|
|
Levi Leipheimer's Tour de France Diet By Tommy Murphy & Robert Kunz Too often, athletes spend all of their time and effort training and working for top physical form, but ignore proper nutrition and rest. Sport has seen enormous changes in nutritional practices. No amount of money spent on equipment and training will ensure top performance if you do not have the proper fuel in your tank. Nutrition is as absolutely essential to your performance as is your training and workouts themselves. More and more athletes have turned to trainers and nutritionists to aid in their diet to help maximize training and performance. In a study by Saris and colleagues (1989), energy expenditures and intakes were measured during the three weeks of the Tour de France. It was found that the cyclists required 3,000 to 7,000 calories daily with energy expenditures as high as 9,000 calories per day. Sedentary, normal-weight women typically consume 1,400 to 2,000 calories per day with their male counterparts consuming 2,500 to 2,800 calories per day. Inadequate energy intake will lead to decreased physical performance, weight-loss, and fatigue. Just as training should focus on an athlete achieving the greatest benefit from the time spent training, nutrition should focus on an athlete achieving the greatest benefit from the foods they eat. If you are not training with nutrition in mind, you are not getting the most out of your training. Robert Kunz, Senior Vice President of Research and Development of First Endurance, works closely with many elite endurance athletes including Levi Leipheimer, Freddy Rodriguez and Ina Tutenberg in developing and structuring their diets for racing and training. "Levi confided in me in January 2005 and we started to talk," said Kunz. "He told me he had a few challenges nutritionally and was heavier than he wanted to be. We did a three day diet recall and went from there." "Levi started to change the way he ate and immediately saw results. He lost 3kg without actually dieting and he said he felt better than he's ever felt. The great thing about working with Levi," Kunz said, "is that he doesn't allow anything to get in the way of his program. When we give him a specific diet to follow, he makes sure he does it. It doesn't matter how strict it is. He's methodical in that respect, which is good because he doesn't struggle to follow a nutrition program or let anything get him off track. Because of this, he started to see results pretty fast. Specifically, he was losing weight and increasing power. Once that started to happen, he was excited about the possibilities." Levi commented on his new diet and build up for the 2005 Tour de France just before the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré stating, "Everything is going well, my diet has made such a difference for me. I'm feeling so much better than I ever have. I feel like I've reached a higher level in the last few weeks because of it. My weight is lower than I have ever seen it, 61kg, and I'm feeling good. I was telling my wife the other day that I feel differently about food now. I love to eat healthy foods and I no longer crave sweets. I taste foods like fruits and vegetables more; they have more flavor to me now." Kunz didn't try to change the way Levi ate. "I just looked at what he likes to eat and worked with that." When planning Levi's diet they concentrated on three main areas: 1- Glycemic Index (G.I.) and Blood Sugar, 2- Nutrient Density and 3- Nutrient Timing. "We needed to stabilize the blood sugar for all meals prior to an event. Levi likes to eat oatmeal for breakfast, so we added fats and proteins in the form of nuts, which reduces the G.I. and stabilizes the blood sugar. Immediately after an event, the body needs foods with a high G.I for fast recovery. Part of the reason people don't recover well is that by the end of a race they are totally depleted of glycogen," says Kunz. "It's important to make sure you're taking in high glycemic foods or liquids before the race has finished and immediately after. For example, Levi will consume a beverage with high glycemic carbohydrates, easy to digest proteins, glutamine and branched chain amino acids. He'll have this with an hour to go in a race and immediately after." Working on nutrient density, Kunz states, "it's very important to choose foods high in nutrients you need leaving out foods high in sugar with empty calories. This means a lot of fruit and vegetables and whole foods." The third focus is on nutrient timing. Kunz makes sure that Levi takes in high G.I. foods immediately after training for optimum absorption and recovery. Two to three hours after that the body reaches a high