Photo by Jeremy Jenum

Recipe: Spectrum Salad

The temperatures are falling and for many, the off-season is finally here. While some triathletes choose to trade in the tri bike for a road bike or mountain bike and others will invest in a few pairs of running shoes, others will hit the weight room or the ski slopes.

I should temporarily re-name this column “Cups Not Pills,” because I’ve chosen to address an often overlooked component in the wintering triathlete’s nutritional aresenal: water. Many triathletes long for the winter months, but it’s important to note that cold weather can wreak physiological havoc on your body. Whereas training in the heat will increase the loss of fluids through sweating, training in the cold increases fluid loss through respiration. Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you’re immune to dehydration. Winter training can impair your ability to recognize thirst signals and you may find yourself lacking the desire to drink adequate fluids during exercise.

There is no quick-fix solution when it comes to meeting your daily water needs.

Because of the amount of moisture lost through respiration (especially as intensity increases), it’s critical to maintain optimal fluid status during exercise as well as throughout the day. Do you experience frequent restroom stops in the winter? Cold diuresis among athletes is another concern for dehydration, specifically as warm blood gathers at the body’s core, resulting in increased urine production during exposure to the cold.

Blood flow in the skin is a critical component of temperature regulation. In the cold, peripheral vasoconstriction occurs as a primary mechanism to conserve heat and warm the body. Thus, for athletes seeking to maintain good health over the winter months, adequate hydration is necessary to enable proper blood flow during exercise.

Whereas meeting vitamin and mineral recommendations can be as easy as supplementing with a pill or drinking a well-marketed sport drink, there is no quick-fix solution when it comes to meeting your daily water needs. Surprisingly, water is one of the most overlooked nutrients among athletes hoping to improve their performance and achieve a leaner body composition. Regardless of whether you’re training for competition or exercising for health, water’s importance can’t be emphasized enough. Among its many properties, water helps the body maintain optimal hydration status, eliminate waste, transport nutrients, circulate body fluids, lubricate joints and organs, and regulate body temperature.

Golden Rules

Water

Daily: Men should consume 3 liters of fluid (around 13 cups) on a daily basis and women should consume around 2.2 liters (9 cups) through foods and liquids. In order to control weight, choose water as your primary fluid choice.

Pre-Exercise: Downing extra water before exercise offers only a small thermoregulatory effect to protect your body from heat stress, and won’t change the need to replace fluids during exercise. Besides consuming adequate water on a daily basis, drinking 15-20 ounces of water in the two to three hours before training/racing, and eight to 10 ounces of fluid in the 15-30 minutes prior to training/racing.

During Exercise: Drink at consistent intervals, rather than consuming large quantities of liquid calories (or water), during training and racing. For every hour of exercise, consume 20-28 ounces of fluids, sipping five to seven ounces of your drink, every 15-20 minutes.

Calories, Sodium, and Electrolytes

Daily: Regardless of when you train, it’s imperative that you focus on your individual hydration, caloric and electrolyte needs in order to perform at your best and maintain good health. An adequate racing nutrition plan is only as good as the foods you consume in your daily diet, so be sure to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, lean protein, and healthy fats.

Pre-Exercise: In the case of sodium-loading before and during exercise, blood volume increases to sodium’s attraction to water. As blood volume increases, the heart pumps harder to circulate blood throughout the body and increases the pressure in the arteries. If you are concerned with your electrolyte status during training, an electrolyte product that contains sodium and potassium, in addition to chloride, calcium, magnesium and manganese, will provide the right balance of electrolytes to help prevent cramping and maintain fluid balance. However, for workouts lasting longer than an hour, a reputable sports drink will likely contain the calories and electrolytes needed for peak performance gains.

During Exercise: Calorie and electrolyte needs vary depending on weather, metabolic efficience, exercise intensity and volume. The more fluid you lose through sweating, the more likely you are to deplete your sodium and electrolyte stores. However, salt tabs and electrolyte pills do not ensure that your body will properly use them. Consuming high-sodium sport drinks may help replenish sodium lost in sweat and enhance water retention, but a controlled intake and efficient use of calories and fluids is the most efficient method for replacing electrolytes lost through sweating. Athletes who choose an over-concetrated sports drink without adequate water may force the body to pull fluids and electrolytes from other parts of the body in order to decrease the osmolality of the over-concentrated drink in the digestive system. By not meeting fluid recommendations (20-28 ounces of fluid per hour), the body may compromise in transporting fluids and electrolytes to the working muscles, thus promoting painful stomach distress, cramping, and bonking.

Recipe: Spectrum Salad

References:

1. Institute of Medicine (2005). Water. In: Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Sodium, Chloride, Potassium and Sulfate. Washington, D.C. National Academy Press, pg. 73–185.
2. American College of Sports Medicine (2007). Exercise and Fluid Replacement. ACSM Position Stand. 39(2), 377-390.

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Marni Sumbal, MS, RD, CISSN is a Registered Dietitian with a Master of Science degree in Exercise Physiology. Marni is certified in sports nutrition and is a USAT Level-1 coach. Marni recently finished her 2nd Ironman World Championship race in Kona, and enjoys spending time in her kitchen coming up with vegetarian creations. If you can’t find her writing this monthly column, cooking or training, she is likely outside running with her furry best friend, Campy.