I heard a great line today listening to a podcast (She Thrives The Podcast episode 11/http://www.shethrivesblog.com/shethrivesradio/11 ): “You need to start living and breathing like an athlete.” If you want to perform like one, your life style choices have to reflect this.

The next 5 weeks of the Crossfit Open are an exciting time for the Crossfit community, but it is important to remind ourselves that they will also be a challenging and demanding time. Now I wrote all this with the Crossfit Open in mind, but there are many other times in our lives where we may have just a little too much on our plate. Maybe you are a tax accountant in tax season while training for your first marathon, or in the middle of big house renovations. Point is we live full lives and we have high expectations of everything we should be able to achieve, sometimes that means we need to spend a little more time taking care of ourselves so that the extra pressure and stress don’t break us.

But coming back the Open. It is nice to first remind ourselves that our self-worth is not defined by our placement in the Open. Let’s all think about this for a second. I am a mom, a wife, and a business owner who also happens to compete in the sport of Crossfit. Chances are that there is a lot more to you as well than competing in Crossfit.

We want it all; we want to perform like professional athletes, but we also want to go out with our friends on Friday night and attend every social event. At some point, we need to be realistic and start prioritizing.

In times of high demand, whether it is the Crossfit Open season or training for a triathlon, you need to respect the demands that you are putting on your body. When we workout at a high intensity, our cortisol levels rise and our body goes into fight or flight mode. It’s important to have a plan to down regulate and prioritize recovery; otherwise, you risk walking around with elevated cortisol for too long, which can lead to chronic stress, poor sleep and even unwanted weight gain.

What is cortisol? And why should you care? Cortisol is a hormone that regulates a wide range of processes throughout the body, including your metabolism and immune system. It also has a very important role in helping the body respond to stress. Producing cortisol is a good thing. It helps keep us motivated, awake and responsive to our environment. We want to continue to produce it, but at normal times and normal amounts. Cortisol levels should be higher in the morning when we wake up, and then fall throughout the day following our circadian rhythm.

When it comes to recovery, it all starts with better nutrition. How you feed your body will impact both your performance and your recovery.

You need to eat enough. Too often, athletes are trying to limit calories and put themselves under way more physical stress as a result. Crossfit is a glycolitic sport that is largely fuelled by carbs. Now, of all times, is not the time to restrict. Eat to support your demands.

Second, you need to eat the right foods. You are never going to feel your absolute best on a diet of beer and donuts. You need to focus on both the quantity and quality of your food. Focus on eating whole, minimally processed foods while limiting your consumption of sugar, highly processed foods, excess caffeine and alcohol.

Once you’ve dialled in your quantity and quality, you can start paying attention to the timing of your nutrition. Post-workout carbs will be the biggest game changer. Eating carbs immediately after your workout will help take your body from fight or flight to rest and recover, shutting down that cortisol response and kick starting your recovery. You want to think simple carbs here, quick to digest and absorb.

In practice you can start by looking at your current routine and make some small applicable changes.

  • Be realistic about your time. If you want to do well in the Open, going out every Friday night for happy hour isn’t going to lead to top performance Saturday morning, or great recovery if you throw down on Friday night! Burn the candle on both ends and soon it will be gone!
  • Prioritize your nutrition. Eat whole foods. Get your macros and micros (shameless plug to previous blog post ????????http://courageous-part.flywheelsites.com/macros-and-micros-are-you-eating-enough-vegetables/ ), eat to support your training and recovery. Time your carbs well post-workout. Watch for inflammatory foods. Limit sugar and processed foods. Limit your caffeine and alcohol consumption.
  • Prioritize your sleep. Sleep and nutrition come before training; if you don’t dial in those two, no good will come out of going to the gym.
  • Watch your training volume and listen to your body if it needs extra rest.
  • Focus on relaxation and stress management. Spend time on activities that help you down regulate, like yoga, walking, meditating, reading. Book yourself in for a massage.

My personal commitment for the next 5 weeks?

  • 8hrs sleep is non-negotiable.
  • No alcohol during the Open. For me it comes down to inflammation. It takes me 2-3 days to feel right after just a little wine. Right now that just isn’t worth it to me.
  • Cut down to 1 cup of coffee a day. During competition, I often find myself more jittery and I know that in order to keep my cortisol levels in check, I need to keep my coffee habit under control.
  • Drink my post recovery shake 100% of the time. It’s often the last thing on our mind to refuel as we lay on the ground heaving after a tough workout. But a high quality recovery drink will be designed to be light weight and easy to digest after a workout. Timing it well will fast track your recovery, and you can follow that with a proper balanced meal once you peel yourself off of the floor and go home. My current go-to ???????? https://5star4mula.com/product/carbohyline/ You can use our code for 10% off your order : POWERUP10 .
  • Focusing on my micros. 12 + servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Not enough veggies = no ice cream! I love my treats, but treats aren’t meant to be a daily affair. Sorry Halotop!
  • Supplement my nutrition with a Green supplement for extra anti-oxydant and Ashwagandha to help me at bed time.
  • Spend more time on self care and active recovery. Make sure I don’t ignore any little aches and pain.
  • Engage in calming activities to down regulate. Reading and walking both do wonders for me. Especially if I can add some contact with nature.

As usual we love to hear from you. Let us know if you have questions, comments or need support to optimize your nutrition, feed your performance and recovery.

2 more sleeps and we can start worrying about 18.2!

Annie 🙂