Nutrition is an important part of your training programme. Eating the right types and amounts of food, as well as drinking enough fluid before, during and after each training session will help you perform better and recover faster between training sessions. It will also help to keep you healthy and reduce your chances of getting colds and other upper respiratory tract illnesses.
Here are some nutritional strategies that can be used to improve your training sessions.
What’s a healthy diet for swimmers?
Swimmers need a nutrient-packed diet to fuel their bodies during training, as well as adequate protein for growth and muscle repair, and (mainly unsaturated) fat for fuel and overall health. A general guideline for training days is to have one third of the plate carbs (pasta, bread, rice, potatoes, or cereal), one third protein (fish, chicken, lean meat, eggs, beans, lentils, tofu) and one third vegetables. You should also include healthy fats (olive oil, oily fish, nuts) and at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day to ensure you get the omega-3 fats, vitamins, minerals, fibre and other protective nutrients needed to stay healthy and promote recovery.
Eat something before early morning training
A 2-hour training session early in the morning will certainly tax your body’s carbohydrate (glycogen) stores. Without anything you may feel ok for the first half of the session but devoid of energy for the second half. Training on empty may result in low blood glucose levels, early fatigue, light headedness, nausea and a poor performance.
Try to have nutritious high-carb foods, such as porridge, wholegrain toast with honey, a banana (or other fruit), a fruit & nut bar (e.g. Nakd) or granola.
Can’t face any solid food? Try a nutritious drink, such as a smoothie, or a yogurt. Some fuel is better than no fuel at all.
Have plenty of water to rehydrate after the night’s sleep.
Have a big breakfast after morning training
Re-fuelling within 30 minutes after training is especially important if you’ll be training again in the evening. This will help your muscles recover faster.
It should contain plenty of carbohydrate to replenish depleted fuel (glycogen) stores as well as protein to repair and rebuild the muscles
Suitable foods include porridge with fruit and nuts; strained Greek yogurt with fruit and nuts; eggs and toast; wholegrain cereal (e.g. granola, muesli or Weetabix) with milk and yogurt.
Regular snacks and meals throughout the day
Make sure you eat at regular intervals and never skip meals. The more active you are the more fuel you’ll need.
Plan and organise meals and snacks. Take suitable food for snacks to school
Rule of thumb: 3 meals and 2 – 4 snacks
Fuel up 2 hours before evening training
If you train in the evening, your earlier meals and snacks will help to fuel your workout.
The optimal time for the pre-exercise meal is 2 hours before training.
If your training session starts at 7pm, have dinner at 4 – 5pm. Aim for ‘comfortably full’, not stuffed.
If training starts at 5pm, then have a smaller meal or healthy snack 3 or 4pm, with a drink.
If you don’t eat before training, you will lack energy in training.
If you eat too much or too close to training, you will feel uncomfortable, heavy or nauseous.
Eat carbs and protein before training
Of all the foods you could have before a workout, prioritize ones rich in carbohydrates, especially if you will be training for 2 hours. This is the body’s preferred energy source during exercise.
Opt for wholegrain carbs wherever possible, together with a source of protein and some veg – this will provide sustained energy and improve performance.
Pre-and post-training meals (2 -3 h before or immediately after):
Stir-fry with chicken, prawns or tofu with veg + noodles
Rice + fish/ bolognese/ lentils with veg or salad
Pasta + chicken (or beans) + veg
If you don’t have time for a meal (eg early morning training), have a snack 30 min before training.
Pre-training snacks (1/2 – 1 h before) :
Toast (wholegrain) with honey or jam
A banana (or other fresh fruit) & yogurt
A handful of dried fruit (e.g. raisins, apricots) and nuts
Porridge or wholegrain breakfast cereal with milk
Refuel with carbs and protein within 30 min (if you train 2 x day)
Start re-fuelling with carbs and protein within 30 minutes after training, even if it’s late in the evening. This will help your muscles recover faster and you’ll feel better in the morning.
