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Q&A: Fueling for Longevity with Saris Athlete Lance Haidet

Lance Haidet

We sat down with Saris athlete Lance Haidet to talk day-to-day fueling, race-day strategy, recovery, caffeine, and the few supplements he actually uses. 

Meet Lance

Lance: “My name's Lance Haidet. I race bicycles and I'm a Saris athlete and an ambassador from San Luis Obispo, CA, and we're talking about nutrition today.” 

Interviewer: Do you have a typical day of nutrition, or does it change? 
Lance: “I'm not on any kind of diet or super strict guidelines that I follow, but after years of racing, training, and speaking with many dietitians much smarter than me on the subject, I've kind of figured out what works for me. And I would say most days are fairly similar in my eating schedule, but I try to vary stuff because I like food, and I don't want to just be a robot eating the same thing at the same time every day.”

 

Tracking & Macros 

Interviewer: Do you count or track macros? 
Lance: “Yes, but not daily. I had the little My Fitness Pal app a while ago and found it helpful. I also was like, I don't know if I need to do this all the time. It definitely said that I eat a lot more fat than I'm supposed to, but I would say it's like pretty good fat. I like eggs, avocados, and olive oil. I'm really into peanut butter. My diet is definitely a little more skewed towards those natural, good fats.” 

 

Interviewer: What percentages do you aim for? 
Lance: “18 to 20% protein, 50% carbs, 30% fat. Getting in 20% of your calories from protein, I had to work to get 20 to 25% of my protein in.”

 

Interviewer: And that's knowing that some days are bigger training days, so you're going to need more calories altogether. So, the ratio is the same but the volume goes up.
Lance: “Totally. My metabolic rate is high. When you do a four or five-hour training day, keeping those macro percentages, consuming 4-5000 calories, it quickly becomes difficult to eat that much protein.”



Seasonal Shifts & Breakfast Go-Tos  

Interviewer: Do you change your diet by season? 
Lance: “Around racing and really heavy training, I definitely eat more carbs. During the race season, I eat a lot of sugar, and in the off-season, I avoid sugar. I eat a lot of brown rice, fruits, and veggies, and a little more complex carb. My go-tos include eggs and oatmeal or eggs and pancakes. In the fall and early spring, more egg scrambles or an omelet. So, a little less carb-focused.” 

Interviewer: So eggs aren’t going anywhere? 
Lance: “Yes, exactly. Eggs year-round for sure, always.” 

Interviewer: What's the most number of eggs you’ll eat? 
Lance: “In a scramble? 4 eggs. Then, eggs over rice. So 6 is as many as I’ll eat.” 

Post-Ride Routine & Sweet Tooth   

Interviewer: Do you have any post-ride go-tos? 
Lance: “A little recovery protein drink and a good amount of carbs as well. Sometimes a smoothie with berries and banana, peanut butter, almond butter, and Greek yogurt. I definitely have a sweet tooth, a cookie or a brownie. If there's sugary stuff lying around, especially post-ride, I go straight for that.” 


Candy on the Bike (Scandinavian Swimmers!)    

Interviewer: Not a candy guy? 
Lance: “I do like sour gummies, you know, the Trader Joe’s Scandinavian Swimmers? I try to only eat them while I'm riding, it just replaces like a gel or two.” 

 

In-Ride Fueling Rules     

Interviewer: Fueling rules by ride length? 
Lance: “Less than an hour and a half long ride, I’m probably not eating much. Always some electrolytes, though. For more than an hour and a half, 70 to 90 grams of carbs per hour, and in racing, 100–110g per hour.” 

Interviewer: And I assume you’re getting those carbs in via Sports Nutrition products, but what about day-to-day?
Lance: “When I’m racing, almost 100% gels and high-carb mix. Styrkra mix, rice bars. But in training, more complete sources: dates, dried mango, dried figs, almonds. Sometimes ~30 grams of carbs with more electrolytes in my bottles. But sometimes a small bag of Scandinavian swimmers gives you just so much joy. You’re a human, not a lab rat. You need some real food.” 

 

Food Philosophy & Longevity    

Interviewer: What’s your food philosophy? 
Lance: “I think growing up on the West Coast, you think about your food more often. My parents are really good cooks, so growing up, we were always fueling in a good and wholesome way. In general, I believe if you eat what you want and it makes you happy and it’s healthy and good, you’re not burning yourself out. I don’t always go for highly processed. Make your own food. You’re a human, fuel yourself properly.” 

 

Caffeine & Race-Day Use     

Interviewer: What’s your approach to caffeine? Both on race day and in day-to-day life? 
Lance: “I'm definitely a big coffee guy. I like coffee before the race. In races, I bring 75 to 100 milligrams of caffeine gel one hour out from the finish, like just have that one hit of caffeine later in the race when you're starting to get tired and you have to start thinking about getting mentally ready for the combativeness of that last hour.” 


Supplements That Make the Cut      

Interviewer: Supplements? 
Lance: “Legal stuff only. 3 to 5 milligrams of creatine almost every day. A Thorne elite multivitamin, magnesium at night, Beta-alanine… loading then maintenance… makes me… tingly… split… ~.8g capsules with food… Nitrates… three days leading into an event… dose at breakfast… nitrate gel right before the race… Fish oil… not a huge supplement taker… stick to the most researched.”  

 

Train Like Lance