I do all of my swimming after work, around 18:00.
If I eat at lunch 12:00, my stomach feels fine but I don’t have enough energy to do a hard set.
If I eat a second meal at 15:00, I feel like throwing up after about 1000m.
I have tried different stuff at 15:00, usually 300-400Kcal, but everything so far has proven useless.
Standard lunch is 1 chicken breast (200g) 300g mixed vegetables and depending on training intensety 75-150g quinoa.
If I don’t eat anything between then and swimming, I get acid reflux when spending that amount of time horisontal in the pool, I guess i could just take something for that and HTFU, but it feels like that is not an actual solution to the problem.
There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to swim a hard set with your 12:00 lunch plan. Your muscles should have plenty of glycogen stored in them to fuel you through a hard 60-90 minute workout. Maybe try having a more calorie dense lunch or eating more calories overall throughout the day? Personally, I swim 3-4k every morning on an empty stomach and have great swim sets. Worse case scenario, you could have a gel or sports drink on your way to the pool to get in some liquid calories.
I sympathize with OP, I metabolize stuff in an instant and then I am hungry. 12:00 lunch means starving by 16:00. Run at 16:30? Bonk-fest, if I don’t eat an afternoon meal/snack. Guess I’m young, ehh?
Anyways, two things that stand out to me: eat a few more carbs for lunch (add pasta? bread?); and eat really easy to digest carb-heavy stuff at 15:00 (BRAT diet basically). Gels also help if you don’t mind the taste/consistency. Do not, however, tried to eat 400cals in gels in one sitting like I did once. It was icky.
I guess I understand that, but based on the OPs lunch of give or take 500 calories, which ANYBODY would metabolize quickly, it seems that his issue is more with overall daily consumption as opposed to timing. But then again, I don’t know what he eats for breakfast, or if there’s snacks thrown in there.
On Sunday morning, the pool opens at 8am, and we start swimming at 8:10. At 7:30, I start my enormous whole wheat bagel with butter and a medium coffee. I’m usually finished by 7:50-55, so I have about 20 minutes after finishing. No issues with a hard 3000scy workout.
At one of the last swim meets I did I ate a Jimmy Johns #5 about an hour before my 500 free. I was still hungry so I hate half of my GF’s #4…Then I proceeded to swim one of my fastest 500
I started bringing an empty bottle with 2 scoops of CarboPro to work with me . I fill it up at 5 and start sipping from then on. Gets me 200 easily digestible calories as well as some hydration.
I want at least 3 hours clear of a (easy to digest) meal prior to a workout, even an intense one. I do all my swimming in the morning before work. I eat nothing prior since I’d have to get up even earlier. I don’t find myself flagging even on the hardest days. With proper carb loading (post workout) over months your body should be able to deliver muscle glycogen up to 90 min before you bonk. In fact this better be the case or a lot of us less speedy folks would be in big trouble during an IM swim.
Half a Clif bar while driving to swim in the morning or during lunch does the trick for me. If anything my hunger will go away after a couple hundred meters…I drink a lot of water
This is crazy. Sometimes I’m finishing a snack as I get on deck. I’m going to guess it’s not when you eat but what you’re eating that’s the issue. Some foods just don’t mix well with workouts. Sushi is great but not before a tempo run. Try a Tums before you get in the water.