500 ml milk, hot chocolate, milk shake or flavoured milk
Banana; yogurt and nuts
Wholemeal toast/ sandwich with PB/ cheese/ fish/ chicken
If you had only a snack before training, have your dinner when you get home.
Drink plenty before, during and after training
Dehydration slows you down and will make swimming feel much harder. The most important thing is you arrive at your training session properly hydrated, (you can check for dehydration with the ‘pee test’).
Drink plenty during the day, little and often.
Have around 250 – 300 ml 2 hours before the session.
During training, drink little and often e.g. 3 – 4 gulps every 15 minutes (or at convenient intervals), rather than a large volume in one go.
The harder you’re working the more you sweat, so you’ll need to drink more. Generally, the rule is to drink about 125ml of fluid for every kilometre swum. Approx 500ml – 1l per 2 hour session
Drink plenty after training to aid recovery.
How to avoid fatigue during training?
Early fatigue during training can be caused by:
Dehydration – avoid this by making sure you drink enough before and during the session
Low blood sugar levels – avoid this by choosing diluted squash, 1 part squash, 6 parts water (e.g. Robinsons Select) or any ready-made drink containing around 5g sugar/ 100ml
Depleted reserves of carbohydrate in your muscles (glycogen) – avoid this by eating a balanced meal containing carbs and protein (and some fat) about 2 – 3 hours before training; eat consistently during the day; do not skip meals.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my brand new book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
While a healthy diet is central to optimal performance, for some athletes the quest to eat only the ‘right’ foods can morph into orthorexia, an unhealthy fixation with ‘eating correctly’. What starts as a health kick or desire to shed surplus pounds can spiral into obsessive behaviour. One recent study suggests that as many as 28% of athletes are affected by orthorexia.
If you have ever experienced extreme anxiety after eating a slice of cake, declined a dinner invitation for fear of its impact on your training gains or had to exercise after eating a certain food because you felt so guilty, then you may be affected by orthorexia.
You’re probably familiar with the more commonly known eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, but most people don’t know about another serious eating disorder: orthorexia. It is not defined simply by weight loss or eating too little but rather by an obsession with healthy eating. It differs from anorexia nervosa in that the goal isn’t necessarily thinness or limiting calories but a desire to be pure, clean and healthy.
A defining feature of orthorexia is an obsessive adherence to an increasingly restrictive ‘clean’ diet. Sufferers have a strong desire to maximise their health and will focus on food ‘quality’ and ‘purity’, rather than calories. They have an intense fear of eating anything perceived as unhealthy or ‘unclean’.
Blurred lines
Many athletes weigh their food religiously, track their macros and adhere to self-imposed food rules. However, such strict control can often mask a dysfunctional relationship with food.
Today it is trendy to ‘eat clean’, that is, to follow a ‘food lifestyle’ like low-carb, paleo or vegan. On the surface this seems harmless but it can easily mask an obsession with food. The problem is, in sports where body weight is closely linked to performance, there’s a blurred line between healthy eating and unhealthy obsession.
Unhealthy obsession
Some people are more vulnerable than others. One study published in Eating and Weight Disorders Journal in 2017 found that people with higher orthorexia tendencies scored more highly for body dissatisfaction and perfectionism.
Of course, just because you’ve decided to ‘eat clean’ doesn’t mean you have orthorexia. Problems arise when your eating becomes increasingly restrictive and starts to negatively impact your social life, relationships, self-worth, happiness and wellbeing.
Social Media to blame?
Some blame the rise of social media celebrities who, despite no formal training in nutrition, espouse an ‘eat like me, look like me’ approach. The ‘clean eating’ movement encourages restriction and self-prescribed ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods. Research published in 2017 found a strong correlation between time people spent on Instagram and symptoms of orthorexia.
