Nutrition for Athletes

Now this is one debated topic and a topic of mystery and intrigue for most of us! The most enlightening book I have read on nutrition for athletes is Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes by Monique Ryan. This book is well written and a very interesting read. It is specific about what you need nutritionally based on the sport you are doing including triathlon, aquathlon, duathlon, winter triathlon, road cycling, mountain biking, track cycling, cyclo-cross, distance running, swimming, rowing, and adventure racing. It is also distance specific based on the triathlon you are doing (sprint, olympic, half ironman, or full ironman). The book also discusses your diet from your daily performance to training to race day and is age specific such as aging and the master’s athlete to osteoporosis in men.

I really love how they list the glycemic index (a measure of how quickly levels of blood glucose rise after eating a particular type of food) of foods and tell you the recommended carbohydrates to protein based on your size and sport as well as your fluid and mineral requirements. They also tell you at what times you should be eating what. For example, should you eat before that early morning workout or after? What should you consume the morning of the race? What should you eat the night before the race? What should you consume during the race? What is best to eat for recovery and when? What can you do to prevent muscle cramps? With all of this they also offer meal plans and sample menus.

I went through a period before I was being coached where I was just not recovering. I was sore and worn out all of the time. Having a coach would have helped immensely but it really came down to nutrition. I even started asking some other coaches what I could do and they said to back off. After reading this book I realized I was not getting enough carbohydrates to recover. I changed my diet according to what this book suggested and it made a huge difference in my training ability because my body had the fuel it needed to recover. Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes really helped take the mystery out of sports eating!

Different people choose different systems of eating. Not one system is right for everyone. Some choose the Paleo Diet, some choose a low carb diet, some choose a higher protein, and some choose a vegan diet, and so on and so forth. The January 2013 edition of triathlete Magazine showcases an ultra triathlete with a vegan diet and that works for him. Different things work for different people. The ultra athlete in the latest edition of triathlete Magazine suggests trying a diet for at least thirty days and sticking with it to see if you benefit from it.  

Some of the articles on nutrition I read this week were:

1.  Five Strategies for Optimal Recovery from active.com:

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/5-Strategies-for-Optimal-Recovery.htm?cmp=291&memberid=108544818&lyrisid=37577307&email=kimberlynadine@yahoo.com; and

2.  The TriAdventure Facebook page has been adding many nice posts recently. Here is one I read this week on nutrition called – “Winter Weight Gain – The Healthy Kind”:

http://www.triadventure.com/article-of-the-week/?SSScrollPosition=112.

So, take the mystery out of what you are eating for training, racing, and recovering. Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes by Monique Ryan is very interesting and worth the read. You can order one from Amazon.com for $14.93. Happy Eating, Training, and Recovering!