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Travel

Body Temperature, Heat, Hydration, Performance, Travel
Preseason hydration needs to keep in mind
- January 4, 2023
Preseason is a unique animal where physical demands significantly increased. Right alongside that, nutrition and hydration demand increase significantly. Typically occurring in warmer places as well which can be a unique challenge. If a player is coming from a cold environment pre-camp, they will have a few days of acclimation. Many changes are occurring all at once and without proper planning could set you up for a tough camp.

Environment impact on preseason hydration

Entering preseason, the main goal is to optimally improve performance as efficiently as possible. Everything is monitored on another level to ensure things are all accounted for. Training loads, meal times, meeting times and everything is typically broken-down minute by minute. What can throw a wrench in this is weather. Storms and rain can keep teams off the field which then means one less session for improvement. In order to decrease the risk of that, typically preseason is held in a warm location that on average doesn’t get much rain or storms.

While nice for a vacation it poses a challenge to athletes from a hydration perspective. Especially if an athlete is coming from a cold environment (like Ohio in January) to a hot environment, the body needs time to adapt. In the first few days there isn’t as much sweat being produced as quickly or as much as may be usual. The sweat that is produced though has a higher sodium concentration. After a few days the body then adapts and begins to sweat earlier and more but it is more diluted with less sodium being lost. This needs to be accounted for in your hydration if in this situation. Prioritize some additional sodium via electrolyte packets or salt at meals in the early days. Then the priority shifts a bit more to overall fluid intake.

Worse hydration = worse training

Nobody feels good when dehydrated. Even slight dehydration though that may not be as noticeable can still have a noticeable impact on your ability to train. Less water in the system results in less overall blood volume. What that means is that the heart has to pump quicker to move the blood throughout the body. Like when your heart rate increases when you train harder forcing you to feel tired, if your heart rate is already starting slightly higher because of dehydration it will have you “hit the wall” that much quicker.

This was demonstrated in the recent study linked at the bottom which showed dehydrated resulted in decreased accelerations/sprints. These are key pieces of training that need to be done to help improve fitness for the upcoming season. If unable to achieve those high speeds, the training sessions won’t be as effective.

Stay cool by staying hydrated this preseason

The blood volume situation mentioned previously also impacts your internal temperature. When the blood is flowing through the body near the surface of the skin, it’s able to be closer to the air. This contact with the air is what can help to cool the blood down as it returns throughout the body. Slightly cooler blood is able to help keep the internal core temperature down. Being hot can be uncomfortable and add a psychological challenge on top of the physical challenge of training.

Maintaining proper blood volume allows for the blood to flow a bit easier to the surface of the skin to achieve that cooling effect. If you’ve ever noticed your veins “popping” a bit more in the heat, this is why. The body is trying to maximize that exposure to help cool itself down.

Ways to monitor your hydration level

One of the oldest strategies is to look at the color of your urine. It’s an oldie but goodie still as it is a very convenient way to tell and is fairly accurate. If your urine is a light pale lemonade color, you’re in good shape. On the opposite end if it’s dark and apple juice colored, you need to grab a bottle of water pronto.

Another helpful strategy can be used to see how you’re hydrating at training itself. This is done by weighing yourself before and after training. When done, that weight difference is how much sweat you lost during training that needs to be replaced. A general rule of thumb is that for every pound lost, drink one 16oz bottle of water/fluid. Overall try to avoid a weight loss of more than 2% of your body weight. For a 150 pound individual this would be 3 pounds or for someone 200 pounds it would be 4 pounds.

Maintaining that hydration will ensure you are staying ready to maximize your training sessions. By being able to more consistently train harder you’ll see more results and apply that to an overall better season. Last but not least as well, proper hydration decreases your risk of soft tissue injury. These are things like those annoying muscle pulls/tweaks. Keep yourself on the field and maximize your potential by keeping that water bottle on hand!