Warning signs and symptoms of orthorexia
Compulsive checking of ingredient lists and nutrition labels
Cutting out an increasing number of foods (e.g. sugar, carbs, dairy)
Eating only foods that are deemed ‘healthy’ or ‘pure’
Afraid to eat anything ‘unhealthy’
Refusing to eat foods that you don’t know what’s in them or how they were prepared
How to maintain a healthy relationship with food
Identify your triggers e.g. social media and unfollow people who make you feel bad.
Resist the temptation to compare on social media
Spend less time reading health news – it may do more harm than good
Don’t live in a bubble – spend time with people outside of your sport, with other interests
Food should not make you scared or anxious – it’s something to be enjoyed and celebrated!
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my brand new book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
One of the most frequent questions I get asked by runners after a talk is how to prevent or cope with gastro-intestinal (GI) problems and transit troubles during training and races. It’s not an issue many like to talk about openly but it’s one that’s surprisingly common among endurance athletes.
It is estimated that 30 to 50% of endurance athletes experience GI problems related to exercise. The most debilitating and annoying of these GI issues? The sudden and overwhelming need to evacuate your bowels. In cases of extreme frequency or discomfort, this is known as runner’s diarrhoea or ‘runners’ trots’. Other common symptoms include abdominal pain and cramping, belching, bloating, nausea, heartburn, flatulence and vomiting. In a study at Maastrict University, The Netherlands, 93% of triathletes had at least one GI symptom, of which 29% were serious enough to affect performance (Jeukendrup et al, 2000).
GI problems are more common in running-type sports possibly due to the physical ‘jostling’ of the intestines during running. All the food inside your GI tract gets shaken and loosened. The reduced blood flow in the intestines and increased levels of stress hormones (due to anxiety before competitions) affect gut motility and this can further exacerbate the condition. And some people’s guts are simply more sensitive than others.
Certain foods may irritate the gut, for example high intakes of fibre, fat, protein or fructose. Dehydration or consuming a drink that is too concentrated in carbohydrate, can also add to the stress on the GI tract
Exercise – specifically more exercise than your body is used to doing – increases intestinal activity.
Solutions
To help alleviate the problem, try doing a short run before the race or doing a warm-up loop around your house before a training run. Alternatively, having a little food before a morning run can help get things moving to enable you to empty your bowels before you head off. Experiment with training at different times of the day.
Reduce your intake of high fibre and gas-producing foods the day before as well as the day of the race. Common culprit foods include bran cereals, cruciferous vegetables (such as cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli), beans, lentils and caffeine. For some people, energy gels and bars can cause problems as can high-fructose foods and drinks. Fructose is absorbed relatively slowly from the gut and, in high concentrations (especially in the form of a drink) can cause GI symptoms.
Start your workout or race fully hydrated. Some athletes avoid drinking in the misguided belief that it causes GI symptoms whereas, in fact, dehydration may be the culprit.
Make your sports drink more dilute. Some people find anything above 5g/ 100g sits in their stomach and causes discomfort.
Train your gut by regularly consuming carbohydrate foods or drinks during training. Start with very small amounts then gradually increase the amount and frequency. It is possible to increase the number of carbohydrate transporters in your gut so that you become better able to digest and absorb carbohydrate during exercise.
Find what works for you. It may take quite a bit of ‘trial and ‘error’ but by practising your race fuelling and hydration strategy during training there will be less risk of problems on race day.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out the new edition of The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition , the definitive practical handbook for anyone wanting a performance advantage. It’s the 8th edition (the 1st edition came out in 1993!) and it has been fully updated and revised to bring together the latest research and information on sport and exercise nutrition. It covers topics such as
Maximizing endurance, strength and performance
Carbohydrate, protein and fat requirements
Sports supplements
Improving body composition
Eating plans to cut body fat, gain muscle and prepare for competition
Winter is a time when we’re more susceptible to bugs and illnesses. And there’s nothing more frustrating for athletes than missing training due to a cold or flu. Here’s how to fend off this season’s colds by getting your defenses into top gear.
