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Posts Tagged ‘nutrition’

Olympic Triathlon Nutrition Plan

Friday, June 17th, 2011

I think I have finally done it. After soaking up as much race nutrition info as I can and testing out what works for me (and failing several times), I realized after Quassy olympic that I may have perfected my nutrition plan. That isn’t to say that there won’t be bumps in the road or changes in the future, but I think I’ve got 90% of it down.

Here is my own personal plan:

General Nutrition Principles

1) Dont over think it. I used to obsess over how many calories of different mixes and gels I would take at different points of the race. Carefully calculated timing, caloric density and nutritional make up was the name of the game. It didn’t make me any faster and actually distracted me from racing smart.

2) Focus on quality, not quantity. I used to tape a half dozen gel packets to the top tube of my bike frame along with two water bottles full of calories. WAY too much for a 25 mile bike. I could have survived out there for days and had backups in case my backup nutrition dropped off and fell on the road. For a 2-3 hour race, your HR is going to be so high that your stomach won’t have the ability to digest very many calories the first place. My legs have enough stored energy to go about 2 hours without any supplemental calories at all, so my race nutrition doesn’t have to be very calorie heavy. Since my stomach will only digest a finite amount of calories during an olympic distance race, don’t give it any more than it needs and choose my carbohydrate, sugar and electrolyte sources wisely.

Pre Race Nutrition

Since my race nutrition strategy is all around taking in only what little calories my stomach can absorb, pre-race nutrition is key. It is also important to stick with what my stomach is used to. On the average morning, I’ll wake up and have a bowl of Frosted Flakes and water. If my pre-race butterflies are kicking in, I’ll substitute cereal with sipping on a flask of EFS Liquid Shot and wash it down with some water. (Total ~300 Calories)

Race nutrition was designed to go down smoothly under harsh stomach conditions, why not use it when you aren’t even racing yet?

30-60 minutes before the race start I’ll finish off a water bottle of EFS with one scoop of Pre Race. (Total ~100 calories) Pre-race is an awesome supplement that helps your muscles work harder with less fatigue. Despite the name, it is also great to use for key high-intensity workouts too. It is also loaded up with caffiene, so if you aren’t a coffee drinker, make sure you test it out before race day. Coffee can make me REALLY jittery since I don’t drink it often, but PreRace gives me a nice smooth boost. I don’t feel like I’m disoriented and unfocused like I would if I pound a couple of espresso shots.

Here is a whole mess of research on the ingredients in PreRace if you are interested in geeking out: http://www.firstendurance.com/pdf/pre_research_packet_1.4.pdf

Race Nutrition: The Bike

Exiting the water, I’ll grab a cup of water just to wash out my mouth. Once I’m out of T1, I’ll keep it simple, I only loaded one bottle of grape EFS (two scoops) on my bike. (Total ~200 calories) I suck down as much as I’m feeling I need, but make sure I’m at least 3/4 of the way through the bottle at mile 20 of the bike. That gives me time to absorb anything that is left in my stomach before I start out on the run.

Race Nutrition: The Run

The run is the simplest of it all. Because my HR is higher, I won’t be able to absorb much at all. Plus, by the time I take something in at mile 1, it’ll just barely have time to soak in and feed my legs by the time I get to mile 6. With that, I don’t take in ANY calories at all because they’ll either sit in my stomach like a brick or will only make me feel stronger AFTER the finish line.

I’ll take in water at aid stations as needed to keep my mouth from drying out, but that is it. Skip the sports drinks and gels completely for the run.

Post-Race Nutrition

I’ll usually have a water bottle with two scoops of Ultragen Cappuccino (no water) waiting for me back at my transition area. I’ll head over there within 20 minutes of finishing, fill it up with cold water, shake and chug. Gotta replenish the legs ASAP so I can recover and get back to training for the next race!

Tags: efs, efs liquid shot, first endurance, nutrition, olympic triathlon nutrition, olympic triathlon nutrition plan, pre race, prerace, triathlon nutrition, triathlon nutrition plan, triathlon race nutrition plan, ultragen | Posted in Nutrition, Triathlon | 3 Comments »

Natalie Coughlin on Food

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

Last week I had the opportunity to chat with Natalie Coughlin, two-time Olympic swimmer, Dancing With The Stars alumni and and Iron Chef judge. Our conversation focused on two of my favorite areas, food and sport.

olympic swimmer

Natalie explained that most athletes completely over think nutrition, taking the pleasure entirely out of eating. This was a major overall theme of our conversation and really refreshing to hear. Natalie reiterated that fueling an athlete’s body should be pleasurable and nourishing. For refueling after a long practice, it makes sense to ensure that you have the proper levels of fat, protein and carbs, but not the the point where you are counting every gram and completely draining enjoyment from the process. Nutritional value is always something that is in the back of her mind, but is not the primary driver of the food choices that she makes.

It was interesting to hear an Olympic-level athlete with 11 medals focus so heavily focused on the pleasure of food and not not over analyze the nutritional value to optimize performance. Athletes can easily get caught up in trends like loading up on carbs days before a race, or on protein just after a hard workout, without any focus on actually enjoying the calories that we are consuming.