Study referenced: click here

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Hydration, Performance, safety, Travel, Wellness
How To Prepare For International Travel and Competition
- April 8, 2022
There are a lot of challenges that come with preparing for competition. Away competitions add an extra wrinkle and if that involves international travel it takes even more planning. All of this is even before the actual game itself! Taking a little extra time to plan though can make all the difference in that game.

The first things we need to know to prepare is when and where we are going. Traveling somewhere in the summer or winter will obviously have different challenges we want to keep in mind. Even more differences will pop up depending on the location we travel to. We will want to be mindful of water safety, language barriers, cultural norms and cultural cuisines which are different in every country.

Time of year – temperature

It shouldn’t come as a surprise but there is a big difference between winter and summer weather. These differences can be even more extreme depending on where you’re traveling. A summer in northern-Canada is very different than a summer in souther-Mexico. Both with be relatively more warm but the actual temperatures will be vastly different.

When traveling to a hot environment, hydration is going to be the main focus. Especially if we are traveling from a cool environment to a hot environment that is even more true. Our body will require some time to adapt to the heat and during that adaptation we will lose a lot more sodium in our sweat. This makes electrolytes the main thing to focus on to ensure enough sodium is consumed. Products such as LMNT, Drip Drop and The Right Stuff are able to be easily packed to provide plenty of sodium. Sodium plus drinking plenty of fluid in general and keeping those drinks cool to keep our temperature down while outside will keep us performing optimally.

On the other hand, if we’re traveling into a winter wonderland our focus will be a bit different. When we’re cold our thirst naturally tends to decrease a bit. Keeping water flavorings on hand can help increase our desire to drink and avoid plain water fatigue plus focusing more on warm beverages which may be more desirable. Hot chocolate and warm apple cider can be great options to provide some carbs as well during events. Broth is a great warm option as well as it will provide sodium to offset the sweating that will still be occurring. Another important piece is to know if you are going to be outside in below freezing temperatures. If so, packing an insulated bottle for your drinks is an absolute must. If not, don’t be surprised when you go to take your next drink to find it a frozen solid ice cube!

International travel water safety

Water safety is something many of us take for granted. That safety is a luxury in many countries though. It’s important to know what the water is like where you’re going and take the safety measures necessary for it. A surprising number of countries have poor water so don’t take this for granted as it is a major focus for international travel.

Drinking bad water can make you incredibly sick. It goes without saying that we don’t want that! The side-effects tend to be diarrhea and vomiting, both of which can lead to dehydration. Our first reaction to this though is to focus on maintaining our hydration. Normally not a problem but it was water that got us into this rough position in the first place! So making sure we are drinking only bottled water/beverages is a great strategy to decrease our risk of getting sick.

Even if we aren’t directly drinking it though, we could still run into trouble. Eating food that has been washed but not cooked will still have some water residue on it. While it may seem like a small amount, you don’t need much to cause problems and if we’re in a competition we don’t want any unnecessary risks! These types of foods include salad bars, fruit with the skin on, and raw veggie trays. Don’t use this as an excuse to avoid vegetables but just make sure they’re properly cooked.

Know the culture

Different cultures have different food preferences. This can be different in preferred protein options and spices/seasonings being used. With such different flavors it could be a bit of a shock to some individuals. When the golden rule is “no new foods on game day” the different flavors and items could make this challenging.

To combat this challenge, planning ahead is going to be key. We will want to pack and bring with us those staple foods we feel most comfortable with and enjoy. Things like a PB&J sandwich can be incredibly uncommon in some areas. Packing some shelf stable peanut butter packets and jelly or honey packets can be very portable and help provide that taste of home even when miles upon miles away.

Keeping these familiar foods on hand will help make sure you are feeling good and ready for your competition. You will know how your body responds to those foods and make sure to avoid any discomfort in your stomach when you take the field. Make sure to plan ahead, pack extra snacks and best of luck in your competition. Once you come away with a win though, then enjoy branching out a bit and trying some of the local dishes. That’s one of the best parts of international travel! It’s not every day you get to travel to fun places so make sure to make the most of them while still being safe.

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