The irony is that, while regular exercise boosts your immune system, intense training can have the opposite effect and depress immune cell functions. Such changes create an ‘open window’ of decreased protection, during which viruses and bacteria can gain a foothold, increasing the risk of developing an infection. It is thought that the increased levels of stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, associated with intense exercise, inhibit the immune system. Other factors such as stress, lack of sleep and poor nutrition can also depress immunity.
Don’t diet
Restricting your calorie intake during periods of hard training can increase cortisol levels and result in a loss of immune function, making you more prone to infections. Match your calorie intake and expenditure.
Feed your immune system well
Deficiencies of protein and certain nutrients can weaken your immune system. Ensure you’re consuming plenty of foods rich in immunity-boosting nutrients – vitamins A, C and E, vitamin B6, zinc, iron and magnesium. Focus on fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds, while limiting highly-processed foods.
This increases your saliva production, which contains antibacterial proteins that can fight off airborne germs.
Get enough sleep
Sleep is when the body and immune system recovers . During sleep your body produces antibodies and cytokines, proteins that co-ordinate your body’s response to infection and inflammation. Lack of sleep depresses the immune system, making you more susceptible to illnesses and infection. One study found that getting fewer than 6 hours sleep a night can quadruple your risk of catching a cold. Aim for 7 to 9 hours each night.
Be supplement savvy
In general, there is not much convincing evidence that supplements boost immunity or prevent colds in healthy people. Moderate doses of vitamin C supplements (<1g) may help reduce the incidence of colds during periods of severe physical stress, such as during heavy training blocks or before and after competition, according to a Cochrane review of 29 studies, but not in non-athletes. There’s also some evidence that probiotic supplements may help protect against and reduce symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections.
A better way to increase the beneficial micro-organisms in your gut, though, is to eat a varied diet rich in fibre, aiming for around 20 – 30 different fruit, vegetables, whole grains and pulses a week. Including fermented foods containing probiotics, such as live yogurt, sourdough bread, sauerkraut and kefir will also help. As will eating prebiotic foods (e.g. onion, garlic, lentils, beans, asparagus and leeks) .
But, if a cold has already taken hold, try sucking zinc acetate lozenges regularly throughout the day (equivalent to a daily dose of at least 75mg elemental zinc). They have been shown to reduce the duration of the common cold by 44%. It’s important you take zinc in lozenge form (not tablets) as it needs to dissolve in the mouth and act directly on the cells lining the pharynx. I’ve used Healthspan zinc defence lozenges with success (I am not sponsored or paid by the company!). However, there is no evidence for taking zinc tablets.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out the new edition of The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition , the definitive practical handbook for anyone wanting a performance advantage. It’s the 8th edition (the 1st edition came out in 1993!) and it has been fully updated and revised to bring together the latest research and information on sport and exercise nutrition. It covers topics such as
Maximizing endurance, strength and performance
Carbohydrate, protein and fat requirements
Sports supplements
Improving body composition
Eating plans to cut body fat, gain muscle and prepare for competition
– How to adjust your diet to keep up with your age
Are you finding it harder to hit your PBs, exercise as hard or as long as you once did, or make substantial gains in the gym? Well, that’s perfectly normal! As we go through our 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond, our bodies change. Typically, most people start to see a drop in their aerobic capacity and peak performance some time in their 30s. It’s also around this time that the body gradually loses its ability to build muscle and strength. Our ability to recover between workouts diminishes, bone mass declines and injuries take longer to heal. Fortunately, a combination of appropriate exercise and nutrition can help reduce age-related declines in performance.
Without resistance exercise, you can expect to lose around 8% of your muscle mass per decade. Without consistent strength training, this will result in a drop in your resting metabolic rate, or the rate at which your body burns calories. Add to this a drop in physical activity – or an increase in sedentary activity – and it becomes more challenging to stay lean.
With age, the muscles become less responsive to the anabolic effects of protein and exercise. This concept is often referred to as anabolic resistance (or anabolic blunting), and explains why it gets harder to build muscle as you get older. You may have noticed that you simply can’t get the same muscle gains as you once did despite doing the same training. Scientists believe the body slowly down-regulates muscle protein synthesis signaling.
