
Conventional wisdom dictates that you shouldn’t eat half an hour before you go swimming. But what if you’re an Olympian and you need energy to swim really, really fast?
And what of the old adage, ‘you are what you eat’? Are our swimmers munching on gold medallists of old? Seriously, has anyone seen Kieren Perkins lately?
We’re fairly certain Mack Horton wasn’t chomping on the bones of the former champ before he won the 400m freestyle, but it does beg the question: WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE EATING?
Short answer: CARBS. Slightly less-short answer: A LOT OF CARBS (and a bit of protein).
After winning gold last night, America’s Michael Phelps reportedly indulged in just under half a kilo of pasta, which is around four times what an ordinary person might eat at dinner — or, I guess, twice what an ordinary person with a hangover might swallow.
As for Horton, well, it appears yesterday he smashed six times the cereal I managed on my Monday morning.
Basically, it’s important for athletes to replenish all the energy they’re burning in the pool.
Cheat Day Cakes #StacksonStacks #SwimmersDiet A photo posted by Conor Dwyer (@conorjdwyer) on Oct 4, 2015 at 8:41am PDT