S.T.A.R.S. OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST ICE DANCER Staying evenly fueled throughout the training day MERYL DAVIS
I pretty much eat all day, in between my practice and gym sessions. I start at about 6 a.m. when I wake up and typically have toast with almond butter and some tea for breakfast. I’m at the rink by 6:30 and do a dynamic warm-up for about 30 minutes before I skate. We get on the ice for a couple of hours but I eat as soon as I get off (we take about a 30-minute break). I like to have easy stuff like granola and yo- gurt. After that we typically skate another hour, and then for lunch I will have carbs like a muffin; I usually have a salad as well and protein like chicken. We’ll finish with another hour on the ice and then I have
another snack before I hit the gym or ballet, depending on the day of the week. I eat dinner really early — around 4 or 4:30 p.m. — so I can’t make it to bedtime without another snack or two. Usually I have a bowl of soup or granola and yo- gurt a couple hours after dinner, and then before I go to bed I like to have more fruit or my favorite salad (tomato and balsamic vinaigrette). So there’s literally no more than two hours I go in my whole day when I’m not eating something, but it’s something relatively small.
WORLD JUNIOR SILVER MEDALIST Figuring out a competition-day eating strategy JASON BROWN
I was someone who had a lot of misinformation, may- be because I didn’t pay attention to my nutrition when I was younger. This year I started working with Dr. Dan Benardot and he helped me figure out a better strategy. I started a month before my first event this past summer to develop a schedule of eating. Dr. Benardot was trying to get me to eat more frequently, but that meant I had to reduce the amount of calories in each meal or snack. This was tricky, but the benefit was that it left me feeling full and not heavy. This helped me perform without being hungry or thinking about food, and also made it possible for me to eat more often. I think that sometimes athletes don’t break up the amount they eat and sometimes they go the whole training day without eating and then eat afterward.
Getting my nutrition organized didn’t mean taking
things out of my diet, but instead reconfiguring what I ate and when.
It was helpful to look at the statistics to see how you
burn calories and why you need to gain calories. I think a lot of athletes look at it as “I want to burn calories and I don’t want to gain the calories back” and they think the right thing is to work super hard and eat less. I think a lot of ath- letes look at calories and don’t look at the timing of when they are taking in food, or maybe they try to cut calories. This isn’t good because your body needs to consume what- ever it burns to replenish the energy in your muscles. I real- ized that when I started eating the way it was recommend- ed for recovery (in training and at competition events) that my body was feeling better and I was performing better.
If a younger athlete asked me for advice about nutri-
tion, I would tell him or her that becoming educated and asking questions is important. You shouldn’t be afraid to talk to your coach about nutrition, and to be honest, I don’t want to give specific nutrition advice, because I know it is important for each person to find the right plan because it’s so individualized.
TWO-TIME AND REIGNING U.S. BRONZE MEDALIST
The logistics of competition eating and planning for travel Agnes competed this fall at Cup of China and Cup of Russia; both required long
AGNES ZAWADZKI
travel to cities where there was a dizzying array of unfamiliar food choices. Agnes works with her dietitian and trainer to design a specific nutrition strategy for travel and competition, and packs essentials and favorites to bring with her.
I have some favorite competition-day foods. I usually start with some glu-
ten-free instant oatmeal that I make in my hotel room, adding a couple of table- spoons of almond butter. As any normal training day, I have lots of fruit around to munch on, such as apples, pears and bananas, but I’m really good with any fruit. I’ll go and skate the competition warm-up session, which is a few hours before the competition. It depends on how much time I have in my schedule so sometimes I will have things such as pasta with a protein and vegetables (time permitting). I don’t really like having a full meal too close to competition so I will have things such as a nut mix (my favorite is almonds, cashews and dark chocolate chips) or another protein such as beef jerky. I stay away from solid food about two hours prior to competing, but I keep my blood sugar stable with drinks such as Gatorade or water and coconut water.
After I compete I have to eat something right away. My favorites are choco-
late soy milk and a vegan bar. The night between short and long programs, I usu- ally will eat something such as chicken and potatoes or rice, and then veggies and fruit.
Jason Brown takes time between sessions to enjoy a recovery snack with novice ice dancer Karina Manta.
SKATING 41 I was one of those people who would never eat within
three hours of a competition, because I would tend to eat a lot when I ate and then I would feel heavy when I skated. You have butterflies and then that doesn’t work well if your stomach feels full. Now I feel so much better; I don’t feel full but I know I’m fueled well for the competition.
PHOTO BY CHUCK BIGGER
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