The Foundation Beneath the Performance

At the elite level, the margins are narrow. Kate Courtney — World Champion mountain biker, Olympic athlete — knows this better than most. So when she talks about what actually separates performance from potential, the answer isn't what you'd expect.

It's the gut.

"Gut health is an often overlooked but critical part of endurance racing at the elite level," Kate told us. "It's not just about the carb intake on race day — but about building a system that can handle the level of fuel needed to perform at an optimal level."

That distinction matters. Most athletes think about nutrition in terms of what they consume on race day. The gels, the electrolytes, the carbohydrate timing. But Courtney's framing goes deeper: the gut itself is trainable. It requires consistent care, both on the bike and off, to function as a reliable performance system when it counts most.

Ask Courtney what gut resilience means to her, and she puts it plainly:

"Gut resilience comes into play when your system is under strain. In sport, those moments often come deep in a race where the ability to continue to fuel my performance becomes a differentiator. In life, those moments often come in periods of busyness or stress when the body is overloaded. In both instances, it's the consistent habits over time that allow you to be resilient and meet the demands of the moment."

This is a useful reframe. Resilience isn't a trait you either have or don't. It's the accumulated result of showing up consistently, across small decisions, over a long period of time. The gut that performs at hour four of a race is the same gut you've been quietly building for months.

There's a pattern Courtney notices in how people think about high performance — and she's skeptical of it.

"When people think about high performance, they often think about the things that seem hardest — the tough workouts or races that stretch the body to the limit. But this hard work is built on a foundation of doing 'easy things' consistently over a long period of time. Whether it's stretching, fueling your body, looking after your gut or immune health — the hard work can only be done if it is built on a strong foundation."

The unglamorous basics — sleep, hydration, gut care, consistent fiber intake — aren't what makes highlight reels. But they're what makes the highlight reel possible.

One of the most reliable and consistently under-prioritized pillars of gut health is fiber. Research consistently shows that the vast majority of adults fall short of recommended daily intake — and that gap carries real consequences for digestive function, immune support, and the body's ability to absorb and process nutrients efficiently.

For athletes operating at high output, that shortfall compounds. A gut that isn't supported by adequate fiber struggles to maintain the microbiome diversity and transit regularity that sustained fueling demands.

Courtney acknowledges the reality that even with the best intentions, dietary gaps happen: "The statistics show that the majority of people are not getting enough fiber in their diets, which makes supplementation an incredibly convenient and useful option."

For athletes and active individuals looking to close that gap cleanly, Momentous Fiber+ is formulated with that foundation in mind. Its 3-in-1 formula delivers soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, and prebiotic resistant starch — three distinct mechanisms working together to activate gut health from the ground up, supporting the microbiome environment that sustained performance depends on.

Sources: 

[1] Should I Take a Fiber Supplement? A Science-Based Guide — Momentous 

[2] 4 Best Fiber Supplements for Athletes — Momentous