Health Options Alan Titchenal  & Joannie Dobbs                   Wednesday, October 29, 1997

Triathletes put importance on training table

Every October, nearly 1,500 of the fittest athletes in the world come to Kona to compete in the “World Series” of Ironman triathlons. Each athlete swims 2.2 miles (the distance of the Waikiki Rough Water Swim), bikes 112 miles (the distance around Oahu ), and runs a marathon. This athletic feat of nearly 140 miles must be completed in less than 17 hours.

The Kona Ironman is truly an international event, with about half of the athletes from the United States (5 percent from Hawaii ) and other half from all over the world. This year 46 countries were represented, with the youngest competitor being only 19 and the oldest 80.

Because this competition requires considerable training with extreme nutritional demands, we were curious to know what these athletes eat. We interviewed more than 40 athletes from various countries about their eating habits. This included questions about the foods and supplements they considered most important to their training and questions about their favorite foods. We also reviewed some records of their daily food intake to look at eating patterns.

Here is a summary of what we found:

There were many ways to meet the nutritional needs required for this event as there were athletes.

Most of the athletes reported that pasta was the most important food in their diets. The other indicated that various other foods, such as salads, vegetables, rice, sweet potatoes and fruit, were most important.

Water and other beverages were also very important in getting the most out of their training and competition.

About 60 percent of the athletes used nutritional supplements such as vitamins, minerals and protein powders. Athletes living in the United States used supplements more. The athletes who did not said that eating a balanced diet with a variety of foods met their nutritional needs.

Favorite foods varied considerably, but ranged from the typical desserts, such as chocolate, ice cream, cookies and fruit, to beef, fish and chicken. In only a few cases were the favorites a sig­nificant part of the athlete's diet.

Although people may think that Ironman athletes exercise so much in preparation for the race that they can eat and drink anything they want, this is generally not true. These athletes were very concerned about eating the best foods for their performance and getting the best nutrition for their calories. With few exceptions, the athletes thought that food was an essential part to successful training and competition.

At first, the variety of answers we were getting seemed to have no particular food patterns. However, when we reviewed the responses from only athletes representing other countries, a distinctive eating pattern emerged, the pattern of food intake in the United States Food Guide Pyramid.

The pyramid represents a consensus of scientific knowledge of the top nutrition scientists in the United States . Apparently, most of the world's top athletes outside of the United States have figured this out, too.

The foundation of the pyramid is based on a variety of grains and cereals like the diets of the inter­national Ironman athletes. Vegetables and fruits are next highest in quantity, followed by milk products and other high protein foods. Sweets and fats represented a minor part of the diet.

If you're wondering if the oldest competing athlete finished the Ironman, he didn't. But there were numerous athletes in their 60s and 70s who did complete the race within 17 hours, an accomplish­ment that shows the incredible strength of both the human body and human spirit.