Many of us will be doing a lot of training on the rowing machine in these coming weeks, and it’s important to understand the impact of sweat and proper hydration. This article by Andy Blow, provides good insights and tips for all of us using the Concept2 to train indoors.
Gavirate Rowing Club 2020. Photo WH Chambers.
Original article by Andy Blow, BSc Honours degree in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Bath, Precision Hydration (2020). Precision Hydration support our newsletter subscribers with 10% off all purchases, when you use the discount code; Faster10 at checkout. www.precisionhydration.com
Indoor training can be viewed as an unfortunate but necessary evil by some athletes, while others relish the opportunity to get in the ‘Pain Cave’ and log those hours on the turbo trainer or treadmill.
There’s often an impressive (and slightly dangerous) pool of sweat on the floor whenever I’ve finished an indoor training session. So, does that puddle mean I sweat more when training indoors than outdoors? Let’s find out…
The effects of heat on sweat rate
The body controls core body temperature (CBT) to keep us alive and functioning, and we sweat when our CBT rises above a certain point.
The heat given off by working muscles has the greatest influence on CBT when exercising, so how hard you’re working has a massive impact on your sweat rate and more so than body fat, weight and overall size. This was emphasised by the findings of a recent study.
So, the average indoor workout is probably more intense than an outdoor session because we generally go for ‘quality’ over ‘quantity’ (unless you really enjoy being in your ‘pain cave’ for hours and hours on end). Therefore, this results in a higher sweat loss per unit of time.
Air Flow and Temperature
Two other important factors which will impact on how sweaty you get when training indoors are Air Flow and Temperature:
Air Flow
When outdoors, you’re moving through air so you get some airflow past the skin. Air movement causes heat to be drawn away from the body’s surface more effectively (via convection and sweat evaporation) and this cools you.
On a static bike or treadmill, you lose this airflow and the sweat tends to drip off you, making you more aware of it. And as there’s no natural cooling effect, you probably actually do sweat a little more to compensate too (unless you attempt to mitigate the lack of air flow by adding a fan to your indoor ‘Pain Cave’…).
Temperature
Your body tries to offload heat to the environment when you’re training. The bigger the gradient between the air temperature, and the lower the humidity, the easier it is for heat to be evaporated away. As many places we train indoors are already quite warm and humid, the gradients for heat loss and evaporation are less pronounced than outside, and this further hinders thermoregulation and drives sweat rate up.
So, whilst you don’t necessarily sweat significantly more indoors than outdoors, there are reasons why total sweat loss might be higher some of the time.
Tips for staying hydrated during indoor training
There are five simple steps you can take to ensure that you are well hydrated for your daily indoor training session…
Before: Arrive well hydrated
As we mentioned earlier, most people’s indoor training sessions are short and intense as we go for the old ‘quality over quantity’ approach. So, it’s important to make sure you start hydrated by doing some form of preload as this will maximise your ability to thermoregulate by sweating.
Aim to drink around 500-750ml (16-25oz) of plain water mixed with a strong electrolyte drink (we recommend PH 1500) a few hours before you start your session. Use a bit of trial and error over the course of a few sessions to refine this approach.
Before: Don’t overdo your fluid intake
Having said that, there’s no need to go overboard on fluid intake in the immediate build-up to your session. Just try to stick to good hydration practices on a day-to-day basis.
Before: Add sodium
If you do find yourself low on fluid leading up to a session, it’s a good idea to add additional sodium to your drinks in the preceding hours as this maximises absorption of the fluids you do consume.
During: Drink to thirst during the session
This comes back to the ‘don’t overdo it’ point. Ultimately, don’t interfere with what you’re actually there to do (i.e. get sweaty on the turbo or treadmill) by trying to taking on unnecessary amounts of fluid.
Don’t forget to stay on top of your hydration when training indoors and following these simple steps will help keep you hydrated correctly and able to perform at your best.
