What should the composition of an Open
Water Swimmers diet look like?
One thing is for certain: An athlete’s diet is different than that of a non-athlete. Leading up to your
Open Water Training Camp, it’s important to understand what your body needs to function as a finely
tuned machine, both in and out of the water. I have picked out a few topics that I think are crucial to
keep in mind every day of your training season.
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
I am adding this point first, because I find most athletes need to work on this one the most!
The fresher and more colorful natural foods are, the more powerful their ability to help you cope with
the stress of training and maintain a strong healthy immune system. These colorful, fresh foods will
help athletes by reducing or eliminating downtime due to illness and inflammatory injury.
You goal should be to include as many different colors as possible in your diet on any given day. Many
essential nutrients needed for good health and peak performance are water soluble, meaning they are
flushed out and need to be provided on a daily basis. A variety of food choices will help provide this
constant delivery of nutrients. Berries, beans, and spices are among the top ranked foods for their
immune boosting ingredients.
Carbohydrate:
Carbohydrate is the main fuel source for moderate to high intensity activity. For Open Water Swimming
events, specifically 10K and 5K, carbohydrates are going to be what gets you to the finish line. The
threshold of intensity that open water swimmers push through events of this duration require a high
carbohydrate diet leading up to race day, in addition to heavy days of training. Recommendations are
made based on volumes of training and the grams of carbohydrates to be ingested per kilogram of lean
muscle mass to support that activity. (Find your weight in kilograms by dividing your weight in pounds
by 2.2.).
Athletes competing in longer endurance events and those competing in events lasting over 2 hours have
higher carbohydrate needs than an athlete with more short, explosive activity or training sessions. The
majority of this kind of athlete’s calories should come in the form of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates can
be found not only in starchy cereals, pastas and breads, but also many other kinds of naturally occurring
foods such as fruits and vegetables.
Your carbohydrate needs are not only important during swim practice, but also throughout the rest of
the day. The table below may help you to figure out what your needs are:
Moderate Duration Activity
(10hr/wk)
Moderate to Heavy Duration
Activity
(20 hr/wk)
Extremely Heavy Duration
Activity
(4-6 hrs/day)
Daily CHO
Daily CHO
Recommendation Recommendation
g CHO/kg/d
For a 60 kg Athlete
5-7
300-420 g CHO
Daily CHO
Recommendation for
a 75 kg Athlete
375-525
7-10
420-600
525-750
10-12+
600 - +
750 - +
*It is important to realize that increasing your carbohydrate intake requires carbohydrate ingestion during training,
not just during the meals and snacks outside of workout time.
Once you have determined your carbohydrate needs, finding foods that contain high amounts of those
carbohydrates is the next step. Packaged foods have a Nutrition Facts label to guide your food choices,
and the chart below can guide you to more naturally occurring carbohydrate dense foods.
Food Item
1 Whole Wheat Bagel
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 package regular instant oatmeal
8 Wheat Crackers
1 large Baked Potato
1 medium Banana
1 cup applesauce
1 Sports Bar (Clif, PowerBar, etc)
3 Fig Cookies
Grams of Carbohydrates
35
50
19
30
50
27
60
42-44
28
Protein:
As already stated, carbohydrates are the most efficient form of energy to fuel activity. When those
stores run out, the body can use other sources of energy for fuel, but they won’t be used nearly as
efficiently (efficiency = broken down and utilized quickly). Protein, in the diet or stored in the body can
be used as energy, but its main use should be to build and repair lean muscle.
Protein, or amino acids, are the building blocks for muscle development, maintenance, and recovery.
How much protein an athlete needs is dependent on the size of the athlete and the type of activity they
participate in on a daily basis. Athletes have a higher protein need than a sedentary person, but needs
are not as high as you might think. The misconception is that “protein equals energy”. This is not
true….entirely.
As an endurance athlete (which a lot of swim training is, because of the nature of the sport: increased
volume and relatively little weight bearing activity) carbohydrate should be the main focus to fuel your
training, and protein should be consumed to repair muscles and aid in long-term strength gains. An
endurance athlete should strive for 1.2-1.4 g of protein per kilogram of their body weight.
For example: 75kg male swimmer X 1.2 - 1.4g of Protein = 90 – 105 g of Protein each day.
To reach these protein needs, you can easily incorporate lean (low fat) protein sources into your meals.
Your meals should be approached in this way: Carbohydrate with a side of protein. Some examples
would be:
• Bowl of brown rice with chicken breast (4 oz chicken breast = 27 g of Protein)
• Plate of whole wheat spaghetti with lean meat tomato sauce (1/2 cup ground meat = 25 g Protein)
• Bed of wild rice with salmon (4 oz of Salmon = 20 g Protein)
Other Foods high in Protein are:
Food Item
Milk (Skim)
4 oz Chicken Breast w/o skin
Lean Beef – round, sirloin, flank
½ can tuna packed in water
1 large egg
3 medium slices lean deli meat
½ cup Low-Fat Cottage Cheese
¾ cup Fat Free Greek Yogurt
Grams of Protein
8
28
25
15
7
21
14
14
Dietary Fat:
After your energy needs for activity are accounted for, and protein has been included to support muscle
growth and repair, the last part of your calorie budget should be dietary fats. Athletes work with an
energy budget, a budget that reflects the amount of calories you need for training and the amount you
require to maintain your current body composition. If carbohydrate and protein needs are met and not
over budgeted for, then dietary fats will fit in perfectly to balance out energy needs. They can also help
to meet energy needs if overall energy expenditure is greater than an athlete’s appetite. These fats
should be consumed during meal and snack times outside of training times.
There are many health benefits to eating dietary fats, but only when in the right form. Mono- and Polyunsaturated fats should be your choices of fats, and are typically liquid at room temperature and found
in plant sources or fish. Avoid saturated fats, which are solid at room temperature and often found in
animal products.
Good sources of dietary fats are:
Food Item
½ small avocado
2 Tbsp ground Flaxseed
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
14 Almonds
2 Tbsp Natural Peanut Butter
Grams of Fat
27
8
14
14
16