After months and months of really hard training, many athletes enter an off-season where they either take a small break or significantly reduce their training load. There are a lot of advantages both mental and physical by stepping back and resetting your body and mind. Since training is changing, so should the way you eat.
There is a concept called periodized training. In essence, it means that you should have periods of really hard work followed by easier training to fully recover and allow the body to adapt to hard training so you can continue to push harder and harder with planned rest. Periodized nutrition is similar; changing the way you eat based on your output. Here are some ways you can change the way you eat and fuel to start your peak season feeling fresh and fit.
Eating a bit less. When you reduce your training, you reduce the calories that you burn every day. If you were continue to eat the same as you did during peak training, you may feel bloated, less energetic, and add on some weight. Don't be too scared of this part though. Putting on some weight after a big season isn't a big deal and in a lot of cases can be helpful. A lot of endurance athletes really push the envelope when it comes to their individual body weight trying to be as lean as possible. Putting on a little weight could help your body reset as adequate fat is what is essential to produce sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen.
Focus more on the quality of your diet. In peak training, eating refined carbs can be an easy and quick option to get in enough carbs each day, but other than carbohydrates, there isn't much else in say pasta that is really nutritious. Because reduced training may open up some more free time, use some of that time to cook and experiment with new recipes. Veggies do take a bit more time to cook, but the payoff of eating more fibrous, nutrient dense foods can really pay off. Understandably, when peak season is upon us, we have less time to cook, but we need to eat much more, so cooking could be much harder. Take advantage of the off season to work on your diet quality.
Fueling can be a little less regimented. During peak training, it is paramount to train the gut to tolerate high amounts of carbohydrates so that when race day comes, you're prepared to stick to a high carb fueling strategy that could really help your performance. However, during off season when you're far removed from racing, you may not have to be as rigorous about high carb fueling. Because your training and intensity have dropped, your need for carbs decreases and reliance on fat increases. If you're running much slower than usual, but you try to cram in 90 grams of carbs per hour, you may experience nausea and upset stomach since you're not utilizing those carbs as much as when you're pushing hard. The reduction doesn't need to be drastic by any means, but a slight reduction will not only keep your stomach happy, but you could also rev up your fat burning metabolism by reducing carb intake a bit as well.
Track what you eat. Again, time is limited for a lot of us during peak training so tracking what you eat through a diet app can be cumbersome and unrealistic. During off season though, you may have more time to check in with your diet and see what the quality of your diet looks like. Micronutrients like iron, zinc, magnesium, and vitamin B12 can often be low in athletes. By looking over what you eat, you can address areas where you may be deficient. This is where the help of a nutritionist could be very helpful.
These four tips should help you feel great during off season as well as when peak training begins again. It's amazing what a few months of reduced training can do as well as refocusing on your diet.
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