Table of Contents

1. Series News
2. Athlete and Special Interest Stories
3. Tips and Articles From Coaches
• How to stay motivated & fit through the off-season by Sylvie Dansereau of NRG Performance Training
• How about trying something new in 2008? - by Richard Pady
• Hydration—What You Need To Know - Hammer Nutrition
• Muscular Balance, Core Stability and Injury Prevention by Dr. Ian McIntyre
4. Equipment Updates - What's New
• Zoot Sports Ultra Footwear Launched in Kona!
5. Clubs Information
6. Coaches, Camps and Clinics
7. Thank You To All Of Our Sponsors

 

How to stay motivated & fit through the off-season - by Sylvie Dansereau

Fall and winter is a common time for race season to come to an end. It is a good opportunity to let your body recuperate from the rigors of high intensity training and racing. Many athletes however struggle to keep their motivation after their last race of the season and may confuse reduced training with no training and take as much as four or more weeks off. Sometimes it is necessary to take an extended break from training in order to properly recover after a hard season. But very often this is not required and many athletes simply get out of their training groove and get lazy and miss training more because of lack of motivation and focus than a real need for recovery. The loss of fitness caused by this time off will require a lot of work down the road to get back to previous fitness levels, never mind making fitness gains.

A better approach than taking extended time away from training would be to enter a "transition" period in which physical activity (volume and intensity) is reduced, perhaps greatly, but a level of fitness is maintained. It takes a relatively small amount of training volume to maintain fitness, when compared with building fitness. So one may argue that there is no true “off season” but rather proper periodization of your training to allow your body to recover without losing excessive fitness. Off-season or transition programs should be designed to allow athletes to mentally rejuvenate, while minimizing the loss of physiological adaptations gained during the previous season. Thus, by preventing dramatic detraining in the off-season, athletes can build upon training adaptations and become fitter each season. Rather than considering the off season as a time to stop training, approach it as a pre season where you will lay the foundation for next year’s success.

First you should look back, then plan ahead.

Now that the triathlon season is over for you, take this time to reflect on what you achieved this year. Did you meet all your goals? You should take a few moments and write down all that went right for you this year and all that didn't. If things didn’t go the way you wanted, why didn’t they? Was it lack of planning, discipline or motivation? On the other hand, if things went the way you wanted, what helped you the most? Was it that you had a solid training plan and guidance, the discipline and focus to stick to a smart plan? It could be a number of things.

The next step is to determine your top priorities for next year. Think about your goals and key races for next season and write down some of the key elements you would like to focus on to help you achieve your objectives. Remember to keep your goals specific, relevant and realistic. Finally don’t forget that a goal without a sound plan is just a dream!

After 7-14 days of complete rest you should enter your transition phase which can last 2-6 weeks. During this portion of your training your activity does not need to be specific to your sport but you should introduce some sort of general cardiovascular exercise every other day while still making sure to take full days off. If you feel like you need another day off- take it. Remember to keep your exercise fun and varied. Consider taking a run through the woods instead of sticking to the road or the treadmill. Take your bicycle off the road and enjoy the scenery on the off road trails around your area. Mountain biking is great for developing your cadence and bike handling skills. In winter snow shoeing, cross country skiing, trail running, and hiking are a few examples of cross training methods. Make sure you are having fun, and do not forget to raise your heart rate from time to time. You should however leave you heart rate monitor and other monitoring tools at home and just go by what feels good and keep it comfortable! Try new routes or do other sports you enjoy but never seem to have time for. Select an activity you take pleasure in, but make sure you challenge your energy systems in one way or another. Team sports help develop fitness and agility which can have a positive impact on your triathlon abilities. Lateral motion, short sprints and coordination play an important role in the development of the athlete and these skills are not a part of a regular triathlon training regimen but still beneficial. They also have the advantage more social interactions than typical triathlon training. Just remember to take it easy at the beginning before your body is accustomed to the new activity. The off season is also an excellent time to catch up on some lost sleep you may have sacrificed during the season. Regaining sleep is just as important as getting fit so there should very few early morning calls for training at this time of the year.

After the transition period you will enter into a base building period of training. During this time you will be building an aerobic base which is critical for good performance later in the season. This is also a great time to pay close attention to technique and perfect your spin, stride, and stroke so that you do not reinforce bad habits. During the racing season many athletes are so worried about split times and distance that they forget about technique. Off season is great for skill/technique development activities. Small changes in biomechanics can minimize the likelihood of injuries and improve efficiency and consequently we can go faster with less energy. Efficiency is a huge component of becoming a faster athlete.

You should be practicing technique heavily during the off season and maintain it during training season. It takes time to train the neuromuscular system and change rhythm. The body has a strong memory and will always go back to the movement pattern you normally do. Adding miles and miles in your training program will only make it harder and harder to develop the new efficient form for each sport. The off season is a great time to develop that stroke, running style and biking technique.

