What advice would you give someone starting out on their first distance season? What do you wish you had known before your first distance season? Training tips? Seasickness tips? Water changes? What to bring in the drybag? Anything else?
Thanks!
Submitted by belleview on Mon, 08/03/2009 - 9:34am
yes, this is the favorite time of the season for me...
pack light
if you take seasickness meds, take it before you launch
do pullups
bring something to stay warm during time in boat, maybe not in hawaii, but in ca, even if sunny the wind will get you cold.
never assume new boat driver knows what they're doing
don't knock paddle out when you jump out
don't kick the boat esp from 1&2 when you jump out
when you have a horrible change, first prioirity to to get your ass out of the water T O S T O P T H E D R A G G I N G - do not grab on to the iakos and act as a giant brake
spacin spacing spacing in the water
go hard
#1 Mon, 08/03/2009 - 4:54pm
Big lesson - You cannot only hydrate with water. You need electrolytes, particularly sodium.
#2 Mon, 08/03/2009 - 7:49pm
The Trinity:
Don't supplement with anything you haven't had experience with before an event!
Eat a good breakfast that morning and drink water before your event!
Don't party the night before!
#3 Tue, 08/04/2009 - 8:59am
listen to everything that was said above....
then, when the race is pau, drink plenty of beer and chase plenty of hard bodied paddling ladies in lycra shorts.
JawsOut.
#4 Tue, 08/04/2009 - 10:03am
Those were some great suggestions - Dacho, nice suggestions with the crew changes esp. since those things sometimes get overlooked but can cost a crew huge time loses due to bad changes.
For the day to day things, I would have to say plan your day out so you can eat/drink at regular and frequent intervals to get those calories and get sufficient rest. If you haven't done distance training before, your body may be in for a shock depending on how your coaches have transitioned the training load going into the distance season.
Sometimes, getting at least 7 hours of sleep may be hard with work etc. but food intake is something that will be critical to preventing caloric deficit and ultimately muscle protein breakdown and the effects of 'overtraining' caused by under eating because your body does not adequately recover in time for the next paddling session and then over the course of the season, its like that class you prograstinated on and the homework piles up until its kinda lucy too late and you start to feel the drag and burn of not preparing properly, you start losing weight, your muscles get weaker and you just don't feel the spark.
The goal is to build and peak for molos so you can do simple things such as monitoring your bodyweight/resting heart rate/training heart rate. recovery heart rate, hydration status etc.
btw imho V8 is great - lots of sodium for those hard long workouts in the sun and fluid replenishment
cho/pro shakes in 4:1 ratio post workout within 30 mins - prep something before hand so its ready to go once you get back to the halau!
vits/mins
salt tablets on long runs if you're prone to heavy sweat loses
#5 Tue, 08/04/2009 - 10:55am
This is just one of many sites you can use to guesstimate your calorie expenditure since metabolisms/energy efficiency vary between individuals depending on training/health status, fat/muscle ratio/size and genetics -
http://www.nutribase.com/exercala.htm
http://www.nutritiondata.com/tools/calories-burned
you can guess with the increased time in the water, the cross training of running swimming, paddling in longer hours in the hot sun, and you will be expending much more calories, i'd estimate at least a thousand more calories per day if your crew haven't been doing any serious distance training yet and with the dramatic changes, the body will be forced to pull energy from other sources - aka muscle protein. The accumulation of negative caloric balance and you will be sure to feel it as the season progresses.
Quality foods - lots of colors, nutrient dense, high bioavailability, lots of diversity, smaller more frequent portions throughout the day.
#6 Tue, 08/04/2009 - 11:24am
here's another site for guessing about how much calories expended...
http://www.hsc.edu/fitness/calculators/calories.html
one of many calorie counters for estimating kcal intake:
http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/
Nutritional content info:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
A simple article on sodium lost and endurance exercise with consideration for hyponatremia:
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/hydrationandfluid/a/Sodium_Salt.htm
#7 Tue, 08/04/2009 - 11:28am
V8 juice in the AM and chocolate milk right after every workout! Compare the label and price tag to muscle milk.
#8 Tue, 08/04/2009 - 5:54pm