| Caloric
Needs for Olympic Athletes
I'm enjoying the Olympics as I write
this and am honored to personally know some of the figure skaters
representing the US. Even though we don't have Alps in our backyard,
we still have winter (too much of it sometimes), and ski slopes,
and ice rinks year round. Many of these athletes started their
sport very young, and hopefully Torino 2006 will inspire us.
I thought it would be interesting to see how many these athletes
calorie needs are during a typical day of training. Here is
what I found: Of course they were listed in the metric system
so I did the conversions for you.
Ski Jumping -- 12 -17 calories per pound
Cross Country Skiing -- 25 - 34 calories per pound
Alpine Skiing
Mogul Skiing
Snowboarding -- 20 -25 calories per pound
Freestyle Aerials -- 16 -20 calories
per pound
Speedskating -- 20 -30 calories per pound...
but some latest research shows they may need 36 calories per
pound!
These calories come mostly from healthy carbohydrates (grains,
fruits and veggies). They also consume plenty of lean protein
and drink a ton of water. For sports drinks they only drink
them VERY diluted and also drink them warm during training in
the cold.
Data from SCAN (Sports Cardiovascular
and Wellness Nutritionists)
Winter 2006 issue
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