Metro_Training

Metro State Cycling

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By the time this article graces the web pages of bike.com the days of summer will be long past and most of us will be fully immersed in our base training regimen of long slow endurance rides. Logging seemingly endless hours on the bike is common this time of year but this is also a time to think about retraining your palate and for some of us completely overhauling poor eating habits. No longer will you be able to get away with post-ride gorge fests that followed summer races. Instead you’ll likely need to exert more discrimination regarding what you put into your mouth this off-season particularly if your goal is to come in a few lb’s lighter by race season.

You heard right! Despite common misconception, the “off-season”, not during the race season, is the ideal time for cyclists to pursue weight loss. Trying to lose weight during the race season is akin to shooting yourself in the foot. It can be done, but typically at the expense of negative effect on your performance. Unfortunately, the winter months with their plethora of food-centered holidays are none too conducive for restricting calories.

However, just as base training on the bike produces a solid foundation for future phases, the eating habits you establish now can create a healthy foundation for which to build your future diet. In short, off-season training requires “off-season eating”.

Thus the intent of this article is to provide you with some practical suggestions on how to curb your caloric intake over the next few months and improve the overall quality of your diet in preparation for next race season.

•Front-load your caloric intake. Recall the old expression, “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper”. Research studies consistently show people who eat more food in the morning hours tend to eat less total fat, saturated fat, and most importantly less total food. If you’ve never been a big breakfast eater start small by adding fruit, yogurt, or cereal or perhaps wait 30 to 60 minutes after awakening to eat if the thought of eating right away is nauseating.

•After breakfast, plan to eat a meal or mini-meal every 3-4 hours. I use the term mini-meal to get athletes to thinking away from eating common snack foods such as chips, cookies, and the ilk. Often times a mini-meal is comprised of foods similar to that eaten at mealtimes albeit in smaller amounts. Here again research shows that frequent meal consistency results in a lower body fat percentage. Take time out to eat regularly, avoid skipping meals which encourages overeating, and most importantly plan your food intake. Poor planning is typically to blame in those instances you find yourself standing in front of a vending machine or stopping by the neighborhood gas station convenience store to satisfy between meal hunger pangs.

•Increase fiber intake. Fiber has the benefit of promoting satiety; that’s the feeling of fullness after eating a meal. The longer you stay full the better you’ll be able to stave off cravings and the less likely you will be to overeat calories for the day. Aim for a minimum of 25 grams of fiber daily. Most Americans are getting half that amount. Here are some basic fiber-boosting tips:

oStart the day with a high fiber cereal (> 8 gm per serving) and add a serving of fruit.

oDitch the refined grains and switch to brown and wild rice, barley, whole wheat pasta and cous cous. If you want to get really adventurous experiment with quinoa, millet, and kashi. For those who can’t bear to give up white rice completely try cooking it with equal portions of brown rice or barley to get more fiber without altering the texture dramatically.

oAdd fruit to your mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. I find an apple with peanut butter or berries added to plain yogurt to be a satisfying high fiber snack that bridges the gap between meals.

oInclude nuts such as almonds, cashews, walnuts, and pecans on a daily basis. Invariably when I start talking nuts people conjure up images of honey-roasted, chocolate-covered, barbecue-flavored nuts but what I’m referring to are good old-fashioned raw or dry-roasted nuts. A typical serving of which is a small handful (~2 Tbsp). The other caveat is that nuts despite being nutrient-dense high fiber foods are also still a high fat food. If you have trouble moderating the portions you consume try adding them to foods you already eat such as cereals or salads.

oAny increase in fiber intake should be implemented gradually over the course of several weeks and accompanied by an increase in fluid consumption to minimize potential gastrointestinal distress.

•Although you’ll probably need to trim back on your recovery meal it is still imperative to make sure you eat well at this crucial time. My experience has been that those riders who reduce intake too much before and after rides wind up feeling much hungrier come the end of the day than if they followed sound fueling guidelines. Remember, busting your hump on the bike even at lower intensities still requires calorie intake. Lounging around the house in the evening hours requires comparatively less so you should be eating more food around the time of exercise and relatively less foods at other times.

•A word about the holidays: unless you’re a hermit it will be near impossible to avoid holiday parties at the office and with family and friends. The best advice is to avoid the “all or nothing” mentality that so often leads to overeating at these gatherings. Rather, “everything in moderation” is a better credo to follow when you find yourself perched in front of yet another holiday spread. Permit yourself to enjoy the holiday festivities but do your best to not overindulge. One strategy that works well is to continue to eat normally on days when you know you will be attending a party. Many people intentionally restrict calories on these occasions and consequently find themselves ravenous by day’s end and they wind up doing more damage than had they just followed their regular eating pattern.

•There have been several recent additions to the sports nutrition market in the past year with Power Bar entering the sports drink arena, Gatorade introducing its Endurance Formula, and seemingly a new gel every week popping up on shelves. Now is the time if you’re unhappy with the taste, texture, or performance of your current arsenal of bars, gels, sports drinks, etc. to experiment with and determine what you’ll be mixing in your water bottles and stashing in your jersey pockets next year.

•Take some opportunities to educate yourself on the topic on nutrition. Legendary cycling coach Chris Carmichael has authored a nutrition book titled Chris Carmichael's Food for Fitness and endurance coach/sports dietitian Bob Seebohar has written a book titled Nutrition Periodization for Endurance Athletes both of which should be part of any serious cyclist’s book collection.

Hopefully these suggestions will go a long way in cleaning up your off-season diet which can only help your future diet and performance next race season.

Nutritional Wisdom for the Off-Season

From: James Stevens MS RD Sports Dietitian

The Metro Training Resource