Eating more protein will help reduce muscle loss or at least off-set this anabolic resistance. People who do this maintain around 40% more muscle compared with those who eat very little protein. For active people, researchers recommend a daily protein intake of 1.2 – 1.5g/ kg body weight/ day to help preserve muscle mass and strength. It is more practical, though, to work out your protein intake per meal. Studies suggest this should be in the region of 0.4 g/ kg BW per meal (or at least 30g for a 75kg person), which is considerably higher than the recommendation for younger athletes of 0.25g/ kg BW/ day (see below for suggestions).
The type of fat you consume may make a difference to your ability to build muscle. There is convincing evidence that, in terms of preserving muscle mass, omega-3s become more important as we get older. Researchers at Washington University found that daily supplementation of omega-3 fats for 8 weeks increased the rate of muscle building in older adults, while Brazilian researchers measured greater strength gains in older women who consumed a daily omega-3 supplement in conjunction with a 90-day resistance training programme compared with those who didn’t take supplements.
Low blood levels of vitamin D are common across all age groups but is particularly problematic as we get older as the skin’s capacity to produce vitamin D from UV light diminishes. Low levels may reduce muscle function and strength and impair performance. Getting adequate levels of vitamin D whether from sun exposure, diet or supplements becomes more important for optimal performance. Best dietary sources include oily fish, egg yolk and liver. The Government recommend a 10 microgram (400 IU) supplement of vitamin D3 during the autumn and winter months (between October and April in the UK).
As we get older our perception of thirst decreases as does our sweat rate and the ability of kidneys to concentrate urine. All this means that you’re more susceptible to dehydration so it may be prudent to drink to a planned schedule rather than relying totally on thirst.
7 Sports Nutrition Tips for Older Athletes
Eat 30 – 40g protein at each meal. Get this from a medium-sized (125g) chicken or turkey breast, or one (150g) fish fillet, or one small tin (120g) tuna, or 300g strained Greek yogurt, or 4 large eggs, or 400ml whey protein shake.
Boost vitamin D – Adequate levels of this nutrient can help improve your bone health, boost your immune system and improve muscle performance.
Get more omega-3s – As well as protecting heart health, omega-3 fats have been shown to increase blood flow to muscles during exercise, reduce post-exercise inflammation and increase the muscle-building response to a meal. Aim for one portion of salmon, mackerel or sardines a week, or 1tbsp flaxseeds, chia seeds or walnuts daily.
Estimate how much fluid you need to drink during exercise by calculating your sweat rate – the difference between your pre- and post-workout weight. Divide your hourly sweat rate by 4 to give you a guideline for how much to drink every 15 minutes.
Consume polyphenol-rich foods – Researchers believe polyphenols – found in colourful fruit and veg – may help prevent certain age-related diseases, including heart disease, eye problems and cancer.
Don’t eat less than 20% of your calories from fat. Otherwise you risk deficient intakes of fat soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids. Aim for mono-and unsaturated fats (including omega-3s) to be at the forefront of your fat intake: oily fish, avocados, nuts, seeds and olive oil.
Don’t skimp on your recovery nutrition. As you get older, recovery from hard workouts takes longer so refuel with protein and carbohydrate. Good options include 500ml milk, 300ml whey protein shake, or 250ml strained Greek yogurt.
Key points
You may experience a drop in energy requirements as you get older
You’ll need more protein to offset age-related muscle loss and anabolic resistance
Consuming omega-3 fats and vitamin D become more important as you get older
Thirst becomes a less reliable indicator of your fluid needs
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out the new edition of The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition , the definitive practical handbook for anyone wanting a performance advantage. It’s the 8th edition (the 1st edition came out in 1993!) and it has been fully updated and revised to bring together the latest research and information on sport and exercise nutrition. It covers topics such as
Maximizing endurance, strength and performance
Carbohydrate, protein and fat requirements
Sports supplements
Improving body composition
Eating plans to cut body fat, gain muscle and prepare for competition
One of the most common questions I get asked by runners is how to fuel during long runs when you don’t feel like eating anything. Many find that drinking a sports drink or eating food makes them feel like throwing it straight back up. Do you also struggle fuelling during races? Well, you’re not alone – fuelling on the move can prove tricky for many. It can make you feel bloated, uncomfortable, queasy and even trigger vomiting or diarrhoea.
