Nutrition
When you first start kayaking, it’s easy to place all the focus on getting your technique down pat and making sure you’re able to handle the waves that the river throws at you.
While it is extremely important to pay attention to this, it’s also important that you don’t overlook the aspect of nutrition. When you’re out there kayaking for the entire afternoon (or longer as the case may be), you’re burning up hundreds of calories – calories that must be replaced with the foods you eat otherwise eventually you’re not going to be able to continue.
An hour of kayaking burns about 350 calories, so you can easily see how quickly this will add up. You must treat kayaking like you would any other workout, being sure to eat the right foods before you go out, during if you’re on the water long enough, and then immediately after to replenish the body’s stores and promote a fast recovery so you’re ready to go the next day should you be doing a weekend trip.
Neglecting nutrition will quickly make what should have been a very enjoyable experience to one that leaves you feeling tired, weak, irritable, and potentially going home early.
It doesn’t take much time to prepare some great meals and snacks ahead of time so you can make sure your body is ready for what lies in store.
For more help with your nutritional planning, be sure to check out all the nutrition articles on Kayak Alberta.