Sharing with you some of my Go To Ergo sessions from the last 6-months. Each of these sessions can be done done on the Concept2 Dynamic, Model D static or RP3 machine. I use a polarised 5 zone heart rate model to guide training intensity. More information of how to train with heart rate can be found on my online courses page, and include easy to use heart rate zone calculator tools. I like to use the Citius Remex seat pad and recommend it for those that don’t want a pain in the backside and legs after long sessions. Citius Remex offer our readers 10% discount at checkout with the code: NoAssPain2020
Long Endurance Base Building Sessions
Target heart rate in zone 2
3 x 20 minutes – stroke rate 18-20 in zone 2
4 x 20 minutes – stroke rate 18-20 in zone 2
Strength Endurance Sessions
Target heart rate in zone 2 & 3
4 x 15 minutes
First 15 minutes at stroke rate 18-20 in zone 2 at fan normal setting 3-4
Next 15 minutes at stroke rate 18-20 in zone 3 at fan setting 8-10
Next 15 minutes at stroke rate 18-20 in zone 2 at fan normal setting 3-4
Final 15 minutes at stroke rate 18-20 in zone 3 at fan setting 8-10
5-10 minutes cool down
Progressive Intensity Pyramid
This is a good work out to stimulate your zone 3 and zone 4 heart rate zones. I like to do this work out in spring time, to prepare for the harder, longer zone 4 intervals.
10 minute progressive warm up to heart rate zone 4
5 minutes stroke rate 22
4 minutes stroke rate 24
3 minutes stroke rate 26
2 minutes stroke rate 28
1 minute stroke rate 30
2 minutes stroke rate 28
3 minutes stroke rate 26
4 minutes stroke rate 24
5 minutes stroke rate 22
5-10 minutes Cool down
Long High Intensity Threshold Intervals
Build up your capacity to collecting 30+ minutes in heart rate zone 4. It is not unusual to take 1-2 minutes in each interval for your heart rate to adjust and move into zone 4. I generally aim to maintain a maximum pace that I can sustain for 8 minutes, yet manage the intensity not to go into zone 5.
10 minute progressive warm up to heart rate zone 4
3-5 x 8 minutes – stroke rate 28-32 in heart rate zone 4, with a 4 minute rest between intervals.
5-10 minutes Cool down
This is a longer and harder workout, and designed to develop your anaerobic capacity.
10 minute progressive warm up to heart rate zone 4
3-5 x 10 minutes – stroke rate 28-32 in heart rate zone 4, with a 5 minute rest between intervals.
10 minutes Cool down
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
10 minute progressive warm up to heart rate zone 4
5 minutes of alternating 15 seconds on (100%) 15 seconds off (50%)
5 minutes rest
Repeat 5 times
10 minutes Cool down
Tabata style High intensity intervals 30:30
10 minute progressive warm up to heart rate zone 4
5 minutes of alternating 30 seconds on (100%) 30 seconds off (50%)
5 minutes rest
Repeat 5 times
10 minutes Cool down
Tabata style High intensity intervals 40:20
10 minute progressive warm up to heart rate zone 4
5 minutes of alternating 40 seconds on (100%) 20 seconds off (50%)
5 minutes rest
Repeat 4 times
10 minutes Cool down
10 minute progressive warm up to heart rate zone 4
Race Pace Intervals
Great workout to get used to race pace. I like to incorporate the start sequence and transition into race pace. I also like to start at race pace and accelerate into the finish burst.
10 minute progressive warm up to heart rate zone 4
How to START hydrated and why that’s so important.
Sharing original article from Andy Blow, Precision Hydration. Medically reviewed by Dr Tamara Hew-Butler. Precision Hydration support our newsletter subscribers with 10% off all purchases, when you use the discount code; Faster10 at checkout. www.precisionhydration.com
The benefits of starting exercise hydrated
Much of the literature on hydration has focused on what athletes should drink during exercise, but your hydration status before you start exercising can have a huge impact upon your athletic performance…
When people talk about hydration, most of the time it’s about what and how much athletes should drink during exercise.
These are clearly important questions, but your performance is also massively influenced by how hydrated you are when you start exercising in the first place. Drinking a strong electrolyte drink to optimise your hydration status before long, hot or really hard training sessions and events can significantly improve your performance.
We call this “preloading” and the practice has been widely studied in the last 20 years or so, both with astronauts and athletes. Whilst there’s not a completely bullet proof consensus on the subject – there rarely is – there’s strong evidence that taking in additional sodium with fluids before you start sweating is effective in promoting increased acute fluid retention and in improving endurance performance, especially in the heat.
This blog aims to give you a more solid understanding of what you can do to arrive at the start of your next event optimally hydrated.
What are the benefits of preloading?
Once you begin sweating you’re generally going to be fighting a losing battle against fluid and electrolyte loss, so starting off properly hydrated can be extremely beneficial. When you’re properly hydrated you have a larger reservoir of fluid to draw from over time than if you’re dehydrated.
