Download Competition day meals (-24hrs)

TIPS FOR INCREASED PERFORMANCE
IN
CROSS COUNTRY
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence therefore is
not an act but a habit” - Aristotle
“The man who can drive himself farther once the effort gets
painful is the man who will win”- Sir Roger Bannister
Ron Rosset
[email protected]
303-982-3212
Injury Prevention
Injuries are a part of life…One can only try to prevent those that are preventable.
There is no simple technique or drill that will insure that you stay injury free. Each person’s
body is different and has different individual needs. Knowing your body and understanding how
to care for it are keys to an injury free season.
 Warming up – A good warm up prior to a competition or practice is imperative. When your
muscles are cold, and you put them through a high stress activity, they have a tendency to tear
or pull rather than stretch and flex. Your warm up should be long enough to allow your
muscles to feel more loose than stiff. Recommended length of a warm up is a half of a mile
up to 2 miles…depending on the temperature and the readiness of your muscles.
+When you warm up, be sure to wear clothes that are going to allow your body to break a
light sweat. Your muscles should be WARM when you begin your competition or
practice. (Running pants and jackets are a great way to increase body heat and prepare
your muscles to be stressed)
 Stretching – Next to warming up, stretching is one of the most important precompetition/pre-practice routines. When stretching you want to position your body so you
create a slight discomfort in an isolated muscle or muscle set. In doing so, you DO NOT
want to bounce! Bouncing during stretching can lead to muscle pulls and tears. When
stretching, hold your stretch for at least 10-15 seconds and do each stretch 2-3 times. (20-30
min) In the second and third sets, try to bend a little further than you did in the previous
stretch. This will allow your muscles to be stretched to their maximum length.
+Warming up before stretching is very important! Stretching without first warming up
your muscles to an elastic state can lead to muscle pulls or tears.
 Drills – After you have warmed up and stretched, you should go through a set of form drills
that will mimic the motions needed for race or practice. This will allow you to identify any
muscles that you may not have stretched well enough. This will also ease your muscles into a
high stress activity. All runners, at the conclusion of form drills and before you practice or
compete, you should do a few striders where you get progressively faster every 5-10 meters
until you reach your top speed. This will be your last test of you muscle readiness. (10-15
min)
+After drills, take a few minutes to stretch anything that might still be sore, tight, or just
not responding as explosively as the rest of your body. If you are feeling great, keep
moving and don’t allow your body to cool down before your competition or practice.
The conclusion of your drills should be no more than 10 min before your work out or
competition begins.
 Walking/Jogging after an interval or race – Falling down and collapsing after an interval or
race will only add to your pain. Often it will throw off your equilibrium or make you feel
nauseous and dizzy. These feelings will lead to fatigue and possible vomiting if severe
enough. After you finish a race or interval, keep moving and put your hands above your head
if needed. This will open up your lungs and allow for maximum air exchange. Leaning over
or sitting will collapse the lower part of your lungs preventing full air intake. This will only
prolong the shortness of breath, light-headedness, and chest pains that can happen when you
are pushing your body to extreme aerobic levels. If possible, keep jogging to prevent you
muscles from cramping up. This will also help your legs to prepare for their next challenge.
 Cooling down – Jogging slowly after a practice or competition will have many of the same
benefits as walking/jogging after an interval. As you exercise, your body produces a lot of
waste products like lactic acid. Jogging slowly will help you to prevent your muscles from
cramping up, and prepare your legs for the next day’s activities. If you warm down after a
workout it will help pull some of these waste products from your muscles so they can recover
more quickly.
 Breathing – When running or competing, try to maintain a steady/comfortable rate of
breathing. Inconsistent or intensely rapid breathing is hard for your body and can lead to
dizziness, nausea, and even loss of consciousness. Try belly breathing to assist you in
controlling your rate and volume of breath. Belly breathing is when you start your inhalation
by contracting your stomach muscles to help pull your diaphragm down and expand your
lung capacity further than with a normal breath. When you exhale, finish your breath by
allowing your lower stomach to pull inward which will allow for the exhalation of more air.
 Hydration – Being dehydrated is one of the most common causes for fatigue, muscle pulls,
overheating, and headaches or dizziness during/after workouts or races. A good rule is to
drink water before your body tells you it’s thirsty. Load up on water an hour or two before a
competition or practice. Only drink a little water within 1 hr of, or during a competition or
practice. Having a stomach full of water while competing can lead to stomach cramps and
vomiting.
+Water that is too cold can also upset your stomach and lead to cramping or vomiting.
Just before, during, and after a workout drink tepid or slightly chilled water.
