How To Fuel Your Performance This Winter: A Complete Nutrition Guide
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Momentous note: Performance Dietitian Craig Moore spends his days facing a unique challenge: how do you personalize nutrition for an athlete who spends hours training under rigorous conditions, taking into account both physical performance and recovery, as well as minimizing risk of injury and protecting brain health? For Craig, it starts with identifying the major hurdles to success for these athletes, and then tailoring a nutrition plan that covers all the bases. Read on for a deep dive into how Craig sets his athletes up for success, from the kitchen to the slopes.
Today’s the day. The moment you’ve waited months for is finally here. The first big storm of the season has rolled through, and there is plenty of fresh pow to go around. If you’re anything like my family the alarm is set for dark and early, and the car is already packed with everyone’s gear. First chair, last chair. As many runs as you can fit into the day. That’s the goal.
You’ve spent months preparing. Your board has been cleaned and waxed; its edges sharpened. You’ve replaced your old bindings and finally splurged on a new pair of boots. Not to mention the countless hours of training you’ve dedicated this off-season to strengthening your legs and core, improving your mobility and building your conditioning to put up with the rigors of ski season.
Yet, despite all the preparation that has gone into getting your body and gear ready for this moment, you haven’t put much, if any, thought into your nutrition. After all, you’re getting out the door early so it’s not like you really have time for a substantial breakfast…right? And why would you bring snacks for the mountain? The resort has food! You can grab a burger and fries at the lodge when you get hungry. Certainly, hydration is important but it’s not like you can carry a bottle around all day. Maybe you’ll have a beer with lunch. Oh, and who needs a recovery snack during the 1-2 hour drive down the mountain? You can get some takeout once you’re closer to home! It’s not like you make it a priority to have a protein rich snack or meal as soon as possible after you finish at the gym. Skiing for 8 hours isn’t nearly as demanding as a few sets of squats, split squats and leg extensions…right?
Well, when you put it like that…
As a performance dietitian working with some of the best extreme sport athletes in the world, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to fuel skiing and snowboarding for optimal performance, recovery and health. I’ve come to recognize three common mistakes I believe most snow athletes are making:
Not prioritizing a pre-training meal
Under-fueling during long sessions
Delaying recovery nutrition
Is it a big deal? Only if you’re concerned with reducing your risk of injury, recovering well between sessions and having high energy levels so you can perform at your best and truly enjoy your time on the mountain. Let’s dive in.
Not prioritizing a pre-training meal:
I get it, it’s early. It’s hard to take down a meal at this hour and you don’t want to wake up any earlier to cook breakfast. But you’re also planning to be on the mountain all day, so that slice of toast won’t cut it.
It’s well established that a carbohydrate-rich meal a few hours before activity can increase carbohydrate availability in the muscle and liver in the form of glycogen. This is especially important in the morning when your liver glycogen stores are depleted after an overnight fast. Remember, carbohydrates are your main source of energy for any moderate to intense exercise. Eating a carbohydrate rich meal prior to a big day on the mountain will increase your reserves of glycogen, improving performance by providing a readily available source of energy to your muscles and supporting the maintenance of blood glucose levels.
How many grams of carbohydrate should you aim for at this meal? For the professional snow athletes I work with, we target around 2 grams/kg body weight, which works out to 100-150 grams for the average person. Adjust up or down based on your size, goals and daily energy needs.
When it comes to not wanting to cook in the morning, consider prepping your breakfast the night before. A few options to consider:
Overnight Oats: my personal go-to. I pair this with a strawberry banana smoothie to make sure I am hitting my carbohydrate target when appetite is low.
Breakfast burritos: wrap ahead of time & pop into the oven in the morning. Be sure to add roasted potatoes or hashbrowns for additional carbohydrates.
Whole grain pancakes: make a big batch and store them in the freezer. Pop a few in the oven and top with a banana, berries and maple syrup.
Under-fueling during long sessions:
When exercising for longer than 60-75 minutes, it’s well established that ingesting carbohydrates can improve endurance capacity and performance through several mechanisms:
Maintaining blood glucose levels
Sparing muscle and liver glycogen
Improving motor skills
Positively impacting mood and reducing perception of effort
It’s for these reasons that endurance athletes take in gels & chews during training. Team sport athletes drink sports drinks and snack at half-time. Even little leaguers have this figured out with their orange slices! Yet, when it comes to snowboarding and skiing, we forget the importance of fueling during long sessions. We spend all day on the mountain and assume there’s nothing we can do to prevent our energy levels from crashing.