Starting well hydrated has other benefits too. Optimal hydration maximises your blood volume and this helps general cardiovascular function and your ability to dissipate the heat produced by your working muscles. This reduces fatigue and enables you to maintain your performance for longer.
Despite the relatively obvious benefits of starting exercise well hydrated, a recent study of over 400 amateur athletes showed that around 31% of them were turning up to training sessions (and, in some cases, competitions) dehydrated!
In amongst the data there were strong indications that this was very likely to be compromising their performance. This will probably seem like common sense, especially if you’ve ever tried exercising when you know you’re a bit ‘dry’. Who in their right mind would want to start exercising hard in a dehydrated state if they’re trying to perform at their best?
The problem with starting exercise dehydrated
This study certainly backs up previous work I’ve read on the subject and the kind of things we’ve seen over many years working with athletes in different scenarios. It’s certainly not uncommon to see people only really thinking about hydration once they turn up to a session rather than preparing in advance.
Often this just happens because those of us who are not full time athletes are running around flat out between workouts and aren’t always able to think about preparing properly for them 100% of the time. That’s just life.
But it can also be a problem for full-time athletes when training two or more times a day, or at times when they’re just under a very high total training load. That’s because uncorrected dehydration from a prior training session can make it’s presence felt when the next session gets underway. This blog addresses how to optimise your recovery by hydrating properly.
Although athletes turning up to training a bit low on fluids is relatively common, it’s generally less of an issue before major competitions. That’s not to say that turning up to an event dehydrated never happens, I’m sure it does.
The dangers of overdrinking and hyponatremia
But, because most athletes care a lot about their performance in big events, there’s a tendency to increase fluid intake before the big day because extra priority is placed on all aspects of last minute preparation.
The irony of this extra emphasis on pre-event hydration is that quite a lot of athletes can go from slightly under-drinking before training to significantly over-drinking pre-competition and this can lead to a different set of problems!
I’ve written about the common tendency to over-drink before races in the past and the bottom line is that it’s a very real problem that can potentially lead to hyponatremia (i.e. low blood sodium levels caused by inadequately replacing the sodium lost when sweating and further dilution by drinking plain water or weak sports drinks), something that can be pretty catastrophic for health and performance if it goes unchecked. A recent study found that 10% of athletes tested at the Ironman European Championships had hyponatremia, which shows you the extent to which hydration issues might be impacting performance.
The idea of carb loading – i.e. maximising the amount of glycogen you have stored in your muscles and liver before a strenuous activity – is one that’s well researched and essentially universally accepted as a performance-enhancing tactic.
OK, so sports scientists love to argue over exactly what and how much you should eat, and when exactly to shove it in your cake hole, but few sane athletes would argue with the principle that consuming additional carbohydrate calories (often combined with a tapering off in training load) in the final days before an event is a good idea.
That’s because you can store up and subsequently use a lot of this energy later on when you need to dig deep and burn through large amounts of fuel during a long or hard effort.
With hydration things are less clear cut than with carbs. As we’ve seen, many athletes do tend to increase fluid intake prior to important events or hard training sessions, with the vague notion that having more in the tank should result in better performance. But many unfortunately over do it in the process and this is harming their performance.
The importance of sodium for hydration
But, can you actually store fluid over and above being normally hydrated and, if so, does it help to do so?
The answer has a lot to do with not just how much water you drink, but with how much sodium you consume with that water as it’s this electrolyte that plays a key role in retention of fluid in the body and in the bloodstream in particular. For more on why sodium is crucial to staying hydrated and maintaining your performance, you may want to read this blog.
In a nutshell though, without the right amount of sodium in your pre-exercise drinks, drinking lots of water will do you a fat lot of good. The importance of sodium to hydration and maintaining your performance was further proven by research conducted at NASA at the end of the 20th century.
NASA astronauts hydration study
NASA’s astronauts were commonly found to be suffering with low blood pressure because they were losing bodily fluids (and therefore blood volume) during their time in microgravity. One NASA paper I read suggested that astronauts live with as much as a 3-4% deficit in total body fluid levels during a typical mission. It was causing them to feel weak, light headed and even to black out on re-entry or once they landed back on terra firma. That’s not something you want to be dealing with when you’re trying to land a rather expensive space craft!
To combat this, NASA tested lots of drinks containing different carbohydrates and electrolyte mixtures and found that the more sodium you put in a drink, the more effective the drink would be at being retained in the body and bloodstream and correcting dehydration.
On top of the work by NASA, there have been a number of scientific studies conducted into the idea of athletes ‘preloading’ with sodium and fluids prior to exercise in the last few years and the key findings from this work were summarised in a paper back in 2013.
