Living in the southeast makes training and exercising outdoors during the summer months really tough. One of the biggest risks while training outdoors is scumming to dehydration. What is dehydration? In the most simple terms it is losing more fluid through bodily functions (like sweating) than you actually take in. Symptoms can occur with as little as 2% loss in total body weight. Symptoms include, dry mouth, lack of sweat, drop in blood pressure and dark urine and in extreme instances it can cause damage to our kidneys. But that doesn't mean it isn't safe to go outside anymore, here are some tips for avoiding dehydration and to stay safe when exercising outdoors.

• Constantly drink fluid throughout the day, don't wait until you are thirsty, its too late.
• During intense exercise consider adding an electrolyte replacement solution, especially if longer than1 hour
• If you are exercising early in the morning, pay special attention to your fluid intake the day before
• Consider weighing yourself before and after intense exercise, what ever weight loss shows up on the scale needs to be replaced with fluids.

These are just a few tips that I use to make sure that dehydration doesn't effect my exercise performance. I am by no means a doctor but if you follow these basic principles you should be just fine the next time you are out there.

Get Moving. Keep Moving.

Ian

Another one down. Muncie 70.3 Triathlon

I don’t know if I have bad luck or what, but Mother Nature has been providing some interesting interruptions on race day for me this year. First, it was in New Orleans where a lake turned into an ocean with incredible winds, and this passed race in Muncie, Indiana record setting temperatures forced race organizers to cut the race distance in half.

To say that I was frustrated would be a severe understatement. Why does this keep happening to me? Why do I drive half way across the country to have a race changed last minute? The answer to question 1, it doesn’t just happen to me, everyone had to deal with it, so get over it. Question 2, well it may seem crazy but I really do love to race, so driving across the country for the chance to push my body to the limit is more than worth it.

My final result wasn’t too bad on the day, I was happy with my overall time, and if it wasn’t for an unfortunate mechanical issue on the bike my good day could have been a great one. If anything, it was an opportunity to see where my fitness is and test out a race strategy in hot weather that will come in handy for racing the Ironman 70.3 World championships in Vegas.

I also found out a little about myself in terms of how my mind isn’t always on the same page with my body. It was extremely hot during the run portion of the race and my legs where ready to rock but my brain kept saying, “it’s too hot, maybe we should take it easy out here”. Sure, it was hot, and for some the conditions were dangerous, but I know that I am in great shape and that I have spent hours training in the heat to acclimatize my body for these situations. So, I pushed through and ended having one of the top amateur runs splits on the day, with a time that I can definitely hang my hat on.

I come across this mind/body battle almost every day when training my clients at Eco Fitness. Earlier this week, I was putting one of my clients through an intense interval session on the treadmill at higher speeds and incline than they would normally do on their own. I could see some doubt creeping in and the reps were starting to take their toll. She didn’t think she could possibly keep going, but somehow, someway she found that little extra to push through. Afterwards, she was in shock, she couldn’t believe she was capable of handling that intensity.  Needless to say she found out a little about herself.

Of course it helps to have someone push you, but testing yourself on a regular basis is great way to help you reach those upper fitness goals. Maybe try to hold your planks a little longer, jack the incline up on the treadmill, stack some extra weight on the bar, or put one more quarter turn of resistance on the bike and have a workout that you can hang your hat on.

Get moving. Keep Moving.

Ian

How do they do it?

The beginning of the summer in the world of endurance sports marks the beginning of Le Tour, or as we know it, The Tour of France. It’s a 21 day race that covers most of France and includes a lot of days where riders are covering over 100 miles a day. I know, it’s crazy right?

What is even more astounding is the amount of calories these guys are going through every day. Stage one winner, Peter Sagan, went through 3,500 calories, and that was considered an easy day. So how do they do it? Well because of their extreme fitness levels, top riders are able to burn a higher ratio of calories from fat. Even someone as lean as 8% body fat could walk from here to Chicago on their fat stores. However, this doesn’t mean they aren’t burning a ton of carbohydrates, the energy source our bodies heavily rely on for intense exercise.

Unlike fat, we can only store a limited amount of carbohydrate in our muscles and liver. In order to keep pace with what the riders are burning, they have to ingest high levels of simple carbohydrates in the form of drinks, gels and solids to get through the day. Afterwards, they would then continue to take in more simple carbohydrates to aid in recovery, and then finally eat a ton of complex carbohydrates to get ready for the next day.

Ok, so what does this mean for us weekend warriors? Well, let’s say you are doing some interval work on the treadmill followed by an intense strength training session, both of which burn a high amount of carbohydrates.  To finish this workout as strong as you started, you are most likely going to need some kind of carbohydrate to keep you going. Personally, I use a drink similar to Gatorade. Don’t panic, taking in these extra calories is a good thing. We are able to sustain much higher levels of training, which in turn increase our calorie burn and will also lower your chances of overeating following your workout.

Remember, carbohydrates are our friends. We need them more than we realize. The important thing is to watch for the type, amount and the timing of the carbohydrates you eat.

Get moving. Keep moving.

Ian