So in preparation for the ILMSA State Meet and for Nationals I feel it's important for us to take a moment to focus on the nutritional aspects our bodies need especially during competition.
Now - this comes from me - who when I usually give my list of events at a meet - people usually get bug eyed and ask if I'm positively insane. (You can sub "positively" with several other words ending in "ing"). That being said - I'm starting to feel like I've managed to capture that balance of nutrition during a meet that allows me to not feel bloated -but simultaneously - full of energy on the demands that I put on my body.
I personally don't do anything different with my diet before a meet. I feel that that only puts extra stress on your digestive system to adjust. During a meet - I pretty much strictly consume fruits (any will suffice, but I like bananas) and tons of water. After the meet - I love me some protein. Keeps me from over eating too.
What works for you? What do you eat? What do you drink? Is there something you eat before a meet? Something during? After? Perhaps this is something that can help you SFF Ande? ;)
Former Member
Nutrition is overrated from an immediate performance perspective. There are not things you can eat that will make you swim faster the next day. Just get an adequate amount of carbs (you can do this mostly by existing in North America), and make sure you have a good supply at hand on meet day.
The rest of the entire year is when food really matters, to control body composition. Don't eat yourself fat, and don't starve yourself, either. You need to be strong and lean to swim as fast as possible.
I haven't written much about diet and nutrition in SFF because there's so much conflicting advice from experts, everybody is convinced their approach is right.
Very true.
I've seen swimmers with many different diets swim fast. I've seen swimmers change their diets several times during their careers. I've seen swimmers with very poor diets swim fast.
Also very true.
I think the key is eat a healthy balanced diet.
Nobody knows what a healthy diet is. Many people think they know, but they don't. Also, it's not universal. Foods that are healthy for some people are very bad for others. One of the healthiest things many people can do is to lose weight, which can be done in many different ways that are mainly psychological and vary from person to person.
What is Ribena?
It is a blackcurrant flavoured fruit-juice drink. So full of sugar that they don't recommend it for under 2s I think, but IMO it was the nicest, tastiest drink cold drink out there. They also promote it as high in Vitamin C. No doubt it is, but I wouldn't describe it as exactly healthy!
Read all about the Ribenaberries here:
http://www.ribena.co.uk/
I take 24 ounces of coffee and 3 or 4 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with me to meets. The PBJ works well for me because I get carbs and protein and it doesn't give me any digestive problems. My normal daily coffee intake is 0 ounces, so later I have trouble getting to sleep, but it's worth it :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:
