Food suggestions for very short breaks between prelims and finals

[Anonymous]

Would appreciate food suggestion do’s and dont’s for swimmers with a very short break (slightly over 1 hour) between end of prelim session and start of warm up for finals.

[Anonymous]

That's a short break. I would stick with whatever the kid was eating during the meet. Maybe something like a smoothie. My kid likes milkshakes.

[Anonymous]

I think my kid would vomit if they had a smoothie or a milkshake in such a small window.

I would stick with fruit or whatever snacks they were eating during the meet. Then eat afterwards.

[Anonymous]

apples, bananas and grapes

PB with something (toast, crackers, fruit)

Energy Bars

Electrolyte drinks

Crackers

Seaweed snacks

This is what I see often. I was always told to avoid dairy until after meet. But this will be kid-specific. Kids have a wide variety of what they can tolerate. Guessing your kid is little as it is usually the 10 and unders who get the afternoon session so I also wouldn’t overthink it and stick with things your kid likes.

[Anonymous]

my swimmer likes a plain turkey sandwich with lettuce, no cheese no mayo, some pretzels, apple, gatorade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my swimmer likes a plain turkey sandwich with lettuce, no cheese no mayo, some pretzels, apple, gatorade

YMMV but that seems like a lot when your race is less than an hour away.

At long meets that cross over a meal time we do something like above but have DC time it during the longest gap between races or else eat it piecemeal. With less than an hour until race time I'd do something with simple carbs to get the boost. Crackers with a tiny bit of peanut butter or cheese. Or maybe a banana or apple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my swimmer likes a plain turkey sandwich with lettuce, no cheese no mayo, some pretzels, apple, gatorade

YMMV but that seems like a lot when your race is less than an hour away.

At long meets that cross over a meal time we do something like above but have DC time it during the longest gap between races or else eat it piecemeal. With less than an hour until race time I'd do something with simple carbs to get the boost. Crackers with a tiny bit of peanut butter or cheese. Or maybe a banana or apple.

I'm guessing finals warm up is at least an hour, and kid may come out of prelims session having missed a meal and hungry. A small sandwich, or half of a sandwich before warm ups and half after depending on finals timeline seems reasonable.

You definitely want a good mix of healthy carbs and protein.

Hopefully with short turnaround there is the option to be in the back half of finals warm ups. For example, the RMSC meet this weekend has the older kids warming up first half of finals warm ups giving the younger group about an hour from the end of their session to the beginning of their warm up and even if you are a 12yo in the last event of prelims and the first event of finals, about 2h between races.

My kids bring a variety of snacks like trail mix, fruit, and sandwiches and eat what feels good.

[Anonymous]

Seaweed, grapes or applesauce, plain turkey, and Gatorade, in whatever combination works for the situation.

My kid never deviates from this combination at any meet, though. I think she's afraid of getting sick in the water.

[Anonymous]

Bready carbs or fruit or granola/Clif bar. Finish it 30min before next start time.

[Anonymous]

Mine like wawa soft pretzels or dry bagels if pretzels aren’t available. Also bananas and chia squeeze pouches

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine like wawa soft pretzels or dry bagels if pretzels aren’t available. Also bananas and chia squeeze pouches

I love the Wawa soft pretzel- my favorite junk food

[Anonymous]

Half a turkey sandwich-light on the meat. Goldfish. Banana. Gatorade.