This review article essentially came to the same conclusion as NASA that sodium preloading with a drink strong enough to stimulate fluid retention in the blood stream, but not so strong that it caused other knock on issues, does seem to improve endurance performance.
As I mentioned, a higher blood volume means an easier time for your cardiovascular system when you’re exercising and also a bigger reservoir of fluids available to ‘lose’ through sweating if you need to cool down, as is the case when working your muscles hard and producing lots of metabolic heat.
However, due to the mechanisms that control fluid and electrolyte balance in the body, any attempt to preload with plain water inevitably just leads to more trips to the bathroom as your body tries it’s best to avoid an excessive dilution of your blood sodium levels, which would lead to hyponatremia if unchecked.
How to preload effectively
It’s about striking a balance between being aggressive enough to drive some extra fluid retention in your blood stream without this leading to gastro-intestinal issues or excessive fluid build-up making you feel bloated and sluggish.
Typical sports drinks – which generally contain ~200 to 500mg of sodium per litre – simply don’t cut it when it comes to preloading as they’re just way too dilute to make a meaningful difference to blood volume. The reality is it’s not vastly different from drinking water.
At the other extreme, most of the scientific studies that have been conducted in this area have looked at using extremely strong electrolyte drinks containing ~3,600mg of sodium per litre. That’s like drinking a bag of saline solution that would normally be put into you via an IV! Whilst this has been shown to be highly effective at boosting blood plasma volume, it’s has a tendency to cause upset stomachs, sickness or diarrhoea – something that is obviously very counterproductive when you’re trying to improve your performance!
One study back in 2014 looked at the effectiveness of 4 drink concentrations – Water, 1,380mg/l, 2,750mg/l and 3,680mg/l – to compare the effect they had on blood volume pre-exercise v how much sickness and diarrhoea they caused.
The athletes drank a set amount (17ml per kg of body weight, so about 1.2l for an average sized 70kg athlete) of each of the drinks and the more sodium that was in it, the more blood volume was increased, as you’d expect. But with the strongest drink, 6 of the 8 athletes experienced diarrhoea compared with zero issues with the 1,380mg/l drink and plain water.
That paper was of real interest to me as at Precision Hydration we’d already been experimenting with different concentrations of drink to use for preloading. I’d had lots of GI problems when trying 3,000mg/l+ drinks, so was already using less strong stuff and I was still finding it beneficial, so it was good to get some scientific confirmation that we were on the right track.
In the end we settled on a strength of 1,500mg/l (32oz) for our preloading drinks and these are available in the all-natural PH 1500 drink mix format as well as low-calorie H2Pro Hydrate 1500 effervescent tablets. 1,500mg/l seemed to be the ‘sweet spot’ in that it’s very palatable and easy on the gut (we never get comments about stomach upsets from using it) whilst still being effective at boosting your blood plasma volumes and getting you optimally hydrated before you start sweating.
If you want to test whether preloading improves your performance, follow this protocol before your next long/intense training session or B-race.
Preloading with PH 1500:
Drink 1 x PH 1500 with ~500ml (16oz) of water the evening before your activity.
Drink 1 x PH 1500 with ~500ml (16oz) of water about 90 minutes before you start. Finish your drink at least 45 minutes before you start to give your body time to fully absorb what it needs and pee out any excess.
Drink the PH 1500 in water you’d have drank anyway to ensure you don’t overdo it. The circa symbol (~) before the fluid total is key here as different athletes will drink differing amounts – for example, more petite athletes might typically drink less than larger athletes. One size won’t fit all, so use some trial and error with these guidelines to help work towards what is best for you when preloading.
DON’T just drink lots of water in the build-up to a race. You can end up diluting your body’s sodium levels before you start, increasing the risk of hyponatremia.
Why you should preload
Boosting your blood plasma volume before intense exercise is a proven way to enhance your performance, especially in hot conditions.
Having more blood makes it easier for your cardiovascular system to meet the competing demands of cooling you down and delivering oxygen to your muscles.
PH 1500 is very effective at increasing your plasma volume as it contains 3x more sodium than a typical sports drink. That extra sodium helps to pull water into your bloodstream and keep it there. This may allow you to get away with drinking considerably less in shorter/harder events where previously they would have had to try to consume more on the move (not easy when you’re flat out!). It can also help reduce the amount of times you need to pee before you start.
