A little late to post this, but it's useful information in any case.

From time to time, I have a fencing tournament or meet. I fence sabre, so basically this means I will be engaging in pretty strenuous exercise in few-minutes-each bursts throughout the day. My question is, how do I eat for these things? I don't want to throw up on the strip or feel weighed down, but at the same time I've experienced in the past fading as the day progressed, starting to lose because I was just getting too zoned out.

Particularly today. The meet begins at three, I'll be leaving at two. It goes until 10 pm, and I particularly have a weird schedule, because the rest of the women's sabre squad is unable to come, so I'll be doing three bouts in a row, having a relatively long break, and then doing it again. This is too long to go without eating, but I'm not entirely sure what to do. I'll bring a banana as a potassium-rich snack, but what else?

String cheese, yogurt, some nuts, dried fruit.

I would avoid anything you havent eaten regularly as now is not the time for tummy troubles. Dairy for me is particularly bad. I can have it after I am done but not before.

I imagine but do not know that fencing is a pretty good combo of endurance and strength but with the need for sharp reflexes. This means you need to refuel both carbs and proteins. Bananas arent going to cut it.

Depending on how long you have between bouts i would do a protein/carb snack as close to finishing as possible so you have time to absorb it. Since you dont want to feel too weighed down pick relatively calorie dense foods. A particular favorite of many is peanut butter sandwiches. For most it digests well, has enough protein and fat to keep your muscles strong and a good bit of carbs. This is also a situation, although I normally abhor gatorade and the like, this is competition gatorade or one of the ones with protein and carbs allows for rapid digestion and absorbtion of carbs, protein, electrolytes and fluids.

Think small and frequent. 1/2 sandwich and a few sips of gatorade after the first set of 3. Sips of gatorade or endurance sports drink between bouts.

For today I would have (in the past tense) eaten a really good breakfast - larger than usual since you had plenty of time to digest and then a small easily digestible lunch and then start snacking. I would eat small and frequent for the rest of the evening - never get full, never get famished - focus on steady blood sugar.

In the other thread you mentioned having a 3 day tournament coming up...you will need to really plan for that, eating a larger meal when you have plenty of time to digest, eating maintenance food the rest of the time. Finishing each day with a good solid protein based meal to help restore your muscles overnight, starting the day with some easy to digest carbs and a little protein.

I have a relay race I do every year and I pretty much live off of frequent slices of pb & bread for 2 days and then power pack food in at the end to aid recovery.

Thanks a lot. Ultimately, I did fine with nothing but the banana, since the tournament ended sooner then I'd suspected. I agree, though, that I need to plan better for next time. The banana worked so well I'm almost inclined to say that the answer for a longer period of time is "two bananas!", but there's a good chance it's not. I'm not sure I can handle peanut butter in the middle of the day, but I might slip in a protein bar as well.

Oatmeal is my food of choice, but it's not real easy as a carry along food though...I can eat oatmeal and then run 45-60 mins later with no problems at all...