Adopting correct nutrition and hydration strategies offers a platform for more consistent training, and a greater chance of a positive outcome from your hard work. Good nutrition will not make you a world champion overnight, and getting it wrong will leave you unable to fulfil your potential. So we need to recognise the need for a healthy daily platform that we can build our training programme around.

To understand the nutrition concept we are going to break it down into 4 different components:

1. Daily nutrition: Daily meals, snacks and calorie intake.

2. Fuelling: Calories absorbed during and immediately after a race or training session.

3. Daily Hydration: Staying hydrated throughout the day when not training or competing.

4. Exercise Hydration: Hydration during and immediately after the race.

Whilst not adding excess fat, to avoid athletic starvation we need to provide enough of the right kind of calories to have the best chance of fulfilling our potential.

‘Good Nutrition leads to MAXIMISED PERFORMANCE, PROMOTES RECOVERY, LIMITS THE OVERALL METABOLIC STRESS, MANAGING WEIGHT AND BODY COMPOSITION, BUILDS A FOUNDATION FOR OVERALL HEALTH.’ Matt Dixon.

Daily Nutrition:

Daily nutrition is the normal meals and snacks we have during the day, providing us with the correct levels of vitamins, minerals and macronutrients to ensure we maintain a healthy immune system and also maintain or improve body composition. Breakfast, lunch and dinner should contain the right balance of protein, carbohydrate (try and get these from nutritious vegetables rather than bread or pasta) and fats.

Fuelling:

The fuelling window starts thirty minutes before the workout and up to two hours after it ends. Fuelling allows us to optimise the upcoming session’s performance, allows the recovery process to start, prevents cravings after the workout (facilitates body composition maintenance) and limits metabolic stress.

1. Pre-workout fuelling:

This should start thirty minutes before the workout and consist of protein, a little carbohydrate and some high-quality fat.

2. Fuelling during training:

For workouts longer than sixty minutes we should look to compliment our carbohydrate intake little and often. To help absorption during exercise they should also be taken with high quality, low calorie fluids containing a little sodium.

3. After training:

We need to try and lower cortisol levels and begin the re-synthesis of muscle by taking 15-20g of protein. Some carbohydrates are also required to replenish depleted energy stores. These macro nutrients can be taken on via high quality shakes or drinks, as this will also aid post workout hydration.

4. Post workout meal:

Between 90 and 120 minutes after the workout, it is recommended to replenish lost calories and promote the recovery process with a healthy mixture of protein, carbohydrate and a high quality fat. As metabolism is still relatively high at this point, carbohydrate absorption will be high, and this post workout meal can help prevent cravings later on.

Nick McDonald

Personal Trainer Sevenoaks

Personal Trainer Blackheath