Swimming

This is the most technical of the 3 sports and for many athletes the biggest limiter. Regardless of your swim level, every off season you should focus on improving and/or reestablishing your swim technique. For example two inches lift of the head can result in a 12 inch drop of the feet and cost you a lot of time over 3.8 km! If needed, let your times slip a little as you change your focus to perfecting various components of your swimming. Consider having your stroke video analyzed by a competent coach. He or she may also give you specific drills to help you correct your particular limiters in your swim stroke. If you improve technique you'll be going faster while using the same amount of energy.

Cycling and running

Cycling and running also have very important skill components. Many triathletes are satisfied to do as much volume and intensity as they can handle without giving a second thought to developing correct technique. Focus on your cycling technique by improving your body position and your pedal stroke during winter. If your bike is uncomfortable this is the best time of the year to get a new bike or get a professional bike fit on your old bike. This will allow time to adjust to your new position before your training requires more volume again. In addition, consider returning to run drills (your ABCs) in the off-season to improve your stride and running economy. This is the perfect time to seek help of coaches and people with more experience than you to help you become more proficient at all 3 sports as well as keep you motivated. Consider joining a good Masters group, or finding more experienced training partners to give you some feedback on your technique. Finding a good training clinic or camp in the winter will also help keep you motivated and increase your knowledge base.

You should remember to spend more time on your greatest limiter but avoid the temptation to return to what you are most comfortable doing and make sure the time is spent breaking the pattern of old bad habits. Keep in mind to include time for stretching and doing specific core and, if needed, functional strength work to correct possible muscular imbalances.

The off-season could be argued as a very important time of the training year. If you are an athlete who trains only in the race season you have probably noticed your performance has not improved much from year to year. Instead of building on your past season you are trying to get back to your previous level of performance each year. Each season should be a step up towards better performance. Have a great off-season, and you will likely have great success the following season. Have a poorly planned off-season, with emphasis on the wrong types of training, too much time off or not enough time to rest and refresh, and you may be mentally or physically broken, or in such poor shape at the beginning of the season that you must play catch-up the rest of the year. Just keep in mind that you cannot maintain peak physical conditioning for all 52 weeks of the year. Enjoy the off-season and take advantage of the time to do other activities you enjoy but don’t let yourself go completely!!!

NRG Performance Training is a Toronto-based professional coaching services company specializing in endurance sports. Contact Nigel Gray at nigel@nrgpt.com

 

How about trying something new in 2008? by Richard Pady

So often we follow those before us. Well I say it’s time to try something different. We listen to research and experts but don’t question if the research or experts are right for our sport.. About a year ago I started to question if tradition philosophy of training were really the best for myself and my athletes. I’ve been in the sport now for 20 years and in the past I always followed the traditional training plan. But after looking at our sport carefully I started to second guess the methodology many of us follow. The traditional training plan of base, then strength, followed by speed does not fit what is the limiting factor for so many of you reading this article. New research suggests that athletes do speed work before the strength/race specific phase for sports that require an athlete to sustain close to 75-100% of their Lactate Threshold for their race. Sounds like triathlon right?? One reason is to develop the athlete’s speed so it will not be a limiting factor in the strength/race specific training phase which is most important for a sport like triathlon. The goal in strength/race specific training is to fatigue the athlete with the duration of the workout and not the speed, So speed needed to be developed first.

In the speed phase you work on speed one day a week in each discipline. Take at least one day (and maybe two) between the speed sessions and ease into these workouts. This is stressful training so respect it and take good care of your body. The goal is to increase speed, so make sure you swim/bike/run easy on your other workouts so that you can give a good effort in the speed workouts. This is most difficult in the pool. I find most athletes don’t know how to swim EASY. You need to relax in the pool and focus on one workout a week being dedicated to speed.

Looking back at history, the tradition training plan was designed more for swimming and track events, where events are much shorter like the speed work (1 to 10 minutes). Triathlon is different, our "race-specific training" isn’t fast speed work but rather more stamina-oriented training: Steady state, tempo work, and lactate threshold workouts. So if you are like me and kicking off the training program in a few weeks try something different this year. Build your base (8-12 weeks), then work on speed (6-8weeks), followed by strength/race specific (5-6weeks), before peaking for the triathlon. Do more race-specific training, as you move closer to the event. Don’t start this phase to early as it will lead to burnout.

Here is what I suggest:

Speed Training Phase

Length: 6-8 weeks (after base phase)

Intervals: 90 second – 5 minutes

Repeats should total 15-30 minutes

Recovery: 1 to 1 ratio

Volume: Mileage for the speed phase is typically about 10-20 percent lower than the mileage level you will do in the race-specific phase or did in your base phase.

Who should try this?

If speed work is your nemesis, or if you find speed work especially hard on your body, or you have limited time for training, then just focus on doing speed work in the one sport you are the weakest in. Most importantly ease into the workouts.

Better speed training equals better race specific training

One of the great benefits I see in the new model is that it can shorten your race specific phase. I find that the better job you do (meaning the more speed developed) in the speed phase, the shorter the race specific phase can be. This is extremely helpful to competitive athletes because many triathletes are simply worn out mentally by the time the race approaches. Too often you hear them say, "I just can’t wait for it to be over!" This is NOT what a coach wants to hear as the race nears. A shorter race specific program avoids this problem (as well as some of the injuries that can come with a long training buildup).

