Best Performance Supplements for Runners & Triathletes

About Best Performance Supplements for Runners & Triathletes
FAQs

Small, proven supplements can add up to a real edge on race day. This collection rounds up the best performance supplements for runners and triathletes, covering nitrate, bicarbonate, ketone and recovery products backed by real research, not just marketing.

These are the products athletes reach for when carbohydrate and hydration alone aren't enough.
Nitrate to support oxygen efficiency, sodium bicarbonate to help buffer fatigue during high-intensity efforts, and ketones or targeted recovery compounds to support output and recovery.
Effects vary between individuals, so trial anything new in training well before race day, and check with your sport's testing body if you compete under one.

Do exogenous ketone supplements actually improve running performance?

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What does sodium bicarbonate actually do for runners?

{"type":"root","children":[{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"type":"text","value":"Sodium bicarbonate works by buffering the acid that builds up in your muscles during hard efforts, delaying the burning, heavy-legged feeling that forces you to slow down. It's one of the best-researched ergogenic aids around, with the clearest benefits for high-intensity efforts lasting up to around 12 minutes, think fast finishes, hill repeats, or the last hard push in a race, rather than steady, easy-paced training runs."}]}]}

Does beetroot or nitrate supplementation actually help endurance performance?

{"type":"root","children":[{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"type":"text","value":"Dietary nitrate, found in beetroot juice and concentrated shots, can lower the oxygen cost of exercise and improve time to exhaustion, with the clearest benefits showing up in shorter, high-intensity efforts rather than very long steady-state races. Most protocols call for a dose 2 to 3 hours before racing, with some athletes loading for a few days beforehand."}]}]}

What do lactate-buffering or oxidative stress supplements do?

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