Recently Ive been talking to a lot of athletes who are gearing up for big events like The Lake Taupo Challenge and 1/2 Ironman and it really makes me think about the 5 P's - PRIOR PLANNING PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE !! Nutrition, whether you are an athlete or not comes down to planning - you can have the best intentions but if you are not planned then chances are its not going to go to plan.
It is essential for athletes who are training for events to plan ahead - think about what your event entails - e.g. how long will you be competing for? what could go wrong in that time to extend that time? what foods and fluids will you have beforehand? what foods are suitable and work for you during the event? how do you carry your food and fluid needs? do you need support crew? will you take this food and fluid with you or will you rely on finding it in the event location? what do you need for recovery? how many times will you practice these strategies before the event? how will travelling to the event impact on your food choice?
As you can see there are a huge number of factors that need to be planned for an event. Sometimes it can seem like more work but two great examples can highlight the downside of this - one year that I did the full Taupo cycle challenge I actually saw a rider get off his bike and get a pie from a local store as he had run out of food - a pie as a good fuel source - NO WAY!, and another year a major supermarket ran out of bread - now if you had relied on finding toast at the location you would have been very disappointed! take what you need with you and then there's no risk of getting frustrated trying to find your 'normal event food'.
It is important to plan ahead, that way when you get to the start line you can relax and concentrate on your event - you have planned and practiced your strategies so you know they work! Prior planning prevents poor performance! For more info on how we can help you plan http://sportsnutritionist.co.nz/index.php?pr=Sports_Nutrition_
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