I also find that the better job you do in the speed phase, the more benefit you will get out of the race specific training. You should only fatigue from the duration not pace, sounds like your races last summer doesn’t it? It’s not that you can’t hold your race pace, it’s simply that you can’t sustain race pace for the set duration. A smart speed program ensures this will not happen. You’ll be able to do more and higher-quality specific training because you won’t be limited by your lack of speed.

Warning:

I see a lot of newer triathletes getting into the sport and putting in big mileage and lots of speed work. I also see a lot of newer athletes getting injured. If you are new to the sport, I strong suggest focusing more on your base phase. Work on your technique and once you have a year or two under your belt you can look at speed training. Don’t become a follower and get caught up in what others are doing. You don’t know their history in the sport.

For athletes thinking of trying this new method make sure that your base phase is not all easy mileage. I do recommend slowly introducing strides, accelerations and pickups into you training to help make the transition to the speed phase safer and easier. These types of drills will help strengthen tendons and muscle memory, along with increase your turnover on the run, and rpm on the bike to get you ready for the speed phase.

If you are interested in learn more about this approach to training contact Richard at rpady@healthyresults.ca

Richard is the head coach of Healthy Results Training and Founder of Race 4 Kids.
www.healthyresults.ca
www.race4kids.ca
www.selfshape.com

 

 

Hydration—What You Need To Know

At Hammer Nutrition, we’re known for offering the most complete and technically advanced line of nutritionals an endurance athlete can buy. But we don’t sell, and probably never will sell, the most important item in your regimen, water. Water is the most important substance on earth, 60% of your body weight, and the number one concern on any athlete’s intake list. For both performance and health, the importance of your water intake exceeds that of your vitamin, calorie, and electrolyte intake.

Even though we’re not in the water business, we want to make sure you have the right amount on board when you set off on your distance effort, when you finish, and between efforts during recovery. Thus, we’ve included this section on hydration in The Guide. As you read, you’ll learn how sweat loss affects athletic performance, that too much water is as bad if not worse than too little, and that you can’t replace all the water you sweat out. Yes, we will get to that key issue: Just how much should I drink? Of all the many functions water has in human physiology, we’ll focus on just a couple that pertain especially to the endurance athlete: cooling the body and transporting nutrients. Let’s look at the cooling system first.

How your cooling system works

When we exercise, we burn molecular fuel, mostly glycogen, but also some protein, fat, and blood glucose from ingested nutrients. The breakdown of these energy providers releases heat that builds up and raises our core temperature. The body must rid itself of this heat and maintain a core temperature within a few degrees of the well-known 98.6º F (37º C). An active person needs a reliable cooling mechanism. Actually, you have several. You lose some heat through your skin. Blood carries heat to the capillaries near the skin’s surface, removing heat from the body core. You breathe harder to get more oxygen, expelling heat when you exhale. But by far the most important part of the cooling system, accounting on average for about 75% of all cooling, is your ability to produce and excrete sweat.

Sweat, however, glistening on your forearm or soaking your singlet won’t cool you; it must evaporate. Sweat works on a basic physical premise: water evaporation is an endothermic process, requiring energy (heat) to change from liquid to gas. Thus, water molecules in the gas phase have more energy than water molecules in the liquid phase. As water molecules evaporate from your skin, they remove heat energy; the remaining water molecules have less energy, and you feel cooler. Isn’t that cool?

Weather conditions greatly affect sweat production and cooling effectiveness. In cool weather, you get substantial cooling from the heat that escapes directly from your skin. As the temperature increases, you gradually rely more on evaporation. On hot days, with little difference between skin surface and ambient temperatures, your skin surface provides only negligible convective cooling, and you need to sweat more to maintain a safe internal core temperature. At 95º F (35° C) or above, you lose no heat at all from your skin; in fact, you actually start to absorb heat. Evaporative cooling must do all the work.

Humidity is the other major factor that affects sweat. On humid days, sweat evaporates more slowly because the atmosphere is already saturated with water vapor, retarding the evaporation rate. The sweat accumulates on your skin and soaks your clothes, but you don’t get any cooling from it because it’s not going into the vapor phase. Soaking, dripping sweat may give you a psychological boost, but it has no physical efficacy to cool; sweat must evaporate to remove heat. On days when it’s both hot and humid, well, you don’t need to read about what’s going to happen when you exercise in those conditions. You do need to know that under the worst of conditions you can produce up to three liters of sweat in an hour of strenuous exercise, but your body can only absorb about one liter from fluid consumption. Yes, this will cause problems before long, and we will discuss that issue below.

What happens when the coolant runs low?

