Athletes are always looking to gain an edge over their opponents in competition. One way they do this, in addition to proper training is nutrition. Two main goals of sports nutrition are to improve performance during the event and enhance recovery after the event.  Before an event, athletes often load up on carbohydrates believing that it will give them increased access to muscle glycogen and improve performance.  After the event is completed, the athlete’s goal nutritionally is to replenish glycogen stores that were used and enhance repair of whatever damage sustained during the event. Athletes traditionally do this through carbohydrate consumption. Until recently, protein has taken a back seat to carbohydrate concerns in endurance sports nutrition.

In The Paleo Diet for Athletes, Loren Cordain and Joe Friel adapt a low carbohydrate moderate protein high fat diet to one that is most beneficial to athletes. They meld traditional sports nutrition with their variant of a low carb diet. The paleo diet is very good for general health and recovery but it is not the most effective approach for replenishing glycogen stores. This is due to the low carbohydrate intake. Their answer to this problem is to strategically consume carbohydrates and protein at specific times to maximize performance and recovery. This is different from the general approach in that it is more specific in timing. A typical endurance athlete’s nutritional regimen advocates eating carbohydrates in high amounts all day. The authors recommend a low carbohydrate diet except at certain times in relation to athletic events. The authors divide their approach into 5 stages. The book is further organized to address specific challenges faced by events of different lengths.

This book is useful because it can help athletes of all abilities to maximize their performance. Although useful to elite athletes, I think it is particularly useful to weekend warriors and less serious athletes. Proper nutrition can allow them to be competitive with less time training. Of particular interest in the book are the sections on long endurance events like iron man triathlons or ultra marathons.