Diet – food in the life of a training athlete
An athlete’s diet is as important as training. But don’t misinterpret the word diet. It actually simply means ‘what you eat’. Athletes who are careful about what and when they eat can reap huge benefits during training and competition. When planning training, it’s essential that food and drink is planned and organised too.
For training and competition an athlete needs to eat food with the correct amount of energy to sustain them for the whole day’s physical activity.
For example, a female athlete of average height in endurance training may need to be eating over 2,500 kilocalories per day! [a normal female intake would be around 2000]. This seems like a lot of food, but she will be training twice a day and ‘burning’ at least 500kcals during these sessions.
Planning
The planning of the diet, though, needs to be slightly more involved than simply counting the right amount of calories – an athlete needs to make sure they are also eating the right amount of carbohydrates, protein, fats and vitamins and minerals.
Athletes also need to bear in mind the timing of their meals. This goes beyond just breakfast, lunch and dinner, as it involves planning their ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after-training’ food as well.
Timing is important to helping athletes get the most out of their diet, because what is recommended to be eaten before exercise may not be advisable after it.
Timing
The aim of a pre-exercise meal is to make sure the body has all the energy it needs for the workout. If the training session begins at 11am, a carbohydrate-rich breakfast of porridge, grainy toast and fruit at 8am will ensure the athlete has a chance to digest and metabolise the food before the exercise starts. It can also improve performance to get some more carbohydrate in the hour before exercise starts. This could be in the form of a sports drink.
Refuelling
During a long training session it’s also a good thing to carry on re-fuelling. Depending on the type of exercise, an athlete may feel more comfortable drinking a sports drink again, although something like half a banana would also do the trick.
The post-exercise meal is important and is used to restore energy to and repair the exhausted muscles stores. A meal such as lean meat and pasta, which includes carbohydrate and protein, is perfect and will guarantee a fast recovery and good preparation for the next day’s training.