah, I'm definitely an introvert, keep a lot of things to myself. But definitely some goals there and like I said, that fire, but I'll work on that, and tick them off myself.

Taryn Richardson  25:36

Love it. What's the grand plan? Like, can you see? Or have you got any goals in mind around anything beyond what you're doing that you're happy to share with us?

Julie Whitton  25:47

The grand plan is to continue in this sport for as long as I can. This bought me isn't a two or three year process and then move on to something else. I love the lifestyle around it. I love the activity around it. I love how it makes me feel. I love the time it gives to me, for myself. So yeah, there's definitely a few extended goals there but it's just going to take some work to get there. So maybe in a few years time.

Taryn Richardson  26:18

Okay. Very, very cagey around what they are. Don't want to go in public on the podcast which is totally fine.

Julie Whitton  26:27

I'll tell people when I've achieved them.

Taryn Richardson  26:32

Love it, I love it. You kind of compete with yourself and it's all about you, which is really nice. As an individual sport, it is just you and the road. And it's hard to have a community like or a squad when you're doing crazy shifts work. So there's a lot of your training on your own?

Julie Whitton  26:49

Yeah, yeah, most of it, actually. There's times where I can get us to a swim squad. There's times where I can get to a run group. Cycling's the biggest one that I have to do on my own. One of my friends who's the next level above me, when she's not 100% training when I'm full training, I can just keep up with her. So we might be able to get a couple of rides in together then. Often will swim together but most of the time, during the season, it's just catch up for coffee.  But yeah, generally, everything's done on my own which I actually like. It sets me up good for race day because yeah, when you're on that start line, even though there's people around you, it is just a race against myself. So can't draft out on course, it's just you. So if I can train with just me, then mentally, that's going to be really good for me on race day. But having said that, yeah, I do train better swimming and running with a group. It's just one of those things with my type of work, and my roster, and my inconsistencies that I can't get to so. I've never trained with a group consistently properly because the entire time I've been doing triathlon, I've also been a paramedic working the roster I am, so nothing has changed. 

Taryn Richardson  28:14

You balance a lot. I'm super impressed. Like for anyone that manages shift work and triathlon, like hats off to you. It's a lot of balls in the air constantly. And if you know, if you've got a good coach that can be really practical around that and understand what your life is like, then it's gonna set you up so much better for success and trying to like shove a square into a circle hole. It's never gonna work. 

Julie Whitton  28:36

Yeah, he's got no ears left after I just cheer them up all the time. Every time I get a few weeks out for a race, I'll send him an email and say, it's all falling apart, stress levels through the roof, I don't know what to do. And he's just got this ability to take a step back and, you know. Even a couple of sentences on an email, really just pulls things back into perspective for me, gives me an objective look, because obviously, I'm right in the thick of it. And he's just got this way of pulling it back and say, you're right but have a look at these things, think about this factor. I'm like, okay, I can do that.

Taryn Richardson  29:16

Yeah, you just sometimes need an outside voice.

Julie Whitton  29:19

Yep. 

Taryn Richardson  29:20

To help you see through the weeds.

Julie Whitton  29:22

Yeah. And I've been working with him for 10 years now. So he really understands me and my work and my time available. And I'll say to him, I need to do more training. And he'll be like, when?

Taryn Richardson  29:38

Yeah.

Julie Whitton  29:39

I'm like, I don't know. 

Taryn Richardson  29:41

Find some time.

Julie Whitton  29:42

Yeah, I'm like, just give it to me. And he's like, you don't have time but you can do this instead. I'm like, okay.

Taryn Richardson  29:49

Oh, funny.

Julie Whitton  29:49

Yeah. 

Taryn Richardson  29:50

So has your training changed at all as your nutrition has changed to kind of juggle all of those things? Or has it stayed relatively similar?

Julie Whitton  30:00

My training hasn't changed, but my ability to recover from it has. Whereas before, I would be extremely fatigued and I would struggle to do the next session. Now, I've got the nutrition to back it up, and I can function and do each training session that's needed to. So there's still a little bit of sleep factor in there but from a nutrition point of view, yeah, I'm backing up the training whereas I wouldn't have been able to before.

Taryn Richardson  30:34

Yeah, perfect. That's so good. Well, thank you so much for sharing your triathlon journey with us, Jules. I know that podcasting with me is not your comfort zone. But I like to get my athletes out of their comfort zones, if with nutrition but also things like this. 

Julie Whitton  30:51

Not a problem. Thanks for having me.

Taryn Richardson  30:54

You're welcome. I look forward to seeing what you do silently in 2024 and beyond. But we might hear about it after the fact.

Julie Whitton  31:02

Yeah. Thank you.

Taryn Richardson  31:05

If you do want to join us inside the Academy, we are opening doors again in January. So jump on the waitlist at dietitianapproved.com/academy. Thanks, Jules!

Julie Whitton  31:15

Thank you. Bye.

Taryn Richardson  31:17

Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions or want to share with me what you've learned, email me at [email protected]. You can also spread the word by leaving me a review and taking a screenshot of you listening to the show. Don't forget to tag me on social media, @dietitian.approved, so I can give you a shout out, too. If you want to learn more about what we do, head to dietitianapproved.com. And if you want to learn more about the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, head to dietitianapproved.com/academy. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to helping you smashed in the fourth leg - nutrition!