In late July, I gave a small presentation about the importance of nutrition to an endurance athletes. I covered most of the important topics like what to eat before, during and after. Also, what to eat for the rest of the day (is there anything else?!).
The basis of the presentation was how to control insulin levels. During exercise, insulin spikes creating a large window for eating simple sugars. This quick energy is easily absorbed and distributed to the working muscles. Post workout, insulin levels begin to fall. If you’ve ever heard of a “recovery shake” this is where it becomes very important. Science supports a 4:1, carb to protein drink which is again made of easily digestible sugars and some protein.
Outside working out, insulin levels should not change. This is accomplished by eating whole grain foods, lots of vegetables and proteins. In my presentation I basically said that the ideal meals would consist of protein sources and veggies outside of working out. This I feel is the case for extreme circumstances (ie. for the elite athletes) but not for everyday athletes. Carbs are important and unless you can prepare ahead the task of cutting them out becomes unreasonable. A person will tend to experience large energy lows as their bodies adapt from not having carbs as an energy source. Eating whole grain carbs during meals would be the smart alternative.
One question that came up was “should I carbohydrate load before an event“. Marathons typically put on a pasta dinner the night before an event. The idea (in the minds of the organizers) is that if people stuff their mouths full of carbohydrate rich foods, there will be less people “bonking” or running out of energy on course. This may work for a small amount of people but eating a large meal the night before the race is going to leave you feeling bloated and could make you worse off. How so? Well if your eating more than you should, your stomach is going to stretch to accommodate all the food your putting in. This is going to cause you discomfort and effectively make you less hungry. Instead, if you ate your normal amount your probably going to be able to eat more food (spread out over the day) and be able to store more energy than at one sitting.
If you want to carb load for your race do it during the week leading up. Eat more carbohydrate rich foods at each meal. Now I don’t mean eating more food! If your general meal is a chicken breast, some rice and a salad. Try eating half as much chicken and increase the amount of rice. Or even better, don’t cook with oils and eat more rice (less fat more carbs).
Another good question was “what should I be drinking the day before a race?“. In this case, most people wanted to know if they should be consuming a sports drink like Gatorade. The answer, is wait till you begin your warm-up for the race. Again, this is about insulin. The ideal way to take advantage of insulin is when you want your body to work; drink or eat sugar. If your sipping sugars all day before the event, your insulin levels will rise and fall; basically missing out on opportunities to dowork . Where as if you wait till the big dance to start your sport drinking, your going to be ready to go! In short: keep sugary foods to a minimum before the race.
If you have more questions about the above topics leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you.
