Out Season Nutrition Advice
I have not been as focussed on my overall nutrition as I should have been to this point in my triathlong career...a career consisting of 1 race and 12 months of training to this point. I HAVE focused on pre- and post- workout nutrition, but, not daily consumption. Looking at this OS plan (I am in the December OS Group, with the Advanced Plan), I have read and certainly would agree that I need to step it up in this arena.
Advice? Resourses? Do-s and Don't-s?
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Comments
Stephen,
Michelle recently had some great ideas in a thread in the general training forum titled Body Composition issues, Am I ok?
I found Matt Fitzgerald's new Racing Weight book helpful(just came out 12/1/09).
Penny L Wilson, R.D an EN member publishes an excellent eating for performance e-newsletter which I've appreciated receiving the last year.
There are also lots of threads in the nutrition forum which would probably be useful.
If you gave more specifics about your concerns I'm sure some of our WS EN members could give me some more specific suggestions.
Welcome to the haus.
John
John: Thanks for the newsletter props.
Stephen: Do you have specific concerns or just general concerns that you are not eating as well as you could? There are all sorts of great books out there including Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, and Nutrient Timing by Bob Seebohar. You can also find a Registered Dietitian who specializes in working with athletes at www.scandpg.org.
You can go to www.eatingforperformance.com and enter your email in the box at the bottom to subscribe to my weekly newsletter. Then, you'll need to confirm your subscription.
Steve- I see in your sig line you want to get to Kona. Then Body comp and nutrition are key. I recall from last year and some of the charter members can verify, you're not going to lose weight from OS volume training. But work on body comp now by adjustingyour eating plan and it will help once you are in season.
Thank everyone for your thoughts...very helpful! I have a follow up question since I have heard so much from the Haus regarding 'body composition'. I 'get' that we need to be dialed in on this as a huge part of our training...like a 4th discipline. My question is this...what makes a 'good' body composition? In other words, how do I measure how I am doing in this department?
I am 5'10" and a slender build. I fluctuate between 157-160 lbs. When I was in my 'best' shape last year prior to my A race, Ironman Rhode Island 70.3, I was something like 156 lbs. When I get below that weight (which I have done), I start losing power. I don't eat many sweets (desert maybe twice a week), and I drink coffee in the morning and one diet soda after lunch usually during the day. I eat a pretty balanced diet, though I could certainly add a little more fruits and veggies to the mix (I have SOME, but more variety would probably be good). I usually wake up, drink coffee and eat a piece of fruit, workout, eat a nice breakfast (eggs and bacon with a piece of toast / or a quality meal replacement bar), and I don't eat anything after 7 (MOST nights). I have considered adding a multi-vitamin to my day as well.
So, what do I need to be thinking about or aiming for when it comes to body composition?
Thanks again for all of the help...I feel like I am just asking and asking and asking and asking!
If you have the $$ you could look into BF% testing in a water tank. Get with a nutritionist with a food diary to REALLY analyze your diet. Penny can help with food I do believe.
Michele...I have heard Penny's name mentioned a few times. She is an EN member? If so, I will look her up!
Penny Lynn Wilson. EN member. She also has her own nutrition letter. You can sign up for it on her page
This is her blog.
http://eatingforperformance.blogspot.com/
I believe she is in grad school getting a PhD, so she is not on the forum as often. Lives in Houston area I think, but I am sure it is Texas.
Here is her e-mail for the nutrition letter.
penny@eatingforperformance.com
My advice is not to focus on a number but instead focus on your diet and get as lean as you can. You will know if you start to get too lean.
Also, what race are you trying to qualify at? If you are going to try at Florida, I believe you are better off going in a few pounds heavier and be as strong as you possibly can. However if you are going to Wisconsin, I feel w/kg becomes much more important then pure power. At the end of the day, how aero you are will make even more of a difference then weight so you need to focus on that as well.
I recently posted on this protocol...and am doing more on it...over on my personal blog. Down 13 lbs since October and counting...
P- Great read. For a second there I was wondering if all those black toenails were yours!
It is good that you found a basement to your weight - a weight you don't want to go below. I've worked with IM athletes who have a difficult time maintaining their weight and who end up dealing with injuries.
Let me know if I can help.
@Coach P
I had actually started with your diet/nutrition outlined in your blog via another forum you posted those ideas in about 2 weeks ago. Since then, I have lost 4.5 pounds and have felt like a rocket on the bike and on my runs. Great advice! I am 5'10" and weighed about 160.5 and now I weigh about 156. I feel stronger than ever, and I never would have thought I'd have felt this way by cutting out most of the carbs and sticking with natural foods...WOW!
hoping to drop another 5 or 6 lbs this season and get to about 160-165 race weight. Was very inspired by coach P's blog post and looking forward to gaining some free speed!
I mentioned in another thread that I'd be interested in knowing what Patrick was eating on an average day, meal-wise. The concept of breakfast salad or soup isn't 100% appealnig to me.
- work to a 5 'good diet' days & 2 'bad' ; doesn't mean the 'bad' (i.e.weekends) have to be total pig-outs however!
- low alcohol intake (I have around 2-3 glasses of red wine per week on average, all at weekends).
- No sweets - if you have to, have 70% + dark chocolate (you can't pig-out on that stuff!). No desserts, why do you need them?
- cut way back on carb intake from starchy carbs like rice, pasta,potatoes. Instead substitute with fruit/veg (carbs form fruit etc), loads of the stuff.
- No carbs in the afternoon.
- No food at all after 7pm.
- Up your protein intake considerably - afternoons are protein-time only (as you've ditched afternoon carbs).
- Snack on almonds, raisins and also chomp away on raw veggies (great as they burn calories in the eating & digesting!)
- Lean meats for dinner with lots of veg, no carbs (or very little), I have for example turkey stir-fried in good olive oil with lots of veggies, salad for starter.
- Eat up to 5-6 smaller meals a day - if i was super-worried about weight-loss I may consider the roadie trick of 'drip dieting'.
- Brekkie is usually oat-meal with either blueberries or raisins stirred in - mid morning (2 hrs later) is fruit smoothie with perhaps whey protein added or just a grapefruit (an appetite suppresent supposedly) - lunch is protein packed, 2 eggs scrambled with some veg and lots of tuna (big protein ROI!).
- Lots (and lots!) of water, all day, everyday. Cut back on sodas, apparently nothing fooks-up your metabilism more than coke etc.
What sometimes helps is to actaully get on a very strict diet plan for 1-2 weeks only to kick start your metabolism and increase fat burning - after 10 days you get dialled-in to a routine.
I love eating and can stack on weight very quickly & also lose it as quick it seems - on the above I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything at all or actually dieting - just being sensible & eating healthy stuff - I eat worse when I'm not training, i.e. the 'food as fuel' concept goes completely.
You have to get used to perhaps feeling a tad empty or 'rattly' late at night but that'd be the worse time to eat - don't eat 2-3 yr hours before workouts and don't over-eat afterwards to 'compensate' . Just 'cos your mind is saying 'feed me' your muscles are 100% good- to-go; think of your glycogen stores as a glass of water under a tap, you can only store a finite amount, anymore is just treated as waste (i.e.the glass over-flows).
Perhaps not very scientific - I listen out for signs such as getting moody, over-tiredness and simply watching the weight/body for signs of losing weight too quickly.
Few ideas that have helped me.