Nutrition and training are special topics. In the beginning of my triathlon career I didn’t care about nutrition. Soon I had to discover that without the right nutrition a long workout or competition is not easy to finish, if not impossible.
I’m soo hungry
After each workout I got this immense appetite. A workout needs on average 500 to 1,000 kcal (kilocalories) per hour – now calculate what you need for a 3-6 hours workout. You easily reach the a multidude amount of your consumption of energy of a whole day (avg. 2,000 kcal / day).
What is watt?
The energy, you turn over, is measured in watt. At slow workouts your body takes the energy from fat burning – that’s why you have your fat pads :). If your body can’t provide the energy from burning fat, then it is taken from your glycogen storage (contains a maximum of 2,000 kcal) – so you can train for 2-3 hours and then your body can’t deliver any energy without external sources.
Hunger during workout
Becoming hungry during a workout should be avoided at all costs. So you have to take your nutrition with you. Your workouts shouldn’t turn you to a eating machine. Eating too much after workouts is a reason why many athletes don’t loose weight while they train like crazy.
A hint
I always got sick from bars and gels during a race. Why? Eating during a race must be trained. I started to train eating during my workouts (every 20-30 minutes I ate a bar). It should be the same food as you use in your races. Don’t eat or drink different food in your races than in your workouts.
High or low carb
Fat, protein, carbs, fiber are the basic elements of your nutrition. People often talk about a high-carb nutrition of athletes, in my opinion you should also read about low-carb diets (i.e. LOGI). Of course some carbs are necessary, but all the carbo-loading and pasta-parties are not necessary.
There are various good books and links for that.