Nutrition

Eat Well – Train Well – Compete Well

Your day should start with BREAKFAST. 

Eat a high carbohydrate breakfast accompanied by some fruit or juice. Remember to have a drink.

Mid Morning 

Cereal bar and a drink, avoid fizzy drinks.

Lunch 

If you eat school lunch select the healthy option such as pasta, rice or baked potato plus some fruit and a drink.

If you have a packed lunch eat all your sandwiches plus some fruit and a drink.

 Mid Afternoon 

Banana or cereal bar plus a drink.

 Home from School 

Home by 4.00pm. Training at 6.00 don’t eat after 5.00. In other words don’t eat less than an hour before training. Have a light meal or snack plus a drink.

During Training

Drink the contents of your water bottle. If taking part in Club Championships or Pembs League gala, bring some fruit or a cereal bar to nibble on.

After Training / On Journey Home

Drink a carton of fruit juice but no fizzy drinks. Have a snack in your bag ready to eat, a banana, cereal bar or small sandwich to build up your energy levels again. Try to eat within 30 minutes of the end of your session.

Supper

Have a high carbohydrate meal with some protein. Add to your meal by eating bread (wholemeal) with it or drinking fruit juice. If you are really tired when you get home at least have a bowl of cereal with some semi-skimmed milk.

 Sleep

Sleep is important because it is the time when you grow and recovery from daily activity takes place. Get a good nights sleep before a competition to enable you to swim fast.

Food and Meal examples

High Carbohydrate Breakfasts

Cereals - wholegrain varieties. Branflakes, Shredded Wheat, Weetabix, muesli.

Toast - wholemeal or wholegrain bread. Go for thick sliced.

Porridge - sweetened with honey, raisins and dried apricots.

Scotch pancakes with syrup.

Toasted crumpets/teacakes with a little butter.

English muffins and marmite.

Low fat milkshake with banana/fresh fruit/low fat yoghurt.

Fresh fruit and yoghurts.

Beans on toast.

Boiled egg and toast.

Light Meals and Snacks (Ideal for Lunch)

Filled sandwiches, rolls, pitta breads - go for brown or wholemeal bread, not white. Choose fillings like cottage cheese, peanut butter, banana, salad, honey, marmite, tuna, chicken, turkey, ham or combinations of these, (ham, salad).

Rice or pasta salad.

Thick vegetable/pulse based (made with beans) soups with crackers.

Nuts and dried fruit combinations.

Cereal bars, rice cakes, crackers and dry breakfast cereal.

Main Meals

Spaghetti bolognese

Chilli con carne

Chicken with potatoes

Jacket potato with tuna

Have fresh fruit and yoghurt for dessert

Snacks to have between events (1-2 hour breaks)

Bananas and other fruit

Hot cross bun or raisin bread

A small sandwich with a light filling. Try a banana sandwich.

Rice cakes - top with honey or jam

Fruit scones/teacakes

Plain crackers with a little jam.

At Competition

Breakfast before you leave.

Arrive on time for warm up.

30 mins warm uo.

Replace fluids.

Less than one hour before race just keep to fluid replacement.

More than one hour try to eat a little.

Best to eat little and often during the day to keep energy levels high.

Eating too much at once can make you feel heavy and tired.

Try to eat during the longer breaks.

Take your own food with you.

Take enough fluid to last the whole day.

Have something to eat and drink immediately after your last race.

Avoid Burger King on your way home - high fat foods delay recovery.

Prepare high carbohydrate foods plus protein to eat when you get home.

Have a good nights rest.

The Eatwell Plate

In order to be able to train hard and swim fast at competition, you need to eat a well balanced diet.

This should consist of 50-60% of carbohydrate (eg. pasta, potatoes, beans, cereals, bread, etc); 10-15% protein (meat, fish, eggs and soya substitutes etc); and 25-30% of fat (concentrating more on vegetable and fish oils rather than dairy produce).

Fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel are among the best oily fish to eat and things like olives, avocados and nuts provide useful fats.

Also guard against dehydration. Hydrate before you come to training and drink the contents of your water bottle during the session and rehydrate afterwards.

As a rough guide, you should be drinking 6-8 glasses of water (rather than fizzy drinks) a day. Not only will this help you train, it will also help you concentrate better at school and work.

Eat FIVE portions of fruit and/or vegetables a day. Remember that half a tin of baked beans counts as one portion. The vitamins contained in these foods not only help make and keep you healthy but assist your body in producing the energy you need for training and competition.

The most efficient source of energy comes from carbohydrate but needs to be eaten well in advance of training and competition to be effective. The easiest way of doing this is to eat regular meals and to plan your meals in such a way that you are not swimming on a full stomach.

Imagine the sugar contained in sweets and fizzy drinks like a firework. There is a big bang (ie. energy) and then nothing soon after.

Carbohydrates are more like a lump of coal which burns more slowly (also providing energy) but does this over a longer period of time.

In other words, a bowl of pasta eaten the evening before a gala will have a longer lasting effect than a chocolate bar in the morning.

Begin reloading your carbohydrate stores after training in preparation for the next session. Eating a tuna sandwich and an apple within fifteen minutes  after your training session would be ideal and will be a lot better than a bar of chocolate.

You need to plan your eating during a gala as getting it wrong could be costly in terms of your performance.

Have something like a bowl of cereal and some fruit for breakfast. Make sure that you get up early enough to be able to eat breakfast and do not be tempted to eat nothing.

For lunch some pasta and fruit (preferably not at the same time!) is a good idea. Try to eat as soon as the lunch break starts rather than at the end just before the afternoon warm up.

Most important don't eat too much as this will leave you feeling sluggish. It is much better if you snack during the day between races (without overdoing it) rather than just the one meal at lunch time.

For snacks, bananas and cashew nuts are an ideal and tasty combination and will do you a lot more good than chocolate bars. Potassium found in bananas, is important when competing. It works for the top swimmers so why not give it a try yourself.