One of Natalie’s favorite healthy snacks is dried plums. She chooses them because they are very sweet, packed with nutrition and come in single serving packs so she can always have a few stuffed in her swim bag for after a workout. Nutritional value is key, but obviously so is portability when you spend so much time training at the pool.

I asked Natalie what favorite recipe she’d pull out of her hat if she ever was on the other side of the Iron Chef judging table and had to go against Mario Batali in “Battle Plum.”

Without hesitation, she whipped out Vietnamese-style bahn mi with dried plums. (Something I had honestly never heard of before. Think of it like a meatball sandwich.) She loves its ethnic flavors and the sweetness that the dried plums give it. The recipe is here if you want to check it out along with an instructional video from Natalie.

Before we parted ways, I had to ask if she had any advice for both young swimmers starting out as well as the swim team moms that support them.

The biggest problem that Natalie sees is parents over scheduling their kids. Without having the time necessary to be successful in any one sport, parents are setting up their kids for failure. Whatever sport they get enjoyment out of, the overall goal is to stay physically active and to stick with it. From there, encourage them to foster relationships with their teammates, enjoy the challenges and rewards of competing and benefit from the discipline that an organized sport involves and your young athletes. From there, they’ll be in a good position to succeed.

Tags: food, natalie coughlin, nutrition, olympics, swimmer | Posted in Nutrition, Swimming, Triathlon | 4 Comments »

Spring #i8this Challenge

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

My pal Christine is starting up her #i8this challenge again. If you want to be brought up to speed, here are all the details.

The last challenge was simply to tweet one pic of 1 meal per day with the hashtag “#i8this.” It didn’t have to be healthy. Most were healthy and the ones that weren’t added a fun and relaxed element that I believe is super important in having a nutritionally AND emotionally healthy diet. This time Christine is adding an additional element to the challenge by encouraging an effort to improve upon something.

Want to play along? Here are the rules:

1. Ask yourself “What aspect of my diet/ health would I most like to improve”?

Find creative ways to incorporate more fruits/veggies into my diet.

2. Look at certain foods or habits that you may want to remove or add.

No drastic changes. I eat pretty healthy. I just ned to do the super healthy meals a little more often.

3. Decide on a number of days that works for you (maybe 3, 5, 7 or 9).

Nine. All the way.

4. Set your intention by making it known to other #i8this participants (via twitter or email Christine at christine@liveandeatbetter.com).

See this post. Done.

5. Try to be ready to start by Friday, though it is flexible. You can start now if you want. You’re the boss.

I like those rules. I’m a really awesome boss.

Tags: i8this, nutrition | Posted in Nutrition, Triathlon | 3 Comments »

Build Phase = Twinkie Nutrition

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

The snow has melted (almost), it actually rained this week instead of snowed and I heard thunder for the first time this year. Not only does that mean that winter is gone and spring is starting to bloom, but it is time to move from my base training phase to the build phase! More volume. More intensity. More hurtin’!

I am moving past that 5-10 hours per week to that 10-15 zone and it hurts. These past two weeks have slowly and systematically been tearing my legs off from my body. I’ve gotten two 50 mile rides in and it isn’t even April yet. I normally don’t get in this much riding this early in the season, but then again I don’t normally plan on doing a half ironman in the beginning of June. I guess it is at least good to know that my training is matching my race schedule. Makes sence, right? Haha.

During my long ride this weekend I cruised through one of my favorite routes from Concord, MA. Nice quiet farm land and cool little stuff like this old mill.

Besides wearing my calf compression sleeves almost constantly, and refilling the ice bucket repeatedly for another round of ice baths I’ve found that the build phase makes Jamie HUNGRY! My mid-workout nutrition is usually pretty good, but it seems like I just can’t take in enough calories during the rest of the day. I’ve cut back on a lot of things since losing my job, but food has not been one of them. I just couldn’t justify trying to get fitter and training for triathlons, but downgrading the fuel that I feed my body to keep it performing. It is almost like buying a new sports car and refusing to put anything but 87 grade gas in it, right?

But after multiple trips to the local butcher and Whole Foods in one week, I still am struggling to get in enough food. A whole box of chocolate chip cookies, a ton of fruit and enough PBnJ sandwiches to choke a donkey just aren’t cutting it. It even got to the point on Saturday that after a 55 mile tempo ride, I had to skip my swim workout because I was busy stuffing my face for so long that by the time I was done, the pool was closed. What gives?!

The good thing is that I’m at least not gaining any weight. I got a little worried once I ran out of fruit and veggies and started hitting the cookies, Ben & Jerry’s and danishes as if my body ran on fat and sugar alone. I guess that means I’m at least burning all those junk calories that I’m taking in, right? I also made the mistake of walking by the wall of snack cake deliciousness while at Target today. Twinkie the kid was calling my name and I couldn’t resist.
twinkie-bet

I inhaled three before I even left the parking lot, and another one on my way out the door for a 6 mile run. I was really expecting a stomach ache by mile 2, but it surprisingly worked out pretty well. I think they may be new replacement for GUs and Clif bars, I’m just saying….

Thankfully this next week is a rest week. Hopefully my eating habits don’t continue or else I’m going to blow up like a baloon and they’ll have to roll me across the finish line.

Tags: nutrition | Posted in Cycling, Running, Training Log, Triathlon | 6 Comments »