Melissa Carloni - Triathlon | Germany
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Interview by Ross Lovell
This is Fueled for a Year. Three amateur athletes, each with a unique goal on the horizon. One year of access to all that Maurten has, enabling them to be greater athletes. To achieve their goals.
This article will grow as Melissa progresses towards her start line. It’s a diary of check-ins throughout the year.
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In the amateur ranks, passion is the driving force of dedication. It’s unlimited. Time and resources, however, are not. Life is a complex and unpredictable interplay of family and work and the unforeseen that makes structure a challenge. We train and race around an unreliable routine. When we can, not always when we want. Nevertheless, we still aspire to be better. We still try. It’s not simply a devotion — it’s an addiction. Of the good sort. Every amateur watches the professional and, at some stage, wonders — what if? Maurten can’t give the gift of time or streamline the day in, day out by stripping away the layers of life. But we can offer the support of nutritional expertise and an ecosystem of specifically designed fueling products.
If you never try, you never fail. But it will not diminish the sense of regret. “I'll just try a triathlon. And I liked it a lot. I thought it was super cool that I can continue swimming, but then at the same time start something new. So I kept doing it and this year I did my first 70.3.” — Melissa Carloni.
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LOG 1 — introducing Melissa
LOG 2 – Building momentum
Typically, it’s the discipline that people struggle most with. Maybe are even fearful of. But Melissa is in the enviable position of coming into triathlon as a strong swimmer already. Years of synchronized swimming and life-saving events have equipped her with a good feel for the water. “To get better at swimming, I would need to train every day because I'm already, I think, at a level where it's hard to see large improvements. It's also the shortest part of the race, so that’s a bit sad for me.”
For Melissa, the challenges start after, as the race develops. As the body position moves through lying in the water, to sitting on the bike, and then upright for the run. Consuming the right fuel at the right time for three disciplines is hard. It puts a lot of strain on the gut and takes a lot of practice.
“I think I had this idea in mind that you should — and I now know this is the wrong idea — train your body and make it used to performing, even in hot conditions, with no food or with no nutrition. Because then when you get food on race day you are much stronger or much faster. That's the perception I had.”
It’s an honest admission of not knowing how to prepare. But we’ve probably all been there at some point — influenced by outdated protocol. The old school methods that die hard.
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The reality, supported by science, is that training our guts with certain amounts of sports nutrition decreases the likelihood of gastrointestinal distress on race day. GI discomfort is a significant inhibitor to performance. By fueling training with the right amount of carbohydrates per hour, our bodies can adapt and get used to it. It’s a well-trodden route into fueling. A rite of passage, almost.
“The first mistake I made was already in the preparation phase because I was not getting used to enough gels or carbs. I think in my mind I didn’t associate training with a need to fuel.”
It’s a well-trodden route into fueling. A rite of passage, almost.
You reap what you sow and inevitably Melissa’s first attempt at an IRONMAN 70.3 in Mallorca was a harsh reckoning. Her body providing acute feedback on the avoidance of fueling during training. “I was so excited because I’d spent so much time training for it. But my nutrition was so bad, The cycling part was great, but then I was completely sick. I had so much cramps, nausea, and all this kind of stuff. When my body left the sitting position (off the bike), I started feeling all these mixed stomach issues. I just thought I had to finish, no matter what. I will stop eating because it might get worse and I will just continue. But then I had a lot of pain everywhere. The run was not really a run. Overall, not the greatest experience.”
In the clarity of hindsight, it’s easy for Melissa to see where mistakes were made. But they are perfectly human mistakes. Errors everyone makes because racing can be intense. It clouds judgment and muddles rational thought. “On the bike I kind of deprioritized nutrition in a sense. I wasn’t drinking so much because even taking bottles every 5 minutes, I didn’t feel like I had time or I was too stressed for that. And of course, then I paid for it. I think that's also something I would need to practice.” The hyper-focused atmosphere of a race, when the mind and body are amped with adrenaline, is not something easily recreated in training. We give ourselves mindless instructions — I'll eat at the top of the climb, I'll eat when I stop next, or I'll eat when I catch the person ahead. Always fuel without delay.