Preloading with PH 1500 can also help you avoid/alleviate muscle cramps, especially if you’re prone to suffering from them late on in events and especially when it’s hot. 89% of athletes with cramp who try preloading PH 1500say that it solves their problems.
You can’t preload anywhere near as effectively with weaker sports drinks as you’ll lose a large proportion of the fluid as urine. Or it’ll slosh around in your stomach without being properly absorbed.
Precision Hydration support our newsletter subscribers with 10% off all purchases, when you use the discount code; Faster10 at checkout. www.precisionhydration.com
If you’re looking for a way to optimise your performance then testing sodium preloading is definitely worth a try. If you have any questions about how to preload effectively or need help optimising your approach, drop us an email.
Many of us are lucky enough to be able to train on the ergo during lockdown, yet often training indoors can be a hot and sweaty event. It’s especially important to make sure your hydrated appropriately. The following article from Abby Coleman, explains more about the importance of sodium in your hydration strategy.
I personally use Precision Hydration (PH) products, and PH are proud support Masters Rowers around the world, with their hydration needs. Use the code FASTER10 at checkout, to receive 10% off your purchase.
How are sodium and water balanced in the body?
By Abby Coleman Medically reviewed by Dr Raj Jutley. Original article can be found on the Precision Hydration website.
Our bodies enjoy balance and will strive for equilibrium to help ensure that our sodium and water levels remain at a constant level. Why link sodium and water together?
Well, the two are a double act (a bit like Ross and Rachel, Ant and Dec, the Chuckle Brothers, and any other legendary double-acts you can think of) in that water acts to hold the sodium ion in the body, so we must look at the two together when it comes to achieving the correct balance.
But how does the body go about finding that all-important balance? We take a look…
The balance happens in the kidneys with sensors from various parts of the body providing feedback with the end goal being preserving the plasma osmolality (saltiness) tightly between 275-300 mOsm/kg and sodium levels between 135-145 mEq/L. Osmolality, by the way, is how much of one substance is dissolved in another substance, and in humans the most important substance contributing to osmolality happens to be sodium.
When plasma volume or sodium concentration gets too high (osmolality increases)So, volume sensors in the heart, blood vessels, and kidneys detect when the body’s sodium or water levels get too high, and set in motion processes which lead to their greater excretion through the kidneys.
In contrast, when blood plasma volume or sodium concentration becomes too low (osmolality decreases), the sensors trigger processes which increase their reabsorption through the kidneys.
Both functions are actioned and regulated by the body’s endocrine system – a complex chemical messaging system made up of feedback loops of hormones.
Because osmolality is exquisitely sensitive to the volume changes, any alterations in water has important effects. Which brings us to water balance…
I personally use the Precision Hydration 1500 mix before and during training.
Water balance in the body
Humans are a soggy bunch and water makes up ~50 to 70% of our body mass, depending on our age, gender and body composition.
Water is obtained mostly through consumption but also via our internal metabolism (e.g. the breakdown of glycogen), and it’s lost in urine, the gastrointestinal tract, sweat, and through the respiratory tract during breathing.
Put simply, water balance is achieved by ensuring that the water we consume in food and drink is equal to that of excretion.
But what happens when we take on too little or too much water?
Too little water in the body
A decrease in total body water, perhaps due to not drinking enough, excessive urination, sweat production, blood loss, diarrhea or vomiting, pushes the body to find ways of conserving fluids.
Depending on the cause of water loss the body may need to conserve sodium as well.
For instance, blood loss from a trauma will see sodium (in blood) and water (in blood) lost in equal proportion, and the body must try to retain both. Whereas in dehydration you lose proportionately more water than sodium, so the osmolality of your plasma increases and the body must conserve water, but not sodium.
The hormone responsible for regulating the body’s retention of water is the antidiuretic hormone(ADH), also known as vasopressin.
ADH is secreted by the hypothalamus, a kind of regulator in the brain for many bodily systems in response to an increase in plasma osmolality, decreased blood volume, decreased blood pressure and/or stress. The hormone acts on the nephrons of the kidneys (which basically produce urine, and remove waste and excess substances from the blood) and facilitates greater reabsorption of water by dramatically increasing the water permeability of the cell walls (i.e. how much water those cell walls let through).
As a result, the passive movement (no energy required) of water out of the kidney back into the bloodstream is increased, and the urine produced is small in volume and concentrated.
What about thirst?
