Iֶe always been a good swimmer, ever since I was four-years-old I attended swimming lessons at least once a week. However as I got older I fell out of a routine. When I was around 18 and went to university I started getting interested in swimming again.
However, unlike in my home town where I was always comfortably swimming in the fastest lane, at university it was a completely different story. There were three lanes each for different speeds: the first for those who could swim 30 meters in 35 seconds, the second lane for those who could swim it in 30 and the final, fastest lane of 25 seconds and under.
When I first started I could just about keep up with the pace in the first, slowest lane. It was therefore clear to me that I was no longer as good as I thought I was and I֤ needed a plan to get back to my peak swimming ability. It was obvious from my studies of Sport Science that proper nutrition was going to be key if I wanted to regain peak performance before the end of the swimming season.
Swimming is naturally a very intensive exercise and so itֳ very important to have the right kind of energy in your body. The problem is as swimming can be so intensive, it can be hard to find a balance between eating enough food a few hours before exercising and avoiding getting a stitch.
The solution I found was to have a medium size carbohydrate based meal 3-4 hours before swimming and then having an energy based bar 30 minutes before. By doing this you get all the benefits of the big meal without it weighing you down, and just as you would normally be getting slightly hungry again, the energy bar shoots your energy levels straight back up without having to have another meal which as any swimmer knows is the worst thing you could ever do before a big swim.
PhysioRoom.com sell a range of energy bars in a variety of flavours. To view them click here.