Just like a car, your body must dissipate the excess heat generated from burning fuel. Unlike a car, your body’s coolant isn’t in a sealed internal system; you use it once and then it’s gone and needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, we don’t come with built-in gauges or indicators that tell us just how much coolant we have left in our system. We can’t run a dipstick down our gullet and get a reading that says, "Add a quart." We do have some physiological signs, but they function at the “Warning-Danger!” level, too late to maintain optimal performance. For instance, by the time you feel thirsty, you could have a 2% body-weight water loss, already into the impairment zone.

The chart below shows what happens to human performance at each percent of weight loss. By weight loss, we mean the percentage of your body weight at the start of exercise that you have lost via sweat. If you go out for a run at 160 pounds (approx 72.5 kg) and weigh in 20 miles later at 154 (approx 70 kg), you’ve lost almost 4% of your body weight. That’s too much to maintain your pace to the end, let alone expect to kick.

Symptoms by percent body weight water loss:

PERCENT WATER LOST --------- SYMPTOMS
0% --- none, optimal performance, normal heat regulation
1% --- thirst stimulated, heat regulation during exercise altered, performance declines
2% --- further decrease in heat regulation, hinders performance, increased thirst
3% --- more of the same (worsening performance)
4% --- exercise performance cut by 20 - 30%
5% --- headache, irritability, "spaced-out" feeling, fatigue
6% --- weakness, severe loss of thermoregulation
7% --- collapse likely unless exercise stops
10% -- comatose
11% -- death likely

[Nutrition for Cyclists, Grandjean & Ruud, Clinics in Sports Med. Vol 13(1);235-246. Jan 1994]

How much is that?

As you can see from the chart, sweat loss can easily devolve from an athletic performance issue to an acute medical issue. Clearly, we need to have some quantifiable idea of our intake and output. Let’s start with converting the data on the chart to recognizable amounts. Perhaps you remember the saying, "a pint’s a pound, the world ‘round." Now that’s a convenient conversion for endurance athletes. Here’s another: one pint = one water bottle. Some bottles hold 20 ounces (approx 600 ml), but consider a regular water bottle as a pint. Two pints make a quart, which is almost a liter. So when you read "liter," think two water bottles. Losing one pound of weight (slightly less than half a kilogram) means a one-pint loss. One liter (or one quart) is about two pounds (nearly one kilogram).

Can you drink enough?

Needless to say, maintaining optimal fluid intake prior to and during exercise is crucial for both performance and health. However, as is true with calories and electrolytes, you can’t replenish them at the same rate you deplete them; your body simply won’t absorb as fast as it loses. Evaporative cooling depletes fluids and electrolytes faster than the body can replenish them. Your body will accept and utilize a certain amount from exogenous (outside) sources, and, similar to calories and electrolytes, maintaining fluid intake within a specific range will postpone fatigue and promote peak performance.

Research suggests that while electrolyte needs for individual athletes may vary up to 1000% (tenfold), fluid loss remains fairly constant. Also, we can measure fluid loss more easily than electrolyte loss; we don’t need sophisticated lab equipment, just a scale. Thus, we can come pretty close in calculating fluid loss and replacement.

The numbers

On average, you lose about one liter (about 34 ounces) of fluid per hour of exercise. Extreme heat and humidity can raise that amount to three liters in one hour. A trained athlete will store enough muscle glycogen to provide energy for approximately 90 minutes of aerobic exercise. As your muscles burn glycogen, water is released as a metabolic by-product and excreted as sweat. Researchers found that during a marathon (26.2 miles), runners released an average of two liters of sweat from muscle glycogen stores. This is in addition to sweat from other body liquids.

You can control or lessen these sweat rates by acclimatization and training for the event. Acclimatized athletes can reduce electrolyte and fluid loss up to 50%, but note that those losses cannot be fully replaced during the event. According to nutrition expert Bill Misner, Ph.D., "The endurance exercise outcome is to postpone fatigue, not replace all the fuel, fluids, and electrolytes lost during the event. It can't be done, though many of us have tried." In other words, our hydration goal is not to replace water pint-for-pint, but to support natural stores by consuming as much as we can adequately process during exercise.

At the most, you can absorb about one liter (about 34 fluid ounces) of water per hour, but only under the most extreme heat and humidity. Most of the time you can only absorb about half that amount, even though it won’t fully replace your loss. Repeated intake of one liter (about 34 fluid ounces) per hour will ultimately do you more harm than good.

Can you drink too much?

Ironically, while you can’t drink enough to replace all fluid lost, you can drink too much. Researchers have noted the dangers of excess hydration during events lasting over four hours. Dr. Tim Noakes collected data for 10 years from some 10,000 runners participating in the Comrades Marathon. This 52.4-mile (84.33 km) race, held each June (winter) in South Africa, ranks as one of the world’s premier ultra-marathons. Noakes showed that endurance athletes who consumed from 16-24 fluid ounces per hour (approx 475-710 milliliters) typically repleted as much fluid as is efficiently possible. He also noted the prevalence of hyponatremia (low blood sodium) during ultra-marathons and triathlons in runners who hydrated excessively. This condition can arise from several different physiological scenarios. For endurance athletes, it usually results from sweat-depleted sodium stores diluted by excess hypotonic (low electrolyte content) fluid intake. When blood sodium concentration becomes too dilute, you can develop severe cardiac symptoms leading to collapse.

