The focus today is the women racing Kona—through the lens of my chat with the GOAT herself, Daniela Ryf. Dani’s honesty about the messy middle of elite fueling is gold for anyone pinning a bib on Ali‘i Drive. This isn’t a made up carb-load. It’s the unvarnished, “what actually works when the wind howls, your stomach flips, and you still have a marathon to run” version.
The early lesson: extremes teach, they don’t win Kona
Dani’s early-career flirtation with fasted morning runs and “how far can I go on nothing?” rides was real. She’s not alone: the whole sport went through a phase of train-low/compete-high. Mechanistically, training with less carb on board can upregulate signals linked to mitochondrial biogenesis (hello AMPK/PGC-1α). Translation: in carefully chosen sessions, it can nudge endurance adaptations. But do too much “low” and you blunt quality, especially at the intensities that decide races. That’s the line many athletes cross. The best practice is periodization—fuel the key work, occasionally manipulate availability for lesser sessions, then race with maximal carb availability. This si exactly what Fuelin does for you. You just do not have to think about it!
Dani eventually ditched the fasted training for something smarter: start easy sessions without breakfast if you like, but feed once the work starts so you protect quality and recovery. That evolution mirrors where the science landed: you can arrive “low,” then take carbs during the session without negating key adaptations, and you’ll feel and perform far better doing it.
The reality check for women at Kona
Kona is not a metabolic retreat; it’s a high-intensity, hot-wind treadmill that punishes under-fueling. If you’re thinking, “But I burn fat well,” great—you still need carbs! and lots of them. On race day, you’ll run faster, longer with high carbohydrate availability. Chronic low-carb/high-fat (LCHF) approaches? In elite data they ramp fat oxidation yet reduce exercise economy and blunt the ability to use carbs at high intensity—even after you re-introduce carbs. That’s code for “your engine costs more oxygen to hold the same speed.” Not ideal for the Queen K. More recently, we have seen improvements in fat oxidation with short term high fat/low carb. despite the changes, they did not result in any performance improvement. Short race duration and distances (5km and 10km) yet the science is showing that these chnages might not be the holy grail they were once thought to be.
Carb numbers that actually move the needle
Let’s settle the hourly debate. The classic guidance for events >2.5h is higher carb intake. Depending on your power and pace, you may wnat to consider 90 g/h using multiple transportable carbs (glucose + fructose). On the bike, if you are pushing more than 160-170W then that is a good indicator you can fuel fairly high.
In recent work, 120 g/h (roughly a 1:0.8 glucose/maltodextrin:fructose ratio) proved practically tolerable and delivered very high exogenous oxidation, whether as drink, gels, chews, or a combo—use the formats that suit your stomach and aid adherence. Practical note: not everyone needs 120 g/h, but some of you will—especially smaller athletes still racing relatively fast (higher relative intensity) for long durations. Your limiter isn’t body size; it’s power output, gut training and logistics.
Does 120 g/h always beat 90 g/h? Not automatically. Performance outcomes are context- & individual dependent. That’s why we practice: find your ceiling in training, then race at the highest rate you can consistently tolerate. The Dani lesson: once she moved from ~70–90 g/h in her early long races to triple-digit intakes during her prime, the back half of the marathon stopped feeling like a hostage negotiation. The literature aligns: more exogenous carb (within your tolerance) usually means less glycogen drain and faster running off the bike.
What “smart periodization” looks like in the final 6–8 weeks
Fuel the work required. If the plan says VO₂ or race-pace bricks, you go in topped up and you feed hard during. Save any low-glycogen work for truly easy aerobic days—and keep those short. The priority is sharpening speed and durability, not collecting “fasted badges.”
Gut training = race insurance. Rehearse your race-rate carb intake (e.g. 90–120 g/h) at race-like intensity and heat. Use the exact products, bottle/gels/chews schedule, and aid-station choreography you’ll deploy on the Queen K. The grocery-store “real food gel” trend? Tasty on the couch; risky at threshold. Stick with glucose/maltodextrin + fructose blends—this is where the strongest evidence lives.
Mind the pre-session fiber. For hard runs/rides, favor low-fibre, lower-fat mini-meals or liquid carbs. There’s a time for oats and salads; the hour before your track set isn’t it. (Basic, but clutch.)
Heat Prep: Ideally get it completed 4-6 weeks out from the start of the gun. 10 days of active heat prep (5 on-2 off- 5 on, 40C, 60-90 minutes duration, low intensity zone 1-2) followed by top up passive acclimation sessions (i.e. hot water immersion, 20-30mins, 40C). Drink your fluids during the prep and be sure to rehydrate 150-200% after the session to recover quickly for the next day.