 Ice/heat – When you run, your legs take an incredible beating. Joints swell up, muscle fibers
break down, and lactic acid is produced in massive amounts as your body tries to keep up
with cellular respiration. Often the application of heat is believed to help sore muscles to
recover, but most often that is not the truth. Heat will help cold muscles to warm up and
possibly temporarily reduce the stiffness that tight muscles can have. But it will do little to
help with the actual healing part of recovery. Heat before a workout can be beneficial to
warm up tight or sore muscles. If you use heat after a workout, always finish with ice. To
help in the healing process, ice any muscles or joints that feel sore or hurt after a stressful
activity. This will reduce swelling and increase blood flow to that area. It will also help
carry waste products away so they can be excreted, as well as bring beneficial nutrients to
hurt areas. You should ice for a minimum of 20 min at a time.
 Elevating your legs – At the end of the day, a great recovery technique is to elevate your legs.
Sit with your back on the ground and your legs elevated above your body by resting them on
a wall. This will allow for all of the waste products you have created, to be pulled toward
your heart and kidneys, with the help of gravity, so they can be processed by your body and
excreted with your urine. You should elevate for at least 15 min at a time. Since elevating
your legs pulls waste products from your legs and spreads it to other parts of your body, it is
natural to feel sluggish and tired afterwards. This is why you should never elevate your legs
within 4 hrs of a competition.
 Massage – At times, the waste products in your body can get locked into muscle fibers and
cause a lump or knot. When this happens you can feel the lump, or knot, of waste products in
the muscle. This spot is usually tender or sensitive to the touch and it will be difficult to
stretch. Ice and elevation may not help this problem to subside. Massaging this area of the
muscle will help break up this knot and allow the waste products to enter the blood stream so
they can be removed from the body.
Competition day guidelines
 Race Day Waiting – Most of the meets we will compete at will last from 4-10 hrs. It is
important during this time that you conserve your energy, and allow yourself to be warmed
up properly before each race. The sun and wind can drain your energy quickly. Try to find a
location where you can get out of the wind and sun to stay rested for your events. A portable
music device with earphones is a great way to escape the stress of a meet situation and allow
you to rest and focus on what you need to accomplish. If you have less than an hour between
events, take some time to sit and lightly stretch or visualize how you are going to compete in
your event. (What are you going to do at the beginning, middle, and end of your event?)
Nothing is more frustrating for a coach than to have an athlete not ready for the start of an
event. Don’t hang out at camp and rush to warm up and stretch 15 min before your event.
When you do have multiple events, a full warm up and stretch may not be necessary before
the start of each race. Make sure you get in a good full warm up before your first event, and
then judge how much warming up you will need to do for your next ones. Always know the
order of events and where your event/heat falls in that order. Pick the start of an event to be
the cue for your time to warm up. That way you will be less likely to be caught off guard by
approximated times. You know your body better than anyone else. Listen to what it is
saying. (20 minutes of warming up and stretching before most any competition is an absolute
minimum)
 5 minutes before your event – In the last 5 minutes prior to the start of your event, you need to
have your uniform on, your competition shoes on and tied tight, any necessary numbers or
labels are on your jersey/shorts, and you are waiting near the start of your event. In all
events, it pays to be there on time and even a few minutes early when possible. Make sure
you are checked in and have a heat or lane assignment. Once you are at the start, do not
leave! You should not be ready for your event more than 15 minutes prior to its start.
EATING FOR PERFORMANCE
 Everyone’s nutritional balance is different. These are only guidelines
for healthy eating habits that will help increase athletic performance. 
Daily you should try to consume a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, meat or protein, dairy,
carbohydrates/sugars (yes sugar), water, and lipids. Excess in any of these areas can lead to
stomach or muscle cramps, fatigue, dehydration, unwanted weight loss or weight gain, over or
under stimulated muscle fibers, irritability, insomnia, vomiting, and in extreme cases loss of
consciousness or seizures. The keys to eating right are balance and moderation.
Below is a list of the types of food or nutrients that will improve your athletic performance, and
reduce the time necessary for recovery:
 Carbohydrates – The source of most of our energy. These are the most common and least
expensive type of food. Carbohydrates are stored in your body cells as glycogen. Your body
will use the stored glycogen when energy is needed for respiration and muscle activation. If
your glycogen reservoirs are full, your body converts carbohydrates to fat. When exercising
for a period of time longer than 20 minutes, glycogen reserves in your cells are used up and
you body then starts converting your stored fat into energy.
