Hi -
I'm going to my first practice tonight -- my first organized swim practice since before I was in High School -- and I have what may be a stupid question.
The practice is at 8:30 pm and ends at 10 pm. I obviously need to eat dinner beforehand, but when and how much? Does anyone have any pre-practice meal advice for me?
Josh
In my experience, to avoid discomfort a light meal needs to be consumed at least 2 hours before a workout and a full meal about 4+ hours before a workout.
When I was going to Friday evening (7 pm) workouts, I used to eat a small dinner with foucs on things like whole grains fruit about 5pm. I tried to avoid meats, fats and spices. Burger any time close to practice = bad idea.
If I were going to work out regularly in the evenings, I think that I would try to shift my schedule so that I had my "big" meal around noon.
I think you're worrying about it too much, and you probably already know what you should do. I've been known to eat anywhere between nothing and 4 whoppers with cheese right before practice and don't feel my practices were ever effected by what was in my stomach at the time.
Afterwards On a regular basis i eat 2 lbs of lasagna or other pasta. lol.
When I swam at noon I went through a phase of having pre-swim pizza. Now in the morning it's coffee and bananas, and coffee and bagel after. Everyone is probably a little different.
Everyone's different so I'd suggest starting out by trying to eat a couple hours before workout. Some people can eat a big meal right before practicing and have not adverse effects, others can't.
When I was swimming in the evenings the workout time was similar to yours now. I took the equivalent of "dinner" and split it in half. About an hour before workout I ate one part and put the other part in a cooler in the car for after workout which I ate as soon as I got to the car. One thing that was pretty important for me was to keep things very lite (fried chicken - BAD) and not very seasoned (no curry). Heavy spicy foods didnt sit well during practice and would keep me awake if I had them after practice.
I think you're worrying about it too much, and you probably already know what you should do. I've been known to eat anywhere between nothing and 4 whoppers with cheese right before practice and don't feel my practices were ever effected by what was in my stomach at the time.
Afterwards On a regular basis i eat 2 lbs of lasagna or other pasta. lol.
I think you're worrying about it too much, and you probably already know what you should do.
Oh. Definitely. But easier to worry about what I should eat than whether I'll actually make it through the workout.
Oh. Definitely. But easier to worry about what I should eat than whether I'll actually make it through the workout.
I am sure you'll be fine. If you're just coming back first practice, it'll (and should) be just easy swimming anyway. If you're already back in swim shape prior to this, then i'm confident you'll handle a masters workout.
My club practices at a similar time. It depends what time you can eat dinner. If you can eat at 6:30 I would eat a full dinner and a snack when you come home. I found when I started swimming again I needed to finish at least an hour before but it became much easier after a month or two. It also depends a lot on the practice. Doing a bunch of all out sprints that get your lactic acid high would be a lot harder than doing mostly aerobic swimming.
I swim after work.
After I leave work and while driving to a pool I will each some fresh fruit. Apples, bananas, oranges, and/or one or two protein bars. Wash everything down with water, vitamin water, coconut water etc.
Basically I eat one hour before swimming.
I save something for after swimming too. Gotta re-charge.
