As a runner, I don't eat anything heavy or difficult to digest before I run. Specifically, I don't usually eat anything an hour before I run. But I'm curious as to what works for swimmers? I can't get out of my head that warning that was floating around when I was a kid: don't eat anything for two hours before you swim otherwise you'll get cramps and die. I know it is different for everyone, but what works for you?
Also in the field of food questions, what foods are good for swimmers? I assume we like carbs and protein, but are there other food groups or foods I should be paying attention to?
I go running and then swimming almost every day, and it's hard for me to know when to.eat for swimming. I get off work at 5, and go running immediately after for about an hour. Then I usually rest for an hour and eat a little, like some fruit or something, but otherwise I wait to really eat until I get done swimming around 9 or so. Any help or.suggestions for this new swimmer is greatly appreciated.
Funny how some trivia sticks in your mind.
Back when I started swimming in the early '80's, I remember a quote from Mark Spitz saying that if you can't devour a double cheeseburger & fries before your workout, then you are not in shape...
But swimming has changed a lot since the 80's :)
More recently... I'm 58 and have always been a little hypoglycemic (keeps me thin).
A couple months ago, I ate a bunch of sweets before bed. Got up, ate nothing and swam for an hour. Got home, and my short term memory was GONE...couldn't even remember my workout, or an email I had started writing earlier. I was walking around in a daze. My wife thought I was having a stroke and took me to the emergency room. Turns out it was a symptom of crashing blood sugar. I should have eaten something before my workout.
I don't like to eat before swimming. It has to be at least 1.5hrs beforehand. Sometimes that isn't even enough sometimes.
NEVER mention eating donuts to me while I'm swimming. I don't know why but it makes me so nauseous- the thought of donuts, swimming, and chlorine. I honestly thrown up in my mouth swimming on several occasions from people mentioning donuts during practice.
1/2 a clif bar and a cup of coffee on the way into morning practice at 5am.
1 whole clif bar and some water before evening practice (5:30pm). Both about 30 minutes before I swim. I find if I eat too soon, I "crash" in the middle sometimes.
Usually I have an early workout so I eat a small breakfast (2 sandwiches and yogurt with tea) 1/2 an hour before workout. After the workout I make second small breakfast which consists of fruit (banana, apples, nuts ets with juice). That works for me fine. If I don't eat at all before the workout I'm getting weak after half an hour swimming.
If I have a large meal I definitely need 2h or more before the workout.
I finished an entire large pepperoni pizza from Sbarro's literally 15 minutes before a practice one time. I didn't feel sick or nauseous in the pool at all.
IMO that depends on age. When I was young I could "eat an elephant" right before the workout and I was fine. :D But now my metabolism became slower and I need to be more careful to what I eat and how much I eat.
This was awesome. Thanks everyone. Running before and then Not eating anything in between really took a lot out of me. But I'm experimenting with what works for me in swimming, and I've already noticed a difference in the energy that I have while I'm swimming. But by all means, keep discussing the topic.