As result, many endurance athletes prefer training on ‘empty’, shunning fluid at aid stations and forgoing fuel during races for fear of unplanned toilet stops. But when you’re exercising at high intensities and competing for longer than 60 – 90 minutes, this strategy can quickly lead to dehydration, reduced endurance and perhaps not even finishing the race. Quite a conundrum.
Fortunately, there is a solution: ‘gut training’. Sports scientists say that the gut is very adaptable. This means that it can respond to nutritional training during exercise. In other words, you can literally train your gut – much like any other muscle in your body – to tolerate and absorb more carbohydrate while exercising. There’s not been a great deal of research on the topic but this excellent review by Asker Jeukendrup provides a neat summary.
What’s required is a gradual and consistent approach to fuelling and drinking on the move. The idea is to start with small quantities and increase slowly over time. With practice, your stomach will learn to accommodate a greater volume of fluid and food and empty faster so you start to feel less full and uncomfortable whilst exercising.
By focusing on carb-rich foods and drinks, you’ll also train your gut to absorb carbohydrates more efficiently. This increases the number and activity of glucose transporters in the gut, allowing greater carbohydrate absorption and utilisation during exercise.
Normally the gut can only absorb a maximum of 60g per hour. Any more than this just sits ‘heavy’ in the stomach. But by gradually increasing the amount of carbs you consume during exercise and by consuming a mixture of glucose (or maltodextrin) and fructose (such as an energy drink), you can train your gut to absorb up to 90g per hour. This would be beneficial when you’re exercising at high intensities for longer than 2 hours.
How long will it take to train your gut? Like most things in nutrition, it’s very individual. Some people adapt quicker than others but you can expect a significant improvement within a few weeks. Here’s how to train your gut for workouts longer than 60 – 90 minutes
Gradually increase the amount of fluid you consume during exercise – little and often works best. Start with just a couple of sips pre- and mid-workout, then increase gradually as you become accustomed to the sensation of fluid in your stomach.
Experiment with different food options to discover which foods or products your body can tolerate. Try a couple of bites of banana, a Medjool date, an energy ball (such as these Energy Balls) or a bite of energy bar. Other options include fruit bars, jelly babies, energy gels, plain biscuits, rice cakes or fig rolls.
Begin refuelling after 30 or 60 minutes, then aim for 10 – 15g carbs every 30 minutes. Do this for each long workout (> 90 minutes). Once this feels okay, up the quantity or add another mid-workout ‘feed’. Over time your stomach will learn to accept bigger volumes and empty faster, so instead of feeling full and bloated, you’ll feel comfortable.
When preparing for a big race, it’s important to practise your fuelling plan during training. Take the same foods and drinks that you plan to use in the race. It may take quite a bit of trial and error so try to do this early in your race preparation programme. Don’t leave it to race day!
Being able to train your gut this way will give you a huge advantage for training and races longer than two hours. It means that you’ll be able to stay fuelled, cut the risk of getting gut problems and ultimately improve your performance.
More than 100 delicious, easy-to-prepare vegetarian and vegan recipes for healthy breakfasts, main meals, desserts, sweet and savoury snacks and shakes.
Expert advice on how to get the right nutrients to maximise your performance without meat
Stunning food photography
Full nutrition information for each recipe, including calories, carbohydrate, fat, protein and fibre
Periodised carbohydrate training has become the latest buzzword among endurance athletes. Essentially it means matching your diet to your workload and new research suggests it may improve endurance performance and make you a more efficient fat burner.
