Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Food For Swimmers

With two athlete swimmers training 5-6 days per week for 2-3 hour sessions, we spend a great deal of time researching and providing a nutritious diet for these youngsters.

In addition, we need to make certain that they have enough energy to get through their training and enough protein to recover.

BREAKFAST
A typical day begins with eggs, whole wheat muffins, pancakes or steel cut oatmeal. 

LUNCH
The kids pack themselves a large lunch for school consisting of fruit, sandwiches, crackers, hummus,  and energy bars.

SNACKS
An hour before training, the kids will have one or two of the following: apples, grapes, sushi, bagels and cream cheese or Nutella or the like. Just enough energy to get them through training.

Right after training, they indulge in a chocolate milk or protein drink. 

HYDRATION
The kids drink around 3 litres of water per day and the occasional sport drink for electrolytes. They prefer Propel and sometimes Powerade.

DINNER
Usually this consists of a protein, either meat, chicken or fish; some carbohydrates like pasta or potato and vegetables for everything else. A little later they will snack again. Brandon calls it "second dinner".


Useful links:

USA Swimming has an entire section on Nutrition which includes articles and recipes.







Sports Dietitians Australia has terrific tips for swimmers as well as other sports such as basketball, track and football.














Swim Clubs Australia has a great article on High Performance Nutrition for Swim Meets etc..