Posted: January 6, 2005

Multisport: EnduranceRadio.com Interview with Cincy Dallow

From: EnduranceRadio.com

Tim Bourquin: “Welcome back to www.EnduranceRadio.com. This is Tim Bourquin. Thanks very much for joining us today.

We’re going to be speaking with Cindy Dallow. She’s is PhD in nutrition and also a registered dietitian, and we’re going to be getting some information from Cindy about how endurance athletes can prepare for races and what they should be eating and drinking prior to the race, and also race day and during the race as well.

A couple of things; make sure you sign up for the monthly audio newsletter. Its in the box to the left of the audio interviews, and if you get signed up for that we’ll be sending you out some exclusive interviews not available on the regular website, so make sure you get signed up for the e-mail news letter; and of course make sure you leave us some comments on our board over at www.trinewbies.com. Let us know how we’re doing and what questions we should be asking our athletes and coaches in the future.

So we’re going to be right back to speak with Cindy Dallow in about 30 seconds.”

“Dehydration can diminish your energy and impair your performance. Scientists at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute have been studying athletes for nearly 20 years and understand what endurance athletes need to stay hydrated. Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula contains a five electrolyte blend consisting of sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium and magnesium, formulated to replace the fluids and electrolytes you lose during longer more intense workouts and races. Find out more about Gatorade Endurance Hydration at www.gatorade.com today. Is it in you?”

Tim Bourquin: “Cindy thanks very much for taking time out of your schedule to talk to us this morning. I appreciate your time.”

Cindy Dallow: “Sure, no problem.”

Tim Bourquin: “Well you’ve been into sports nutrition for about 20 years now. Talk about your background. Before we started recording you said you were out running seven miles this morning, so you obviously still quite in the game.”

Cindy Dallow: “Well, yeah, running is like therapy for me. It’s my way of getting my day organized and just kind of relaxing and getting energized for the day.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now a lot of people are taking maybe a little more of a break here over the winter months. Listeners are hearing this in the first part of January so that we’ve got through the holidays. Do you have a lot of people asking you questions about how they should adjust their eating when they’re not training quite so hard?”

Cindy Dallow: “Yes. The biggest concern is how to not gain weight over the winter months.”

Tim Bourquin: “What kind of adjustments are you recommending for someone who follows nutrition pretty closely while they’re in the middle of the season, but maybe kind of let go of it a little bit over the winter months?”

Cindy Dallow: “Yeah and I think it is good to kind of let go of it for a while during the year just so you can feel refreshed and ready to go when the training season starts back up. I guess the main thing is just being semi-conscious of your calories, your total calories that you’re taking in because we can so easily take in excess calories, which of course turns into excess weight gain, without really realizing it. So maybe being a little bit more focused on situation where we might be eating mindlessly, like watching TV, reading a newspaper, in the car, things like that and trying to cut back on that kind of mindless eating, and getting your calories, getting more quality calories, at mealtimes.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now for people who’ve got full time careers and they’re training for a triathlon; its all they can do to try and get their training in, let alone think about nutrition, but really that’s just as critical as getting those training hours in is to plan and make sure you’re eating right.”

Cindy Dallow: “Right, exactly, especially if they’re training for a pretty heavy duty endurance event like a longer triathlon or a marathon, then you really do need to be thinking about nutrition and making sure you’re getting enough carbohydrates and things like that; but if you’re taking some time off and maybe just gearing up for some spring 5Ks then you don’t need to be getting all the carbohydrates and making sure that you’re eating properly all the time, you can be a little bit more relaxed.”

Tim Bourquin: “Do you recommend keeping a log? People write down their training plans all the time; do you recommend keeping a written nutrition plan as well?”

Cindy Dallow: “I think it’s a good idea. I think everybody should do that at least once in their life. Now I don’t necessarily think people need to do it all the time, although I have several clients who can’t live without writing down what they eat, but I don’t think people necessarily need to do that all the time. But it’s a good idea to try it once, write down every single thing that you eat and drink, every single little thing, for at least three days and give it to a dietitian, have them run it through a computerized nutrition analysis program and just see where they’re at with calories, protein, carbohydrate, fat. It’s a good learning experience.”

Tim Bourquin: “Yeah. I would imagine that that probably surprises a lot of people if they’re doing that too to find out really what they’re eating every day.”

Cindy Dallow: “Oh yes, it’s always surprising.”