The idea behind training with low glycogen stores (‘training low’) is that it forces the muscles to burn more fat for fuel and rely less on carbohydrate. By teaching your body to tap into its fat stores, you should in theory be able to keep exercising for longer before reaching fatigue.
Indeed, studies (here and here) have shown that when you ‘train low’ you increase the muscle’s adaptive response to training. It increases mitochondrial biogenesis, so you get an increase in the number and volume of mitochondria – the fat-burning powerhouses – in the muscle cells. The more mitochondria you possess, the greater your muscles’ ability to use fat as fuel, sparing your glycogen stores.
High-intensity exercise feels much harder. Your performance, rather than improving, may drop. Your immune system may become depressed, increasing the risk of infection. And you could lose muscle.
But with periodised carbohydrate training you get the dual benefits of ‘training low’ – namely fat adaptation – as well as the performance benefits of high intensity training. Also, it’s a more sustainable approach. Essentially, it means doing some of your low-intensity sessions in a carb-depleted state, and your higher intensity sessions with high glycogen stores.
The simplest way to ‘train low’ is to train in the morning before breakfast. However, this should be done before an easy session, nothing too long or too intense. Alternatively, if you want to train low in the evening, cut carbohydrate at breakfast and lunchtime (keeping to mainly high-protein foods and vegetables). Another method is ‘sleeping low’. This means doing a tough session before sleep, eating a low carb dinner then doing a low-intensity session the next morning.
This method looks more promising in terms of performance improvement. A multi-centre 2016 study with triathletes found that those who followed a ‘sleeping low’ protocol for three weeks improved their cycling efficiency (power output per calorie) by 11%, 10km running performance by 2.9%, time to exhaustion during high intensity exercise by 12.5%, and also reduced their body fat compared with those who did all their training with high glycogen stores.
A follow-up study with cyclists by the same team found that using a ‘sleeping low’ strategy for just six days resulted in a 3.2 percent improvement in a 20K time trial.
Most recently, a study at the Australian Institute of Sport compared the performance effects of a high-carb diet (60 – 65% carb), a periodised carb diet (same macro’s but periodised within or between days) and a LCHF diet (<50g carbs) in a group of 21 elite race-walkers. After 3-weeks on each diet, all athletes improved their aerobic fitness (VO2 max) but only those on the high carb or periodised carb diet improved their 10k race performance. The athletes on the LCHF diet did not make any improvement. Although they were burning a higher proportion of fat during exercise, their muscles became less efficient at producing energy, requiring more oxygen at any given speed. All of which suggests that fat adaptation incurs an efficiency penalty.
To date, this is the highest quality study on low carb vs high carb that we have. Although It makes a pretty damning case against chronic low carb diets, it also provides good evidence for a periodised carbohydrate approach.
In summary, eating low carb all the time is unlikely to benefit your performance unless you’re exercising at a relatively low intensity for long periods, such as ultra-distance events. For other endurance activities, it may be worth trying a periodised low carb approach.
Pick just one or two short low-intensity sessions a week alongside your normal training when you are fully fuelled. Keep a training log and see whether it helps your training or not. If you suffer gut problems when consuming carbs during running, then ‘training low’ may suit you. Also, not having to carry bars and gels during long runs may be helpful from a practical point of view. Remember, whatever the research says, a good nutrition strategy boils down to doing whatever works for you as an individual.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about vegetarian diets, then read my new book, The Vegetarian Athlete’s Cookbook – More than 100 recipes for active living (Bloomsbury, 2016)
It features:
More than 100 delicious, easy-to-prepare vegetarian and vegan recipes for healthy breakfasts, main meals, desserts, sweet and savoury snacks and shakes.
