In order to prevent these negative effects upon performance, it is important that athletes exercise during the coolest part of the day (if possible), and also drink plenty of fluids leading up to and after the exercise. It is recommended that `at rest, athletes need between 2 and 3 quarts of fluid daily.'( Coleman &Steen 91). A smart way for athletes to prevent dehydration is to drink extra fluids 3-4 days before an event. Even though this fluid is not stored in the body, drinking this extra fluid ensures maximum hydration of the tissues for the beginning of the event. Drinking plenty of fluids afterwards is also essential to one's health. After an athlete exercises `it is wise to note the change in body weight and drink two cups of water for every pound lost.' ( Hegarty 305.) In preparing to exercise in the heat athletes should drink 8 to 16 ounces of rapidly absorbed fluid 15 minutes before exercise. This is known as hyperhydration and it lowers the body temperature and thus reduces the stress that heat may place on the cardiovascular system. `Athletes will perform at their best when their fluid intake closely matches their fluid losses from sweating.'( Coleman and Steen 92.) This is important when water can makes up as much as 70% of the body weight in muscular athletes.

Overall, I feel that my Research Project was fairly successful. There are some areas that were a little disappointing. One of these include the response to the surveys. I only received 42% back and I think that there are some reasons for this. One of these include the fact that many of the athletes were travelling, they had either been on the road or they were about to travel. A different reason is that for many of the athletes time is a big factor, especially while in season it may be very hectic for them. I also feel that some of the athletes felt that their coach may see the survey. This seemed to be of concern to some of the athletes. For such a reason some did not return them and some of those that did it made me a little unsure as to how accurate the nutritional information actually was. This seems to be particularly relevant in the area of alcohol consumption. A different reason may also have been because the survey was a little long. Other athletes may have felt that their daily intake was personal and may not feel comfortable having it as part of a Research Project. Some things that I would change if I was to repeat this project is that I would make the survey a little shorter. I would either reduce the number of days to 3 for the Nutritional analysis or I would not include that section at all. I would also make more certain that the athletes were aware that the surveys were strictly confidential.

Vitamin B12 is also believed to play an important role with its involvement in the production of red blood cells. The intake of vitamin B12 seemed very high as an overall daily average of the athletes as 186% of the RDA was obtained. Although, it may seem that an increase in such a vitamin may enhance performance it actually does not affect performance. The only vitamin that this is applicable to is Vitamin E as an increase over it's RDA may enhance performance. Vitamin E is especially important with Endurance athletes. This is because `During endurance events, the cells use great quantities of oxygen to process fuels and Vitamin E rigorously defends the cell membranes against oxidative damage.'( Sizer & Whitney 395). After studying the surveys it appears that the (ENTER YOUR SCHOOL) athletes consume 110% of their RDA for Vitamin E. Although this may be a little high of the RDA it may actually improve performance.

These results are important as Protein is needed in the diet by the athlete to provide the needed amino acids that are essential for the synthesis of new muscle proteins. Protein in the diet is also needed as a fuel for energy. It contributes to about 10 per cent of the total fuel used. There is a smaller amount used by moderate e

Some common words found in the essay are:
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