Hello everyone. It's not easy to create an iron man from yourself. And although you decided to do it, created a training plan for a year, detailed the preparatory period and correctly keep a triathlete's diary – this is not enough. You need the right fuel. Yes, your will is unshakable. Yes, your body gets stronger from workout to workout. But you can't do without fuel and building material for an iron body. Therefore, today we will talk about nutrition and auxiliary components. So, what does the Triathlete's Bible tell us.
First of all, it is important to maintain the necessary balance in the 4 nutrition elements of any athlete: proteins, fats, carbohydrates and water.
The American Dietitian Association recommends consuming 2 grams of protein per kilogram of weight per day. For example, for me, the daily norm is 130 grams. The main sources of protein in my diet are (the amount of protein per 100 grams of product is indicated): steak – 30 gr., cheese – 29 gr., cottage cheese – 12 gr., egg - 12 gr., yogurt – 5 gr., chicken breast – 30 gr., milk – 5 gr.
In different variations, these products are necessarily present in the weekly diet.
You can get up to 30% of calories a day from protein. There's nothing wrong with that. The main thing is not to forget to drink water – it allows you to remove nitrogen from the body, a by-product of protein metabolism. However, if you are not getting enough protein, the body may react accordingly and show signs of the need to increase protein in the diet. These signs include: frequent colds, slow recovery after exercise, irritability, slow growth of nails and their increased fragility, thinning of hair, chronic fatigue, low concentration, sugar cravings, pale complexion.
Protein is the main building material for your muscles. That is why it is recommended to consume a protein shake after training. In the first 30 minutes after training, the so-called carbohydrate-protein window opens. It is during this period of time that the body is most ready to absorb protein and carbohydrates. Protein is protein. There is nothing reprehensible or terrible in the use of sports cocktails. Thus, you only help the body cope with heavy loads.
It is extremely important to consume fats for a triathlete. This makes it possible to train the body to use as fuel not only glycogen, whose reserves are limited, but also fats. 20-30% of daily calories can come from fats. To do this, it is best to use nut butters, olive oil, seafood and, of course, animal fats. My main sources are seafood, olive and nut oil.
About 40% of daily calories should come from carbohydrates. Previously, it was believed that carbohydrates are the basis for athletes. However, it must be remembered that carbohydrate diets force the body to rely more and more on glycogen, which leads to an increase in lactate in the blood and a decrease in the role of fats as fuel for your activities. Nevertheless, it is important to consume carbohydrates during long and intense workouts – that's what sports drinks like Carbo Power are for.
Maintaining the water balance is extremely important for the body. And especially for athletes engaged in endurance sports. A person weighing 70 kg needs to consume 2 liters of water per day. This is in addition to tea, coffee and other beverages. If you do not have the habit of drinking plain water during the day, you need to set reminders. It should also be remembered that with water it is necessary to replenish the level of electrolytes. Abundant water consumption "washes out" electrolytes from the body. To replenish them, you can make a weak saline solution or drink mineral water.
In order to determine my diet, I followed the following steps:
Remember that you need to eat before training, during long workouts and after. We talked about ways to recover after long workouts earlier. A couple of hours before training, you need to get 200- 400 Kcal mainly from carbohydrates. During training, it is also necessary to consume carbohydrates, in the form of sports drinks and gels. The amount must be determined independently for your body. For example, 100 – 125 Kcal per hour is enough for me. About an hour after training, focus on high-protein foods.
Advice from Ryan Bolton regarding nutrition during the race: "When your attitude to the race begins to change, replenish your fuel reserves."
Most researchers claim that consuming 2.8 – 5.6 milligrams of caffeine per 1 kg of body weight an hour before endurance exercises is beneficial for most subjects. For a body weight of 70 kg, this is 2-3 cups of coffee. However, you need to take into account your own characteristics and not be loaded with caffeine specifically.
In fact, powdered protein is a protein. If we speak correctly, these are organic substances consisting of amino acids connected in a chain by a covalent bond and forming a polypeptide. As I said above, there is nothing wrong with supplementing your diet with protein in the form of a sports cocktail. Especially if there is not enough protein in the diet. More detailed information can be found on the Internet.
Every day I consume 2 cocktails totaling 1 daily dose.
These are split-chain amino acids. They help to support the immune system after active training, help muscles maintain mass, power and endurance, help reduce central nervous system fatigue, promote the use of fats as fuel. It is best used after long training sessions (over 3 hours) and during the period of maximum stress in strength training. By myself, I can say that BCAA helps a lot in recovery.
A relatively new ergogenic substance. Helps athletes with a lack of power and strength. For its use, it is necessary to carry out creatine loading. In my experience, creatine has not had any noticeable effect on the body, however, I will continue the experiment for 1 month of the Base 3 period.
They are used during a race or long training sessions to replenish carbohydrates and electrolytes in the body. Carbohydrate drinks, like Carbo Power, are very convenient to use. They not only help to keep moving forward, but also make up for the loss of electrolytes. In my experience, Carbo is best suited for the cycling stage, Vitargo is better suited for long running workouts because it is absorbed faster by the body and has a higher concentration. Sports gels are more concentrated and, as a result, effective. It feels like a real surge of strength appears after using the gel. Each pack of gel must be washed down with 200 ml of water. Do not wash down the gels with sports drinks – there will be very unpleasant sensations in the throat.
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