Problems with too much or too little

Moreover, Noakes noted a pattern of hydration problems among race participants. In ultra events, the leaders usually dehydrate, but the mid to back-of-the-pack athletes tend to overhydrate. Both may end up suffering from the same hyponatremic symptoms, the former from too little fluid intake combined with too much sodium loss due to profuse sweating, the latter from too much fluid intake and relatively less sodium loss. Because most front-runners are extremely competitive, they don’t stop long enough during the race to overhydrate. In addition, it’s highly likely that elite athletes may be fitter and better acclimatized to deal with hot weather conditions. A tendency to linger at aid stations attempting to relieve the symptoms of fatigue or heat by drinking too much water is a fault found among the majority of the remainder of athletes, those in the middle or back of the pack. Also, these athletes may be novices who have heard the "drink, drink, drink" mantra, but who haven’t enough experience to personally calibrate their personal needs. After the 1985 Comrades race, 17 runners were hospitalized, nine with dilutional hyponatremia. In the 1987 Comrades Marathon, 24 runners suffered from dilutional hyponatremia. These athletes had seriously overloaded on fluid intake, with the inevitable result of a totally disrupted physiology.

Tragic consequences

Hyponatremia usually results from drinking too much, especially when one drinks fluids such as plain water or a sports drink lacking the proper electrolyte profile. Training and fitness levels, weather conditions, and, undoubtedly, biological predisposition also contribute to developing this form of hyponatremia known as "water intoxication."

Sadly, we must note that this condition has lead, directly or in part, to the deaths of otherwise healthy runners in major American marathons. It is hard for us to comprehend the grief of the families they left behind. These athletes went out to run a marathon, to achieve a personal victory. Improper hydration took away their day of glory and also their lives. They collapsed and went into an irreversible condition involving uncontrollable brain edema, coma, and death. We report this to help prevent any future such tragedies. Overhydration represents a very serious problem. Unlike dehydration, which will generally only result in painful cramping, possibly a DNF, or at the worst, IV treatment, overhydration can incite a chain of ultimately fatal physiological consequences.

So how much, how often?

The extreme cases cited above happen very rarely. Lesser degrees of impairment occur frequently from excessive fluid intake. We don’t have a chart for over hydration similar to the one for dehydration, giving symptoms for each level of over hydration. Also, you probably don’t carry a scale or have regular access to weigh-ins along your training route. So how do you know when it’s time to drink? You don’t wait until you’re down a quart. A good hydration regimen starts before you even get moving.

Noakes believes intake of hypotonic fluids of one liter (33.8 oz)/hr will likely cause water intoxication and dilutional hyponatremia. He suggests that athletes may do better on 500 ml (approx 17 oz)/hr fluid intake for ultra events performed in hot weather conditions. As mentioned earlier, in the “10 Biggest Mistakes” article, Dr. Ian Rogers suggests that between 500-750 milliliters/hr (about 17-25 fluid ounces/hr) will fulfill most athletes’ hydration requirements under most conditions. Other research suggests a similar consumption of 4.5-7.0 fluid ounces (approx 133-207 milliliters) of water every 15 to 20 minutes of exercise.

Based on the available research, along with the thousands of athletes we have monitored, we have found that 20-25 oz/hr (approx 590-740 ml) is an appropriate fluid intake for most athletes under most conditions. For lighter weight athletes, or those exercising in cooler temperatures, 16-18 oz/hr (approx 473-532 ml) may be perfect. Heavier athletes or athletes competing in hotter conditions may consider intakes upwards of 28 oz/hr (approx 830 ml). We also suggest that to avoid dilutional hyponatremia, fluid intake should not routinely exceed 28 oz (830 ml)/hr. The exceptions are heavier athletes, athletes exercising at extreme levels (prolonged periods at a high percentage of VO2Max), and athletes competing in severe environmental conditions.

20-25 ounces (approx 590-740 ml) is the equivalent of the typical regular-to-large size water bottle, and that’s an excellent gauge to work within.

Remember your electrolytes and calories!

We noted at the beginning that besides cooling, water also plays an important role in nutrient transport. Water consumption bears directly on electrolyte and caloric uptake. You must consider the electrolyte content of your fluid intake, especially if you exceed about 24 oz (710 ml)/hr. If temperature and humidity rise above 70º F (21º C) and/or 70% humidity, we recommend that you take electrolytes before and during every hour of exercise. For a full discussion of electrolyte needs, see the article "Electrolyte Replenishment."

In addition, avoid fructose or other simple sugar drinks and gels, especially during the heat—unless you want to deal with a gastric emptying problem, which may result in nausea and other stomach maladies. Compared to complex carbohydrates, drinks or gels that contain simple sugars (typically glucose, fructose, and sucrose) require more fluid and electrolytes for effective absorption. Because they require more fluid, you get fewer calories per unit of water. You must restrict simple sugar drinks to a 6-8% solution range, which provides inadequate amounts of calories for energy production. You can make a nice drink in a water bottle that will absorb well and provide adequate fluid, but your caloric intake will fall far short of your body’s needs, and your energy level will suffer.

