Pre-competition eating habits

I eat what I normally eat, which could include McDonalds, I'm afraid. More important for me is the timing of eating. I need to make sure I'm getting lunch if the meet is running from 9AM-2PM. Lunch might consist only of some fruit, apples or pears, or a zone-type bar right after an event when there is a longer break before my next event. Then after the meet a big lunch. Too much carbohydrates makes me tired, and not enough protein or fat means I get hungry. I'd rather think about my next race than food. I'd also like to eat soon enough before the race that I'm not enjoying my meal a second time. I've found that applesauce works well for me if I have to get up relatively early and don't have time for a real breakfast. This is true even for an endurance event, like running or a triathlon. Swim fast, Greg

I only began swimming 2 years ago. I did not swim at all as a child, but I have improved rapidly. I haven't had the experience that others have, but I might have a few comments that will help. The week before a meet, I eat a fairly normal well balanced diet. I try to stay away from any heavy fat content. Since I am a distance swimmer, the night before I swim the 1500 or 1650, I tend to eat a few more carbohydrates than usual . If I am swimming the mile in the evening, I eat a decent breakfast and usually some pasta and a chicken *** for lunch. I might have a peanut butter sandwich about 4:00 if I am scheduled to swim at 6:00. Immediately after I swim I drink a recovery drink called endurox r4. I've found that the hardest thing in swimming three day meets is trying to stop the lactic acid buildup in your muscles as much as possible. This stuff really seems to help. On a day when I am swimming 5 individual events plus relays, I bring a supply of peanut butter sandwiches, bananas and the above mentioned recovery drink. The peanut butter sandwiches are carbohydrate and protein fuel. The bananas help prevent muscle cramps and the recovery drink helps prevent lactic acid buildup. I hope that some of this might help. Karen

Here's a tip given by others, but I want to reaffirm. When I first started back swimming, I would get out of bed and go to the workout. I felt lousy. A few months ago I started to drink a pint of water in the car on the way to the pool. I felt better, but not great. Last week, I started getting up a little earlier (4:45!) and eating a calorie bar (They call it something else, enhanced protein bar or some such, but it is really a calorie bar). The earlier part is because the bar would come back to me if I ate it later. Now, I feel great! Watch out, male 40 - 44 age group!

I don't tend to adopt a special diet in the week(s) before a big meet, though one guy I know cuts out all beer, ice cream, junk food, etc. and tries to eat nutritious stuff only for a couple weeks, and he swears this improves his performance. If anything, I might try to cut back a little on the quantity of food I'm eating so as to slightly minimize the gut that follows me around like a lost poodle. On the morning of the meet, I also drink coffee, have a bowl of cereal (Grapenuts seems to keep you going for a couple hours), and a large glass of orange juice with protein powder dissolved in it. This may be a placebo effect as well, but it seems that the protein powder is easy to digest and provides a slower release of energy that keeps me from bonking later in the day. During the meet, I try to remind myself to drink plenty of water, but I don't always do this. I usually don't have lunch--too nervous to eat in between swims--but I will try to have some cookies or something snacky. I also pop a few ibuprofens, which may or may not be a mistake, but I'd just as soon not feel any stiffness in my joints. By the end of the day, I invariably have a headache. Does anyone else get this symptom? It's true even when I don't follow the meet with a few celebratory beers.

Wow, great stuff! Peanut butter, my father (who is a 1-peanut butter-sandwich-a-day man, and has been as long as I remember) will be proud! I've got a couple meets coming up in the next couple months, I'll be sure to post again to let everyone know how the new advice worked for me! Jill http://www.somechickslife.com PS: my site has a list of Canadian Masters clubs - if you know of a club I'm missing, please let me know :)

Eat what you normally eat, the week of competition. Change is bad. Remember when the highly favored English sports team was forced to give up their " bangers and eggs " for some nutritionist's idea of healthy food? They didn't win another game ! On the day of competition, try to eat as little as possible. The trick is to not feel hungry and yet not pack pounds of digesting food down the pool. This is my meet-day menu: taught to me by the greatest coach I ever had (a Canuck, by golly). Coffee to wake up and stimulate. Avoid much cream or milk because it DOES create mucous. Those who say otherwise are full of malarkey. Avoid sugar, UNLESS you are sure you can time the inevitable down-turn (bonk) so it isn't in the middle of a race. Drink all day long-sports drinks, coffee, water- but no soft drinks. Now here is the part that always gets me in trouble with nutritionists, coaches and other pseudo-scientists: first food, two slices of toast slathered with as much butter as you wish. Honey or jam to make it palatable. The toast is long-term carbs, the spread is to fool your stomach into thinking you ate more( It hangs around longer than a banana). The honey or jam is for your own enjoyment. This has worked for me for 48 years and every time I let some yahoo talk me into something else, I pay the supreme price: poor performance. If you get part-way through the meet and begin to experience hunger, snack on part of a health/power/whatever bar, but just enough to keep un-distracted. Rebuttals welcomed !Good luck and......... Cheers! :D

Originally posted by tzsegal Bert mentioned drinking all sorts of stuff (even coffee presumably with caffeine) ... but no soft drinks. I've also heard the no soda, or no carbonated beverage, as part of many different sports programs. Does anyone here have an explanation for that? I don't know if it's the scientific explanation, but when I drink sodas at a swim meet, it makes me burp! This is not a good thing in the middle of a race, while you're gasping for air! Meg Smath

Jim, "Popping a few ibuprofen" during a swim meet when you are not eating is not a great idea. It may help prevent achy muscles but could also cause problems. The most common side effect of any of the anti-inflammatory medicines such as ibuprofen and naproxyn (Aleve) is stomach irritation. Some people develop serious bleeding from the stomach after taking small amounts of these medicines on an empty stomach. Try taking the ibuprofen after breakfast in the morning.

Dr. Jane (I assume the MD is for doctor, not Maryland) makes an excellent point. Actually, I do take the ibuprofen with breakfast--never on an empty stomach. Another cautionary note here is that NSAIDS like ibuprofen, naproxen, etc. can be harmful to your kidneys, especially when you're dehydrated. This side effect is rare but can be much more catastrophic than stomach bleeding. One guy who ran the Boston Marathon and popped a bunch of ibu's afterwards went into kidney failure on his flight home. For what it's worth, I wrote an article a couple years ago on pain management for sports injuries. It appeared in The Physican and Sportsmedicine--if you want to check it out, click on this: www.physsportsmed.com/.../thornton.htm

It is Dr. Jane. I'm from Tacoma, Washington, not Maryland. Good point about the kidney failure. I probably read your article - I read The Physician and Sportsmedicine regularly. I'll look it up again.