Whilst the kidneys can conserve water, they can’t do anything about producing more, so for that reason we must drink. Water intake is regulated by thirst; the stimulus for which, like ADH, is an increase in plasma osmolality (as little as 2-3% gives a strong desire to drink) or a decrease in blood volume.
The combined effect of water retention (thanks to our good friend ADH) AND increased water consumption leads to an increase in blood volume and subsequent restoration of fluid balance in the body.
By increasing blood volume, ADH also plays a role in reducing plasma osmolality (and therefore sodium concentration).
Too much water in the body
In a scenario where there is an increase in our total body water, plasma osmolality falls due to the relative decrease in sodium concentration.
So, under these conditions, water moves out of the extracellular fluid into the body cells to try and maintain balance, which causes them to expand.
Receptors within the cells respond to this swelling by signalling to the hypothalamus to slow down the secretion of ADH (‘stop conserving water, we have enough!’).
Less circulating ADH means less aquaporin-2 channels get inserted into the kidneys’ walls and there’s a reduction in the amount of water reabsorbed into the blood. With fewer channels available for removal, a greater volume of water moves undeterred through the kidneys and is subsequently excreted in the urine.
The outcome? A reduced blood plasma volume, an increase in plasma osmolality, and urine which is diluted and large in volume (aaah, sweet, sweet relief as fluid balance is restored again).
WAY too much water in the body
An excessive overconsumption of water can be hugely counterproductive and produce the potentially fatal medical complication of hyponatremia (low sodium concentration of the blood).
There are a few different causes of hyponatremia, but the one which affects athletes most frequently is the dilution of sodium levels driven by drinking TOO MUCH or ‘water intoxication’.
In an attempt to restore water balance, the body goes into overdrive pulling water out of the bloodstream and into the body cells, causing them to swell irrationally and damage or destroy cellular structure, thus disrupting normal cellular function. When this occurs in the brain cells the condition can escalate from confusion to seizures, coma or even death.
The risk of hyponatremia is in part why drinking to thirst is pretty sound advice during everyday life and shorter, less intense activities where you’re not sweating much – and also why listening to your body’s signals is important.
Sodium balance in the body
Sodium is the main substance dissolved in the body, so it mostly determines the osmolality of plasma.
Sodium plays a key role in every cell in the body, particularly nerve and muscle function where deficiencies or excesses become noticeable first, There are no body stores for so what you lose through the gut, sweat and urine, you must ingest – as simple as that.
Just like water, sodium balance is maintained very cleverly by the kidneys adjusting the amount of sodium it filters, reabsorbs and excretes depending on whether the body is in deficit or excess.
Too little sodium in the body
A depletion of sodium, such as through extreme sweating (particularly if a person’s sweat sodium concentration is high) and/or a chronically low sodium diet, gives rise to low plasma volume, which in turn leads to low blood pressures.
These low blood pressures throughout the cardiovascular system are recognised via baroreceptors (pressure sensors in the blood vessels which detect the pressure changes via changes in tension of the walls).
These cause a decrease in the fancily named ‘glomerular filtration rate’ (the volume of fluid filtered through the kidneys), which is key because the less fluid which passes through the kidneys means less opportunity for sodium to be lost through urinary excretion.
In addition, the fluid which is filtered by the kidney undergoes greater sodium reabsorption. The hormone responsible for regulating this sodium reabsorption is aldosterone, a steroid hormone secreted by the adrenal glands. The reabsorbed sodium is followed back into the blood by water and, as a result, blood volume, salt levels and blood pressure all rise.
It’s important to note that aldosterone’s release is regulated by the renin-angiotensin hormonal system (RAS) which is responsible for managing blood pressure, fluid and electrolyte balance, as well as vascular resistance.
In the event of sodium depletion, the kidneys produce renin, a peptide hormone that initiates a hormonal cascade that ultimately produces angiotensin II. It is angiotensin II which, once in the blood, stimulates:
thirst
the peripheral arteries to tighten and increase cardiac output, resulting in an increase in blood pressure
a decrease in glomerular filtration rate, resulting in water retention
the adrenal cortex to produce aldosterone.
Renin-Angiotensin System
Increased renin secretion (from kidneys)
Increased plasma renin concentration
Increased plasma angiotensin I concentration (from angiotensinogen)
With the Western diet, it’s not difficult to consume a little too much sodium these days. For centuries man was deficient hence he traded in salt but now the pendulum has swung the other way with hidden sodium in our diets. An excess of sodium in the body isn’t recognised by alterations in sodium concentration as you might think, but rather by the increase in plasma volume as a result of the increased sodium (remember where sodium goes water goes too).
