care and feeding of a derby girl

[spacebug]

I don't often eat breakfast, but this morning I'm tummy-rumbling hungry, so I went to the coffee shop and got a bagel. Practice nights leave me in a little bit of a weird place as far as the best times/best stuff to feed myself. Lately I'll eat something for dinner as soon as I come home so that it has a chance to settle (derby + full tummy = nauseous) before I leave. But then when I come home, I'm often really hungry again, so sometimes I'll go so far as to make myself nearly another full meal around 10pm. But, I'm also told it's not healthy to eat so soon before bedtime. I think part of the reason I was so hungry this morning was that I didn't do this last night and just had some mixed nuts and gatorade, hoping that a little protein, salt, and electrolytes would do the job. I was still kinda hungry when I went to sleep and my legs were a little twitchy, both of which make it harder to actually fall asleep despite feeling nicely worn out.
Derby's taught me kind of a lot about fitness in general, but I think I'm less informed on the nutrition side of things. Since they're pretty closely related, it'd be nice to know more about it. Perhaps I'll ask my teamies. Jawbreaker especially, somewhat unsurprisingly, is a total geek about this kind of thing.

Comments

[saracura.livejournal.com]

It might be better for you to eat a big breakfast and then you wouldn't have to eat such a big meal so late. Also eating a lot of protein for lunch would help those leg shakes. It is hard when you exercise late. I have this issue when I do yoga. I like to eat a big breakfast and a hardy lunch and a lighter dinner on those days.

My $.02

[soylentmean.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a good size breakfast is definitely key. Try to eat something healthy and with lots of fiber - which will help keep you feeling fuller throughout the day.

saracura is right; it is really difficult exercising at night. Your body is more designed to do exercise during the waking hours (sunrise to sundown); late night exercise is comparatively hard on it.

[ilexcassine.livejournal.com]

Leg shakes when trying to sleep can mean "restless leg syndrome" which my neurologist tells me can be caused by low iron stores. So I suspect low iron. Also, possibly low potassium (leg cramps can be related to that). I recommend bananas for potassium. Magnesium is also related to nerve/muscle function, I think an occasional supplement of it is a good thing too (and its good for mood - makes me chill out a bit). And for iron, a tablespoon of molasses a day (taken with some orange juice or other vitamin C containing item as vitamin C is helpful for its absorption - calcium blocks it) or supplements.

Oh, and my old coach swore by pineapple juice to prevent muscle soreness, I guess there's an enzyme in it that helps with metabolizing lactic acid (my bro used to buy it in tablet form at GMC, I wish I could remember its name...). But there is so much they don't know about muscle metabolism and lactic acid its astonishing, so I don't know how accurate that is.