Fundamentals of Sports Nutrition: USA Cycling Course

USA Cycling Course: Coaching Junior Athletes, a new cycling CEU course from Fast Talk Labs

Our course “Fundamentals of Sports Nutrition” will show coaches exactly how to guide athletes through every stage of fueling—from daily training to race day—with confidence, clarity, and purpose.

Helping your athletes fuel smarter isn’t just about meal plans—it’s about unlocking performance, supporting health, and ensuring they’re ready to train, race, and recover at their best. Whether you’re guiding juniors balancing school schedules, elite racers chasing peak performance, or athletes returning from the offseason, or masters athletes seeking to maintain muscle mass and endurance, knowing how to make nutrition simple, sustainable, and effective is essential.

Backed by expert insights from Dr. Louise Burke and cutting-edge research from the Australian Institute of Sport, this course gives you the science-backed strategies to fuel every phase of your athletes’ journey. Coaches will learn how to:

  • Understand macronutrients and calculate daily carbohydrate, fat, and protein needs based on training load, intensity, and body size.
  • Build SMART race-day fueling plans and carbohydrate-loading strategies that help athletes stay energized and avoid bonking.
  • Apply nutrition periodization—so your athletes know exactly when to eat more, when to scale back, and how to adapt their fueling with each phase of training.
  • Navigate tricky conversations around body composition and weight management.
  • Address low energy availability or RED-S before it derails performance.

Give your athletes the advantage that comes from smarter, more individualized fueling strategies—and become the coach who not only understands the science, but also knows exactly how to put it into practice. You’ll learn to see nutrition as part of the training puzzle, integrate it seamlessly, and help your athletes show up fueled and ready—every single day.

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How to Enroll

All USA Cycling courses are offered exclusively through USA Cycling’s online learning management system at learn.usacycling.org.

Questions? Contact Suzy Sanchez, Director of DEI and Membership Programs, at ssanchez@usacycling.org.