Maybe Gittleson had it right
Perhaps we all underestimated the dietary genius of Mike Gittleson.
From ESPN's Jim Caple today: http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/columns/story?columnist=caple_ji…
August 12th, 2008 at 2:15 PM ^
August 12th, 2008 at 2:43 PM ^
"Carbing up" the night before a race is crucial for swimmers who want to do well. Especially in Phelps' case, where he has something like 17 races in these two weeks. Come race time, forget the fruits and veggies. That stuff's for the practice time in between. Carbs carbs carbs carbs.
August 12th, 2008 at 2:51 PM ^
Blasphemy!
No, runners and swimmers do this all the time. The night before big meets you just go out and carbo load on a ton of pasta and breadsticks. Carbs are great for the short term because you'll be going all out and expending tons of simple sugars when you compete. That and you literally want to do as little as possible other than warmups and stretching to keep yourself loose.
When you're trying to build muscle by weightlifting, pasta and bread aren't nearly as good as milk, fruits/veggies, and protein.
August 12th, 2008 at 3:25 PM ^
August 12th, 2008 at 3:31 PM ^
This is actually quite normal for swimmers. Calories are a big deal, especially during training, otherwise the workload will break you down and your body will fall into the "overtrained" abyss. Normally you cut down on your calories as you "taper down" your workload in preparation for your big meet.
For Phelps, the only extraordinary thing about this is that he has to keep up his caloric intake during the meet because of his race schedule. As an ex-swimmer, the number of events he did in Athens and is doing again in Beijing is IMO extremely brutal. When you take into account the amount of time he needs for warmdown, drug testing, post-race interviews, medal ceremonies, and warmups, he's burning a LOT of calories even when he's not swimming!
So, NO, Gittleson did NOT have it right, and the program is better without him.
August 12th, 2008 at 4:36 PM ^