Nutrition corner

Nutrition for Triathlon

The nutritional and hydration demands of multi-sport events and training are different from single sports in a major way -- you'll need more food and fluids. The reason is obvious: gaining fitness in swimming, running and cycling means that you'll have to put in more hours of training than you would to achieve competence in just one sport. And that means your body's demand for calories, especially from carbohydrate, is greater. In fact, the leading cause of poor performance in triathlon training and competition isn't faulty technique, lack of training or ragged transitions. It's running on empty-chronic glycogen depletion-from not keeping up with the carbohydrate needs of lengthy training sessions...(continue)

-- Dr. Amy Roberts, courtesy of Asimba.com

Preventing Heat-Related Illnesses

You can prevent heat-related illnesses. The important thing is to stay well-hydrated, to make sure that your body can get rid of extra heat, and to be sensible about exertion in hot, humid weather. Your sweat is your body's main system for getting rid of extra heat. When you sweat, and the water evaporates from your skin, the heat that evaporates the sweat comes mainly from your skin. As long as blood is flowing properly to your skin, extra heat from the core of your body is "pumped" to the skin and removed by sweat evaporation. If you do not sweat enough, you cannot get rid of extra heat well, and you also can't get rid of heat as well if blood is not flowing to the skin. Dehydration will make it harder for you to cool of in two ways: if you are dehydrated you won't sweat as much, and your body will try to keep blood away from the skin to keep your blood pressure at the right level in the core of your body. But, since you lose water when you sweat, you must make up that water to keep from becoming dehydrated. If the air is humid, it's harder for your sweat to evaporate -- this means that your body cannot get rid of extra heat as well when it's muggy as it can when it's relatively dry. The best fluid to drink when you are sweating is water. Although there is a little salt in your sweat, you don't really lose that much salt with your sweat, except in special circumstances; taking salt tablets may raise your body's sodium level to hazardous levels. (Your doctor can tell you whether or not you need extra salt.) "Sport drinks" such as Gatorade® will also work, but water is usually easier to obtain. (continue...)