If Bolt’s fabled love of chicken nuggets is indeed true, then he wouldn’t have to constantly deprive himself of his favourite snack. Rest assured, however, that there is some wriggle room, even in the diet of a world class sprinter. Trying local delicacies is best left until after the games have finished. Athletes should also stick to familiar dishes to avoid upsetting their digestion with food that they’re not used to the night before a race. Apart from adhering to the basic principals of a balanced diet, the main recommendations are to limit fibre intake and to avoid a high-fat meal – which can lie heavily in the stomach. The good news for sprinters is that there’s a reasonable amount of flexibility with what they can eat the night before a medal race. When the Olympic Games draws closer – and with the bulk of athletes’ training behind them – their energy requirements lessen and they look to simply maintain their weight. Good nutrition is therefore vital to restock the lost glycogen and repair any routine muscular damage that’s been done. During a training session, if Bolt is doing repeated sprints of 20 to 50 metres, the majority of his muscles’ glycogen will be depleted after about eight to ten efforts. The all out effort of sprinting can use up most, if not all, of the glycogen stored in the body. Bolt’s 100 metre world record time of 9.58 seconds isn’t long enough for the body to process the oxygen it needs and so energy is provided anaerobically – without oxygen – from fuels already found in the muscles. Sprint training can deplete glycogen stores very quickly since it’s the only fuel available to the body at such high intensity effort. When we eat carbohydrate, it is broken down and stored by the body in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen. Another piece of chicken? Elena Schweitzer/ShuttertockĬarbohydrates are still crucial for sprinters as sprint training also uses up a huge amount of a compound called glycogen.
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