1. Fuel up
for your event
Fuelling up body carbohydrate stores is a key part
of competition preparation. Some athletes think that this activity
involves great gluttony over the days or night before a competition,
often involving foods of low nutritional value. This type of preparation
can leave the athlete feeling full and uncomfortable. In addition, if
high—fat foods have been eaten instead of true high—carbohydrate foods,
then muscle fuel stores may riot fully benefit.
You should already be an
expert at high—carbohydrate eating, since this is the basis of a winning
training diet. You might like to further increase high— carbohydrate
foods in the meals leading up to competition, but stick to the eating
patterns that you know and trust. Twenty-four hours of tapered training
or rest, together with high—carbohydrate eating w ensure vel1—stocked
muscle fuel stores suitable for most events.
Carbohydrate loading is a
more specialised version of fuelling up for competition. This strategy
is used by endurance and ultra—endurance athletes who compete in events
lasting two hours or longer. Although it has enjoyed a lot of hype and
mystery, in simple terms, carbohydrate loading is just an extended
period of fuelling up.
By extending to three days
of an exercise taper and high carbohydrate eating before an event,
muscle glycogen levels are lifted above their normal stores. This extra
fuel won’t make the athlete go faster, but will prolong the time that
they can maintain their optimal race pace. Not all athletes can manage
the ingredients of relative rest and a high carbohydrate intake, and may
need help from a sports dietician to plan a menu. It makes sense to use
low bulk and compact carbohydrate foods and drinks to meet fuel intake
goals comfortably.
In the past some marathon runners used to include
a ‘depletion phase’ before loading to enhance their muscle glycogen
gains. This is not considered necessary by modern sports scientists. In
fact, trying to complete the last week of training while depleted can
make you feel weak and psyched out. If your event will benefit from
extra glycogen stores, stick to the three day fuelling program.
2. Eat a
high-carbohydrate pre-event meal
The pre-event meal provides
a final opportunity to top-up fuel and fluid levels. This may be
important if you’re still in recovery mode from your last event or
workout. Most importantly your last meal should keep you feeling
comfortable throughout the competition. It can often be difficult to eat
anything if pre-event nerves leave you with butterflies in the stomach.
A high-carbohydrate,
low-fat meal or snack is the perfect choice for a pre-event meal.
Depending on the time of day you might like to adapt one of the meals
that is part of your everyday winning diet. It is best to eat bigger
meals three to four hours before you compete, although a light snack can
usually be eaten one to two hours before your warm-up. Liquid meal
supplements are better tolerated than a solid meal, particularly if you
are feeling nervous.
Each athlete has their own
routine, based on their individual needs and likes, and fine tuned
through experience. Experiment in training to find a plan that works for
you.
EXAMPLES OF
HIGH CARBOHYDRATE, LOW-FAT PRE-EVENT MEALS
-
Breakfast
cereal + low-fat milk + fresh/canned fruit
-
Muffins or
crumpets + jam/honey
-
Pancakes +
syrup
-
Toast + baked
beans (note this is a high-fibre choice) or tinned spaghetti
-
Creamed rice
(made with low-fat milk)
-
Rolls or
sandwiches with banana filling
-
Fruit salad +
low-fat fruit yogurt
-
Pasta with
tomato or low-fat sauce
-
Baked
potatoes with low-fat filling
-
Sports bars
or cereal bars & sports drink
-
Fruit
smoothie (low-fat milk + fruit + low-fat yogurt/ ice cream)
-
Liquid meal
supplement
3. Eat and
drink to recover quickly after events
Most competition schedules
call for rapid recovery between events. Refuelling and rehydrating
should become the norm in your post-competition activities. Don’t waste
important time straight after the event when your body is most receptive
to fluid, carbohydrate and other recovery nutrients. You may have to
juggle eating and drinking with other commitments.
Sports drinks will help
with speedy recovery and you might have developed some favourite
recovery snacks among your training tactics. Competition venues may not
always provide access to suitable foods and drinks. Sometimes you may be
glad that you brought your own supplies. Good planning will see you
bouncing back to face a new opponent.
4. Avoid dehydration with a
fluid intake plan
Unless sweat losses are
replaced during exercise, an athlete will become dehydrated. Most of us
know that severe levels of dehydration have a dramatic effect on
exercise performance. But even small fluid losses reduce performance and
increase your feeling of effort.
Of course the effects at
lower levels of dehydration are more subtle; you may not notice it
slowly eating away at your performance. However, well before the effects
seem obvious, your work output has dropped and your skills and
concentration have deteriorated. A good fluid intake is a crucial part
of your competition strategy, and you will be pleased that you practised
this in training. In an ideal world an athlete would drink enough fluid
to cover all sweat losses during their event. However in the real world
of sport this is not usually practical or possible. A realistic goal is
to use all opportunities to drink what is practical and comfortable in
your sport. At best, most athletes only replace 50 per cent of their
fluid losses during the event so there is plenty of room for
improvement.
A special issue to note is that one side effect of
dehydration is an increased risk of gastric upsets. Some athletes who
feel sick or uncomfortable after stopping for a fluid break, often blame
the drink for their problems. The real problem, however, is dehydration-
caused by not drinking sooner.
5. Try eating carbohydrate
during your event
You may have experienced
the feeling of ‘running out of legs’ or ‘running low on fuel’ during
your competition. This is typical in prolonged events that require
athletes to exercise at high intensities for many hours. You might know
the feeling as ‘hitting the wall’ or ‘honking’. You can also run out of
fuel in shorter events or games that are part of a busy competition
schedule such as road trips and tournaments.
When workouts or events are
close together it can be hard to fully refuel in between. You can
provide extra fuel by consuming carbohydrate during the event. This
strategy has been shown to benefit performance in events lasting longer
than 90 minutes, but recent research has shown that enhancements might
also occur in events of as little as one hour duration. You should
experiment to see if carbohydrate intake works for your sport and for
you.
Some athletes eat food during their event to
provide extra carbohydrate fuel. Fruit, sports bars and confectionery
items are popular choices. However, one disadvantage of solid foods is
that they may cause stomach discomfort, particularly during high
intensity exercise.
Sports drinks provide an alternative and more
practical way to refuel during exercise. The special formula of fluid,
carbohydrate and electrolytes has been developed to taste good to
exercising people, promoting an increase in total fluid intake as its
first advantage. The formula also provides efficient delivery of
carbohydrate while rehydrating the athlete.
Some people think that
sports drinks are useful only to elite athletes. Since they are more
expensive than plain water, it is important to consider if they provide
value for money. The answer concerns nutritional needs rather than
sporting talent. If you are involved in a sport in which you are
sweating and depleting fuel stores, then a sports drink provides a
simple answer to meet your special needs. Good use of a sports drink
will improve your endurance and performance. This represents value,
whether the outcome is a gold medal, a personal best, or simply your
enjoyment of an exercise session. Nevertheless, if expense is a problem,
then a dilute cordial mix can provide a cheaper option.
