I want to share what I discussed, and I am now offering a “student athlete fuel-for-sport” session.  It became clear in the first 10 minutes that the swimmers were not interested in what nutrients are, and what they do in your body.  Instead they wanted straight-forward snacks and meals they should eat.  I really wanted to talk about what the 6 nutrients are and the roles they play in our body.  So, I created this “Food as Fuel“ mini e-book to give them some optional summer reading.

Timing

For the beginning of the training season, the swim practices are early in the morning.  I understand the teenage circadian rhythm and know that maybe one of them was going to wake up at 5 am to eat breakfast.  For early morning training sessions, not eating before is quite common.  However, the evidence is clear, that 30 grams of carbohydrate 5 minutes prior to training can provide the glucose needed for performance¹. Consequently, I gave them an infographic I created “Quick pre-training snacks“.  I tried to focus on snacks from quick absorbing carbohydrate sources, with an emphasis on whole food sources.

The next important step in fueling for sport, is recovery.  It is important to replenish those used up energy stores, ideally within one hour of finishing.  This is done best with mostly carbohydrate and some protein¹.   If you are able to go home right after training, it makes it easier.  When you are on the road for competition though, then it can be more challenging.  I created another infographic for the team trying to provide portable snack ideas and ones made at home.  Check out “Refuel After Training Snacks“.

To put it all together, I discussed timing.  When should they be eating in relation to when training or the competition is.  This is the area where I think a lot of athletes don’t like to think about.  However, the timing and choices of fueling are the most controllable factors in effecting performance².  So, I created a “Fueling Time Line” for them to follow.  There are exceptions based on early morning training or evening training right at typical dinner time.  The key take away though, was to look at the time training or the meet started, and work backwards.

I am hoping to reach out and work with other sports teams in the valley.  I wish I would have had a reliable resource when I was a competitive athlete, to break it down for me into simple steps.  Hopefully, I can be that resource!