Tiffanyʼs Blog Entry #2: Things get a little bit more interesting.

Time goes by fast...but only after youʼve dug yourself out from underneath the mountain of questionnaires youʼve finished going through. Yep. The first week of information gathering is done and the results are in!

Drumroll please!

Well, looks like skipping breakfast is still something that needs to be improved. Mom wasnʼt wrong when she told us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. For 6:30am practices, it might be tough to get in a big breakfast, but having something will definitely make a difference. It can mean you will be able to make it to the end of practice without too many problems as opposed to fading near the end of practice, decreased power and endurance throughout the practice and possibly injuring yourself. This completely correlates with a large number of the athletes also reporting feelings of fatigue, low energy, difficulty concentrating and trouble getting through practices. There can be several reasons why these women hockey players are feeling this way. So in order to get them out of their energy slumps, we have been doing workshops and presentations to get all the proper information out there. The importance of hydration and proper refueling is so huge for athletes that I canʼt emphasize it enough. Athletes can lose anywhere from 2-12 cups of sweat an hour if they are working hard! They need to replace all the fluid that has been lost in order to keep performing at a certain level.
Carbohydrates are also extremely important for power athletes such as hockey players, since carbs are the primary energy source during this type of high intensity start/stop exercise. If you aren't well-fueled before hand and then you donʼt top up with enough pre-workout or game, it will definitely be tough to get through to the end performing at your best. After a tough workout or game, your carbohydrate stores are low and the sooner you can load them back up, the better your performance will be the next day.

Whew! What a busy week! So far, itʼs been really interesting to work with these female athletes one on one to help them figure out some strategies to improve their nutrition and performance. Itʼs also been awesome to be able to see Beth give presentations as well - itʼs so easy to understand and really gives you something to think about. Well, I guess thatʼs it for my report this time! Stay tuned for the next update!