It is easy to believe that triathletes are well
nourished but triathletes’ nutrition is a subject in itself that could change
the outcome of performance, injuries and training. Why are there no black triathletes? The one from Dominican Republic, Cuevas, has
many difficulties finishing a triathlon when competing in a World Cup; and
Michel from Cuba has the same problem. Nutrition, education about nutrition and
many other issues related to education just as Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel Prize
winner) mentions in the interview, in addition to the capacity to provide for
such nutrition are the main problems to overcome:
“…if you are accepted to College.
You still have to go to the loops…if you do not go to the right High
Schools you cannot do well on the exams… It is cascade of events.”
“In his latest book, The Price of Inequality, Columbia
Professor and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz examines the causes of income
inequality and offers some remedies. In between, he reaches some startling
conclusions, including that America is "no longer the land of
opportunity" and "the 'American dream' is a myth."”
A simple Complete Blood Count (CBC) gives us a lot of
information and should be performed at least three times a year; assuming that
the nutritional requirements are met according to calories used by athletes is
not enough. Timing ingesting the food is
as important as calories count and percentage of proteins. If we get the ferritin level in blood at the
same time as the CBC, the information is complete for the purpose of following
a well-nourished and educated triathlete.
The timing eating and the amount of proteins need a
well-educated triathlete. This lack of
education limits the development of the full physical potential. I have seen athletes having difficulties
following a proper nutrition at the right time just because of lack of basic
education. They are not used to “pay
attention to details,” or too stubborn to move. “Eating proteins during the
first 10 minutes after finishing a hard workout” or a race is not important for
the majority of the triathletes, even though we know that glucose used during
the hard workout (above 87% VO2max for
more than 20 minutes) will come from our own proteins by degradation of our own
structures like muscles, proteins related to the immune system, etc. Sometimes such workouts instead of
strengthens us, weakens us because we cannot produce messengers (proteins
induced by genes) and others proteins ordered by the body via genes after the
exercise to strengthen us. One of our
athletes was surprised to see that a teammate in the Mexican Team refused to
move forward just because he did not want to, when he could have advantage of
listening to the speaker better by just moving forward. This type of education is the one needed to
have an edge over everybody with every move.
Perhaps this is not the education mentioned by Stiglitz but it is
implicit when you “go to the right High School” and the right kindergarden, as
Stiglitz mentions about the “cascade” that makes a difference between the poor
and the rich. In simple terms: “Monkey see, monkey do.” How much protein do we
give? Just 100 mgs of easily available protein
as it is in a tuna fish can and an Ensure for a 65-70 kilos triathlete. There are more expensive proteins as in a
recovery powerbar or protein powder; this is in addition to carbohydrates
calculated according to calories used during the competition or hard workout,
which should be taken immediately after competition or training. 250 calories in 500cc would make the
trick. As I said in another post in this
blog. Of the well-educated heart
transplanted patients, just 60% follows doctors’ orders, knowing that they
could die if they do not follow them. In
our town, of the patients with tuberculosis, close to 20% follow doctor´s
orders as said. What could we expect of
our athletes?
The amount of proteins ingested will depend on the
amount of times we hit the VO2max above 87%.
Depends on how much one elevates cortisol (please see: March 19, 2012. TRIATHLON
PHYSIOLOGY FOR DUMMIES AND THE TENDENCY TOWARD THE MEAN. Fourth part: cortisol
and growth hormone); the hormone that increases the formation of glucose
(gluconeogenesis) using our own proteins for that purpose. It can be several hours after finishing
exercising when cortisol comes down, reason why we should increase our protein
ingestion up to 4grs per kilo when we do this kind of training, maintaining the
caloric balance with carbohydrates. The
more we do this training and tolerate it, the better we become. A simple CBC with differential and ferritin
is enough if we have a well-educated triathlete who counts caloric intake and
takes protein according to what is mentioned above.
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