The elevation in blood volume causes an increase in the tension in the receiving chambers of the heart (atria), which in turn initiates the release of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP); a hormone which is both produced and stored in the cells of the heart.
Once in circulation, ANP affects the kidney by increasing the glomerular filtration rate (the rate at which blood passes through the glomeruli in the kidneys) which induces profound natriuresis (increased sodium excretion) and diuresis (increased water excretion).
It also induces the dilation of the blood vessels to limit the rise in blood pressure and inhibits the secretion of aldosterone, by reducing renin production, thus actively preventing sodium reabsorption from occurring.
This is quite a meaty and complex topic area (congratulations if you made it this far in the blog), but what hopefully comes through loud and clear is that:
Sodium and water travel together and their ‘saltiness’ must be tightly regulated.
Their balance is ultimately in the kidney.
Feedback to the kidney is from ‘pressure and saltiness’ receptors in the heart, blood vessels, kidneys and brain.
Regulation is a finely balanced and complex interplay between several hormones depending on whether water or sodium is less or more.
Ultimately, the kidneys and the hormonal system play a vital role in helping the body to find equilibrium when it comes to sodium and fluid balance.
Helping these systems out by tailoring what you consume – in terms of sodium and fluid in relation to your individual losses – should therefore start to make a bit more sense from now on.
Last week, was the start of my taper for the Swiss Champs. Good solid week of volume and intensity. The club moved to a small lake, for the final preparation days. We are so lucky to have this lake so close by. It’s sheltered and ideal for race training.
Introducing more and more race like intensity, and the volume is dropping. Lots of race simulations with other crews and scullers. Fine tuning the start and first 250m. Sessions included 750m, 500m and 250m intervals at or above race pace.
Testing of Bont’s new rowing shoes with the BOA dial went well. I really like the fit, and subjectively, feel more ‘planted’ and connected to the foot stretcher. I like the wrap around feeling, the BOA system provides. I also made some adjustments to my seat pad. Fixing it to the boat seat with some double sided velcro. This saves time faffing around with the positioning, and avoids any chance of the seat moving. You can join my Facebook page to watch the overview.
Precision Hydration sent me some of their hydration solutions to test in training. I did the online sweat test, and then a few days later received a pretty cool package in the mail. So far so good. I don’t think I’ll change my routine in the last days, yet I certainly will test their electrolyte solutions, leading up to the Silver Skiff in November.
To summarise, the volume is down and intensity is the same. The final days leadings into the Swiss Championships on Friday, will see less and less volume yet maintaining the intensity. If you’d like to know my what I do to taper down and be ready on race day, you can purchase my ‘Ultimate Race Week Plan’, an online course that will teach you everything I do to prepare myself and my athletes to go Fast on race day.
Race day is the opportunity for you to bring all of your training and hard work over the weeks and months to perform at your best. The Ultimate Race Week Plan, will help you to avoid common mistakes, that can end up destroying your race day performance. Simple mistakes, like training too hard or not enough, or not knowing how to warm-up correctly that can be avoided when you know what to do. When you don’t, they can be incredibly frustrating.
You will learn tried, tested and proven processes, from the world’s best sports scientists and trainers, on what needs to be done in the week leading up to race day for Ultimate Performance on the day.
Understand why the taper is so important, what to do, when and how.
Learn how to plan your workouts day by day, leading up to race day.
Know what to do the day before, so that you are fresh and ready to race.
How to warm up and prime your energy systems.
How and when to fuel for your best performance.
Know what you need to do after the race to recover, and be ready race again.
This course can be completed in an hour. Is full of videos and easy to follow guides. It is suitable for anyone that will be racing on the ergo or at a regatta and wants to know what they need to do to be prepared.
I personally use the Ultimate Race Week Plan for all of my major races, and with my athletes, with great success. I look forward to you enjoying the same level of knowledge and awareness, to take your racing to the next level.
Nice to have a recovery week. Time to recover from a big block of volume in the last two weeks, as well as to allow the body to ‘super-compensate’ and build on the hard work done.
So in a recovery week I normally drop down to about 8-9 hours of volume, yet maintain the intensity. At this part of the training plan, I am actually increasing the intensity. The ‘bread & butter’ workouts start to ramp up with 5 x 8-minutes at 92% continuing, and I added in 2 x (5 x 1-minute) at race pace and some Tabata* intervals on Saturday to compliment the 2 x 8-minute ‘warm-up’.
