In track and field events, perfecting your technique and putting in hours of practice are the most critical factors for success. However, the more you progress, the more important your diet becomes. It is vital that you carry significant muscle to help improve your levels of strength, power and speed. To do this, you need a diet that helps you gain muscle while maintaining a low body-fat percentage.
Calories
To put on muscle, you need to eat more calories than you burn. This is known as a calorie surplus. To start, you need to work out your daily calorie expenditure. Strength coach and bodybuilder Tom Venuto recommends using an online calorie calculator. This will tell you how many calories you need to eat per day to maintain your weight. Add 500 calories to this figure, and that will put you into a calorie surplus. As a competing athlete, however, your frequent high-intensity training sessions will mean that your calorie expenditure is much higher than average, so take that into account when calculating your calories.
Protein
Protein is essential for building muscle, as it is responsible for the growth and repair of cells, and plays a role in chemical reactions within the body. According to sports nutritionist Dr. John Berardi, untrained people should consume about 0.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight each day, and contrary to popular belief, as an athlete, you may not actually need any more than this. However, Berardi advises that while a lower protein intake may be all that is needed, a higher one is certainly optimal, and recommends consuming at least 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight a day. Get your protein from meats, fish, eggs, dairy products and supplements, if necessary.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are as important as protein, as they are used for energy and are needed to help deliver nutrients from the bloodstream to your muscles. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends consuming between 6 and 10 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight. But people tolerate carbohydrates differently. If you are naturally lean and training a lot, then aim for the higher end. If you tend to carry more body fat and your training sessions and events are shorter, aim for the lower end, or even slightly below it. Most of these carbohydrates should be consumed around your workout times, and from sources like fruits, vegetables, oats, sweet potatoes and sports drinks.
Fats
Protein and carbohydrates both contain 4 calories per gram, so add these two together and subtract the total from your overall calorie intake. The number you're left with is how many calories you should eat from fat sources. Fat has 9 calories per gram, so divide it by 9, and that's how many grams of fat you should eat per day. These fats should be roughly an even mixture of monounsaturated from olive oil, nuts and avocado; polyunsaturated from oily fish and seeds; and saturated from dairy products, red meat and tropical fats such as coconut and palm oil.
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