anabolic state and needs high quality proteins such as fish and chicken to rebuild muscles. "It is also important to increase healthy fats in your diet. Foods with Omega 3 oils are a natural anti-inflammatory and help the body to recover," explains Kunz. In Levi's build up for the 2005 Tour de France and during the Tour itself, Kunz outlined Levi's meals for the Gerolsteiner team chef to prepare for him right down to the times each meal should be eaten. The following diet was designed for Levi for the purpose of sustaining daily energy needs during the Tour de France, maximizing recovery, reducing gastro-intestinal complications and sustaining general well being. Designed by Robert Kunz, Sr VP of Research for First Endurance Serving sizes and portions should be adjusted based on athlete's needs. AM/First Meal of the Day: This meal must consist of a variety of whole grain foods, nuts, and fruits with a balance of carbohydrates and some protein. The purpose is to minimize glycemic response and offer sustained energy. To minimize insulin response be sure to mix any source of protein or fat with your meal and stick to whole grains and slow cooked foods. For best results Coffee or Tea (caffeine) should be eliminated or minimized during this meal. Stick with cereals claiming to be whole grain and having a sugar content that is 50% or less of total carbohydrate content. Mix fruit and nuts with cereal. Samples of acceptable meals: -Long-cook oatmeal with nuts and fruit. -Yogurt with nuts or multigrain cereal and fruit. -Eggs with cheese and vegetables -Toast or bread (wholegrain ONLY) with butter or jam. Bread should be accompanied by some protein from eggs, yogurt or nuts. -Whole grain pancakes with nuts, fruit and/or yogurt. -Salt should be used sparingly but consistently each day. -A small glass of Orange Juice or Tomato Juice along with your meal is recommended. Or a glass of EFS. Pre-Ride: This snack should consist of a variety of easily digested carbohydrates. -Energy bars -One piece of fruit (many fruits have a high fiber and fructose content. Overdoing it can also cause gastric distress -Yogurt with fruit -Caffeine is OK at this point as long as it's not more than 1 hour pre-ride. Post-Ride: This should happen as soon as you get off your bike. The sooner the better. For stages lasting 3 hours or less a single serving of Ultragen is sufficient. Stages lasting more than 3 hours or a long TT, two servings of Ultragen would work best. If a serving of Ultragen is used in the ladder portion of the ride then follow with one extra serving. Just make sure not to exceed two full servings of Ultragen in a single day. Make sure not to consume any other food or drink except water and Ultragen for the first 30 minutes post-ride. Mixing anything with Ultragen will reduce its ability to be absorbed super fast. Thirty minutes after consuming Ultragen snack on bars, breads even cookies as needed. 2 Hours Post-Ride: This meal must consist of a high quality protein consumed with healthy carbohydrates. The meal should focus first on the high quality protein (chicken, turkey, eggs, whey protein, beef, fish) and secondly on healthy carbohydrates to complement the protein. This may be a good time to make a whey protein isolate smoothie. Samples of acceptable meals: -Chicken stir-fry (using healthy fats) -Tuna salad sandwich or salad -Salad with 5 eggs and olives -A hamburger with tomatoes, vegetables. -A turkey sandwich PM Dinner: This meal should have a wide variety of foods with many colors and a focus on good fats. A good balance of protein with healthy carbohydrates & fats. This is a perfect meal to stick to the fatty fish like Salmon along with extra virgin olive oil and a wide variety of vegetables. Chef should focus much of his meal and cooking on olive oil based dishes. Think Mediterranean diet and no processed foods. Samples of acceptable meals: -Fish with whole grain pasta's and vegetables -Chicken with an olive oil based sauce, tomatoes, green pepper -Bruschetta, breads with olive oil and cheeses The science of training has been greatly improved upon over the years and the advancements in nutrition and supplements are increasing the athlete's ability to perform better and better. "In short, what is eaten, how it is eaten, and when it is eaten have marked effects on health and performance. (Michael H. Stone)" Eat Right to Train Right! Tommy Murphy is a professional coach with Carmichael Training System. He works with a wide variety of athletes from the beginner to the professional athlete. For more information about CTS nutritional services and coaching email Tommy at Tmurphy@trainright.com or check out www.trainright.com |