Ski Racing - February 13, 2012

Home Comforts

The upside of downtime: fueling recovery with the right foods By Emily Cook

As I write, our team is returning to Deer Val-
ley, Utah, for the Visa Freestyle International, a
favorite stop for most athletes on the World Cup
tour. Teams from around the globe are housed
in some of Park City’s swankiest condos — but
I’m happily settled in my own home. Sleeping
in my own bed is a welcome break from hotel
rooms around the world, and a stark contrast
to the next World Cup competition, in China.
Unfortunately, I will not be traveling with my
team for this next adventure. Continuing to train
and compete has not allowed my injury to heal
completely, and my coaches and I have agreed
that I need to take some time to recover. Though
I am disappointed to miss competing at Deer
Valley and China, this break will allow me two
more weeks of being home with easy access to
my favorite foods, an important aspect to fuel-
ing a quick recovery as well as staying strong,
healthy and energized on the road.
The biggest difference between Utah and Chi-
na for me is not jetlag, 40-hour travel days, or
sleeping in a hard bed; it is nutrition. As an ath-
lete and a pescatarian (I eat seafood, but not
meat), I have to be very careful with how I fuel
my body for competition and training. Here in
Park City, I just returned from the local Whole
Foods with bags full of fresh ingredients and a
meal plan for the week. But when I’m on the
road, finding proper nutrition can become a
huge challenge.
Thankfully, the U.S. Ski Team has a great nutri-
tionist, Adam Korzun, who helps us prepare for
trips such as the China World Cup. “The most
important thing is to maintain that consistency
you have already built throughout the year,” Ko-
rzun says. “To anticipate nothing going accord-
ing to plan is the best thing to do. So, when you
go to a place where you’ll be at the competition
venue for who-knows-how-long, you’re not go-
ing to know what foods are available; you want
to prepare as if nothing is going to be there.”
So, my nutrition motto when training both at
home and abroad is to “always be prepared.”
My normal routine is to pack a lunch as well as
a few snacks such as fruit, cheese, nuts or bars
and to keep an “emergency food kit” in my work-
out bag to ensure that I get a recovery snack or
a meal after a big workout.
This is simple at home. On the road, however,
we often encounter a meal plan that doesn’t
mesh with how we want to fuel our bodies. In a
place like China, when food is sometimes sim-
ply unidentifiable, this can become an even big-
ger conundrum.
To be fair, when I ask my Chinese competi-
tors if they enjoy the meal plan in North Amer-
ica, many scrunch their noses and shake their
heads in disgust. Their bags are also filled with
snacks from home to comfort and nourish when
far away. Years ago, I ate a chicken foot by mis-
take on the hill after being convinced it was a
delicacy. In my opinion, it was not. These days,
I stick to my own snacks.
Though I won’t be going to China this year,
when I get back on the road I will be sure to
pack a supply of food that can either be pre-
pared in my room or brought to the jump site.
Some of Korzun’s favorites are oatmeal, peanut
butter, bars, sandwich-thin bread, tuna, pouches
of salmon for that extra protein, protein powder
(for recovery or to mix in your oatmeal to make
a complete meal), and pre-made meals such
as cooked lentils, rice packs and even instant
noodles if necessary.
I also supplement my meals with USANA nu-
tritional products such as a multivitamin, iron, B
vitamins and omega 3s. Korzun recommends
that those who do not already take a multivita-
min should add one when embarking on a train-
ing or competition journey where nutrition may
be inconsistent.
I expect to be back on the road to Austria,
Minsk, Moscow and Norway in two weeks, but
in the meantime I will be in Utah focusing on fu-
eling my body properly to get healthy and strong
for the remainder of the season.