2016 Trimarni Clermont camp - day 1

After a busy day on Wednesday, it was finally time to start our training camp... not-so-bright, but humid and early in the morning.

I was so lucky this year to find the perfect house for our campers - a Duplex just 1/2 mile from Waterfront Park (the race venue).
We love the idea of having all of our campers stay together as it promotes teamwork and it gives everyone an opportunity to really get to know their teammates. Although we do not force staying in the team house, this year, all of our campers wanted to stay in the team house which just showed me how much our athletes love the friendships and memories that are built during camp.

For the duplex rooming, the girls are upstairs and the boys are downstairs. We also have 3 athletes staying at the "coaches house".

We tend to have two themes at our training camps - a lot of training (the obvious) and a lot of education. We try to not let one overpower the other as it's so beneficial for every Trimarni athlete/camper to leave training camp with new tools, skills and knowledge but also a mindset that allows our campers to be more present in training. I find that during a training camp, our athletes recognize that the are capable of doing so much more with their body and mind due to the constant positive energy and support from one another. It's our hope that our campers can bring back the tools and focus for smarter training to assist in reaching performance goals.

For our first workout of the day (Thursday) we had a shake-out run on the schedule. We met our campers at the Duplex at 7am and by 7:15 we were down at Waterfront Park for our dynamic warm-up. We always stress the importance of a dynamic warm-up before training so we demonstrated a few of our favorite exercises. At camp, we make sure that our athletes are doing what we prescribe in their training as it's easy for our athletes (and any athlete) to be more focused on how much is accomplished in a workout rather than proper execution.

For the run workout, we had our campers run on the race course to get familiar with the route.
The workout was as followed:
1/2 mile jog warm-up
Dynamic stretching
10 min EZ jog
MS:
6 x 30 sec build to fast w/ 60 sec EZ

Cool down to house

We left our campers with enough time to refuel after the run workout and to get ready for our  9:30am Long Course Swim at the NTC. 

For many of our campers, this was their first long course swim in a long time (or ever) and first outdoor swim in a long time. We just love this pool. 

We try not to overwhelm our athletes with skill improvements when swimming but since swimming is so skill specific, having the opportunity to see our athletes swim is extremely valuable as it's easy to learn bad (inefficient) habits when you are a new swimmer. 

We did not take it easy on our campers for the swim and include a few very strong efforts in this workout.

MS: 4-6 x (100 STRONG, then 10 sec rest (grab buoy), then 200 active recovery swim. Rest 1 minute and repeat.)

After the 90-minute swim, our campers had a "long" break from 11am - 2:45pm to eat, rest, relax and think about their third workout  of the day. 

At 2:45pm, we met outside the team house (this is the team Duplex in the above pic) and Karel talked about the purpose of the workout and provided the team with the main set.

MS: 4-5 x (2 min build, 4 min strong) w/ 90 sec EZ

Our amazing photographer Taylor! 

We biked to the Oly race course and provided the team with one last talk before we sent each athlete off in TT order for the main set. We then regrouped and we all biked home together and covered the entire race course. 2 hours later, we were back home. 

Later in the evening we gathered the team for our nightly team talk/recap and I lectured about long run sport nutrition to ensure that our campers would know how to fuel and hydrate for the Friday long run and for future training and on race day.



Our campers enjoyed their team dinner (thank you Taylor for feeding our athletes!) and then it was lights out early for me and Karel.
I'm sure it was all laughs and chats for a while before their bedtime. 

Happy tummy, post long-run fueling

Saltines post run? Yes please!

Many runners experience GI issues or have a low appetite post run due to a variety of reasons. According to research, many elite runners experience diarrhea after long races and stomach issues are often the number one reason as to why runners are not comfortable fueling before and during workouts and on race day. Athletes would rather run slower or risk bonking over an upset tummy but if this is you, please don't feel that you will never be able to tolerate nutrition before and during workouts. Consult a sport RD who can help. 

Although there are a few tricks to fueling smarter before and during run workouts and pacing better to minimize GI issues, we all know its critical to refuel with carbohydrates post workout to replenish glycogen stores.

So how do you maximize recovery without making your tummy upset post workout?

Recommended foods post workout should be high glycemic and easy to digest along with your favorite protein-rich drink (recommend up to 25-30g liquid protein).

Because fiber and fat slows food passage into the intestines, optimize the best glycogen replenishing foods post workout to best facilitate glucose transport into muscles. 

Practical recommendations are to consume high-glycemic, carb-rich foods as soon as possible post workout. However, I prefer to say "when tolerable" to avoid a very angry belly post workout. After a very hot/sweaty or intense workouts the gut receives little blood to help fuel the muscles. Consequently, after the workout is over and your HR drops, a rush of blood goes the gut post workout which will cause digestion of food/nutrition contents and can cause a very uncomfortable feeling (and you running to the nearest potty).

High/moderate glycemic carbs include: bananas, raisins, corn chex cereal, pasta, pineapple, melon, beets, brown rice, cereal, potatoes, white rice, corn, honey, corn, peas, pasta, oatmeal, sweet potatoes and oranges.

Also to this list, one of my favs..... Saltines!

5 saltine crackers contain 63 calories, 1.4g protein and 11g carbs and  153mg sodium. Combine with a piece of fruit and you are well on your way to speeding-up the recovery process and healing the gut post workout. 

Saltines are also a great pre-workout snack too! 

Remember athletes, proper fueling is not always "healthy" so make sure your daily diet supports your health needs while your sport nutrition regime fuels your performance 

To maximize recovery after an endurance-focused workout, consume 50-75g of high to moderate glycemic carbs every 2 hours until 500g carbs (or 2000 calories) is reached. Or aim for 7-10g carbs per kg body weight as a replenishment goal.
A sample of ~50g carbs would be 1 banana (30g) + 1.5 cup milk (20g) = 45g carbs. 

Make sure you avoid foods that do not tolerate well in your gut post workout. Every athlete is different. One of my most favorite recovery snacks is a glass of milk, a few saltines and a banana but that may not work for everyone.

With optimal carb intake, your glycogen stores replenish about 5-7% per hour so it can take up to 20 hours to reestablish glycogen stores after a glycogen depleting workout. With your recovery window open all day, a happy gut means prioritizing your recovery nutrition throughout the day and not neglecting eating post workout, overeating post workout or going long hours without eating.

Keep in mind that you can not always go by feel when it comes to how you fuel before, during and after workouts. The human body does not always tell us what it needs or when it needs it.
High intensity aerobic exercise for an hour decreases liver glycogen by about 55% and a 2-hour strenuous workout almost depletes the glycogen content of liver and active muscle fibers. Therefore, consuming carbohydrates before, during and after workouts not only helps you postpone fatigue by increasing carb availability to active muscles but helps with recovery, keeps your immune system healthy and keeps your hormones balanced. 

For more helpful info on pre-workout fueling:
Pre-workout fuel: it's not healthy eating
Pre-workout fuel: Part II