Empty tank

Hi Gull! It is true....you should replenish your calories within 30 minutes after your workout. If you wait longer than that it will be less effective and you will feel it in your next workout. On sunday night I clean and cut lots of fruit, buy yogurt(it's portable), and stock up on whole grain bread/peanut butter/jelly. I keep this stash in my office at work and try to eat after swimming hungry or not. Lots of times I don't feel hungry but then get hungry after I start eating.

I find that I run out of steam after about 45 minutes if I try to swim on no breakfast at all. It doesn't need to be complicated, even a piece of toast with peanut butter will do. Easier to digest is a "gundy" made with half a cup of frozen blueberries, a sprinkle of sugar, and half a cup of pre-cooked porridge (usually oatmeal) nuked in the microwave on the "frozen vegetable" setting. Within a few minutes I've got this island of porridge floating on a dark sea of blueberry syrup. I wipe the purple from my lips to avoid that vampyrish look, and I'm ready to go out the door and swim for up to two hours. And yes it's true, recovery comes faster when you eat something within 30 minutes of finishing.

I make a point of always refueling as fast as possible after workouts. If I know I won't have time to eat a good meal within 30 minutes, I drink a recovery drink, and then eat later too. I tend to eat huge amounts of calories, but always healthy stuff. Lately since I've been swimming at night, I have noticed a lack of energy if I don't eat beforehand. For some reason it's easier for me to get up in the morning and swim without eating. If I try to do that after a day of work, I run out of energy. I was also getting calf cramps in my evening workouts. So I have taken to eating something small about an hour before workout, and bringing a bottle with some HEED drink, which I start drinking about 45 minutes in. It seems to be working.

Hey, Jim. No, I haven't been eating anything beforehand since I swim so damn early in the morning because of work. Maybe I should. Robin, I am 51. My son tells me I am not old, Geek. Didn't you just age up? John, I usually have a grande latte from Starbucks after I swim. Not really hungry until later in the morning. I try to grab a Gatorade and something to eat midmorning but am starving by lunchtime. I was thinking this might be part of the problem. Gull...from my personal experience, if I don't have some actual food after a workout and wait awhile, I do feel awful the next time I have an intense workout. Mayb try some health bars that aren't high in calories but can get some protein back in the body pretty quick or a bag of trail mix type fruits, nuts.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will give them a try.

Maybe that "empty tank" feeling isn't such a bad thing - it may mean you are doing everything RIGHT! I didn't get married and have kids and work at a great job so that everyone else could stop while I train and compete in masters swimming. On a DAILY basis, the ROUTINE itself is a priority, but not how I feel or how fast I swim. Whatever you have LEFT in the tank is what you give to masters swimming. The key is to pick and choose the lowest hanging fruit and make improvement there - whether it is technique, nutrition, frequency, commitment (mental), etc.... At any point in time, there are a select few masters swimmers who can and do make swimming a priority, another big group is in roughly good shape, and a whole bunch are either coming in/coming out due to work, illness, injury, enthusiam, life cycle (having kids) etc....just recognize where you are on that spectrum and having empty tank days may then seem like SUCCESS days!

That sounds reasonable to me - but I don't drink cow's milk - I wonder if chocolate soy milk would do the same thing? It does. I don't drink cow's milk either. Soy milk..."Silk" is good stuff.

Maybe that "empty tank" feeling isn't such a bad thing - it may mean you are doing everything RIGHT! I didn't get married and have kids and work at a great job so that everyone else could stop while I train and compete in masters swimming. On a DAILY basis, the ROUTINE itself is a priority, but not how I feel or how fast I swim. Whatever you have LEFT in the tank is what you give to masters swimming. The key is to pick and choose the lowest hanging fruit and make improvement there - whether it is technique, nutrition, frequency, commitment (mental), etc.... At any point in time, there are a select few masters swimmers who can and do make swimming a priority, another big group is in roughly good shape, and a whole bunch are either coming in/coming out due to work, illness, injury, enthusiam, life cycle (having kids) etc....just recognize where you are on that spectrum and having empty tank days may then seem like SUCCESS days! I like that. Thanks.