Nutrition and Training
Just as a car needs fuel to be able to drive down the street, your body needs fuel to be able to swim, bike, or run its way through a workout. Two types of fuels to be discussed are carbohydrates and protein.In this day and age there are many mixed messages about the amount of carbohydrates you should incorporate into your diet. Some of the weight loss diet fads promote a low carbohydrate and high protein diet. However, pick up any sports magazine and you’ll see all kinds of advertisements promoting carbohydrate drinks, bars and gels, all for the purpose of better sport performance. For an athlete who wants to manage their weight and perform well in sports it can be very difficult to know how much carbohydrate you should have in your diet.Carbohydrates are basically sugars and starches. Your body breaks down these sugars and starches into glycogen, which are the primary fuel source used by both your muscles and your brain. How hard you are training determines the ratio of fat to carbohydrate utilization. When you exercise at a low intensity such as walking, you are using fat as the main energy source. As your exercise intensity increases to light-moderate you are using both fat (~50%) and carbohydrates (~50%) as an energy source. At moderate to hard intensities your main fuel source is primarily carbohydrates.Carbohydrates are stored as glycogen in your liver, skeletal muscles and blood. When your muscles are glycogen depleted they are no longer able to function at a high performance level. You may have experienced this as muscle fatigue, “bonking” or “crashing”. As you train for an event you train not only your muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness, but also your body’s ability to store glycogen. A well-trained athlete can store two to three times the amount of glycogen in their muscles as compared to an untrained athlete. This means a high amount of energy that can be easily tapped into on race day.Carbohydrates are categorized by how quickly they release glucose into the blood stream. High glycemic index carbohydrates release glucose quickly into the blood stream. These are the carbohydrate you’ll wantto consume both during exercise, to give you quick energy, and after exercise, to help with muscle recovery. Low to moderate glycemic index carbohydrates release glucose slowly into the blood stream. These are the carbohydrates you’ll want to consume before exercising to provide a sustained energy level for your workout or race.Before training or competition, it is advisable to consume about 300-500 calories about 2 to 4 hours beforehand. It is important to consume familiar foods and to focus mostly on carbohydrates since it takes them a shorter time to digest. A little bit of protein will give you some slow-burning energy to help sustain your efforts. Fat and fiber take longer to digest, thus they will stay in your system longer and you may feel a heavy, full sensation when you begin to exercise. If solid foods simply do not agree with your system pre-exercise, try a liquid meal or sports drink.During exercise, it is important to maintain blood glucose levels by ingesting about 200 - 300 calories per hour. Since our bodies do not store many carbohydrates, so it is important to constantly replenish them. Energy gels or sports drinks are very easy for the body to digest during exercise (or soft foods such as bananas).During your training you should try different gels, bars, sports drinks, and food to see which combination will give you the best workout. It’s always good to have a race food plan firmly established before race day. Never try new foods on race day!The time after exercise is crucial for nutrition also. It is to get some carbs and protein within the first 30 minutes following exercise. Focus on eating foods that have a high glycemic index, meaning they are more quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. Sports drinks are great for this also, since it is sometimes hard to eat solid foods after exercise. Fruits are also a great choice and also supply much needed fluid. Try to ingest some carbohydrates and protein (about a 4:1 ration per gram) and adequate amounts of fluids. This will ensure a faster recovery, which will allow you to exercise sooner after your event.