The holiday season is a time to reflect on all that has happened—both good and bad—over the past 12 months as well as to ...

The holiday season is a time to reflect on all that has happened—both good and bad—over the past 12 months as well as to set goals for the forthcoming year. I commend all of you who have recorded personal bests or obtained personal victories in 2005 and wish you the best as you continue to climb towards the peak in 2006. It is my hope that this year’s series of “total” nutrition articles has provided you with some tips to help take your training and fitness performance to the next level. In “total” nutritional style, I will review some of the main messages presented in 2005.

Preparing for Your Event

While some athletes follow traditional carbo-loading protocols as means to enhance muscle glycogen stores, a rigorous seven-day carbohydrate loading regimen that includes both glycogen depletion and loading is not necessarily the best strategy, according to researchers at the University of Western Australia. As means to eliminate the depressed immune function, sluggish energy levels, muscle aches and irritability associated with glycogen depletion, athletes are now encouraged to skip over this phase and follow a typical high-carbohydrate training diet (about 3-3.5 grams per pound of lean body mass) in coordination with a tapered training routine leading up to the 24 hours prior to race day. In the 24 hours prior to race day, athletes should engage in a short (15 minutes) sport-specific training session while increasing carbohydrate intake to about 4.5-5 grams per pound of lean body mass. Recommended carbo-loading foods/beverages include pasta, sweet potato, rice, oatmeal, juices and low-fiber fruits (bananas, berries, melon), low-fat milk/yogurt, whole grain breads and legumes (in moderation). In addition, including a bit more salt in the 1-2 days prior to a hot event will help stave off muscle cramps on race day.

Pre-Event Fueling

Regardless of the sport, athletes who fail to fuel prior to long training bouts (longer than 90 minutes) will not only be vulnerable to premature depletion of liver glycogen stores (“bonking”) but also vulnerable to a depletion of muscle glycogen stores (“hitting the wall”), which causes overall performance to decline and makes for a very long, slow road to recovery. The food consumed prior to longer training bouts will restock liver glycogen stores, which helps to stabilize energy levels during the initial stages of training and also increases fuel efficiency due to sparing of muscle glycogen. In order to reduce risk for the mental “bonk” and performance declining “wall,” athletes should consume about two calories per pound of lean body weight, aiming at one gram of protein for every four grams of low-to-moderate glycemic index carbohydrate for each hour prior to the start of training (e.g., 200-300 calories one hour before, 400-600 calories two hours before and 600-900 calories three hours before). Sample pre-training foods include peanut butter and banana sandwiches (about 500 calories), low-fat yogurt blended with fruit ( about 300 calories), energy bars (about 250 calories), fruit smoothies (calories vary) and low-sugar cereal with low-fat milk and juice (about 400-600 calories).

In addition, it is essential to be properly hydrated going into training. For every half hour leading up to race start, aim at drinking 8 ounces of fluids. If racing/training in hot environments, ingestion of a salt-containing beverage like a sports drink pre-workout will help delay the onset of muscle fatigue by as much as 20 percent.

Fueling During Your Event

The goal on longer training days is to preserve glycogen and tap into the ever-so-abundant amount of fat stores within the body. Remember that “fats burn in a carbohydrate flame.” Picture carbohydrates as kindling under a fire and fat as the big log. Without an adequate amount of kindling or carbohydrate, the body fails to burn fat and starts to deplete precious muscle glycogen stores until the fuel tank is empty, leading to that ugly “wall” and mind-boggling “bonking” that generally occurs about 2-3 hours into racing (even sooner if pre-race fueling is inadequate).

In order to prevent “the wall” and “bonking” and increase fat burning capabilities, it is essential to start refueling the body’s fuel tank after about 60-90 minutes of moderate-to-high intensity exercise. The following equation can be used to determine hourly calorie needs following 60-90 minutes of exercise: 2 calories x lean body weight in pounds.

For most athletes, aiming at 150-300 calories per hour is desirable. High-glycemic carbohydrates (like energy gels and sports drinks) should make of the majority of calories ingested during training, but inclusion of smaller amounts of protein, especially beyond two hours, may help enhance endurance performance by as much as 24 percent. As means to reap the potential benefits of protein, athletes should aim at consuming up to 1/8 gram of protein per pound of lean body weight or approximately one gram of protein for every 4-7 grams of carbohydrate. Popular fuel choices during training include energy gels (100-150 calories per pack), energy bars (200-250 calories per bar), bananas (about 100 calories per item) and sports drinks (about 50 calories per 8 ounces).

Post-Event Fueling

Within 30 minutes post-training, athletes should aim at consuming 2-3 calories per pound of lean body mass or approximately 200-400 calories, focusing on ingesting approximately one gram of protein for every four grams of carbohydrate. Liquid calories (like low-fat chocolate milk, meal replacement shakes and sports drinks) are preferable for optimal absorption of calories as well as to aid rehydration. Because glycogen replenishment only occurs at a rate of 5-7 percent per hour, extreme athletes (beyond baseline calorie needs) should aim at consuming a 200-400 calorie snack for every 90-minute block of aerobic training they complete.

Hydration

If you are an endurance athlete, you probably have been warned about the risks associated with overdrinking (aka “water intoxication” or “hyponatremia”), which is diagnosable when serum sodium concentration falls below 135 millimoles (mmol) per liter. The New England Journal of Medicine released an important study, which was hyped to the max in 2005. In the study, just under 500 runners participating in the 2002 Boston Marathon provided blood samples at the finishline as means to determine the incidence of hyponatremia in runners. Surprisingly, 13 percent were hyponatremic and 0.6 percent were critical (120 millimoles per liter or less). The hyponatremia was associated with substantial weight gain, consumption of more than three liters of fluids during the race, consumption of fluids every mile, a racing time of longer than four hours, female sex and low body-mass index. It is important to note, however, that despite the results of this study, a far greater percentage of athletes suffer from dehydration after endurance training or racing.

To ensure proper hydration, athletes should measure their sweat rate (for every pound lost during training, add 16 ounces of fluid to current intake) and focus on eating saltier foods leading up to race day, which helps to retain the fluid. Note that the average endurance athlete loses about 1/2-1 liter of fluid and 1/2-1 gram of salt each hour of training and, therefore, these figures serve as good target for most to replace.

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.