water from the body. •Drink plenty of water consciously. •Eat warm or hot foods to stay warmer every 3040 minutes. •Include foods high in complex carbohydrate. The winter months are the time of year when people, including endurance athletes, tend to have more illness such as upper respiratory tract infections. If an endurance runner engaged in heavy winter training should contract an URTI it could mean up to six or seven days of lost training. There are many reasons for athletes contracting respiratory infections, predominantly due to the
he colder atmospheric air outdoors as it creates added stress to the body as it tries to maintain it’s overall body temperature. Coaches and athletes are capable of many things, but influencing the climate is not one of those things. Nor, is it convenient to isolate the athletes away from people who may be carrying the virus. The emphasis for the coach in preventing the incidences of this type of illness in their athletes should be on practical, habitual rituals that the runners should adopt into their lifestyle. Matt Goddard
2012 Olympic Finalist, Lawrence Okoye, talks diet, his weaknesses and how to stay in shape in winter.
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fter just two years of training Lawrence got through to the Olympic dicscus finals where he was the youngest out of the twelve final competitors at just nineteen years old. Statistics have shown that the older you are at this sport the better you seem to be, however, this didn’t put Lawrence off with him saying, “I didn’t feel intimidated that I was the youngest in the category as at the time you don’t think of them type of things, all you think about is bringing out the best in your self and beating your previous record, it’s almost as if you’re in competition with your self.” He currently holds the British record in throwing discus, landing the record for longest throw by a teenager in the entire history of the sport. Now as he gears up for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Lawrence needs to ensure that he keeps his fitness levels at an all time high, in order to achieve his dream and bring home gold. However, it isn’t just important that athletes keep their fitness and exercise regime at a high in the winter months, but also that they concentrate on their health and nutrition. In the winter months
if athletes become tempted to eat more than they usually would it is important that they then exercise more than they normally would to ensure they keep a balance. According to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition on average athletes should get about 55-60 per cent of their calories from carbohydrates, such as whole grain rice, up to 30 per cent from healthy fat sources, such as nuts and the other 10 to 15 per cent from protein sources, such as steak, regardless of the time of year. With the future star starting in the Olympics so young he stresses the importance of him staying in shape and being in his prime, stating, “if I became lazy with my health and fitness this could jeopardize my chance of bringing home gold in Rio, so I can’t afford to just eat what I want, whenever I want.”
“Before the Olympics my diet consisted of pizza and chocolate” Throughout the Olympics Lawrence was labelled the ‘friendly giant’ of the competition, by the commen-