Off goes the alarm at 5.30am. Which way do you roll ? - ignore the alarm and roll inwards, or hit the alarm and fall from bed to make that 6am run group. Other idiots called your friends have set their alarms at the same time and are as keen as you to build that base over winter - sound familiar? Its great once you’re out there, but boy that initial commitment is as hard as saying no to chocolate in Belgium!

If you are going to make that big morning commitment there are some key issues to consider to make the most out of that high physiological and psychological investment.

• Your warm-up at that time of morning should always be a lot longer than your traditional warm-up. If the morning session is going to be anything above steady to mod hard intensity then it’s a good idea to make the key components of the session last on the list. If it’s the hills you’re hitting take the first part of the hill easy - maybe break up the mid part of the hills with some dynamic drills or flexibility exercises and then get back into the hill work.

•  If it’s a speed work session then the best way to make the most out of a morning run session is to take the first rep easy, second steady, third steady, fourth mod hard etc . Going out with a slower build up will give your tendons and muscles the chance to fully warm-up and adapt to the intensity of the session. Read the rest of this entry »

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is a condition of muscle pain, soreness or stiffness that is generally experienced  12-48 hours post exercise.  It is particularly prevalent when kicking off a new program, switching disciplines ( trail running to kayak for example ), or after shifting your volume and intensity up a notch or two or doing compound sessions such as bricks.

Contrary to old wives tales and dated wisdom, DOMS is not caused by lactic acid accumulation after a tough training session or race. Szymanski (2001) notes that blood and muscle lactate levels do rise considerably during intense eccentric and concentric exercise, however values for blood and muscle lactate return to normal within 30-60 minutes post exercise. Szymanski also notes that the symptoms of DOMS peak within 24-48 hours after an intense eccentric exercise bout when blood lactate levels have been at normal levels for a considerable amount of time.

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As you know, a few months back I was impressed with the JULBO Explorer glasses for altitude activities. What I have more recently come to grips with is their multi-sport stable mate the RACE.

While these glasses have a different look, feel and function to the alpine-centric EXPLORERs the same attention to detail and quality screams at you both from the case and in solid and regular use across a range of activities.

Let’s start with the crucial component; the lense. It’s a Zebra NXT Photochromic model that is encompassing enough in shape to satisfy peripheral sight and protection needs and more critically delivers absolutely amazing clarity of vision in varying light and environmental conditions; with minimal or zero fogging.

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How many times have you looked outside on a cold, rainy, winter’s day and said to yourself if I go out training in this will I get sick?

To answer this question we need to look at how exercise affects the immune system. Exercise represents a physical stress which the body reacts to with a certain pattern of hormonal and immunological responses. Depending on the volume and intensity of the exercise will determine the pattern of the response and whether the immune system is stimulated or suppressed. However, it should not be forgotten that other factors such as nutrition, psychological stress and training status will also influence the immune response to a specific training session.

During a strenuous training session there is an increase in stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline increases during exercise in response to both the intensity and duration of the exercise bout. Cortisol increases only in response to exercise of long duration (greater than 1 hour) and shows persistently high levels for hours after the cessation of exercise (Pedersen & Hoffman-Goetz, 2000). Both of these hormones have a direct effect on immune variables such as cytokines and lymphocytes which play a big part in the body’s defence against infection. Though lymphocytes increase in concentration during exercise, concentrations drop below pre-exercise levels after long duration exercise bouts (Pedersen, Bruunsgaard, Jensen, Krzywkowski, & Ostrowski, 1999). It therefore appears that after strenuous exercise there is an “open window” where the body is vulnerable to infection (Pedersen et al., 1999).

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What do you need to do this year to get a better result from all that training time in the kayak? More speed work; endurance and or technique? Maybe, but how do you know?

Easy! Use the “Three R’s”.

1. Revise (”examine and amend faults”),

2. Revitalise (”put new life into”),

3. Respond (”answer, action or feeling aroused by stimulus”).

Revise

This is where a good training diary comes into its own as an invaluable resource. Sit down and have a good, honest think about how you paddled last season. Be ruthlessly honest in your assessment as it will set the framework for the rest of the process. Try to get examples and the details that explain the results; don’t guess. If you use an ergometer and have collected meaningful data sit down with your coach and analyse this in the context of the year just gone.

Now you will need to set aside some time to go back through your diary from last season and summarise all your training sessions in the kayak in detail. Now, highlight them in a specific colour depending on whether they were endurance, speed / power, strength or technique based? Did you complete the whole session you had planned? Did you have injury or illness issues through the season? Did you have a plan for the season? Does your session summary follow the plan?

Look for patterns in performances and training that may signify a lack of emphasis that you either subconsciously, or consciously, missed. Look at your race performances and see if the training you did or didn’t do prior to them reflects the results you got. Do you see times when you did no power or speed work on the water and did not perform well on shorter or more technical courses? Go back to your season summary and try to find deficiencies that you can address in the next phase of your training. Make sure you write all these points down and rank them from most to least important.

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In the past the notion that rowing would boost cycling was regarded as borderline nutty but as this week’s events at the Olympic Games in Beijing have shown there may well be a strong correlation between the sports; Rebecca Romero (UK) and Alison Shanks (NZ) 2 cases in point of ex rowers making the grade as world-class track cyclists.

Research at Hundington College in 2003 by Barfield,Sherman and Michael set pout to confirm the unexpected similarities among progressive oxygen uptake (VO2), heart rate (HR), and lactate (La) responses between cycle and rowing ergometry.

In the research, eight recreationally active adults performed two progressive submaximal testing protocols, separated by 2–7 days. Subjects completed 3-min stages at 50, 100, and 150 W on both a cycle and rowing ergometer. VO2 and HR were recorded every 30 s. At the conclusion of each 3-min stage, blood lactate was measured.

Main outcome measures. For each variable, a repeated measures two-way (mode by intensity) factorial ANOVA was used to determine main effects for mode, intensity, and interaction.

Results. There was no significant main effect (p>0.05) for mode on VO2 (cycle M=25.88±2.96 ml kg−1 min−1, rowing M=25.94±2.74), HR (cycle M=136.75±10.27 b min−1, rowing M=135.30±9.08), or La (cycle M=4.34±1.06 mmol l−1, rowing M=3.78±98).

The results of the current study provide evidence that cycling and rowing exercise may be used interchangeably during rehabilitation.

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