Alright. I guess its my turn.
K. So I started swimming for my high school two weeks ago. We're supposed to go to 8 practices a week, witch means that I swim every afternoon, and three out of five practices in the morning. Now, I know this might not sound like a huge deal to most swimmers. But I'm sorry, this would be my first time doing 2-a-day's, and going to school at the same time. This year, I'm taking 10 classes. (don't ask me how, because I don't really know ether) Now, problem. When you swim that often, and that hard, you need carbohydrates to back you up and give you the energy that you need.... You also need the time to eat them.
Now, when I started two weeks ago, I got to say, I didn't really know what I was doing. I understood that I had 15 minutes to shower, get changed, and be at school, but I wasn't really thinking of breakfast. So the first day I had practice in the morning, I hadn't thought of breakfast, and, since I was running a little late that morning, also forgot about lunch. Let me tell you now, NOT A GOOD IDEA. Thankfully after practice I found a PB granola bar in my bag. Miracle? Yes, basically saved my life. However, when lunch came around, (I don't know why I wasn't completely starved) I just wasn't that hungry. So all I had for lunch, was bread sticks. So when I go to practice that afternoon, by the second set, I was getting light headed. By the third one, I was hyperventilating, and when practice was finally over, I could barely get out of the pool.
Moral of the story? EAT YOUR FOOD!!!! Even if you aren't hungry. You need to have enough carbs in you if your going to work that hard. So, if you are in a situation like me, where you don't have enough time to eat real meals, get things that you can eat on the go. I got these pop tarts, (the healthy whole grain kind, not the sugary stuff) and they are actually really good. I also got this mixture you put into a cup of milk, that has lots of vitamins and minerals, but it tastes better than normal chocolate milk. Its great. Now, you do need to realize that eating too much food is just as dangerous as not eating enough. Find a balance, be smart, and don't be like me!!
~Expresso
P.S. Also: drink lots of water! The average adult who works out for 30 minutes a day needs about 8 cups of water a day! Swimmers who have practice for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours a day loses 6-8 cups of water. This means to stay hydrated, we have to be drinking water as much as we can, whenever we can. Yes I understand that not all of us drink 24 cups of water a day. But drink as much as you can. Get a water bottle. Drink it.
PPS. You can find great food tips in 'Splash', a magazine for swimmers. Garrett Weber-Gale writes a section on food and eating right, and I've found it to be helpful. It's a really great magazine, and its got some really good tips. I encourage you to read it, if you already don't, or subscribe, if you already haven't. You could probably find it on line some where too... I'll find it and post a link later... ta ta!
