The Pillars of the Periphery
As endurance athletes we will talk until the cows come home about training, equipment, VO2 Max…what training status our Garmin watch is firing out at us this week - which pretty much always seems to be ‘unproductive’ or ‘detraining’ ironically enough. However there are a few things that always find themselves on the sidelines, still mentioned in the grapevine but never really pushed into the limelight.
Sleep, nutrition, and hydration. Firstly I want to clarify that I am not a sleep doctor, nor a nutritionist or someone who understands the nuances of cellular hydration, but I am someone who has done a fair amount of sleeping, a fair amount of eating and I have definitely drunk copious amounts of H20 - all whilst being an endurance fiend. So I feel somewhat anecdotally qualified to speak on the topic.
For me, when something feels off in my routine, whether that be my mood, my recovery, sometimes it might be my attention span or my willingness to do the work that I need to do; I’ll look to one of these pillars of recovery, have I been sleeping well is usually my first port of call. I might be getting in bed at the right time, and waking at a regular time but in between am I actually getting what I need from it? Or is my mind busy, am I struggling to find restorative sleep, usually this will give me at least some indication as to why I’m feeling the way that I am, some fixes for me include:
- Cutting out any sugary snacks within a few hours of bed time
- Going for a walk an hour or so prior to winding down
- Reading/listening to something completely non work related prior to sleep so I’m not stimulated with work
- Making sure I’m relatively hydrated prior to sleep (they’re all linked in my opinion)
If all of the above are actioned and I find myself sleeping better, and I still feel under the mark - then I’ll look to the other two, what has my food intake consisted of and has it been supplemented with enough hydration?
The reason this tends to be a big factor in my opinion is for the following reasons…
If I’m training a lot, and not replacing my calorie expenditure then my body (like everyone else’s) will go slightly catabolic, meaning that there is more stress on the body from all angles because it’s in a starvation state (less calories in, than are being output). With this stressor, it can cause imbalances in hormones along with just being an uncomfortable state for the body to be in, thus affecting sleep, thus affecting mood and so on. The same thing goes with the hydration (sort of) if you aren’t replacing your sweat loss with an adequate amount of water intake then the food you’re eating and the vitamins and important nutrients within the food won’t be absorbed or carried to the muscles correctly - thus affecting nutrition, thus affecting sleep, thus affecting mood. My suggestions to combat the above:
- Drink water at all opportunities, until your urine runs clear (needing to go to the toilet frequently is slightly annoying, but usually a good indicator that you’re well hydrated)
- Focus on quality with food yes, but also ensure that the food is calorie rich - a salad is good, but it won’t replace your expenditure
- Try and place carbohydrate heavy calories around exercise, feeling satiated and energised pre session helps a lot
- Ensure to replace calories close to and post exercise, the body will be craving the calories so give it what it wants
To end all of the advice, the thing you need, or should desire to get good at as an endurance athlete, is listening to your body, and when it gives you the warning signs, knowing what direction to turn. Listen to the signals and provide it with the right things to fix the problems. Don’t leave questions that your body is asking you, unanswered for too long.
Callum Townsend
Head Coach & Director
Peak Performance Endurance Coaching
