Top Endurance

Nutrition periodization helps ensure that the athlete receives the nutrients that are needed to enhance health and improve strength, speed, power, and endurance. At the same time, this strategy helps the athlete maintain a healthy immune system and a proper body weight and body composition. Nutrition periodization supports changes in training load so that athletes are able to achieve high-quality workouts and recover more quickly. A nutrition program should vary to meet the athlete’s changing energy needs when the athlete trains using a periodized plan. Nutrition supports physical training and enables athletes to train and recover well—and to move toward the goal of improving athletic performance. There is no exception to this, whether an athlete is in the beginning, middle, or end of a training cycle. Nutrition periodization is meant to be a year-long endeavor to support the athlete’s changes in energy expenditure.

If an athlete is not nutritionally prepared before a training session, the athlete will not receive the same physiological training adaptations as someone who is prepared and who pays particular attention to nutrition throughout the year. Endurance athletes typically progress through the following training cycles no matter the sport: preparatory (base), precompetition (build or intensity), competition (race), and transition (off-season). Each cycle may last a few weeks or months and may include various physical goals in preparing the athlete for competition. Although sports may blend from season to season, each sport will still progress through a preparatory, competition, and usually an off-season cycle.

The recommended daily macronutrient ranges for endurance athletes (as cited in scientific research) include 3 to 19 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight, 1.2 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, and 0.8 to 3.0 grams of fat per kilogram of body weight. (Divide an athlete’s body weight in pounds by 2.2 to find the body weight in kilograms.) Keep in mind that these are the ranges reported in the scientific literature. Clearly, the higher values would be extreme, but some of the ultradistance events are also extreme.



                                                              MYTH OF THE IDEAL DIET

Athletes often fall into the trap of believing that there is an ideal diet. There is no single diet that is ideal for every athlete. Athletes favor different foods, and the important thing is to ensure that adequate levels of macronutrients (carbohydrate, protein, fat, and water) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) are ingested. This can be achieved by eating a variety of foods. Two athletes could eat entirely different foods, but as long as they are achieving adequate macro- and micronutrient intake, they are both consuming an ideal diet.



These recommended daily nutrient ranges are based on information from scientific research that studied various endurance athletes, including cyclists, runners, swimmers, and triathletes. The ranges are large because the research covered athletes ranging from those who compete over very short distances and durations to those who compete in events of very long duration (i.e., athletes who qualify as “ultra” endurance athletes). These ranges will provide a starting point and a foundation of knowledge for people who need to create an eating program to be used in conjunction with a specific training program. The nutrient ranges can be applied directly to endurance athletes in each of the training cycles.

Before using the concept of nutrition periodization, the coach must first have a clear understanding of the physical goals of the athlete. Understanding these goals will help determine which foods should be eaten, the quantity of those foods, and the proper timing of the food intake. Nutrition periodization is designed so that the nutrition needs of an athlete are met. To ensure that the needs are met, the coach must know whether the athlete is attempting to maximize performance, train for health and fitness, or train with the goal of reducing body fat. Once these physical goals are known, the coach can develop the proper nutrition periodization plan.