Sweating for speed!

“Don’t feel entitled to anything you didn’t sweat and struggle for!” – Marian Wright Edelman

Sweat!

There was no shortage of that this week.  With the heavier training load, I sweat so much that I actually lost 2.5 lbs from one day to another.  However, that is NOT good!  Athletes need to make sure that they are refueling with food AND replenishing their electrolytes.  I usually drink an electrolyte drink during and after training, but clearly not enough during the week.  I learned quickly though and made sure to drink enough yesterday and today, as I had hard workouts back to back.

Yesterday I did a 30 minute piece at stroke rate 20.  This is a common “test” performed in Europe to see how athletes are improving with their endurance.  I didn’t go into it like a “test” but my end result was good.  It wasn’t a personal best for me, but I held on for every stroke, sweat for the final result which was only .9seconds off of my personal best.  Then today, my teammate Claire and I did weights, low rate erg pieces (focusing on power per stroke), and a second erg piece focused on high rate and intensity.  During the high rate pieces, we both thought we wouldn’t finish…but we weren’t ready to let eachother or ourselves down, so we sucked it up, pushed our legs down hard and fought until the end.

I sweat so much that my clothes were soaked – it puts a lot of demand on my laundry machine:S

I came across the following:

6 General Guidelines for Replenishment (these are not concrete and should be tailored for each athlete) – www.waterbenefitehealth.com
The following six guidelines are general recommendations for replenishing electrolytes in the body lost as a result of exercise:

1. In most cases, drinking mineral-rich water will be sufficient to maintain electrolyte balance when exercising moderately for less than 60 minutes.

2. When exercising for 60 minutes or more, drink at least 12 ounces of an electrolyte replacement drink (with added sodium and glucose) every half hour.

3. Also drink an electrolyte-replacement drink for high-intensity and hot-weather activities lasting more than 30 minutes.

4. Reduce your intake of sodium in general. This will actually increase your body’s ability to retain sodium during exercise.

5. Increase your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables daily to increase your potassium levels.

6. Drink at least half your body weight in ounces of mineral-rich water throughout the day for stay properly hydrated. For example, if you weigh 190 lbs, you would want to drink a minimum of 95 oz. (about 3 liters).

This tank top used to be light grey! This was from yesterday's workout.

Happy SweatingJ