There are few less desirable feelings for an athlete than showing up for a training session or competition with heavy legs and feeling tired or run down.
-You are in a very hard training block and are going into what is termed ‘over-reaching’. Suck it up! However, make sure you follow up and over reaching phase with a block of recovery training. Too much time in ‘the hole’ can eventually lead to over-training syndrome, a much more serious condition that has serious implications for both fitness and health.
-You are getting sick. Training hard when you are sick makes no sense. Pump the brakes for a couple of days and allow recovery. As a rule of thumb, if the symptoms are above the neck you are still good to go, below the neck then rest and recuperation. NEVER train with a fever.
-Low iron stores. It is recommended that all athletes get a blood test once per year (twice for female athletes) to ensure stored iron levels are sufficient. Low levels of iron can lead to poor performance (earlier to fatigue, difficulty tolerating training loads)
-Poor recovery following the last workout session. There are many aspects to recovery which athletes should consider.
· Current fitness level
· Active recovery
1. CURRENT FITNESS LEVEL
Athletes who have developed higher levels of stamina (otherwise known as aerobic capacity) tend to recover more quickly between training runs and between training days. They have more resilience throughout the course of the competitive season and this is one variable that can lead to more consistent results. Less fit athletes are less efficient at removing the by-products of high intensity exercise (e.g. lactate) and therefore are not able to produce as many quality efforts OR recover efficiently after training.
2. HYDRATION STATUS
Skiing usually occurs in environments where dehydration is a factor. Dehydration can have a great impact on performance – poor training times, poor concentration etc. In cold/dry OR warm/humid climates, dehydration can be a big issue. At 6000 feet above sea level, you exhale and perspire twice as much moisture as you do at sea level. Over the course of a day, that is a lot of water and electrolytes lost! Skiers are frequently train and race at altitudes at or higher than this. Higher altitude means lower air pressure. This results in more rapid evaporation of moisture from skin surface, and from your lungs. Most high altitude areas are also very low in humidity, which means evaporation is further accelerated. The combination of these factors means that the higher up you are, the more water you need to keep your body functioning.
I recommend to athletes training in any of the conditions noted above to drink an electrolyte beverage in addition to water. If training on a glacier in the summer, bring an electrolyte drink and water on the hill. In the winter, teas can be easier to ingest and more palatable. In normal conditions when the workout is < 1 hr, water is just fine.
There is no better form or recovery after a hard days training than a good night of sleep. A night or two of poor sleep will have little impact other than maybe moodiness and perhaps poor concentration/focus. However, when the athlete is consistently getting less sleep than they need, or poor quality sleep, a number of deficits occur. With lack of sleep, a stress hormone called cortisol increases which will interfere with muscle repair and building. Poor sleep also slows down both glucose metabolism and storage.
Every athlete is different in how much sleep they need. However, compared to the normal population they will need more sleep due to the physical and emotional stressors they experience in training and competition. Anywhere from 8-10 hrs per day should be the goal for most athletes.
In order to fuel for training sessions, all athletes should have a firm grasp of the basics of nutrition and how it affects performance. Here are some general rules:
Carbohydrates (obtained from foods such as pasta, bread, potatoes, fruit, legumes, cereals) are critical both in fueling for, and recovering from exercise. If an athlete has low levels of this macronutrient in their diet, or tries to eliminate carbohydrate from the diet, they will be unable to sustain high intensity effort for very long. Eat a form of whole, lower sugar (lower glycemic index) carbohydrate with every meal (you should eat 5-6 x p/day). Within 30 mins of finishing your workout, have a more sugary (high glycemic index) carb. When you are training on the hill, you should have more sugary foods available such as Gatorade, trail mix / bars and fruit to keep blood sugars (glucose) up. Carbohydrate is converted into glycogen and stored in the liver and muscles. If muscle glycogen levels get low, then the anaerobic energy system can no longer function and exercise intensity will have to be reduced.
Adequate protein is very important to promote growth and to repair damaged cells and tissues. There are many types of proteins which are effective for the athlete in meeting their individual needs. These include: meat sources, dairy sources; eggs, soy, nuts and grains (such as oats and quinoa). It is most important for the athlete to take in a quality source of protein with every meal / snack and this is where many athletes fail, opting to instead take in large quantities later in the day. Research shows that spreading your protein evenly through the course of the 5-6 meals you eat per day is most effective. The recommended amount of protein for athletes engaging in strength or other intense activities is 1.5-2.0 g/kg of body weight per day.
Immune system maintenance – the main goal of training is push the body a bit harder than what it is used to, which leads to physical adaptations (better fitness). However, athletes can be more sensitive to cold / flu bugs. During training and competition, the body can be under a lot of physical and/or emotional stress and as a result the immune system can be weakened. It is very important that the athlete is consuming a wide range of ‘micronutrients’ which are high in antioxidants and can help maintain a healthy immune system. ‘Micronutrients’ can be found primarily in fresh fruits and vegetables. The 5-10 per day recommendation is a good guideline. More specifically, I like to ask athletes to incorporate 1-2 servings of fruit and vegetables with every meal/snack. Also, consider a vitamin C supplement.
One of the most effective recovery drinks (excluding supplements which I will not discuss here) is chocolate milk. It is ideal because of its accessibility, price and composition. Chocolate milk contains quality proteins, sugar (fast carbs) and electrolytes. A number of studies have been conducted examining the effectiveness of chocolate milk in promoting recovery and they found that it did a similar job to many commercially available beverages. As chocolate milk is very calorie dense, athletes should be careful with how much of this they drink as it could potentially lead to unwanted weight gains.
5. ACTIVE RECOVERY
Following intense activity, it is important that the athlete spend some time doing light aerobic exercise in order to ‘flush’ the by-products of intense exercise from the system. Failure to do this can result in heavy legs the next day and poor performance. Examples of activities which I often use with my athletes are:
Spin bike (15-30 mins)
Jog (up to 20 mins)
Swim (up to 30 mins)
OR…simply walk or hike
Anything that gets your heart rate up but does not cause additional fatigue can be useful.
For recovery workouts, on average you should keep your heart rate between 110-130 beats per minute or low intensity. You will breathe a bit harder, perspire a little more but feel like you can easily maintain a conversation.
Some form of mobility work is also crucial after a workout / training session. Muscles tend to become shorter and potentially more inflamed than is desirable during intense exercises. In the long term, consistent failure to stretch and lengthen muscles and the tissue surrounding them can lead to problems with mobility. This in turn can lead to increased incidence of overuse injuries and pain.