If you make a double or triple-strength batch of a simple sugar drink hoping to obtain adequate amounts of calories, you’ll require additional fluids and electrolytes to efficiently process the sugar. You will need to guess how much extra water and electrolytes your body needs to handle the sugar. If you guess low, your GI tract will be forced to pull minerals and fluids from other areas of the body. This scenario can result in nauseating results as your body literally dehydrates its working muscles while bloating your belly. Why take chances like that when your performance is on the line?

Your wisest choice is to use fuel comprised of complex carbohydrates, which is the carbohydrate source of all the Hammer Nutrition fuels. Even at a 15-20% concentration, these fuel sources absorb and digest rapidly, do not require excess fluid for transport through the GI system, and provide all the calories your liver can process. For more details on fueling, see the article "Proper Fueling During Endurance Exercise."

Multi-hour bottles of fuel—A convenient way to monitor fluid and calorie intake

If you’re going to be exercising for several hours, a convenient and time-efficient way to fuel—while also helping you monitor calorie and fluid intake with greater precision—is to make concentrated, multi-hour bottles of Sustained Energy or Perpetuem. This is discussed in the article “The Hammer Nutrition Fuels—What they are & how to use them,” which can be found at www.hammernutrition.com. However, since the topic here is hydration, presenting this information now is relevant.

Each scoop of Sustained Energy and Perpetuem that you put in a bottle reduces the water volume by about 1.5 ounces (approx 44 ml). For example, if you add two scoops of Perpetuem in a small 21-ounce (approx 620 ml) size water bottle, you won’t end up with that same amount of actual fluid; it will be approximately 18 ounces (roughly 502ml), perhaps even slightly less. For some athletes 18oz/hr is sufficient fluid intake, but for many athletes that’s not enough; oftentimes upwards of 25-28 ounces (approx 740-830 ml) of fluid are required hourly. As a result, you’ll have to drink your entire fuel bottle plus plain water from another source. After awhile it can be difficult to keep precise track of your fluid intake because you’re fulfilling your needs from two separate sources.

To make things easier when doing a three-hour or longer workout, we suggest making concentrated, multi-hour bottles of fuel. For example, if you’re going to be exercising for four hours and you know that you need two scoops of Perpetuem to satisfy an hour’s worth of fueling, make an 8-scoop bottle in a 21-ounce (approx 620 ml) size water bottle. Now you have four hours of fuel in one bottle and that provides a number of benefits:

Yes, there is some actual fluid left in that 8-scoop/4-hour bottle of Perpetuem, but the amount is small, yielding less than 4 ounces (approx 118 ml) hourly over the course of four hours. Does that small amount of fluid “count” towards fulfilling your overall hydration needs? Yes, but it’s a small enough amount to not have to think about if you’re keeping your overall fluid intake within our suggested guidelines (approximately 20-25 ounces/ approx 590-740 ml hourly), and because those hourly guidelines do have some flexibility built in (+/– 3 ounces or approx 89 ml).

With that in mind, that concentrated bottle of Perpetuem can thus be thought of as a “calories only” bottle and you’ll fulfill your hydration needs with plain water from another source. The beauty of this, among the other benefits mentioned earlier, is that because you’re fulfilling your calorie and fluid needs from sources independent of each other, you’re able to gauge your intake with greater precision.

So when your workouts are greater than three hours in length, give the multi-hour bottle of Sustained Energy or Perpetuem a try and you’ll find that it’ll be a lot easier to keep track of both your calorie and fluid intake… it's been a winning strategy for thousands of endurance athletes.

Increase water storage capacity for competition in extreme heat

Another wise strategy is pre-event super-hydration using a glycerol supplement. You’ll want to use this method before a long strenuous event held in very hot or humid conditions. You can increase your water storage capacity by taking a loading dose of a glycerol solution, such as Liquid Endurance, for three days prior to an endurance effort. During this loading phase, you will gain some weight in stored water. It’s like having an extra water bottle or two on board. You’ll use this extra water first, and extend the time you can exercise in the heat before dehydration.

Other ways to cool yourself in extreme heat

Although not directly related to actual water consumption, an external water application can help cool you. A cold, wet towel, sponge, hose, or sprayer on the head and torso can effectively lower body temperature, especially during a one-minute break. If you’re running, take a one-minute walk, douse yourself with water, and take a good drink. If you’re cycling, find a spot for a good coast or easy spin for a minute. The break from heavy exertion allows dissipation of internal heat. Combined with hydration and external water, this can effectively relieve heat stress, allowing you to finish hot weather endurance events. Highly competitive athletes might scoff at walking, but when it comes to core temperature, nature gives you two choices: cool down or DNF.

Fluid intake suggestions apart from the workout or race

Now that you have a good guide for your fluid intake during exercise, we can turn to two other considerations: how much you should drink overall during the day, and how you should hydrate just prior to racing or exercise.