Expert advice on how to get the right nutrients to maximise your performance without meat
Stunning food photography
Full nutrition information for each recipe, including calories, carbohydrate, fat, protein and fibre
Think a vegetarian diet can’t give you the right nutrition for your training? Well think again – there are plenty of examples of world-class athletes who have shunned meat. David Haye, Lizzie Armistead, and Serena and Venus Williams, Brendan Brazier and Martina Navratilova to name a few. Whether you’re a veggie sceptic, a committed vegetarian, a part-time veggie (‘flexitarian’) or among the one in three people who have cut meat over the past year (or the 50,000 who have signed up for the Veganuary campaign), it’s worth keeping a few things in mind to make sure your diet is as healthy as possible. Here are my nutrition tips and tricks for athletes on a vegetarian diet.
Protein
Make sure you’re getting a variety of vegetarian protein in your diet every day by eating a range of dairy foods, eggs, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, soya products (tofu, tempeh), whole grains and quinoa.
Most plant sources of protein – with the exceptions of quinoa, soya and hemp – do not provide all 8 amino acids. The solution is to combine protein sources. They don’t always need to be eaten at the same meal, just over the course of the day. However, as a vegetarian athlete, it would be wise to get a complete source of protein at most of your meals
For optimal muscle recovery, vegetarian athlets should aim for 0.3g/ kg body weight (roughly 20 – 25g) post-exercise and per meal. This is equivalent to 500ml milk or 25g whey, soya, pea or hemp protein (mixed with water), or 4 tablespoons (200g) cooked pulses combined with 5 tablespoons (250g) cooked whole grains (pasta, rice or quinoa).
Iron
Iron from plants is harder for your body to absorb than iron found in meat. The easiest way round this is by always eating a vitamin C-rich food (i.e fruit, vegetables) at the same time as iron-rich foods. The citric acid found naturally in fruit and vegetables also promotes iron absorption.
Foods high in iron include whole grains, quinoa, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, green leafy green vegetables, dried fruit and egg yolk.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 can only be obtained from animal sources. So vegans will need to supplement B12 or include a B12-fortified non-dairy milk, yeast extract or breakfast cereal. For vegetarians, adequate amounts can be obtained from eggs and dairy products. Lack of B12 can result in anaemia and impact adversely on endurance performance.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3s are vital for heart health and brain function. They can also help reduce inflammation and promote recovery after intense exercise. The main source of the essential fatty acids EPA and DHA is oily fish, but if you’re vegetarian you’ll need to get them elsewhere. You can get alpha linoleic acid (ALA) from flaxseeds, hemp, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds and walnuts. Some of this is converted to EPA and DHA in the body (albeit inefficiently). Try to include at least one tablespoon of these in your diet each day, or consider taking a vegetarian omega-3 supplement made from microalgae oil. Fish get their Omega-3 from eating algae.
Can a vegetarian diet allow you to reach your athletic potential?
The resounding answer is yes! My last post detailed results of a recent study that found vegetarian diets can indeed support strength and fitness development and may even be advantageous for some athletes. A review by Australian researchers found that well-planned and varied vegetarian diets neither hinder nor improve athletic performance. In 2004, Canadian researchers showed that vegetarian diets can provide more than enough protein to support athletic training and performance.
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about vegetarian diets, then read my new book, The Vegetarian Athlete’s Cookbook – More than 100 recipes for active living (Bloomsbury, 2016)
It features:
More than 100 delicious, easy-to-prepare vegetarian and vegan recipes for healthy breakfasts, main meals, desserts, sweet and savoury snacks and shakes.
Expert advice on how to get the right nutrients to maximise your performance without meat
Stunning food photography
Full nutrition information for each recipe, including calories, carbohydrate, fat, protein and fibre
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my brand new book, The Runner’s Cookbook. It features more than 100 delicious recipes to fuel your running. With a foreword from five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, the book also provides practical nutrition advice on fuelling before, during and after running, guidance on hydration and supplements, weight loss tips, how to recover from injury, and how to prepare for 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons and ultra races.
If you’re looking for some easy and tasty inspiration on how to include more plant foods in your diet, then 
More than 100 delicious, easy-to-prepare vegetarian and vegan recipes for healthy breakfasts, main meals, desserts, sweet and savoury snacks and shakes.