Finished the week with a nice long 90-minute Z2 ergo, whilst watching the first National Regatta take place in a wet and windy Luzern.
Feeling good about entering the third last week before the main event. The entire squad has taken a jump forward in speed. I attribute a lot of this to the ‘lock-down effect’ of more aerobic base work, along with the time to really focus in on the small technical details. The work with the biomechanics, using the video for coaching review and self coaching review, has made a big difference. I noticed this in the practice starts. The squad is way more consistent, in the start sequence. Each of them are moving the boat forward with intent, and transitioning well into race pace. Great to see.
Looking forward to this week, and slotting the training in and around work.
*These intervals are named after the Japanese exercise physiologist Izumi Tabata.
My guest today is well known in both World Rowing, US Rowing and business. He is a competitive master-level rower, with 19 wins at HOCR, 4 course records. 7 wins at SilverSkiff. Half dozen FISA Veteran or US Masters Nationals with 6+ wins/regatta. He is the Vice Chair of US Rowing, captained the 1984 crew at the University of Pennsylvania, former President of Cambridge Boat Club and co-founder of the Boston rowing Federation. He is a highly successful Boston-based investment banker and an avid saltwater fly fisherman. My guest today, is Greg Benning.
This podcast is brought to you by High Performance Coaching in business and sport with Bill Chambers.
Wow. What a big week,following a big week of both volume and the introduction of more high intensity. It’s always a fine balance of when to introduce high intensity, and how to introduce the intensity. I have found that I respond best to a 4-week block, two to three session a week is enough, and just enough that I feel that I have done a big effort, yet not so much, that I’m in a deep hole after the session. It’s a fine balance, and another reason why ‘cookie cutter’ programs from magazines and books, can negatively impact your season, unless they are treated as a guide. A tip is to observe your morning resting heart rate (MRHR). I will post a short article on my approach to this simple protocol that can really help you to understand your fatigue and readiness in less that 30-seconds.
So this week, I spent considerable time on the bike, on the ergo and fortunately also on the water. Two high intensity sessions this week. 4 x 8-minutes @92% peak HR, with 4-minutes rest, and then on Sunday morning, 5 x 1-minute on 1-minute off. This last one is a great speed work out, and although the heart rate may not respond so fast within the minute, the power and intensity is there, and the cumulative effect over time builds up.
Over the weekend, we spent time on a smaller lake near the Swiss French/German speaking border, working on technique, technique, technique. I am always impressed what our coach, Urs Graf, can find for us to improve. It’s a continuous learning mindset and approach. Fitted this all in around Zoom calls with Mick Miller on High Performance Mindset (check the other post) and calls with athletes around the world.
So to summarise the week in numbers:
12.5 hours
890 TSS
120k on the water/erg
This week is a recovery week. Treat your recovery as seriously as your training. Time for the body to assimilate the training stress and adapt. Maintaining the intensity this week, and the following week will be super-compensation.
My guest today is well known in Australian rowing and surf lifesaving, competing and winning over the last 40+ years in both still water and surf boats. He has served as the President of Mosman Rowing Club in Sydney. Along with his wife, and Olympic athlete Gillian, awarded coach of the year. He is a highly successful entrepreneur, owning the original RowPerfect Indoor Sculler and a highly successful vet practice on Sydney’s northern beaches. My guest today, is Dr Mark Campbell.
“I believe in challenging people so that they can grow and evolve, and change the world for the better.”
Mick has seen it all. He’s worked with elite athletes chasing Olympic glory, world champions, professional Rugby League teams, America’s Cup campaigns, and up-and-coming youth champions. He’s seen athletes through good times and bad, through victory and meltdown, through triumphant euphoria and heart-breaking despair. He’s brought athletes back from career-threatening injury, rebuilt teams that were crumbling under pressure, and mentored his junior athletes through the challenges of growing up. Then in 2013, at age 49, he discovered a lump in his neck that turned out to be cancer. He then discovered more about himself that he could ever have imagined.
Mick’s cancer survival journey started in a bed at the Oncology ward at Royal North Shore Hospital Sydney, then took him on a journey of recovery and discovery around and to the heart of Australia in a ‘68 VW Beetle. Only then was he able to listen to his own heart, let go of everything he was preconditioned to be, and discovered who he really was.
In my conversation with Mick, we cover our mutual friendship and our passion for rowing and helping others to achieve high performance. We cover Mick’s journey of discovery on what it took, for Mick to find his right path and how through this experience, Mick is helping others to find their Right Path.
