Avoid dehydration at all costs
January 3, 2010 at 10:06 pm | Posted in Colds and flu, Dehydration, Swimming Diet | 1 CommentTags: advoid, all, at, costs, Dehydration, fluids, harder, improve, muscles, swimmers, swimming, train
This was written for me by a swimming coach and a very good friend of ours Juicy Lucy from the UK swimclub.
Avoid dehydration at all costs
Every swimmer wants to get better, and every swimmer knows the best way to improve is by training smart and hard. But there’s another way, and that’s by fuelling your muscles. By fuelling your muscles in the best possible way during and after practice, you will have more energy and perform better in your workouts, and you will compete better, too!
Your muscles are like a car engine
A swimmers’ muscles are like a car’s engine. A car gets its energy from petrol. Swimmers get their energy from carbohydrate, which comes from foods like fruit and bread. When a car runs out of petrol, it stops moving. The same thing happens when your muscles run out of carbohydrate. Besides fuel, cars also need things like oil to run smoothly. Swimmers need other things, too. The main ones are water and electrolytes. When exercising, you lose water through sweat. This process is known as dehydration. The more water you lose, the more your body heats up, and the worse you feel and perform.
And that’s not all. Along with water, certain minerals called electrolytes are also lost in sweat. If you don’t replace the electrolytes you lose, you’ll get tired faster.
Swim training can last a long time. During practice you burn a lot of carbohydrate fuel and can lose a lot of water and electrolytes. Years ago, swimmers only drank water during workouts. But water gives swimmers just one of the three things they need to help their muscles work best.
Help you to train harder
Today, many swimmers drink sports drinks during practice. Sports drinks contain the water, the electrolytes, and the carbohydrate you need to fuel your muscles. Drinking a sports drink during practice will give you more energy and help you train harder, especially at the end of the workout. And the better you train, the better you’ll compete.
But not all sports drinks are the same. There are many new sports drinks that have a little protein in it. Scientists found out that putting a little protein in a sports drink is like putting a fuel injector into the carburettor in your car. It gets the carbohydrate fuel to your muscles faster, which helps you train harder and longer and makes you less tired.
You must replace the fluids you’ve lost
It’s also a good idea to drink a sports drink after training and competing. This will help you replace the fluids you’ve lost and the carbohydrate you’ve burned more quickly. Swim meets can last hours. That’s enough time to get dehydrated and to run low on muscle fuel even without competing much. By sipping on a sports drink throughout the day, you will be as fresh for your last event as you were for your first.
Here’s the bottom line: your body is like a machine. In order to train and compete well, you need to give your muscles fuel for energy.
Eating before a race or gala
January 2, 2010 at 3:31 pm | Posted in Swimming Diet | Leave a commentTags: cake, diet, eating, energy drinks, food, fruit, gala, race, sweets, swimming, water
Try to drink lots of water before and during your training session – 1 litre of water for each hour of training is a good guide. Remember to take your water bottle to every training session. It may seem that you never get thirsty, but you need liquid to stay hydrated.
Try to eat a light snack 40 minutes before training and eat within an hour of finishing training.
The main source of energy for exercise comes from carbohydrates. Most top swimmers eat meals that are high in carbohydrates and low in fat – rice or pasta with low fat sauce; noodles – chow mein, jacket potato, beans on toast, cereal and toast.
Before a competition, you should aim to eat a high carbohydrate, low fat meal 2 – 4 hours before the start time.
At all day open meets, a small snack can be eaten about 30 minutes before a race: bananas, dried fruit, jelly cubes, nutrigrain bar, malt loaf.
After a competition, eat a high carbohydrate snack or meal such as pizza, pasta, Chinese meal with rice or noodles, jacket potato.
Just as for training, it is important before, at and after competitions to keep drinking plenty of fluids such as water, weak juices. Sugary and fizzy drinks should be avoided.
Research has shown that if you are dehydrated you could add-on vital seconds to your race. You can not perform your best if you are dehydrated.
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