For your regular daily hydration needs (that is, in addition to your exercise-induced needs), no research has conclusively arrived at an RDA for fluids, but about 0.5-0.6 fluid ounces per pound of body weight (roughly 33-39 ml/kg) makes a more accurate standard than the "eight glasses a day" commonly recommended for everyone. Multiplying your body weight in pounds by .5 to .6 will give you the figure, in fluid ounces, that you should aim for daily. Metrically, you’ll multiply your body weight in kilograms by about 33-39 and that’ll give you a good estimate, in milliliters, that you should be drinking daily.

For satisfying hydration requirements prior to a race there are several recommendations:

Each of these recommendations has at least some research backing. You need to determine what works best for your system and the particular logistics of the race or training session ahead.

Personalized data is the key to hydration efficiency

We offer no "one size fits all" remedies. We do offer prudent and scientifically substantiated advice. We have given you some guidelines to start your assessment and calculation of your personal hydration needs. Each athlete is personally responsible to include hydration, fueling, and electrolyte replacement regimens into his or her training program. You must find out in practice—before competition—what works for you. Most of you will find your final figures will come very close to our suggested starting points. For others, you might find that in certain instances your needs in a particular event will require substantial modification.

If you’ve spent money on a heart-rate monitor, a multi-function watch, or a body-fat measuring device, and if you use those tools properly, you already have some serious training tools. We suggest that a good scale (preferably one that can measure less than one pound increments, such as a balance scale) may well prove to be your most valuable fitness investment. Weigh yourself before and after each outing, carefully noting the time, exertion level, miles, weather, and fluid, fuel, and electrolyte consumption. Another low-tech hint: make sure you know the capacity of your water bottles and hydration packs. Once you begin to log your fluid consumption and weight fluctuations, you’ll have the data to accurately calculate your personal needs in this absolutely vital area.

Final checklist and some quick tips

1.) If you finish an event weighing the same or more than when you started, you have overhydrated. If you’ve dropped 3% or more, dehydration has occurred. Up to 2% weight loss is safe and reasonable.

2.) For very long events, such as a century bike ride, the average rider will also lose a pound or more in energy stores (glycogen, fat, and muscle tissue) in addition to the water, so figure that in your weight difference.

3.) Don’t assume that you can drink unlimited amounts of water or fluid during exercise and expect that all of it will be absorbed and the excess will be lost in sweat or through the kidneys. You will instead bloat, dilute your blood, urinate excessively, and develop water intoxication.

4.) Train to get fit in the heat. Heat acclimatization and fitness reduce fluid and electrolyte losses by up to 50%.

5.) Wear the lightest, most evaporation-friendly clothing you can afford. Cotton isn’t on the list. Many fibers today provide superior wicking and evaporation that allow your sweat to do the work nature intended.

6.) In general, keep fluid intake between 20-25 oz (approx 590-740 ml)/hr. For lighter weight athletes, or those exercising in cooler temperatures, 16-18 oz (approx 473-532 ml)/hr may be perfect. Heavier athletes or athletes competing in hotter conditions may consider intakes upwards of 28 oz (approx 830 ml)/hr. If you feel you need more fluids, experiment with it in training, keeping in mind that you will require additional electrolytes. Regular fluid intake over 30 oz (approx 890 ml)/hr increases the possibility of dilutional hyponatremia.

7.) Use cold fluids as much as possible as your body absorbs them more rapidly than warm fluids. Know where to find cold water along your training routes. Use frozen and insulated water bottles and hydration packs.

8.) Urine color can indicate hydration level. Dark yellow urine means low hydration. Pale to light yellow is good. Don’t confuse the bright yellow urine you get after vitamin B-2 (riboflavin) supplementation for the dark yellow urine that indicates overly concentrated urine.

9.) During exercise, avoid foods and fuels that contain low chain carbohydrates. These simple sugar fuels require more fluids and electrolytes for digestive purposes. Also avoid carbonated drinks, as the gas inhibits absorption.

10.) Consider using Hammer Nutrition’s Liquid Endurance, a glycerol-based product, in a loading dose format prior to racing in the heat. The use of glycerol will maximize your fluid storage, which can be of great benefit during hot weather racing. Follow the specific instructions that come with the product.

11.) Use caffeine with caution. Used properly and sparingly, caffeine has ergogenic benefits. It does, however, act as a diuretic, which may deplete fluid stores more rapidly.

12.) During the hottest weather conditions, sponging yourself off with cold water, while taking a short periodic break from race pace, will provide heat relief.

13.) Know the symptoms of overhydration and dehydration. Stop immediately if you feel lightheaded or queasy or get the dry chills. No race or training is worth compromising your health.

Dehydration and overhydration are common problems that plague far too many athletes, some with severe consequences. Armed with the guidelines contained in this article, along with practice and testing in training, your performance and health need not suffer. Instead, you’ll be ahead of the vast majority of athletes who continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.

