Are you gonna eat all of that?: During the peak of his training, Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps was consuming up to 12,000 calories a day. Do you think you could win eight gold medals if you ate like that?
Courtesy White HouseFor the past week, it's been all Michael Phelps, all the time on the media. So why shouldn't Science Buzz jump on the bandwagon as well. Here's an interesting story from National Public Radio about the food consumption that the all-time Olympic gold medal winner puts down as part of his training regimine. Be sure to listen to the listing of the typical Phelps breakfast. It puts Old Country Buffet to shame, right down to the chocolate chip pancakes.

His daily calorie intake during peak times of training is 12,000 calories. Standard diets for mere mortals suggest a caloric intake of up to 2,000 calories. Ah, now I get it. He's winning all those gold medals by eating a lot. That's great news for me with the approach of football season and all the calories I'll be consuming on my sofa while watching the games. I should be in gold medal shape by November, don't you think?

And if you haven't gotten your fill of Michael Phelps info by now, here's another NPR story about the technology behind the timing systems used at the Olympic pool that can figure out the winners of races who are separated by just a hundreth of a second.

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