Tim Bourquin: “When we gear up as we come into spring and people are starting to train again and getting into the season, how far out from an endurance race, let’s say they’re doing a marathon or even a triathlon, should they really start to get disciplined about their nutrition?”

Cindy Dallow: “That kind of depends on their level. I’m starting to train now for a May marathon so I’m starting right now actually to get back more into a more serious eating plan than I was over the holidays, so I guess it depends on where you’re at. A beginner, they really just need to focus on the training and being able to finish the event and incorporating some of the basic sports nutrition principles, but they probably are not going to be at the level where they’re fine tuning every little thing that they’re eating. For other people who are more competitive and gearing up for maybe an Ironman distance type triathlon, then yes definitely they now need to be thinking about what they’re eating and how they’re fueling their race and recovery nutrition and things like that.”

Tim Bourquin: “Well I want to get into hydration and how you judge whether you’re doing a job good at your nutrition and your hydration, but we need to take a quick break. We’re going to be right back to speak with Cindy Dallow.”

“As an endurance athlete you have special hydration needs. Introducing Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula, developed for elite and endurance athletes for use during their longer, most intense workouts and races. Research shows you’re going to sweat out more essential fluids and minerals during prolonged training and races. Find out how to put them all back properly at www.gatorade.com. Get the edge you need to achieve that PR you’ve been training for. Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula, nobody does hydration better. Is it in you?”

Tim Bourquin: “When someone is training like we talked about, getting into it and really starting to get more disciplined about it, how will they know if they’re doing a good job with their nutrition and hydration? In some of your articles you’ve talked about hitting the wall or bonking. Is that really the only way or are there other ways you can judge?”

Cindy Dallow: “Hydration is actually fairly easy, and I think most runners and triathletes know this already, but for the beginners out there you want to just keep an eye on the color of your urine and also the frequency of urinating, to bring up kind of a not so pleasant topic, but it’s really important. If your urine is a dark yellow then you are dehydrated. So you want to always just an eye on that, make sure it’s a lighter yellow, it’s not the dark yellow and that you’re going your usual amount, and if so then you’re probably hydrated. Hydration is very important with training. With food, I think just keeping an eye on your general energy level. If you have a pretty good energy level most of the time you’re probably eating well. Now that doesn’t mean that every single day you’re going to bounce out of bed and say, ‘Oh, I feel great and I want to run ten miles today,’ because nobody’s going to feel like that every single day. Even the best dietitian is going to have some down days with eating and energy levels. But if most of the time you’re feeling pretty good then chances are you are eating well.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now coming into January here; it’s obviously easy over the holidays to eat a lot more sugar than you normally may have. For someone who’s trying to cut back on that, doing it cold turkey and right away going to the strict discipline plan, it may be a little tough. Is there a way to ease into it?”

Cindy Dallow: “Yeah. I actually think some people like the cold turkey approach and actually do really well and some people like to gradually ease into things. Probably the best thing to do is just not buy a lot of sweets for a while because if you had a lot over the holidays, and then if you have them around the house then its really hard to not eat them, so maybe just not buy them for a while. Keep fresh fruit on hand and visible. If its down in the crisper of your refrigerator and you never see it, chances are you’re never going to eat it. Bring it out onto the table; get it up so that you can see it. Make sure you have as much of a variety of fruits and vegetables as possible, especially fresh fruit because I think sometimes that can satisfy an urge for something sweet, not always. Sometimes I think only the real thing in terms of sugar will do it. Sometimes if you want something sweet get a nice orange or apple or something like that and see if that will at least curb that desire.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now in some of the articles that I’ve read on your website (www.partnersinnutrition.com) you talk about how doing things in moderation, actually you’ll continue to do it because it not such a big change. How can people find that balance where they’re not dreading their diet plan, but at the same time they can stick with it?”

Cindy Dallow: “I think it’s really important to not expect perfection, especially with eating. It’s just too hard and especially if you’re working full time, you’ve got kids, you’re training, I think it’s putting too high an expectation on yourself to think you’re going to eat three balanced meals every single day. It’s just too overwhelming to do that. Just make one good choice, or one or two good choices every day, try to include fruits and vegetables at each meal and maybe that’s the only good thing that you do each day for your diet, but that is a good thing and that’s worth doing right there. But don’t expect yourself to have these perfectly balanced meals at every meal every day. I think it’s just too hard for busy people.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now lets talk about, briefly switching gears, about day or and during the race nutrition. Most people we’ve spoken to, who are not dieticians but just athletes themselves, talk about using trial and error to see what works for them. You mention on your website about not trying anything new that day. Is it mostly trial and error to see what works for you?”