More detailed information about proper fueling and all the Hammer Nutrition products can be found in The Endurance Athlete’s Guide To Success. You can download a free copy at www.hammernutrition.com/guide

© 2006, Endurance Marketing Group. This information is copyright protected. Please feel free to distribute this information as long as this copyright notice and EMG's phone number and/or URL are included. Content must remain unchanged and original authorship acknowledged.

Equipment News

Wondering what the latest developments are in equipment design? We have other articles on equipment in our Training Resources Section.

Zoot Sports Ultra Footwear Launched in Kona!

Zoot Sports, a global leader in premium multisport apparel and wetsuits, introduces the first triathlon specific footwear line – the ULTRA Footwear Collection. Zoot Sports has a long tradition of creating innovative products for multisport athletes. This tradition began in 1983 when Christal Nylin created the first triathlon specific product – the Zoot Racesuit. In staying true to Zoot’s philosophy of “Finding Product Solutions for Multisport Athletes,” the Zoot Product Team reacted to consistent feedback from athletes about the problems with running footwear for triathlons.

After years of studying triathletes and further reinforced by athlete focus groups, Zoot Sports identified four inherent footwear problems specific to triathletes:

The solution to these problems is the ULTRA Line of Footwear, which Zoot appropriately launched at the brand’s birthplace, Kona, at the Ironman World Championships this past October. Zoot staff were onsite to show off the first-ever triathlon specific footwear, invite athletes to test-ride the shoes, and giveaway custom-moldable ULTRA Recovery Sandals. While shoes were not available for retail, Zoot seeded 25 pairs on athletes prior to the race. The post-race feedback was extremely positive.

Kim McDonald, a consistent Age Group Champion and Zoot Athlete from San Diego was pleased with the “Barefit Technology” of the footwear in the ULTRA Race Shoes. “A lot of people advised me before Ironman Hawaii not to go barefoot and risk blisters, but I felt I made the right call to go “sockless” and rely on Zoot’s Technology. I dumped an average of 4 cups of water at every aid station on the run portion of the race and the shoes stayed light and fast for the entire marathon. McDonald also added that, “the squishing of wet socks and shoes was pretty pervasive during the run and I was glad not to be a part of that group.”

2007 Ironman Age Group Champion, Rachel Ross from Honolulu Hawaii, and a star of the Timex Multisport Team, was a unique case. Rachel tested out the Zoot ULTRA Race Shoes the day before the race and loved them so much she had to have a pair to “test.” Rachel raced in the shoes right out the box to her best Kona marathon performance. “The Zoot Ultra Shoe carried me to a personal best Kona marathon (3:18), which was also the 2nd fastest amateur run time. I had a quick T2 and was comfortable from start to finish. The only time I even thought about them was when the athletes I passed commented on my cool shoes. The heat and sun were strong and I doused myself in water at each aid station, but the Zoot shoes never got heavy or squishy, the water just drained right through.”

“This product launch firmly positions Zoot Sports as the premium multisport brand,” said Brian Enge, CEO of Zoot Sports. “We are the only brand that can cover the athlete from head to toe, start to finish, and from training to race to recovery.”

Along with the success of the footwear launch, Zoot was also the #1 apparel brand on the course at the Ironman World Championships, with 20% of the athletes racing in Zoot. Three of the top five women in the race also wore Zoot.

Athlete Testimonials from Kona

I raced for the first time in my new Zoot Ultra shoes at the Ironman World Championship in Kona. These shoes are awesome! They are incredibly comfortable, extremely lightweight, and are exceptionally breathable. They feel and fit like slippers and I love that they're fast and easy to put on and take off in transition. And of course, they look super cool! I ran to a personal best Ironman Hawaii time of 9:41 (I also had a PR marathon) and placed 12th overall. I can't wait to do more racing with my fast Zoot Ultra shoes! Thank you Zoot!! - Tara Norton, Zoot Professional Triathlete, 5 time Ironman Hawaii Finisher

 

 

"The Zoot Ultra Shoe carried me to a personal best Kona marathon (3:18), which was also the 2nd fastest amateur run time. I had a quick T2 and was comfortable from start to finish. The only time I even thought about them was when the athletes I passed commented on my cool shoes. The heat and sun were strong and I doused myself in water at each aid station, but the Zoot shoes never got heavy or squishy, the water just drained right through. Thanks for the awesome shoes and I will definitely be wearing them for Clearwater 70.3! - Kim McDonald - Timex Multisport Team

To see more Zoot athletes and read what they have to say please visit the Zoot Sports website.

 

 

The ULTRA Footwear line will be in stores around the world in the Spring of 2008.

About Zoot Sports:
Born in Kona in 1983, Zoot Sports has been committed to finding product solutions for multisport athletes since the creation of the first trisuit. After 24 years, Zoot Sports continues to draw on its history in the sport and its athletes to bring forth the most comprehensive, technologically-advanced and complete multisport product line in the world. Zoot believes that the athlete that is the most comfortable, supported and ventilated will be the athlete that performs best, race day and everyday. www.zootsports.com

For more information contact:
Elisette Carlson
Zoot Sports
760-477-2299 x113
elisette@zootsports.com