There are elite athletes, and then there are triathletes. Forget physical strength: It takes major mental fortitude to swim, cycle, and run your way to a finish line that requires more than mere endurance. Training for triathlon really means practicing three different sports that engage your muscles in three entirely different ways—and that can make properly fueling your body even more complicated.
“I was always chasing what I thought I needed to look like,” says Natasha Van der Merwe, an elite endurance trainer and founder of NVDM Coaching, “versus nutrition being something that facilitates and enhances my performance in the sport, and then enhances recovery. I had this complete mental shift in food purely being fuel and using it as a tool in order for me to perform and recover.”
A former pro tennis player originally from South Africa, Van der Merwe came to triathlon later in her athletic career, but got off on a rocky start riddled with injuries. That’s when she found the superfood that could help fuel her from pre- to post-workout, while training or in competition: Beef.
“When I ate beef,” she explains, “I felt like I recovered better from that day of training and I performed better the next day. The funniest thing is I wasn't doing it for racing until my husband pointed it out to me—and I started feeling so much better, and started preaching that to all of my athletes.”
Even amateur athletes know protein is crucial for performance, but few realize that all protein is not created equally. Beef not only packs more high-quality protein per serving than most foods, but is full of critical nutrients that boost both performance and recovery. It’s why sports dietitian Amy Goodson puts beef at the heart of her Sports Nutrition Playbook. Just like Van der Merwe and her triathletes, Goodson preaches the power of beef to the elite pros and teams she advises in football, baseball, hockey, and soccer.
“These days we’re always looking for ‘Return On Investment’ on every single thing,” says Goodson. “So what’s your ROI on what you’re putting into your body?”
Goodson says efficiency is key—if you need to eat more food to satisfy your body’s caloric and nutritional needs, you’ll feel more weighed down on the field or in the gym. And next to other typical protein sources like chicken, fish, or beans, there’s no comparison: the same 3.5oz serving of lean beef contains around 25g of high-quality protein, nine essential amino acids, a host of vitally important micronutrients—like iron, zinc, L-carnitine, selenium, and vitamins B6 and B12—and even omega-3 fatty acids and creatine that help mental performance and build stronger muscle tissue for better endurance.
Whether you’re a two-a-day workout warrior or just looking to lose weight and improve your body composition, just follow the lead of some of the highest-performing athletes on earth. The night before a grueling 70.3-mile triathlon in Texas this year, coach Van der Merwe hosted a dinner for more than 100 triathlete coaches and competitors.
The menu? Steak tacos—and plenty of them.
