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2) WORKOUT WINDOWS There are times during each day when it does make more sense to splurge during the offseason. i like to recommend that athletes keep their holiday parties and splurge meals within a window following a workout that is as long as the workout itself was. That is, if a 3-hour ride is completed on a Saturday that ends at 4 p.m., after having a solid recovery drink immediately post workout, the athlete is free to enjoy anything they’d like until 7 p.m. This helps allocate excess calories that may be consumed, to a period during the day when the athlete’s body is hypersensitive to using them for recovery. Another way to think about this is that during the workout itself, a good fueling program should replace about half of the caloric expenditure. The post workout window provided here helps replace the other half of the caloric expenditure. it also helps reinforce a powerful concept: “i must workout to reward myself with a splurge item.”


3) PROTEIN FOCUS During the offseason, athletes who focus on protein tend to have an easier time maintaining weight and supporting or gaining muscle mass lost from the previous season of racing. protein has minimal impact on blood sugar and also helps displace the potential to have refined sugars or other empty carbohydrates during tempting situations. A good approach for most athletes is including a good portion of protein with every meal during the offseason. This protein will help support base work when many athletes are in the gym and will also provide a fuller feeling, which ultimately reduces intake of those foods which really tend to influence blood sugar and cause unwanted gain of body fat.


4) CHEAT DAY i like to include a cheat meal in every athlete’s nutrition program, one time each week, throughout the entire season. This cheat meal during the offseason can be used on any day without meeting the previous recommendations of this writing. it is like a free pass. examples of the weekly cheat meal may include pizza on a Friday night, outside of workout window. often times these cheat meals can be organized to fit


into an athlete’s training, such as on a Friday night before a long weekend of workouts. These cheat meals can also be used for holiday parties, or dinners during the offseason. i find that the weekly cheat meal makes a long-term nutrition program much more manageable, sustainable and often more effective over the long term.


5) EIGHT FRUITS AND VEGGIES A good rule of thumb for most athletes is to consume four servings of fruit and four servings of vegetables every day, in addition to any other foods or holiday party dinners they may be having. This ensures that although excess calories via junk foods are being consumed, the athlete is still receiving good nutrient density to help support recovery from the previous season. The added fruit and vegetable intake also helps displace the potential to consume excessive empty calories during the offseason.


nutrition during the offseason can be a


challenge for athletes and coaches alike. Following the simple recommendations above can really help athletes manage their body composition and recover from a previous season of racing without foregoing this fun, stress-relieving period that every athlete deserves during the offseason.


Jesse Kropelnicki is a USA Triathlon Level II certified coach who founded QT2 Systems, LLC as well as TheCoreDiet.com. He coaches professional athletes Caitlin Snow, Dede Griesbauer, Ethan Brown and Tim Snow and is the nutrition/cardio advisor for professional UFC fighter Kenny Florian. You can track his other coaching comments/ideas via his blog at www.kropelnicki.com.


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