+Examples:
Simple Sugars- Fruits, vegetables, milk…(fructose, glucose, lactose/galactose)
Complex Sugars- Pasta, rice, potatoes, breads, beans...(starch & fiber)
 Lipids – Also a source of energy. Lipids actually have twice the potential energy as
carbohydrates or protein. Lipids are an important part of your growth process, and they also help
to give you healthy skin. Lipids take a lot longer for your body to digest them, which can be both
beneficial and detrimental. The benefit comes from curbing your hunger for a longer period of
time than carbohydrates do. The detriment comes from food staying in your stomach for a longer
period of time and possibly leading to stomach problems during a competition or practice.
+Saturated fat = BAD IF CONSUMED IN LARGE AMOUNTS
Found in beef, pork, egg yolks, and dairy. (Animal products)
+Unsaturated fat = NOT BAD IN MODERATION
Found in vegetable fats or oils. (Plant products)
 Protein – Made up of 20 different amino acids. Amino acids are the nutrients that make and
repair body tissue…Including bones, muscles, and connective tissue. Protein also regulates many
of the body’s process like the destruction of bacteria and viruses. Like carbohydrates, if too much
protein is consumed, the excess is stored as fat for later use.
+Found in meat, eggs, dairy, tree nuts, and peanut butter.
 Water – Absolutely the most important consumable product on Earth. Water allows chemical
reactions to take place in your body, gets rid of or, “flushes out”, cellular waste products,
speeds up digestion, cools your body, lubricates joints, and allows for the transmission of
electrical signals from your brain to all other cells.
+Found in raw form as tap or bottled water. It makes up about 75 percent of most fruits
and vegetables, 50 percent of most meat, and 95+ percent of juice and milk.
+Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it speeds up the digestive process. This speeding up
wastes a lot of water in your body and can lead to dehydration. Consume caffeine in
moderation and always follow consumption with water. One cup of coffee/tea, or one
can of soda will pull out two cups of water from your body. (You will have to drink 2
glasses of water to make up for the loss from one caffeinated drink)
+Your body uses an equivalent of 10 cups of water a day. If you perspire you use more.
To prevent dehydration, 6-8 glasses of water are recommended for the average person.
For those in sports, you should increase that amount. If you are thirsty, you are already
dehydrated! Drink water before you get thirsty. Remember many foods are also high in
water content. On hot days try to consume more fruits and vegetables.
 Vitamins- If you have an average level of exercise, and eat a balanced diet, you should get all
of the vitamins your body needs. However, if your activity level is high and your diet is fair
to poor you may want to supplement your diet with a multi-vitamin.
+Fat soluble vitamins, like A, D, E, & K, get absorbed in your fat cells until they are
needed. Be careful not to take too many fat-soluble vitamins or you may reach a toxic
level in you body.
+Water soluble vitamins, like C and B, need to be replenished daily. They will be
dissolved into the water in your body and any extras will be excreted through urination.
 Minerals- your body does not readily process minerals for energy or growth, however many
minerals are needed by the body to allow chemical reactions to occur. Minerals such as
Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Potassium, and Salt can be found in most foods and most multi-vitamin
supplements.
 Electrolytes – A solution that conducts electrical impulses. Can be found in most sports
drinks and yes even in tap water. Usually makes fluids more acidic. Helps our muscles to
fire properly when our brain wants them to. Helps to prevent fatigue. Consumption within
1hr of an event can upset your stomach and cause stomach cramps.
Pre-competition meals (24 hrs+)
Carbohydrates and lots of them!
It is best to “Carbo load” 2 days before a meet. This will give your body a chance to digest the
meal completely and process the nutrients to fill your glycogen ‘shelves”. Loading up on
carbohydrates less than 24 hrs in advance for a race will also help since your body will use the
most recent supply of energy it is given. Just a reminder about carbohydrates, if you consume
them and don’t use them your body chooses to save them for later as fat!
Competition day meals (-24hrs)
One cup of coffee or tea the morning of competition is ok, and sometimes beneficial, but too
much will lead to dehydration. Soft drinks or colas will not only dehydrate you, but will also fill
your body with unwanted carbon dioxide and high levels of sugars or sugar substitutes. Try to eat
both types of carbohydrates and some protein as a pre competition meal. Avoid lipids.
Competition day snacks (-3hrs)
Focus on foods that are not too acidic or oily, and contain no caffeine.
-Crackers
-Pretzels
-Granola bars
-Energy bars
-Bagels (No cream cheese! Peanut butter if you need something on it.)
-Peanut butter & jelly or honey sandwiches.
-Keep sports drink, or flavored drink, consumption to a minimum.
-Hydrate with water before and between competitions.
-Hydrate with sports drinks or flavored water after to replace lost nutrients.
-A piece of fruit is ok, but don’t over do it!