Nutrition And Athletic Performance

Question:
I'd love any web references by vegan/vegetarian athletes out there, especially cyclists, on meat-free diet and athletic performance. I am working meat out of my diet (am now eating fish a few times a week). I have heard that there are some elements in red meat that are necessary for building muscle at an athletic level, and I've heard otherwise.

Answer:
The red meat thing is a definite red herring. Red meat and training is so old school. It's the same benighted thinking that led to coaches telling players to abstain from sex before competing or to train in one particular way. (We now know that sex does not lead to reduced performance and that cross-training is beneficial to all sports.)

Going off meat and dairy will not harm your performance levels -- it will increase it. You will recover faster. You will have more energy and stamina. You can still gain muscle (if that's a goal) as long as your diet is well-balanced and your intake is in line with your training level.

Meat increases the amount of uric acid in your body. Dairy contains lactose, which breaks down into lactic acids and other byproducts. As an athlete, you already know what lactic acid is. Too much of it in your body from working out is one thing, but to add it in your diet is kind of dumb. Uric acid can crystallize in your joints and cause painful inflammation; one extreme situation of this is gout.

I recover faster than I did 5-10 years ago. I have been able to increase my distances and reduce my times. I have more energy than I know what to do with (caffeine makes me bounce off walls, so I avoid it). Most kids half my age cannot maintain my pace for more than a half-mile; if they do, they don't show up for a few days to recover (I run and/or bike every day).