Hello friends,
I want help from you guys regarding the type of diet taken before your swim.
How much thus it can harm you, if?
What diet do you take before going to pool??

The biggest thing is to not completely overhaul your diet right before a big meet. Swimming is all about getting your body used to certain things, and if you're used to eating junk food and sugar all the time, and all of a sudden 3 days before a meat you switch to lean meats, fruits and vegetables, it's not going to result in good performance. In general, you should have a balanced, healthy diet. Nothing too special. Swimmers can use a pretty common-sense diet to healthy eating to best help their performance. Fruits, veggies, not a whole lot of high-sugar foods, try and keep the fat and salt relatively low (although no need to go overboard), and keep balance amongst the food groups.

The fruits and veggies are especially important at the peak of your training, because your body's defenses will start to break down and you might catch a cold or flu.

2-days before meets, have carbs like pasta, because it takes time for your body to fully process these. The night before, have lean proteins, because your body can quickly extract the energy for the next day.

I have understood your advice & I will surely prepare for competitions by taking the diet suggested by you.I hope this works fine for me.

I have been told the following meal plan before a competition:

3 days before - proteins, carbs (overall a big full meal)
2 and 1 day before - lots of carbs, not so much protein (large pasta meals)
Day of - bagel, small snacks

(Jan 5, 2010 7:29pm)Zash Wrote:  I have been told the following meal plan before a competition:

3 days before - proteins, carbs (overall a big full meal)
2 and 1 day before - lots of carbs, not so much protein (large pasta meals)
Day of - bagel, small snacks

The intake of carbs just a day before competition may be considered heavy for the body. It can also upset your stomach too. Is it appropriate to take them?

Before starting the the race take a little bit ( miner) diet because if you will take heavy meals that makes horrible result for you. Thanks

What an athlete consumes before, during and after exercise is important for comfort and performance during exercise. While eating soon before exercise doesn't provide the bulk of the fuel needed for the activity, it can prevent the distracting symptoms of hunger during exercise. The major source of fuel for active muscles is carbohydrate which gets stored in the muscles as glycogen in the days before exercise. This is one reason that the post-exercise meal is critical to recovery and being ready for the next exercise session.

When To Eat
Exercising on a full stomach is not ideal. Food that remains in your stomach during an event may cause stomach upset, nausea, and cramping. To make sure you have enough energy, yet reduce stomach discomfort, you should allow a meal to fully digest before the start of the event. This generally takes 1 to 4 hours, depending upon what and how much you've eaten. Everyone is a bit different, and you should experiment prior to workouts to determine what works best for you.

If you have an early morning race or workout, it's best to get up early enough to eat your pre-exercise meal. If not, you should try to eat or drink something easily digestible about 20 to 30 minutes before the event. The closer you are to the time of your event, the less you should eat. You can have a liquid meal closer to your event than a solid meal because your stomach digests liquids faster.

What To Eat
Because glucose is the preferred energy source for most exercise, a pre-exercise meal should include foods that are high in carbohydrates and easy to digest. This include foods such as pasta, fruits, breads, energy bars and drinks.

Try some of the diet advice in "Serious Cycling" by Dr. Burke for the chapter titled 'fueling your body'. Another good source is "The Bicycle Racing Guide" by Van der Plas" and the chapter titledthe 'cyclists diet'. The subject is far too technical to be answered this this short forum.

Pre-race you should be timing your meal. The closer to the event the smaller it should be, but about 3-4h before you should be low fat, low fiber, and have 100-150grams of carbs. (pancakes, waffles, bagels, with juice) this will help raise blood glucose and liver glycogen and increase your endurance for the race. At far as eating on the line, that didn't work for me (nerves maybe), but I think different people react different, so you will have to experiment. Maybe a energy bar or banana before the start whistle might help (or in my case make you want to barf 5min into the start).

It's been a while since I ran a race, and I'm not sure in the past if I ever got the meal planning right, so I'm looking for some help here.

What is a good "night before" meal that is not too heavy, and has plenty of good carb/proteins, will digest well?

Is Oatmeal with PB or sliced banana a good breakfast for race morning? Should I put some Protein Powder in it? And most importantly...what is the best time frame to eat the oatmeal to reap the benefits of it for my race? If I eat it too early, will I miss out on the energy it provides? And if I eat it too late, it will not have had time to digest and I run the risk of an upset tummy and it slowing me down. The race is at 7:30 a.m. I have to be there at 6:30 to register, so that means I will need to eat before that.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!

fitoverforty

Diet before the race and even afterwords should be well balanced in keeping one self fit for swimming.....