Fuel: Managing Food Challenges When Traveling

Traveling with a team to a training destination or weekend-long regatta presents many sports-nutrition challenges, especially when some rowers have special dietary needs (vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, etc.).

Add back-to-back races with limited recovery time, and optimal fueling gets even more challenging. To reduce those challenges, many professional, Olympic, and collegiate teams hire a registered dietitian (R.D.) who is also a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics (C.S.S.D.)

The registered dietitian and certified sports dietetics specialist makes arrangements for proper meals and snacks when the team is on the road and occasionally even travels with the crew. Usually, athletes and coaches on high-school, club, and community teams are left to fend for themselves when it comes to figuring out how to eat well.

While a coach, athletic trainer, or parent might step in and attempt to manage fueling needs, this normally falls outside their area of expertise. Because managing a traveling team’s fueling requirements is important, here are some helpful ideas drawn from a webinar presented by Professionals in Nutrition for Exercise and Sport and the American Sports and Performance Dietitians Association.

During rowing events that involve travel and hotels, food challenges arise inevitably, such as needing food for a team that competes hours later than scheduled because of weather delays; replenishing a dinner buffet that runs out of food because another group got there first; finding budget-friendly food choices at hotels, etc. These are times when a registered dietitian or sports dietetics specialist can take charge, handle food issues, and offer the team a huge advantage.

Fueling for regattas tests the nutrition knowledge rowers have acquired during the season, including how to plan in advance for meals and snacks on the road and how to be adaptable when food expectations fall apart. When rowers understand why it matters what and when they eat, they’re more likely to apply optimal fueling practices, even when routines disappear.

Regatta schedules filled with back-to-back events are challenging for rowers who have little time to refuel optimally. They need to be taught how to take advantage of every opportunity to eat and drink, before, during, and between events, as well as before bed and in the early morning. A team nutritionist can educate rowers during training—before the regatta season—so they understand the important role food plays on a daily basis in enhancing performance, recovery, and injury prevention.

If traveling by plane or bus, some teams get handed a travel pack (fluids, food, protein bars, energy bars, ear plugs, eye mask). This is a nice touch, if allowed by the budget. At the very least, someone should make sure each rower is carrying a water bottle. Never travel without fluids being readily available!

On-site snack shacks may sell hot dogs, french fries, and other inappropriate sport foods. Whoever is responsible for feeding the rowers should find out in advance the location of nearby grocery stores, bring a rolling cooler for fluids, and pre-pack quick carb-based sport snacks (pretzels, bagels, grapes). Gathering information from other teams that have been at the site before can be helpful. Even with the perfect plan in place, however, good intentions often fall apart.

Pre-event anxiety can heighten rowers’ fears about suffering from GI distress or “feeling heavy” if they eat before they compete. Ideally, the team nutritionist has encouraged them to experiment with event-day fueling before the regatta. Popular and well-tolerated carbs include gummy chews, gels, and apple sauce, as well as cut-up fruit. (Athletes generally prefer cut-up fruit, such as orange slices, to a whole piece of fruit.)   

Back-to-back events require that rapid refueling begin as soon as possible. Rowers should prioritize calories and carbohydrates (not protein). When the event begins, someone needs to set out recovery fluids, shakes, and snacks so they’ll be ready and waiting to replenish sweat losses and energy stores. Best scenario: Someone has packed a cooler with a variety of shakes and recovery products ready to be grabbed after the event. Writing the rower’s name on the shake increases compliance.

When rowers finish events at differing times, such as happens at a regatta, swim meet, or track & field event, the best plan is to have the post-event dinner delivered to the venue. This is far preferable to wasting refueling time by waiting several hours to eat a team dinner at the hotel.

By the middle and end of the season, a travel team often tires of travel food. A creative dietitian can nudge hotel chefs or caterers to tweak their standard menus and add some of the rowers’ favorites while keeping in mind the principles of sports nutrition. Offering special meals and fun foods encourages adequate intake of carbs and calories.

Traveling to an international rowing event makes food even more challenging, since what’s ordered may not be what rowers expected. An American rice cake might be entirely different from a Japanese rice cake.

At the elite level, Olympic and Paralympic teams often create their own performance pantry stocked with desired sport foods. Since the main dining hall in the athletes village caters to thousands of athletes, volunteers, and staff representing over 30 sports and over 200 countries, having a customized food pantry can eliminate potential food problems.

Food safety is critically important at all sports events. No athlete wants to lose because of food-related illness. Troubling fact: Self-serve buffets are one of the riskiest food-service environments when it comes to infection control.

When participating in multi-day regattas, you can spot the rowers who do not have a food plan or sports-nutrition knowledge. You don’t want them on your team! With proper nutrition education and pre-travel meal planning, your team will have an advantage. A sport dietitian and dietetics specialist can be instrumental in helping your crew overcome fueling challenges before, during, and after repeated days with back-to-back events.

If you’re going to be a serious competitor, why not eat to win? 

Nancy Clark, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D., counsels both fitness exercisers and competitive athletes in the Boston area (Newton; 617-795-1875). Her best-selling Sports Nutrition Guidebook is a popular resource, as is her online workshop. For more information, visit NancyClarkRD.com

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