Carb loading for Kona week—simplified
Old-school loading (deplete for days, then stuff yourself) is unnecessary. Modern data support a 24–48-hour high-carb focus to maximize muscle glycogen—especially effective when you’re tapering. The ballpark: ~8–12 g/kg/day in that window. As a a women - do not base it off percentage of total calories. You need to hit a minimum of 8g/kg to be effective. Period!
If 10–12 g/kg in 24 h feels like Mount Everest, s practice it. Aim to finish the biggest bolus by early evening the day before the race so you’re not sleeping on a bowling ball. On race morning, 1–3 g/kg in the 1–4 hours pre-start (choose the timing and texture your gut tolerates in heat) tops up liver glycogen and takes the edge off nerves. Practice this now; don’t audition a new breakfast on the pier. Practice this in the lead up as well.
“But won’t carbs spike my insulin?” (And other myths that sabotage women’s racing)
During exercise, muscle contraction drives glucose uptake through insulin-independent pathways (GLUT4 translocation). In plain English: the working muscle is begging for sugar and has its own door key. The fear of “spiking insulin mid-race” is misplaced; the bigger risk is not eating enough, then watching your pace card wilt on the Energy Lab rollers.
The Dani details women should steal (and what to ditch)
Steal: Ruthless consistency. Dani didn’t stumble on a magic gel; she iterated. She learned to separate health foods from performance foods at the right times, dialing down fibre/fat when intensity demanded it, and ramping carbohydrate availability for key sessions and race day. That’s periodization 101.
Steal: A structured plan that survives chaos. Bottles get ejected; winds change; nerves hit. Having a backup intake route (e.g., on-bike gels if you lose a bottle, a second gel in the swimskin pocket for T1) is the difference between a wobble and a blow-up.
Ditch: Heroic fasted long runs and fizzy-water aid-station “treats.” One zeros out your legs for days; the other gives you exactly zero calories. Not a vibe at 25 km of the run.
A Kona-ready fueling sketch (customize it to you)
48–24 h pre-race: Target ~8–12 g/kg/day carbs, mostly easy-to-digest staples (rice, pasta, potatoes, low-fibre breads, fruit, juices, sports drinks), with normal protein and moderate fat. Keep veg portions modest to limit fibre. Hydrate with electrolytes you’ve used in heat.
Race morning (2–3 h out): 1–3 g/kg carbs in familiar forms (toast + honey, rice cakes + jam, cream-of-rice, bananas + sports drink). Add a small top-up 15–20 min before the swim if that’s your habit.
Bike: Start early. Build to 90–120 g/h using a glucose/maltodextrin + fructose blend across liquids + gels/chews; sip steadily rather than “gel dumps”. Lock this to your aid-station timeline. Use what you practiced—and have contingencies.
Run: Keep the drip feed coming (60–90+ g/h, many women hold ~70–100 g/h if they’ve trained the gut). Use on-course offerings only if you’ve tested them; otherwise, carry what you trust between aid stations. If nausea pricks up, slow slightly, cool aggressively, and modulate texture (more drink, fewer solids) rather than slashing carb intake.
Female-specific context (the part most plans miss)
Fuel to training load first, cycle second. Hormonal fluctuations can nudge appetite, gut comfort, and thermoregulation, but the main driver of your needs is the work you’re doing.
Practically, that means
(a) protect daily energy/carbohydrate availability across the block to avoid LEA-type pitfalls, and
(b) keep the race-day carb plan consistent across the month—then tweak execution details (e.g., texture, cooling strategies) based on how you personally feel in heat at different times.
If you’ve been told to drop carbs because “women don’t tolerate them”—hard pass. The performance data supporting higher race-day intakes apply to women, reagrdless of the time of month!
My blunt advice for Kona week
Cut the novelty. If you didn’t practice it, don’t wear it, don’t drink it, don’t eat it.
Pick a number and earn it. Decide your target intake (e.g., 95 g/h on the bike, 75–85 g/h on the run) and rehearse it twice this week at race-effort snippets.
Control the controllables. Label bottles/gels by hour, pre-split run nutrition into pocketable packets, and script the first 10 km of the run so you don’t “forget to eat” chasing someone’s ponytail.
Give yourself grace. Nerves can mute appetite. Liquids and semi-solids count. Just keep the carbs coming.
Dani said it best: "find what really works, then execute it like clockwork."
For the women lining up in Kona, that means stepping on the pier with a plan that’s been inside your gut at the rates you intend to race. The island respects preparation.
Thank you,
Scott