Pre-swim food: What our coaches eat before swimming
Open water swimming is great exercise; it can burn more than 500 calories an hour! It’s important to fuel the body properly to handle the physical demand and also keep warm.
Our coaches are almost always advocating for swimmers to consume foods such as nuts or nut butter, oatmeal, milk/soymilk, Greek yogurt, granola bars, or tofu before jumping in. In our pre-race and swim letters, we advise participants to keep it small, soft, and warm - like oatmeal and bananas - for maximum digestibility and energy sources.
But we wanted to know from our experts personally: “What do you eat before a swim?”
The takeaway (unintentional food pun)
Small, soft, and (mostly) warm holds true! Whether you opt for smoothies, bananas, or toast, keeping it small keeps it adequately filling without giving you a morning food baby, soft keeps it easily digestible, and warm keeps it satisfying and serves even as a bit of comfort amid thoughts of cold water. Across the board, each of our coaches balance carbs in grain and fruit form and protein as eggs, nut butters, and powders in their pre-swim fuel and most don't skip morning coffee!