KITZ RACE

A ski race only lasts just under two minutes, sometimes just one. People therefore often asked themselves the question, why should I pay attention to my diet for such a short bout of exercise? Fortunately, the opinion that nutrition plays a secondary role in skiing has already disappeared from many people's minds.

There are now some good scientific publications that talk about nutrition in skiing. Although the race only lasts one to two minutes, training days include sessions with different durations and sometimes with high-intensity efforts. Athletes train in gyms several runs are done on specially closed slopes and many kilometers are covered on foot or by bike, mostly during preparatory phase. And the most important element is that on these training days the foundation for competition performance is laid with  training sessions lasting few to several hours and the adjusted diet that supports that.

If you pay too little attention to your diet in skiing, you won't reach the maximum

Training adaptation and regeneration are only optimized if the energy and nutrient supply is adjusted to the load. This gives the muscle what it needs to optimally recover and adapt to the stimulus. In this way, the body optimizes its energy metabolism, becomes more economical in its movements and also more efficient. In this way, the body regenerates quickly and so the immune system is only stresses as much as necessary.

Everyone in professional skiing who pursues these goals must pay attention to their diet, nutrient and energy intake during everyday training, otherwise these goals will not be successfully achieved. The fact that nutrition timing is also important is also important at this level.

This year, KITZ Race-Inside also focuses on several pages of nutrition. Florian Seidl asked... Does it look the same for everyone? What should a skier skiing down the Streif eat? What do you have to pay attention to as a skier? In addition to some dietary details, the article also contains some recipes. Foods that I like to add to my menu, but also foods that may be found less frequently. However, athletes who know my nutrition plans know that there is room for many things there!

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Further reading:

Meyer et al. (2011) Nutrition for winter sports. Doi: 10.1080/02640414.2011.574721