A pro athlete's tips for beating flavour fatigue

My earliest memory of flavour fatigue goes back to New Zealand's annual 40 Hour Famine.

The fundraising campaign, run by World Vision, aimed to raise awareness and support for children living in food poverty around the world. I was about ten years old when I signed up for my first one. To my young brain, it sounded like the greatest challenge ever: spend 40 hours surviving on nothing but hard-boiled lollies and orange juice while collecting donations around the neighbourhood.

My experiences during the first day were fantastic.

I happily demolished handful after handful of lollies, washing them down with orange juice. Looking back, I was probably riding a pretty decent sugar high, which only fueled my enthusiasm for the challenge.

Then, around ten hours in, flavour fatigue arrived.

A first 'taste' of flavour fatigue

Almost instantly my body decided it had absolutely no interest in another sweet lolly or another sip of orange juice. Instead, I found myself craving savoury food with an intensity I'd never experienced before.

That evening my parents sat down to dinner: mashed potatoes, green vegetables and sausages. Meals I'd completely taken for granted for the first decade of my life suddenly looked like five-star cuisine. I honestly think I would have traded every lolly in the house for one plate of their dinner.

By the second day, as the 20- and 30-hour marks came and went, I'd had enough. All I could think about was eating something different. I was convinced I'd never eat another hard-boiled lolly or drink another glass of fruit juice again.

I eventually made it through all 40 hours, and I don't think I've ever appreciated the variety of flavours, textures and foods available to me more than I did in the days that followed.

Flavour fatigue in sport

Fast forward another decade and I found myself racing ultra-endurance events like the Coast to Coast Adventure Race, where I'd be competing for 10-12 hours, before eventually stepping into multi-day adventure races lasting up to six days.

It didn't take long for those childhood memories to come flooding back.

Around eight to ten hours into races, I'd find myself staring at another energy gel or bottle of sports drink with absolutely no desire to consume either. Physically I still needed the fuel, but mentally and - perhaps more importantly - from a taste perspective, I was done. At a time late in a race when fuel was as critical as ever, my reluctance to eat became a major threat to my energy and performance.

While improvements in fitness and race experience certainly helped my performances over the years, another factor making a significant difference was my ability to start to anticipate and plan for flavour fatigue before it happened.

Many ultra-endurance races are won or lost in the final 10-20% of the event. As the saying goes, success doesn’t usually go to those who go the fastest but rather to those who slow down the least.

The challenge is that this critical phase usually coincides with the point where athletes become least interested in eating and drinking. Energy requirements continue climbing while the desire to eat and drink heads in the opposite direction. If nutrition starts falling behind here, performance often follows.

How to overcome flavour fatigue

Every event demands a slightly different strategy, and everyone's preferences for flavours, textures and food types vary. But for me, transition areas became the perfect opportunity to reset both my stomach and my tastebuds.

In Coast to Coast, I'd always have boiled potatoes, bananas, creamed rice and Coca-Cola waiting. The savoury potatoes, the solid texture of banana, or simply swapping sports drink for cola gave me a welcome break from the relentless sweetness of gels. It was just enough variety to reset my palate, while still topping up calories and hydration, before returning to my regular fueling plan.

IRONMAN® racing followed a similar approach. During the bike leg I'd often include an energy bar or banana to break up the monotony of gels and sports drink. Then, during the marathon, bananas and cola became welcome highlights across 42 kilometres of running.

In the closing stages of the marathon I'd often switch to plain water to wash down Electrolyte Capsules and gels. It kept my mouth feeling more neutral while still allowing me to hit my carbohydrate and electrolyte targets.

The backbone of my nutrition plan never really changed - gels and sports drink still did most of the heavy lifting. The difference was simply introducing enough variety to stop flavour fatigue taking control when it mattered most.

Flavour fatigue might sound like a small problem, but over the course of an ultra-endurance event it can become one of the biggest reasons athletes stop fueling adequately. And when fuel intake drops, pace usually follows.

Whether you're racing for four hours or four days, don't just train your gut, plan for your tastebuds too. A small change in flavour, texture or even temperature can be enough to keep you eating consistently when everyone else is starting to fall behind.

After all, endurance racing isn't just about convincing your legs to keep moving but also convincing your tastebuds to keep going too. For me, endurance racing was also a chance to remind myself of that lesson I learned as a 10-year-old kid: hours and hours of consuming only lollies and juice is not as satisfying as it might initially sound.

Further reading

• How endurance athletes can beat 'flavour fatigue'
• Which energy products are right for you?
• Should you just stick with real food to fuel your race?