|
Getting back to race weight During the festive season most of us tend to lean towards a little excess food and drink, and with the weather being pretty grotty, great aunt Mable coming to stay and most of the country's swimming pool staff seemingly on a 3 week holiday, training may have been a little neglected. Now the New Year is here and you've suddenly realised that IM Austria is only 6months away, a nd IM Wales only 9months away it's time to start hitting training hard. But what about that Christmas tummy that Santa delivered along with your new trisuit? As with most things, small changes add up to big results. Weight loss and getting down to your optimum race weight is a slow process that can start now, and it doesn't have to mean drastic diet changes. And you'll feel the benefit; every kilo you lose is worth about 30-45s over a 10km run. The first thing you need to do is work out what you're optimum race weight is. For this it's worth talking with your coach who will be able to guide you towards a goal, you may want to be lighter, but not at the expense of strength and power. Here are a couple of tips to help you get down to your racing weight: |
|
An apple a day... When you visit the super market, make sure you're looking for nutrient-dense, fresh low-calorie veggies and fruit. Around 100g of grapes saves 195 calories over the same amount of raisins. Snack on an apple rather than crisps. A study published in the scientific journal Nutrition found that people who snacked daily on apples and pears, and made no other dietary changes for 12 weeks, lost an average of 1.2kg.
What are you drinking? Drinks are a source of calories that we rarely think about. Switching to drinking no-added sugar squash (20kcal per serving), or water instead of fizzy drinks (100kcal per can) or fruit juice (115kcal in a glass of OJ) could reduce your calorie intake substantially. If you're currently drinking whole milk in your tea and coffee switching to skimmed milk reduces the calories per cup by 50% (and if you drink as much coffee as me - that's a lot of calories!)
Get Grazing Keep grazing throughout the day; keeping yourself topped up with fuel during the day reduces the chances of you binging when it gets to meal times. If you know you're going to be busy at work, stick something in your bag.
Write it down Write down everything you eat, then, next time you log onto Training Peaks to feedback about your training, why not enter the "Metrics" section and write down what you're eating. If you do this for a week, then have a look back, see if you can identify areas where you can improve your eating habits.