Ok, so I did a search on here and couldn’t really find an answer to my question, so please pardon me if it has indeed been answered and I simply missed it.
On average, what’s a general estimate for how many calories per day, or average over a week, I would burn as a sprinter in training? Is there a significant difference during different phases/cycles of training? I understand there will certainly be variation from day to day as the workouts change, but I’m just trying to get a pretty close figure so that I know how to manage my diet (currently I’m only lifting, coming off an injury that kept me from running, and I’m taking in about 2500 calories daily…I’m trying to figure out how many calories I should be taking in once I start training again in a few days here…)
See now I’ve played around with his calculator (but thank you very very much Quick), and I’m not sure I totally agree with his assessment of my needs for if I’m just lifting, so I’m not sure I would agree with it if I was also sprint training.
Plus, I find it difficult to really know what to put in for my sprint workouts, in terms of “workout” in the calculator. Like for his calculations of “high intensity” running, is that assumed to be continuous? Because if it is, I can’t really use that…
This calculator i beleive is based on the notion if you would like to gain muscle mass. So I think you can easily subtract around 500 calories. For the running part sicne it is based on MET values and your heart rate is elevated during the intervals of rest I would half the session. For example if you did a session of 3x3x60 meter sprints with 2 mins and 5 mins the session would take you approx 35 mins and your warmup which would actually be a mixture of high and low intensity prob takes an additional 30 mins so For the sake of the calculator I’s say put in high intensity running of 30-45 mins and see what you come up with.
Did some research, found out that one 100m sprint expends 20 kJ or (in the old money) 4.8 calories. It seems a little small to me, but that’s what it is. And my advice would be eat when you feel a bit of hunger, or like you feel you can fit food down there, don’t eat when you’re not hungry, and don’t wait 'till you’re starved.
And how many calories are being burned right after the 100 meter sprint for lets say perhaps the next 20 mins when the heart rate is still elevated?
I wouldnt think that a 100 meter sprint burns many calories since it lasts under 12 seconds. However what you do leading up to the 100 meter sprint and the elevated heart rate during recovery burns many more calories.
Funny on this point - the whole thing about counting calories is - for the most part - a waste of time in my book.
Sure - knowing roughly a ‘ball-park figure’ is a help - but working out to minute details for the majority of people - is not the best use of time especially training time!!
I see far to many people - especially beginners starting out counting out complicated formulas and equations and working out calories for this cream bun and this and that when they’d be safer off bustin’ ass in the gym!!
It’s also important to vary your calorie intake a few times a week. These are commonly referred to as “refeeds” and they help refill muscle glycogen and put your body in a more anabolic state. What you would do is dramatically increase the amount of carbs during one or two days of the week while keeping protein and fat intakes as usual. It would look something like this for somebody with a maintance calorie intake of 3000/day:
Monday 3000 cal
Tuesday 5500 cal
Wednesday 3000 cal
Thursday 3000 cal
Friday 3000 cal
Saturday 5500 cal
Sunday 3000 cal
It is optimal to do refeeds on your most taxing day. Try to consume the majority of your carbs 6 hours post work-out.
The burn-rate goes up exponentially as performance/speed rises, and, since training performance can change so radically between sessions- varying from personal bests to being cancelled altogether, how can you exactly forward-plan your intake needs? Why carbs 6 hrs after training??
I don’t forward-plan my intake needs and I don’t count calories. I eat til I am full and I adjust my diet based on how I feel. Once or twice a week I’ll jack my carb intake to make sure my glycogen levels are refilled. This also psychologically affects your body by making it think that it’s in a “fed state”. This will inturn help you burn body fat at it’s most optimal levels and help you maintain muscle.
6 hours post-workout is a rough estimate of the timeframe when your body will be most efficient at refilling muscle glycogen. You can do a refeed at anytime though.
Here’s a very basic introduction to refeeds, this post is more bodybuiding oriented but it gives you the basic idea:
That’s all well and good but the numbers in the actual event are very low- ie 25 cals for the 100, 50 for the 400, 100 for the 1500 etc, so the real difference is in the recovery period.
Those calorie intake charts mentioned are way off. Even a more conservative version called the Harris-Benedikt overestimates caloric consumption by 10%.
There can be a 30% variability in BMR, or the amount of calories you burn before activity, between individuals or within the same individual over time, so it’s pretty pointless. That means you could have a BMR at 1400 calories while someone else your exact size might have a BMR of 2000 calories. Or at 20 years old you might have a BMR of 2000 calories and at 30 have a BMR of 1400.
With submaximal activity the body learns to become more efficient. So 3000 meters of tempo work for a beginner will be much more energy intensive then the same amount of work for an advanced athlete.
I have tried to illustrate Charlie’s explanation with the supporting science of what I have read and my experiences with track and swimming. The above link explains why sprinters are so lean even if they are not working with John Davies.
Below is a general guide to why elite guys are ripped with “so little training” (reading intense over massive davie’s gpp volumes).
(1)New and slower athletes will produce less work and less intensity. For example the wattage between a 10.5 and 9.9 guy is similar but exponentially different to the system.
(2)New and slower athletes train at lesser %'s of the PB’s. So advanced athletes are going faster and harder…as you advance you will be able to train harder within yourself.
Don’t get caught up in the number of calories you consume in a day. Just continue your training and monitor your weight. If you are gaining or losing weight then adjust your food intake.
You can’t rely on counting calories because a calorie is not always a calorie. If you consumed only high GI foods then you would have to consume a lot more calories to maintain the same body composition then if you consumed low GI foods. There are numerous factors you have to account for when tracking caloric intake.
Funny,
cuz this month, MC´Donalds just started to put those papers tray and guess what ?! It´s all about how many calories you can burn while you´re doing regular and unregular things…
Send me an fax-number and i can send this 4 u, right.
