Newbie - Triathlon Week

DLW558 · 03-04-2006, 05:24 PM

I am a newbie at everything in the triathlon. I am 13 years old and I think I am pretty fit for my age. I am 5 foot 9 and 146 pounds. I want to know a healty diet I can stay on that will help me build my endurance. I want to be able to complete an ironman before I turn 20. I have already posted a thread in the equipment section and if you have ideas for that and this I would be highly appreciative. :)

sfricks · 03-07-2006, 05:05 AM

Good for you DLW. I'm B A D at nutrition. I compete so I can eat! Maybe some other members can help out here. Welcome aboard!

CarolRawinia · 03-07-2006, 11:24 AM

Nutrition is very important as you have already identified but in order to offer some sensible suggestions I would need to know some more about you. For example are you male or female, have you stopped growing, does your family tend to eat in or out, what if any control do you have over the food budget etc?

Carpe Diem · 03-07-2006, 02:43 PM

Good day DLW558,

I think it is great that you have set such a goal for yourself. You are to be congratulated for such a wise choice in my view. The internet is loaded with great nutritional advise...this website has some great articles for you to explore. I can tell you what works for one doesn't always work for another, so I've resolved to eat a balanced diet of the foods I enjoy. One of the greatest benifits of training up to the level of IM distances is that you burn alot of calories getting there. Thus you need to eat enough calories to sustain your highly trained body. Most of the advise I've read or gleaned over the years has proven the benifit of eating several smaller meals per day. ( I will typically eat at 5:00 am, 8:00am, lunch@ noon, snack around 3:00pm and dinner @ 5:30, sometimes desert...but no later than 7:pm) But hay!, I'm in my 50's. I would imagine you could eat whenever you felt hungry.

Congratulations on commiting to a healthy lifestyle, setting a fitting goal and seeking advise from those who have gone before. Keep reading the many excellent posts on this site and the others that you'll find along the way. I'm confident that you will find what works for you.

DLW558 · 03-07-2006, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarolRawinia

Nutrition is very important as you have already identified but in order to offer some sensible suggestions I would need to know some more about you. For example are you male or female, have you stopped growing, does your family tend to eat in or out, what if any control do you have over the food budget etc?

I am a male. I am still growing. Doctor said I should be around 6'3" or 6'4". My mom cooks alot of german homemade meals. I can get just about anything I ask for like vegatables and fruits and stuff like that.

CarolRawinia · 03-08-2006, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLW558

I am a male. I am still growing. Doctor said I should be around 6'3" or 6'4". My mom cooks alot of german homemade meals. I can get just about anything I ask for like vegatables and fruits and stuff like that.

Ok then I think the advice already given for the most part is good i.e. the approach I and many others take is to eat five small meals a day. The primary purpose of this approach is to ensure that you are fueling properly and constantly to drive your metabolism and to provide you with the energy to meet your goals. It is important to ensure that you start the day with some complex carbohydrates for example porridge/ cereal (watch the sugar content in the cereal) and or wholegrain toast with eggs or some form of protein. You should then try to eat every three hours and in doing so ensure that you get adequate lean protein and plenty of vegetables and fruit. In addition you may need some supplements like fish oil etc but in order to determine this and any additional food requirements you might have because you are still growing it might be well worthwhile to have a session with a sports nutritionist or your school athletics coach. Once you start training and do sessions of more than an hour plus you will need a recovery drink in one form or another normally these are mix of protein, carbohydrates, and sometimes electrolytes. I can't recommend one in this forum because the one I use is not available overseas. Having said this I am no expert and there is plenty of good advice in these forums; the primary issue you have is that you are still growing and need to ensure that you get both adequate fuel to grow and to train. Having said this my final piece of advice is to always try to make good food choices not because I don't think that odd treat isn't a good thing to have but the aim here is to build good muscle and good life time food habits so that whatever you choose to do you have the energy to do it. Good training and good luck :)