Despite full-time work commitments that consume her diary from 9am until 6pm, Melissa is already learning from her experience in Mallorca. “I’ve already improved a lot. I did a half marathon in Copenhagen recently and it went well — much better than it was last year. So I think there is a big space for improvement, especially in cycling and running. I am not yet as fast as I could get.”
The year ahead will be a great opportunity for Melissa to master her own fueling strategy.
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“I guess everybody is different. Maybe I tolerate better some other kind of carbs but not solids. Or maybe it's better for me to drink a lot and not get so many gels. I have no idea — I'm completely new on that.”
It’s a position familiar to many. Melissa has listened to the noise and has been influenced by fueling advice that ultimately didn’t work. Fueled for a Year is a chance to learn what’s right on her terms.
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LOG 1 — introducing Melissa
LOG 2 – Building momentum
Throughout winter, Melissa reduced the pressure on racing and allowed herself to focus on the simplicity of building a strong base of fitness. With a new bike setup and new knowledge, she is looking to develop her training focus over the next four months.
Like many athletes across Europe, Melissa has been impacted by the weather.
“I don't like treadmills so much because, for me, running is my one hour of free time. It's the one hour when I can just shut my mind and go out. I don't really care if it's in the dark or in the rain. I just go out anyway. It's nice in Frankfurt because I can go along the river and it's always full of runners, so I'm not too afraid of that. Actually, I've been more troubled by the ice and the snow because in the last weeks it was very hard to find a day where you don't fall on the ice. Cycling I have to do inside on the turbo trainer because it's too cold to go out yet.”
Despite the challenging conditions, she remains positive and excited to start training with discipline and structure. And a half marathon in March will be a good test of how well she is already progressing towards the Ironman 70.3.
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Previously Melissa found it hard to eat the right things when training at awkward times around her long work hours. It’s something that the Maurten Nutrition Team have provided guidance on.
“Now I'm really structured and paying a lot of attention to what I'm eating — how much, and when. I'm also trying to note down how many grams per hour of carbohydrates I am having. I’m kind of starting from scratch.”
It was shortly into the run when Melissa’s race really unfolded last time, so she was keen to understand how to fuel the three disciplines of a triathlon while minimising stress in the stomach. “I think the part where I am more stressed in eating is running. So far I haven't done so many long runs to test, but I know I can support one or two gels easily, which I want to slowly improve. And especially I want to see how it goes with the new TT bars, because I now know that it can be a bit different to eat or drink with the body leaning further over on the bike.”
“I think some things have really opened my mind. For instance, I never thought about how to structure eating during the whole race. I always think I should take X grams per hour and it doesn't matter when. But now I will practice eating more in the first part of the race and maybe start decreasing during the end of the cycle because then my stomach and my gut can be ready to run. If I keep eating and eating at the end of the bike I have more risk of getting sick.”
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Melissa appreciates that practicing with her race day fuel over the next few months will be an important part of training. Each session is an experience that provides a little more knowledge to benefit race day.
“I am already starting like comfortably with 30 or 40 grams of carbohydrates, so I can hopefully easily go to 60 grams. But the Nutrition Team made an important point, that we don't have to have a goal in mind — it’s not that I need to necessarily reach 90 grams per hour.”
Again reinforcing the importance of a personalized approach to fueling. What works for another athlete may not work for Melissa. Ben Vriends, Maurten’s Global Education Manager, adds that, “working with ambitious amateurs is about helping them listen to their body and build confidence in fueling step-by-step. Introducing one small logical next step every time often makes the biggest difference over a long time."
Coming next:
In log 3 we will get a race report from Melissa’s first event of 2026 — a half marathon in Frankfurt — that will serve as an important test for how she is able to fuel on the run.
Interview by Ross Lovell
Melissa Carloni - Triathlon | Germany
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