Track and Field Blogs - Jenny Barringer

I want to take a moment to talk about diet and eating routine especially because I've had quite a few posts, e-mails, and general questions about it. I want to preface this with reminding you all that what I'm going to share is based on my own personal experience and opinions. I have found that if you asked five different athletes about diet you would probably get seven different answers.

Actually, this is good timing for this question because just yesterday I woke up to a breakfast of pepto :(. That's not at all to suggest that the food isn't great here (because it is... more later) but rather the importance and often the delicate nature of what is a very very routine part of my life. First, I am an unusually NOT picky eater. I'm willing to try anything (reasonable) at least once and I can only think of about three foods that I wouldn't ever go back to. But, when I'm in the most intense periods of my training and racing I don't like to risk it. Second, I drink tea and coffee. This can be problematic when you travel and can end up several days without a caffeine hit. My suggestion, if you don't drink caffeine now... don't start! (except that it is sooo good haha!) And third, I don't very often sit down for big (typical) meals. I'm a college student and am very active in the community and several days a week I double. Between all of this activity I prefer to pack lots of food with me at the beginning of the day and I kind of graze all day. Then, when I get home in the evenings my roomies and I (love them!) often cook, eat, and spend time together which is often a several hour ordeal. We're all sharing the kitchen, doing homework, and sharing about our day... we're girls, it takes a while! :)

So, these are three important points to my eating habits, 1) variety, 2) caffeine, 3) frequent. This routine didn't get change abruptly when I left for China, it goes back way further than that. I've been traveling and living out of a suitcase almost since NCAAs in Des Moines. The past three months have had a very high and expected level of stress that has required flexibility and adaptation. So, when I wake up with a tummy ache here in Dalian it's very much a culmination of interruptions and stress that might compromise one or two days of training. I still went out and did a steady run that day and got in 60 minutes easy today. So, it didn't hinder me much but it's just one consequence of traveling I have to factor in sometimes.

Now, more specifically about the food here. I spent one night in the Olympic Village and I will answer the inevitable question... yes, there is a free McDonalds in dining area. But, they do an amazing job accommodating many different cultural preferences. I was (personally) impressed by the variety of food (Mediterranean, Italian, fruit, salad, traditional Chinese, and others I can't remember). It's cafeteria style but considering the massive amounts of food they have to put out every day it's really respectable. Also, to accommodate schedules, the dining hall is open 24/7. And it's huge! It's like walking into an airplane hanger or something!

Then there's Dalian. USATF has brought over our very own Chef, Adam, from Denver (whoohoo!) who does an amazing job on meals three times a day! If you're going to have an "in" with anyone at the training camp it's not too shabby to be friends with the Chef. He really likes me and Billy because we're Boulder kids ;). But then again, who wouldn't love us! haha. He has an army of Chinese cooks helping him prepare and provide every meal for all of us athletes. He takes requests when he can and goes above and beyond to be involved with the athletes which is so cool! We'll be eating dinner and he'll come sit with us and make sure everything is just right and ask for suggestions. He has some funny stories about trying to communicate with some of the Chinese. I heard it took some time to explain how and why some people would want just egg-whites and when he wanted corn-flour it apparently took him 40 minutes to explain he didn't mean normal flour with corn in it haha! So, some challenges along the way but Adam is a hero in taking them on himself and having great food for us each and every meal. Most of our food here is typical western dishes but we have the option of some sushi, black rice, and occasional Chinese dishes I might not get at home.

Overall (once again, sorry so long!) food is sometimes a fight. Staying in a routine is the toughest fight for me. I don't have the option of walking in my kitchen and munching on crackers or making a salad or warming up a hamburger. That's tough sometimes, just the flexibility, but I guess my point is that our support staff here does everything possible to make the transition as easy as possible. Speaking of food, it's lunchtime for me and all of this food-talk is making my tummy growl. Hope this was helpful. Ask more specific questions about the food stuff if I didn't cover it.