time-crunched triathlete nola bar or sports chews), and you can eat it as close as 15 to 20 minutes before your training session. If you start a 60- to 120-minute workout well fed, you most likely won’t need any calories during the session. You will need fluids and electrolytes, but you’re not going to bonk in a 60- to 120-minute workout if you start the session with nearly full glycogen stores. During your longest workouts, you’ll need carbohydrates as well as electrolytes and fluid. You should also start eating in the first 45 minutes of a longer workout so you’re supplementing the stored carbohydrate you’re burning. But be conscious of how much you’re eating; a lot of athletes eat more than they need during training sessions, perhaps because they forget they started with a large bank of stored calories. For most training sessions that last between three and four hours you only need to consume 20 percent to 30 percent of the calories you’re expending. In other words, if you’re burning 600 calories an hour for three to four
hours, you only need 120 to 180 calories an hour. That’s only one Gu (100 calories) and half a bottle of sports drink. caloric Overcompensation Triathletes often believe they’ve burned more calories or energy in a workout than they actually have. And that can have a big impact on post-workout eating habits. Since athletes with less time tend to exercise at higher intensities to achieve the workload necessary for improvement, the perceived exertions for these workouts are understandably high. But they’re also short and involve hard efforts separated by recovery periods (intervals), so the total caloric expenditure often fails to add up to a number equal to that perception. Unfortunately, many athletes base their appetite on their perception of how hard they worked, and wolf down more calories than are necessary to replenish their carbohydrate stores, build and maintain muscle and recover and adapt to their training. The result: You train hard yet you still gain weight. Be careful not to gorge after
relatively short training sessions. Instead, just eat a moderate-sized meal. Caloric overcompensation can occur before training sessions, too. Athletes increase the size of their meals throughout the day in anticipation of an upcoming workout, even though the workout is relatively short and the time since the last workout was long enough to allow for full glycogen replenishment. Focus your sportspecific nutrition between one hour before and after your workout, and leave the rest of your daily diet unaffected by short workouts. Carmichael Training Systems Pro Coach Jim Rutberg co-wrote this article. Chris Carmichael is founder and chief executive officer of Carmichael Training Systems, the official coaching and camps partner of Ironman. He and Rutberg are also the authors of “The Time-Crunched Triathlete.” For information on coaching, camps and performance testing, visit Trainright.com or call 866-355-0645.
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