Pre and Post Exercise Nutrition Strategies

Nutrition choices are driven by frequency, intensity, duration, and the types of training you are doing.  The choices you make affect your performance and recovery between sessions.  It’s ideal to eat something before your workout sessions to get the most out of them.  Especially as a triathlete, there may be days with more than 1 workout that day.  Since it’s the middle of prime race season, recovery between workouts can make all the difference. 

Some tips for Pre workout nutrition:

• Try to eat 2 hours beforehand for larger meals
  • Oatmeal, fruit, nuts
  • Large protein smoothie
  • Eggs, veggies, toast
  • Yogurt, fruit, granola
• If eating within 2 hrs try for a smaller meal/snack
  • Banana/nut butter
  • Smaller smoothie w protein
  • Crackers/nut butter
  • Hard boiled egg/fruit
  • Peaches/cottage cheese
  • Applesauce/protein powder

Hydration is even more important than fuel especially in the well-trained athlete.  That said, make sure you are doing what’s needed to stay hydrated and perform at your best. 

Post workout nutrition is key for your recovery and next workout if you have one that day.  If the workout is high intensity you may benefit from liquid nutrition like a recovery drink or your own homemade smoothie.  Here are some other examples of post workout meals:

• Plain Greek yogurt, berries, honey
• Sweet potato with egg
• Tuna salad with whole grain crackers
• Whole grain tortilla with eggs, salsa, avocado
• Rice, veggies, chicken

For shorter workouts or workouts that are less intense, you likely can wait until your next meal to eat.  Always remember to stay hydrated though. 

Train smart and fuel smarter.  As the saying goes, there’s no such thing as over training, just under recovered.