Keeping your energy levels high
Your body can only store a limited amount of fuel and if it gets low when you are training or racing your
performance will get worse. You need to keep your energy levels up by eating carbohydrates. Carbohydrates
are your main food source for energy used in training and racing. Your body starts to restock on fuel
fastest, immediately after training. Therefore, you should eat within 30 mins of completing a training
session. It is normally better to eat a small high-energy snack after training combined with breakfast,
lunch and dinner. It is very important that you don’t miss breakfast and lunch and then go training after
school. Also you should eat medium portions of the right carbohydrate at each meal, rather than rely on one
big portion of carbohydrate at dinner.
There are a number of different forms of carbohydrate and these can be split into 2 main groups.
Complex Carbohydrates (polysaccharides)
Complex carbohydrates are made up of long chains of glucose. They are normally associated with starchy foods
and release a steady stream of energy as the body breaks down the chains. Potatoes, rice, cereals, bread and
pasta are examples of complex carbohydrates. These are the carbohydrates that should be eaten as part of the
main meals of the day.
Simple Carbohydrates (monosaccharides and disaccharides)
Simple carbohydrates have far shorter chains or even single units that do not require much breaking down by
the body. They therefore release immediate energy. Sugar (sucrose) and dextrosol (glucose) tablets are simple
carbohydrates. The problem with simple carbohydrates is that when they are very quickly absorbed into the body
it can upset the body’s balance and cause a reaction that reduces available energy. A very special simple
sugar that is absorbed well but doesn’t usually cause a bad reaction is called fructose. Fructose is found in
fruit, one reason why fruit is a good choice for snacking. In fact fruit is ideal for eating immediately after
a training session.
Keeping Hydrated
Performance can suffer when a swimmer loses as little as 2% of body weight as sweat. It may seem like you're
not sweating because of the water keeping you cool, but you are. Making sure you drink sufficient fluid is
essential. You must bring a water bottle to every swim session, and drink constantly between sets taking small
sips. This is because when you are exercising you stomach can only let though a restricted amount of fluid
because your blood has been diverted away from your stomach to feed your working muscles. You should be
drinking steadily throughout the day because you need at least the equivalent of 8 sports bottles of fluid per
day to keep properly hydrated!! It is best if most of this is ordinary tap water or tap water with a small
amount of squash or fresh fruit juice added. Some of your fluid can be in the form of high-energy sports drinks
(the best are Gatorade, High 5, Maxim, PSP22 because they contain complex carbohydrates that breakdown slowly
and can help to conserve your energy stores). However, be careful when choosing drinks, there is a difference
between a sports high-energy drink, an electrolyte replacement drink and a recovery drink. Look on the labels
and avoid drinks with stimulants such as caffeine.
Above all, never wait to get thirsty before you drink because by then it is already too late!! Headaches
during or after training are a sure sign of dehydration and the cure is not a pain killer, it is water in
regular small quantities, day in day out!
What should I eat the day before a competition?
The day before competing it is especially important to ensure your body has restocked its energy reserves. It
is therefore advisable to increase the amount of carbohydrate eaten without increasing the overall amount of
calories. It is best to choose lower fat food options such as those below:
- A noodle dish (e.g. chow mein)
- A pasta based dish i.e. spaghetti
- Jacket potato with low fat filling
- Deep pan pizza (ham and pineapple / vegetarian)
- Beans on toast
- Chunky vegetable/bean based soup and sandwiches
- Breakfast cereal and toast
- Boiled or mashed potato dish with lots of potato and smaller portions of meat/fish.
What should I eat the day of a competition?
If there's food still lying in your stomach, energy will be taken away from your muscles to help break down
and digest that food. You must avoid fatty foods such as chips, donuts, and pastries as these will take longer
to digest, and provide little energy during racing. Also protein foods are much more slowly digested and meat
can take 4 hours to digest. Try not to eat and drink new things you have not already tried whilst training in
case they upset your stomach.
Some suggestions for 2 - 4 Hours before racing
- Breakfast cereal and low fat milk
- Porridge with syrup and raisins
- Toast (scraping of fat) with honey/Jam
- Bagels/muffins/crumpets with jam/honey/pancakes and syrup
- Currant buns/tea-cakes
- Scones/scotch pancakes
- Beans on toast
- Pasta with tomato based sauce
- Jacket potato with low fat filling.
- Sandwiches, try honey, jam or banana
- Muesli bars
- Malt Loaf
- Raisin Bread
- Cereal/Rusks
- Pop Tarts
- Fig Rolls
- Popcorn
- Low fat yoghurt
- Fresh, canned or dried fruit
- Low fat rice pudding
- Pastas & tomato type sauce
- Jacket potatos
- Rice and low fat sauce
What about between races?
If it’s less than one hour to your race be very careful. Ideally just try to drink but the list below gives
some suggestions for small snacks.
(in small amounts)
- Bananas & raisins
- Dried fruit snacks
- Winders/schoolbars
- Energy bars/Nutrigen bars
- Confectionary
- Jelly cubes
- Sweets (e.g. Jelly babies/jelly beans/Liquorice Allsorts)
- Plain biscuits eg Rich Tea, Digestives
- Rice cakes
