All-American, U23 World Champion Alex Spaulding is a proud member of the Women’s US Rowing team and is training intensely for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Alex takes performance nutrition seriously and starts every day with a cup of coffee boosted with FlavaMix!
We had the opportunity to speak with Alex about rowing and nutrition and are excited to share a slice of her story.
Alex, thanks so much for joining us for the FlavaBlog! How did you discover rowing?
I started rowing during my freshman year at the University of Michigan. I was recruited to walk on to the team during my first week on campus. NCAA women’s rowing is growing so rapidly, and in order to fill roster spots after they’ve filled their high school recruiting slots, a lot of programs will recruit athletes from other sports and teach them how to row. I spent a year on the novice team and then was asked to join the varsity team as a sophomore. I rowed for three years on Varsity and I was lucky enough to be named a team captain each of those three years.
Tell us about your most meaningful accomplishments and future goals.
I have had a lot of rowing moments that I am proud of, some at the international level, and others, believe it or not, in my parents’ garage (on the ERG trainer). With that said, some of my favorites include, winning a Big Ten Championship at Michigan, earning Collegiate All American honors, and winning the 2015 U23 World Championship in the Women’s 8+. My future goals include going to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and many short term goal opportunities over the next few months in the lead up to this summer’s games.
What is your philosophy on nutrition as it pertains to health and performance?
When it comes to nutrition, I have a general structure to my day but I often like to mix up the “details.” We have a team dietitian who helps us with the big picture, but in general, I like to evenly space my protein throughout the day, front load my carbohydrate intake early in the day, and fill in the cracks with greens and other vegetables.
As far as “performance enhancement” nutrition is concerned, I have always been a believer in caffeine and nitrates. I have experimented a lot with beet juice over the years, but struggled to find an affordable option for consistent dosing. When I heard about Flavanols, it seemed like the perfect solution to that problem. They are much less aggressive on my digestive system and FlavaNaturals offers an easy way to do daily dosing with the powder. I now start my day with a cup of coffee boosted with an all-natural shot of FlavaMix.
Share with us your thoughts on cocoa flavanols. How do you like to #HavaFlava?
I really love using Flavas in my daily routine. There will always be improvement with training over time, but I really do love feeling like I am getting a slight bump in that improvement with my Flavas. FlavaMix makes it super easy to consume daily and the FlavaBars are a DELICIOUS treat when I am craving something sweet.