While endurance athletes may aim to ingest 90 grams of carbohydrates per hour, the energetic demands of skiing and snowboarding don’t require that high a level of intake. I encourage the athletes I work with to take in at least 15-30 grams of carbohydrates per hour of training. On high intensity days that require athletes to hike between runs, I may increase this to 60 grams per hour.
Below are some of my favorite options for fueling on the mountain:
Carbohydrate-electrolyte drinks (i.e. sport drinks)
Fresh, dried and freeze-dried fruit
Fruit leathers
Granola and fig bars
Pretzels and crackers
Energy waffles, gels and chews
Low intensity day with no hiking and long lines? Aim for 15 grams of carbohydrates per hour and choose whole food options. High intensity day with lots of hiking and minimal breaks? A higher intake (30-60 grams per hour) from refined options like gels, chews and sport drinks may be more appropriate.
Delaying recovery nutrition:
Phew. What a day! You head back to the car, slip off your boots and load up your gear. Time to settle into your seat and take a nap during the long drive home (unless you got stuck driving). But aren’t you forgetting something? Before you fall asleep, it’s important to start the process of recovery within 30-60 minutes of your last run. After all, aren’t you coming back tomorrow?
When it comes to recovery nutrition, we are focused on the 3 R’s: rehydrate, refuel, rebuild.
Rehydrate your body with fluids.
Cold weather can be deceptive and lead us to believe we haven’t lost much in the way of fluid. But combine low fluid availability on the mountain with a long day of skiing and increased respiratory fluid losses from the high altitude and low humidity, and you have a perfect storm to find yourself under hydrated at the end of the day. Aim to drink 16-20 ounces of fluid.
Refuel your glycogen stores with carbohydrates.
During the 1-2 hours following exercise, your muscles are primed to take up carbohydrates and store them as glycogen for tomorrow’s session. Aim for at least 30 grams of carbohydrates from fresh or dried fruit, pretzels or a granola bar.
Rebuild your broken-down tissues with protein. Spending 8 hours on the snow can lead to considerable damage to your body’s tissues. It is essential to take in 20-30 grams of protein as soon as possible to support the repair process, not only reducing how sore you will feel tomorrow but also decreasing your risk of injury over the course of the winter. From a convenience standpoint, this is where Momentous’ travel protein packets can be a great option. Mix with the 16-20 oz of water I mentioned earlier, have a handful of dried fruit and you’re set.
Craig’s Protein Pancakes:
2 cups old fashioned oats
2 eggs
½ cup cottage cheese
1 cup milk of choice
2 tbsp sweetener of choice
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
Optional:
½ tsp cinnamon
1 scoop protein powder of choice
Blend all ingredients until a smooth texture is achieved. Add additional milk for a thinner texture. Cook as you would with any other pancake and enjoy!
Check out Momentous Whey Protein to support muscle recovery and fuel your performance.
References:
A.E. Jeukendrup (2014): A Step Towards Personalized Sports Nutrition: Carbohydrate Intake During Exercise. Sports Med, DOI: 10.1007/s40279-014-0148-z
Burke, L.M., J.A. Hawley, S. Wong, and A.E. Jeukendrup (2011): Carbohydrates for training and competition. Journal of Sports Sciences, DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2011.585473
Heaton LE, Davis JK, Rawson ES, Nuccio RP, Witard OC, Stein KW, Baar K, Carter JM, Baker LB. (2017): Selected In-Season
Nutritional Strategies to Enhance Recovery for Team Sport Athletes: A Practical Overview. Sports Med. DOI: 10.1007/s40279-017-0759-2
Meyer, N.L., Manore, M.M., Helle, C. (2011): Nutrition for winter sports, Journal of Sports Sciences, DOI:10.1080/02640414.2011.574721
Craig Moore
Craig is accredited through the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics as a Registered Dietitian and board-certified specialist in Sport Dietetics (CSSD). Through his work and his own private consultation, Craig has extensive experience working with athletes of all levels and disciplines ranging from weekend warriors to first round draft picks and Olympic Medalists.
