If you haven’t heard the adage, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” now would be a good time. Getting prepared for your big swim event involves a lot of planning, aside from possible travel arrangements and logistics you’ll also be planning your sleep regimen, focused workouts, and your nutrition. Take these steps to help you plan for success and set yourself up for a great performance on your race day.
Don’t wait until the last minute
Once you’ve signed up and committed to the event, start planning. Set your workout routine, compile your nutrition plan and set some goals for yourself at the meet. Around 6-8 weeks before your event you should take some time to sit down with your coach and chart a course for your training. This is the time to make adjustments and small tweaks to your technique so that you can improve your times, and set yourself up to achieve your personal best.
Outlining your nutrition plan in advance is important so that you can see how certain foods are impacting your performance. You can then hone in on whether or not you feel better after eating certain foods. Making these small adjustments ahead of time will help you set yourself up for a better performance on the day of the race.
Planned meals & snacks
You don’t want to surprise your body on your race day with any foods you may find intolerable. There’s nothing worse than trying to swim on an upset stomach or finding out that you have a slight allergy to something you ate on the morning of your race. Rather, to avoid nasty surprises, plan your meals out a few weeks in advance and get into the habit of eating healthy and nutritious foods that you find help, rather than hinder, your performance. Be sure to include the proper mix of carbohydrates and protein, if you are struggling to balance your diet you might consider adding a nutritional supplement to help ensure your body is recovering efficiently after your workouts.
Get enough sleep
Often underestimated by swimmers, coaches, and parents, getting enough quality sleep is a critical part of preparing for your big swim event. While we sleep, our bodies repair and recover, they consolidate memories and prepare us for the next day.
In order to repair and recover effectively, your body needs the right nutrients. The slow absorbing protein casein helps preserve and build lean muscle (which is very important for swimmers) while you rest at night, and it helps your body burn more fat. Studies from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that subjects who were on a high protein diet, where the protein was casein, burned more calories during the day and reported less hunger the following day than those subjects who were on a low protein diet.
To make sure your body is getting the right nutrients, consider having an easily digestible pre-bedtime snack. One option is to have a nutritional shake, which is an effective alternative to eating something heavy before you go to bed, as heavier foods can take longer to break down and lead to longer recovery times. Something nutritious and light can instead help your body focus its time and energy on using the nutrients to repair and recover. Nutritional shakes like the NutriBoost Shake, which has three high quality proteins in including casein in optimal combinations, will help your body repair and reap the optimal benefits of sleep.
Now that you have some recommendations on preparing for your next big swim event, you’re ready to get started on your planning, so you’ll be able feel confident and ready to give it your best on race day!
ABOUT P2LIFE
P2Life is family owned, performance-based, nutritional supplement company that was designed for swimmers, by swimmers, to protect health and promote performance. P2Life takes great care in ensuring that every batch of their performance line is tested to be free of banned and illegal substances. Even though P2Life products were the preferred choice for over 40% of the USA Men’s Olympic Swim team during the London Olympics, it is not just for Olympians. It is also the preferred choice for the top high school, collegiate and masters swimmers across the globe.
P2Life was founded by Tim Shead, a Masters Swimming Hall of Fame Inductee and 42x World Record Holder, and co-founded by Michael Shead, who was a national water polo player. Tim’s expertise in swimming and years of experience and knowledge working with nutritional products, combined with Michael’s love of innovation and technical background, has enabled the P2Life team to create a technologically savvy company that is dedicated to furthering athletic potential. P2Life has a strong e-commerce platform, which allows them to spend less time and funds on retail stores, and dedicate more time to the swimming community.
A Proven Track Record:
- Over 40% of the USA Men’s Olympic Swim Team were taking P2Life products during the London Olympics. The athletes brought back 12 medals, seven of which were gold.
- P2Life Masters Swimmers have over 700 World Records to their name.
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Sources:
- https://swimswam.com/7-tips-help-get-ready-big-meet/
- https://swimswam.com/how-important-is-sleep-for-swimmers/
- https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/tips-successful-swim-meet-performance/
- http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/103/3/766.full?sid=bc366fdd-dbd4-4e5a-9be8-6df75582599d
- https://www.med.upenn.edu/uep/user_documents/dfd16.pdf
Courtesy of P2 Life, a SwimSwam ad partner.
