Ready to race? - April 2015

READY TO RACE? This month, the GB Rowing Team physiologists turn their attention to race preparation. Read on for advice on how to prepare best for that key race... by Mark Homer

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quickly as possible to ensure that recovery is maximised. You should also aim to replenish your fuel stores within the 15-minute window posttraining by consuming a high carbohydrate and protein snack or a recovery drink.

Race preparation actually starts when your last pre-race training session finishes. You should aim to maximise your recovery and put yourself in the best possible condition to race. After any intensity it’s important to clear any blood lactate that may be circulating by recovering thoroughly.

Although lactate does not actually cause muscle soreness, it is important to return the body to a constant state – homeostasis – as

On race day, the time you rise is important, particularly if you have a morning race. Your body has daily rhythms of temperature, hormone release and other bodily functions. This explains why early training will often feel much harder than the same session in the early evening. The earlier you get up on the morning of a race – and expose yourself to sunlight, eat, and exercise – the better prepared your body will be for competition in the morning as this will help you shift your daily rhythm. You should also consider what time you need to go to bed to ensure a good night’s sleep – and ideally practise the whole routine with some training intensity placed at the exact time of your race.

Standard race-day strategy involves a prepaddle, approximately three hours prior to racing, which sometimes includes some short ‘bursts’ of 15 to 20 strokes. This is an excellent time to discuss pre-

verybody has their own race preparation and warm-up strategy.

These often develop from what you once did before a successful race, what your teacher / coach told you to do – or often, just what you have always done, even if you don’t know why!

Your actions in the final hours before a race can have a significant impact on your performance, yet this is an area that is often overlooked. Let’s explore the benefits of good preparation, what needs to be included, and how you can maximise it – including some novel approaches to warming-up.

Race preparation actually starts when your last pre-race training session finishes

Juniors on the start line at the 2011 Worlds

planned race tactics and familiarise yourself with the stretch of river or lake at a new venue. This outing should not exceed 4km and physiologically ought to be treated as a wake-up and stretch session.

While a pre-race snack is an individual choice, it should be comprised of plain, trusted food to ensure that there are no gastrointestinal surprises at a time when your stomach may be more sensitive than normal. Any intake should immediately follow the pre-paddle to give as much time as possible for it to digest before the race. A carbohydrate sports drink is useful to top up energy stores if you cannot tolerate food two to three hours before competing.

Be careful not to drink too much – a nervous athlete holding a water bottle can get carried away. You are not going to run out of fuel during a 2km race, so a one litre bottle in the two hours beforehand is enough to ensure maximum stores while avoiding repeated trips to the toilet.

Photo: Annie Christiansen

Nottingham students prepare for last year’s Women’s Head

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However, probably the most important element of race preparation is the pre-race warm-up. You should ideally boat 30-40 minutes prior to your race, and there are some key things you can do during this time, as well as some new ideas that have been tried with other sports.

* Ingham SA, Fudge BW, Pringle JS, Jones AM. (2013) Improvement of 800m running performance with prior high intensity exercise. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. 8 (1):77-83.

Photo: Malcolm Roels

Physiology & Wellbeing

The main reasons for warming up are to increase body temperature, engage the metabolic systems, stimulate the neural system and prepare mentally for your race. The benefits of this are a reduced risk of injury and an improved performance.

Standard practice includes some steady state paddling (0.5-1km), followed by something slightly harder (e.g. one minute at rate 20), some ratebuild bursts (e.g. three reps of 15-20 strokes at rate 25, race pace and above race pace) and finally a couple of practice starts. Besides literally ‘warming-you-up’, your pre-race routine should raise your heart-rate sufficiently, and include using your full range of movement plus some race pace rate work for neural stimulation.

Recent research by Ingham et al (2013)* manipulated middle distance runners’ warm-ups and reported that a sustained intensity ‘priming’ effort (200m) had a positive effect on time trial performance. The idea of using up valuable energy before the race starts may not seem a good idea at first, but the theory behind this idea suggests that a longer burst will better ‘switch on’ your aerobic system before the race starts. This will enable your body to work more efficiently earlier in the race following the traditional high-intensity start,

potentially saving some valuable sprint potential for the finish. Practically this could involve replacing the three short bursts mentioned above with a more sustained ‘race pace’ effort (30-45 seconds), before you take up your starting position.

There is also evidence suggesting that higher intensity, high-resistance exercise will improve the recruitment of muscle fibres for explosive performance. This could have implications on the first 10 strokes of a race when the muscular load is greatest. In theory, a more efficient recruitment of muscle should lead to a reduced energy cost of acceleration to a given speed. This might include one or two ‘bungee’ (a ‘hydro-break’ designed to increase the resistance on the hull, usually a section of hose tied around the canvas) bursts of 15-20 strokes. This should again leave more energy available for the rest of the performance.

However, a word of caution: it is possible that improved muscular contraction rate / force could allow for an excessively aggressive start that may cost you further down the track.

Overall, your preparation strategy should be adaptable. Cold conditions may require a longer warm-up to raise the body temperature sufficiently,

** Young WB, A Jenner & K Griffiths (1998) Acute enhancement of power performance from heavy load squats.

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 12:82-84

with the opposite scenario possible on a hot day (alongside an increased risk of dehydration). Also, the space needed for a pre-race effort may also be limited by the warm-up area available to you.

As with anything new, revised strategies should be practised on multiple occasions to see how they work for individuals and crews alike. Athletes and coaches should maintain confidence in their warm-up, but improvements based on sound scientific theory can potentially improve confidence and subsequent performance.

MARK HOMER Mark Homer has a BSc and MSc in applied sports science from the University of Wolverhampton with three years teaching experience in further education. He has worked as an exercise physiologist with the GB Rowing Team for seven years and supported the squads at the last two Olympic Games. Mark is currently studying at Liverpool John Moores University towards a PhD entitled ‘The Determinants of Rowing Performance’.

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