What do endurance athletes eat?

What do endurance athletes eat?

Researchers from Massey University’s School of Food and Nutrition are exploring the nutrition practices of well-trained athletes who are training towards a half-ironman event.

Ultra-endurance events, such as ironman and half-ironman races, require large volumes of training in a periodised fashion. Energy requirements vary by training phase as well as day-to-day variations.

Postgraduate Diploma in Science (Human Nutrition) student, Hani Kopetschny is leading the research. She says that in addition to meeting energy requirements, different strategies can be used to fuel this exercise, emphasising either fat or carbohydrate intakes.

“Although work has been done examining race day nutrition practices, little has been done to investigate nutrition practices through a full cycle of training. This study aims to fill this gap, describing the nutrition practices of well-trained athletes throughout a training cycle in the lead up to a half-ironman event,” she says.

The study has been split into two components – an online survey and a laboratory study. To qualify for the online survey you must be over the age of 18, and registered to compete in any half or full ironman distance race in the next 12 months. If this sounds like you, simply follow this link: http://lvmnky.synology.me/LimeSurvey/ and click through to the Nutrition in Endurance Training (NiET) study.

The second part of the study is more complex, and requires laboratory visits to measure capacity for endurance exercise, basal metabolic rate, and body composition across different phases of a training cycle (four times in total). In addition to this, participants will keep seven day food and exercise diaries prior to each laboratory visit. Only people in the Wellington region can participate in this study, which happens automatically at the end of the online survey if you meet the criteria for entry.

Recruitment for the lab study will continue until Wednesday June 15, and the online survey will stay open until Sunday June 26. If you would like to know more about this study, email Hani Kopetschny at Nietstudy@gmail.com

ENDS

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