What you put into your Body
First I want to say that I am not a nutritionist. I did take some nutrition classes in college (University of New Hampshire) as I have always been interested in nutrition. What I write below are my personal findings from an endurance athlete.
A lot of people assume that since I am an athlete that I must eat really clean. Long story short, that's not always the case at all. I do try to make healthy decisions but I defiantly splurge at times. Probably more often than what I should but that's not a bad thing at all since I'm burning up almost everything that I eat. In high school I ate VERY clean. For a snack I would consume a big bag of vegetables/fruit that ususally consisted of broccoli, carrots, celery and grapes. After dinner I wouldn't eat any deserts because I thought they would "slow" me down. (I was a competitive cross country/track runner in high school) In fact, I was probably slowing myself down because I wasn't eating those brownies. It's important to have fat in your diet and it also good to have cholesterol as it helps regulate your hormones and even your testosterone levels.
If you are training for an Ironman, you most likely have a high metabolism all of the time. You're even burning a lot of calories on your rest days too. Therefore it's important to eat...A LOT! Now I'm not saying that you should try to consume as many calories as you can for each meal. That's not the case at all. Its important to eat throughout the day and keep a steady energy source flowing in your system. I probably have 5-7 small/medium meals a day vs having 3 big meals a day. If you're hungry, snack.
Now what to snack on? I like to consume foods that are heavy in good fats. Some of these foods include: nuts, avocados, olives, boiled eggs, dark chocolate, coconuts, chia seeds. Eating vegetables and fruits are good but they are not neccessarily high dense in calories. It's also important to keep food in the car. I keep granola bars in the car. If I am hungry after my swim, I know where to go. If I am on the go and didn't get a good meal in I at least have a snack in the car on the go.
What your body burns. Your body's primary source of fuel should be fat for an Ironman. If you're doing a super/sprint triathlon, you're going to be burning more simple sugars/carbs. Now if you're not properly fueling yourself, you're going to tap into your energy sources much much faster. You'll be burning some fat but you'll also be burning your muscle. You don't want to use much of your muscle as a fuel source because it will leave you feeling weak and depleted, often leading to an injury. If your body isn't consuming enough calories you're also putting your body into survival mode which is the natural response. This means your body will be holding on to those fat stores.
Racing lighter equals faster right? Not always! In the years past I used to race at 163 pounds. I had some decent results but seemed to struggle a little at the end of my Ironmans. In the last 14+ months I have been racing at 170 pounds and I have been racing better and feeling stronger at the end of my Ironmans. Carrying those extra pounds helped me finish with a 8:04 at Ironman Cozumel taking off over 10 minutes from my personal best. How did I gain that extra weight? Well that extra weight was muscle. I was able to put on and gain that extra muscle three different ways. #1. I ate more. More snacking and more meals. #2. After my long workouts I made sure to consume a protein shake right after. I personally use FitPro which is a very clean high quality source of protein. This also helped me with recovery. #3. I've taken BASE aminos. Aminos are broken down strands of protein. Because these are already broken down they are absorbed quickly into the blood stream vs. protein itself. Great! What does that mean? That means you can take aminos while you train and since it's released into the blood stream quickly, you won't be breaking down muscle while you workout. This also means you'll recover quicker.
I'm sure a lot of people will want to know what I eat the night before I race an Ironman. Well I eat a burger and sweet potato fries. Lots of fat, carbs and protein!
I have always said that triathlon is like a jigsaw puzzle and it takes time to master it. Hopefully you've learned something and you can add another piece to your jigsaw puzzle. All the best in 2017!