Eating your way to Challenge Copenhagen
There is no doubt that an optimal training process in the month leading up to an ironman competition has decisive influence on how well you perform. A variety of aspects also have influence on whether or not you reach your optimal performance level. You cannot eat your way to better cardio numbers and endurance, but it has influence on the benefit you take from training, if the nutrition is not controlled in a optimal way. Here are some guidelines for a correct nutrition strategy:
The month before race day
The aim with healthy nutrition habits is to help the immune system and support the bodies´ restitution after training, so you keep yourself healthy and strong at race day.
Aim for a daily intake of minimum 600g of fruit and vegetables. Ideally with lots of variation and equal distribution between the two. Frozen vegetables are quick, easy and a cheap alternative to fresh vegetables, it can, like frozen berries and dried fruit, easily replace some of the fresh fruit.
After some time, when you routinely eat 600 g a day, you begin to increase the intake to the ideal at one kilo of frit and vegetables. This means a solid meal of vegetables for lunch and dinner, plus lots of fruit as snacks during the day.
Eat lots of fish during the week, aim for a least 300g of fish a week, it should be, preferably fish with lots of fat, like mackerel, herring, salmon and halibut. Fish toppings like tomato marinated mackerel, smoked salmon slices and marinated herring is a fine source to the qualities of fish and can easily fit in to lunch. If you eat a slice of bread with fish toppings a day, then you are a long way.
Eat lots of grains during the day. This means lots of rye bread, wholemeal pasta, oatmeal and muesli, but also brown rice, whole grain pita and whole grain crisp bread. During the week you should avoid processed food, like cornflakes, white bread and regular pasta.
Get the portions right during the day. Besides fish, lean meat, chicken without skin and diet milk products are great sources for muscle-building nutrients. Try to eat lots of protein at each larger meal, and also some during the snacks. For example: Yogurt for breakfast, fish for lunch, a cheese sandwich during the afternoon and chicken for dinner.
Adjust the fat, so you get lots of healthy fat from fish, oils, avocado, olives and nuts. You such, as much as possible, lower your intake of fat from meat and dairy products. At each larger meal you should aim that it contains a source of fat. This in particularly important for vegetable rich meals, it is not possible to utilize the many healthy nutrients in the vegetables without the presence of fat.
A daily intake that fulfils the abovementioned recommendations, could look like this:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with milk and sugar + a glass of juice
Snack: Fruit + nuts
Lunch: Lots of whole grain bread with lean meat and fish toppings. Some fresh vegetables is also good.
Snack: Nuts + energy bar
Dinner: A dish consisting of rough vegetables, lean meat/fish/ chicken, whole grain pasta/brown rice/potatoes, plant oils. For example oven baked roots with salmon steak.
Dessert: Fruit porridge with milk
Resume: Think about what you eat. Your daily intake should be put together with focus on health. Central elements are, fruit and vegetables, protein bombs, wholegrain and healthy sources of fat.
