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SWIMMERS FOOD & DRINK GUIDE

Nutritional planning for training and especially competition is an extremely important part of any event preparation.  Unfortunately it is often the area that many swimmers forget.  It is common to see months of hard training ruined because a nutritional programme is not in place.

Any nutritional programme should be tried and tested during training to ensure that there are no reactions.  There are three main areas that should be considered by swimmers:

• Ensure maximum storage of carbohydrates (stores of energy)

• Ensure hydration (Drink)

• Maintain a familiar nutrition programme (eat regular meals)

Boosting Energy Reserves

It is very import to keep you bodies energy levels topped up given the varying levels of training and competition.  Therefore it is just as important for young swimmers to eat the correct foods as it is for swimmers competing at District or National level. 

Foods, which increase the body’s energy stores, are:

• Rice, Pasta, Bagels, Breakfast Cereals, Cakes, Bananas, popcorn, Pizzas with a thick base rather than thin.  Sports drinks can also aid energy storage.

A word of warning, there is no need to stuff yourselves to the point of discomfort.  It is easy to get carried away and, in an attempt to boost energy stores, those nasty fat levels creep up.  Therefore it is important that even though the programme is high carbohydrate at the same time it is low fat, with plenty of fluids. 

To Minimise Poor Performance here are some basic rules

• Eat plenty of carbohydrates over the competition period.

• Avoid eating too much fat at the expense of carbohydrate.

• Stick to meals and snacks that are tried and tested.

• Eat a variety of different foods rather than relying on one food or product for everything.

The Importance of Drinking Fluids

Swimming pools are extremely hot and often humid places and therefore have an impact on the body.  In such conditions the body will loose significant amounts of fluid via body sweat.  You can’t rely on feeling thirsty as a reminder to replace fluid lost through sweating – one of nature’s dirty tricks is that exercise suppresses thirst.

Even low levels of dehydration have physiological consequences.  For example a loss of 2% bodyweight (just 1kg for a 50kg person) is claimed to reduce performance by 10-20%.

Dehydration will impair performance, reduce a swimmer’s ability to train hard and cause fatigue.  Therefore if a swimmer’s performance is not to suffer it is essential that they drink regularly during training and over competitions in order to replace the fluid that they are losing.  Drinking is a good habit to adopt for the younger swimmers even if training session are relatively short.  Getting into these good habits at an early age will prepare you for the time when training increases.

When should fluids be consumed?

The trick is to drink little and often.  Each swimmer should start the in take of fluids before training and continue after training.  Prior to long workout swimmers should aim to drink a large glass of fluid (approx. 0.5 litres); this is particularly important before early morning training or prior to heats first thing in the day.  Fluid should also continue to be taken after your training or racing has finished, therefore additional bottles of fluid should be taken.

What is the best thing to Drink?

It is important to remember that no one drink is ideal for every swimmer; therefore you must experiment with various options.  During the day swimmers should concentrate on drinking plenty of water and milk with some squash and fruit juice as well.  Fizzy drinks can be included; however they should not make up the bulk of the swimmers total intake.

Drinks, which contain a small amount of carbohydrate and sodium, replace the fluid lost via sweating more quickly than plain water alone.  Research has shown that the use of sports drinks during a workout and competition will help to ensure fast re-hydration. 

Sports drinks are growing in popularity with swimmers and the favourites include Maxim, Electrolyte, Go, Gatorade, Lucozade Sport and Isostar.  Some of these drinks can be costly therefore homemade drinks like diluted squash (the full sugar variety) or fruit juice mixed with water is cheaper alternatives.

Therefore to re-cap:  To minimize poor performance swimmers should

• Drink before, during and after training and competition.

• Drink little and often.

• Drink before you become thirsty.

• Drink homemade or commercial sports drinks during hard workouts.

• Chose a drink that you like the taste of and experiment in training and minor competitions to ensure the likes and dislikes are found.

Familiar Nutrition Programme.

Hotel food is often very different to ‘home cooking’.  Therefore it is always advisable to pack an emergency bag of food and drink so that you never get caught short.  Another way of avoiding problems is to undertake a little prior investigation in order to find out what foods will be available in the hotel and pool, and then plan accordingly.  No matter how tempting food may look, the key to successful preparation is to stick to foods, which are familiar, and you enjoy (as the last thing you want the night before a major competition is to be eating different foods, which may well upset your body).

If you follow the guidelines in this leaflet you will be nutritionally well prepared to take on all your rivals.  Use food and drink preparation as the ace up your sleeve before your next race!

Finally please find below a few ideas of foods to eat before, during and after competitions.