kartographiert

""My pre-game meals depend on if we are playing a full 15-a-side game (our fall league games and spring non-league games) where it is an 80-minute game in the afternoon; or in the summer, we play multi-game tournaments of seven-a-side with 14-minute fast sprinting games and we'll play five or six of those games in one day.

"I like to get up early, hydrate with water and sports drinks, eat something light like an energy bar, oatmeal, cereal or apples/bananas. I normally love to eat food, but on game days I get too excited to play so I do better with light eating. As soon as the game is over though, I am all about eating a big yummy meal.

"Rugby is physically and mentally exhausting, because beyond running and all of the contact for 80 full minutes, it requires a lot of quick reactions to how the play is evolving and decision-making. I try to just stay as hydrated as possible and eat food that my body can use through the game for sustained energy. But because of all the running and contact, I don't want to be too full either. Right after my warmups, I will usually eat a small pack of energy gel for an extra boost and depending on the day, I might save half of it for at halftime too when I am starting to lose energy.

"If I know it's going to be colder, like an 80-minute game in the snow/rain, I'll eat more oatmeal/cereal. If it's a Sevens Tournament and hot, I'll eat more fruit.

"Our 15s games usually kick off at noon or 1 pm and we are running our full warmups with contact an hour before that, so I try to eat no later than 90 minutes before kickoff. I basically need to make sure my body has enough fuel for the next three hours of full-contact rugby. If it's an all-day tournament, I'll eat breakfast by 8 am and games start at 9 am, then lightly snack in between games that are scheduled every hour or so to keep up my energy. Those can be long days. My team, the Wisconsin Women's Rugby Football Club, usually plays well and plays into the championship brackets at the end of the day, so I need energy from 8 am to 6 pm to play my best.""

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