Ron Lugbill Whitewater Slalom Racing Blog

get faster by sleeping 10 hours

Get Faster by Sleeping 10 Hours

Usually, when talking about sleeping, we talk about getting "enough sleep".  But research is pointing out that just getting "enough" isn't optimal.  There is normal sleep, then there is optimal sleep.  Here is a link to an article about research on sleep and athletes, stating that 10 hours of sleep/night makes you faster:  http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/id/7765998/for-athletes-sleep-new-magic-pill

It's hard to get young people to sleep this much.  I have discovered that a lot of young peoples get texts at night from friends and then they text them back.  And there are social activities that  go into the night and take away from sleep.  And school schedules often start early in the morning, so sleep gets cut into from both ends.

Athletes should not get their schedules from the normal world.  Athletes are set apart from the normal population.  They don't just do fitness activities- they train for a particular sport.  They don't just eat like normal people. They aim for optimum fuel for their bodies.  And they don't take their sleep patterns from the social norm either.  They aim for optimum rest between workouts so they can get faster.

If you aren't getting faster and can't figure out why, try getting 10 hours of sleep every night and see if it makes a difference in your performance.  And it's not just amount of sleep that is important.  Sleep quality is also important.

To improve sleep quality, during the hour before bedtime, do a series of relaxing activities, such as reading, walking, yoga, a bath or meditation.  Then, have white noise on in the bedroom, have a completely dark room, without any light, by keeping out clocks and electronics, and putting blackout shades over the windows. 

Then, get 10 hours of sleep at night.  Here is the link to the article:  http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/id/7765998/for-athletes-sleep-new-magic-pill

comprehensive recovery from training

Comprehensive Recovery From Training

                        

Training weakens your body.  The body is stressed, then rebuilds itself after the training so it can better withstand the stress the next time.

It's during the recovery that your body gets stronger, faster and more powerful.  So, the more you can do to enhance recovery, the better.  Here is an article about multi-faceted recovery:

http://xlathlete.org/blog/articles/entry/a_multidimensional_approach_to_enhancing

The idea is that recovery depends on many different factors and they should all be addressed.  Sleep is one of the most important factors in recovery.  Nutrition and hydration are also very important.  Emotional and psychological factors are also important factors in recovery.  And of course, the physical aspect of recovery is important and inter-related to these other factors.

To improve your recovery, and therefore your performance, make sure you are getting plenty of sleep, good post-workout nutrition and hydration.  And do some things that help you relax.  Stress is counter-productive.  And do active recovery methods in between workouts. 

Include recovery in your training plan.  And in your training log.  When you plan your training, you should be planning your recovery as well.  What kind of active recovery will you do?  What type of nutrition and sleep should you get between workouts?  Plan it and write it down, the same way you would write in full lengths or short courses or weight workouts.  Plan your recovery.

Here is the link to the article:

http://xlathlete.org/blog/articles/entry/a_multidimensional_approach_to_enhancing

what not to do in training

What Not To Do in Training

 

Here is an excellent article about 10 mistakes athletes make in their training:

http://www.independent.com/news/2010/nov/27/top-10-mistakes-athletes-make-their-training-progr/

I was particularly intrigued with their concept of "technical failure".  When you do an exercise until you can't do it any more, that is called taking it to failure.  But when you get near that point, you are often struggling and using poor technique.

The idea with "technical failure" is to not take it to failure, but only go as far as you can with excellent technique.  Otherwise, you could be ingraining poor technique- poor quality movement patterns.

In any case, many athletes make mistakes in their training.  If you are a good boater and a good athlete, you will still likely have decent results.  But if you want to have top results, you can't be making all these errors in your training.  Your training needs to be top quality.

Here are some of the common mistakes I see whitewater paddlers doing in their training:

1. Training slowly, doing long loops or distance paddles in their slalom boats.  This is not specific enough in terms of the pace to really develop endurance for slalom racing.  And it teaches the muscles to go slowly.  And it prevents you from developing power, a crucial factor in our sport.

2. Doing bodybuilding training.  Athletes train very differently than bodybuilders.  Bodybuilders are trying to get a certain look, and don't care about power or speed.  Our sport is all about power and speed.  So, rather than doing isolation exercises and lots of curls or calf exercises, concentrate on compound movements. 

3. Not being focused in training.  Many paddlers don't even have a specific goal in mind when they train.  You need to be as focused in training as you would be at the world championships.  If you don't have everything figured out on the course, stay on shore until you do.  Take quality, focused runs- don't come down the course as a "warm-up", bumping into gates or being off-line.  Don't wait til the 4th or 5th run on a course to get serious about it.  Every run is focused.

4. Not doing any recovery activities.  Recovery between workouts is very important.  You need to get plenty of sleep.  And you need proper post-workout nutrition.  I suggest whey protein and creatine after the workout with some carbs.  And you need to plan recovery sessions where you do some sort of recovery work, such as contrast baths, active recovery, massage, etc. 

5. Over-training.  Paddlers like to paddle.  And when they get on good whitewater, they love it.  So, this often leads to excessive training.  Many of the athletes are over-trained.  Another way of looking at overtraining is under-recovery.  You need to concentrate on getting good recovery between workouts because that is when your body gets stronger.  Workouts make your body weaker.  If you don't allow your body enough recovery, you will just get weaker with more workouts, not stronger.

6. Not enough training on hard whitewater.  Some athletes only do their training course and then do the races.  That is not enough.  The top racers train on big water.  It is more specific.  So, even if you don't live where there is a good whitewater course, you need to train on good whitewater courses from time to time. 

I'll stop at 6.  Here is the link to the article.  Great article:  http://www.independent.com/news/2010/nov/27/top-10-mistakes-athletes-make-their-training-progr/ 

early excessive sports training leads to injury

Early Excessive Sports Training Leads to Injury

Here is an interesting article about intensive sports training and injury:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130419132508.htm

There is a concern about overspecialization in young children.  Children should do multiple sports, not just one sport.  And the amount of training time in hours per week should not exceed the child's age.  For example, a ten year old should not practice more than 10 hours per week.  A 15 year old should not practice more than 15 hours per week.

Interestingly, it is supervised, coached practice that is more linked to overuse injuries, while unsupervised free play is actually protective.  In other words, children should play sports on their own for significant periods of time, not just in coached supervised settings.

This may be counter-intuitive.  You would think that having an adult coach supervising would keep the practices safer.  Kids left to their own devices might tend to get out of control or do crazy things.  But doing more unsupervised practice actually helps prevent overuse injuries.

And sport specialization increases the odds of getting injured.  If you do multiple sports, you use different muscles, so your body is more balanced and one set of muscles can recover while you use the muscles for a different sport. 

There is a trend towards early specialization in sports.  But the research does not support this trend.  Better to have kids do multiple sports than just concentrate on one sport.  A more varied athletic background will pay off in the long term.

Here is the link to the article about overuse injuries in children:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130419132508.htm