Cindy Dallow: “Yes, definitely, and I think the more you get into running and training the more you get to know your body, and you know what foods work for you and you know which foods don’t work for you, and if you’re training for a marathon or triathlon or a big event, then you want to practice at least once a week with eating certain foods the day before, because what you eat the day before can really effect how you race the next day, because that food is working through your GI tract, and you also want to practice what you’re going to eat or drink during the event. You don’t want to wait until the big day and then, ‘Oh, I think I’m going to try this new sports bar,’ or, ‘I’m going to go have a breakfast at Village Inn Restaurant,’ or something like that (nothing against Village Inn). You don’t to try any new foods the day before or the day of an event, and I’m surprised at how many people do that.”

Tim Bourquin: “We’ve heard a lot of people, almost day of the race; they’ll get up at 2:00 in the morning, have their breakfast and actually go back to bed because that’s what works for them. Do you find that giving a little more distance between the start time and when you eat your breakfast is helpful?”

Cindy Dallow: “Yes, and if it is a longer event; if its an event that’s going to take more than 90 minutes then I personally think it is a good idea to have breakfast. I think you will run better, or compete better if its triathlon if you have breakfast. If it’s a 5K or a short distance triathlon, you can get away with just having toast and juice, or not anything, especially a 5K race. You can easily run a 5K without having much to eat. But if it’s a marathon, or half marathon, I really recommend getting up early enough to have breakfast and it does mean on race day you have to get up at some ungodly hour and do that, but chances are you’re not sleeping well anyway. I think you’ll just have a better race.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now during the race, you talked about not trying anything new, you a lot of times at the aid stations you may not have a choice about what’s available there. Do you recommend then just taking it on yourself? I guess for a triathlon it’s easy during the bike, but a marathon or something where you’re not really going to want to carry around your nutrition, what are your choices at that point?”

Cindy Dallow: “Well there’s a couple of things you can do. If this is a pretty important race, I would contact the Race Director ahead of time and find out what they’re going to have at the aid stations. If there’s a certain brand of sports drink that you really like, find out if they’re going to have that, or find out if you can get whatever sports drink they are going to provide and practice with it and see if you like it. Most sports drinks are pretty similar in their contents anyway. They’re usually weak glucose solutions with various other things added to it, and I would say most people can tolerate the average sports drink pretty easily. But for peace of mind it might help to find out what brand it is and practice with it in your training runs and rides.”

Tim Bourquin: “Well we’re just about out of time, but I want to ask you one more question. When we’re heard from people who’ve said that a lot of times inexperienced, or newer, runners or triathletes will almost treat every aid station as a buffet and they end up eating too much at that point. What can you do to counter that?”

Cindy Dallow: “Oh yeah you definitely don’t want to eat too much, especially if you’re just running, if it’s a running race, because that’s the best way to get GI cramp or distress, is to eat too much. All you want to do is maintain your blood sugar levels and if you’ve trained well and eaten well the day before and before your race then all you want to do during the race is just maintain that blood sugar level. At that point you can’t start adding glycogen or really be relying on fuel from that particular food, you’ve just trying to top of your blood sugar levels and prevent them from going down and depleting your glycogen stores, so you just want little bits of glucose, or sucrose, or some type of sugar; little bits of sugar throughout your endurance event. You don’t want a lot because it can cause cramps, it can cause diarrhea, it can cause all kinds of GI distress and I think most runners and triathletes know you can run through certain kinds of pain, but you sure can’t run through GI distress.”

Tim Bourquin: “Well of course our listeners can go to your website at www.partnersinnutrition.com. You’re also the official dietician for www.trichic.com, which we’ll link to as well. Thank you very much Cindy for your time, I appreciate it.”

Cindy Dallow: “Thank you. I enjoyed it.”

EnduranceRadio.com offers online radio programs and interviews with endurance athletes and coaches at all levels. Visit their site today and listen to everyday athletes just like you and also professional endurance athletes talk about how they train, eat and race. Weekend warriors and serious competitors alike will find something they can implement into their own training and technique immediately from each day's program. A new interview is posted each weekday.

Contents © 2004 Endurance Radio, a production of TNC New Media, Inc.