Marshall Nordic Ski Team Athletes

Hey Everyone,

Just thought I would get a quick post in here before Thanksgiving.

Everybody seems to be doing very well during these first practices. 

Seeing as how we are doing a fair bit of running at this point, I thought I would bring up a few important points for the athletes on the team.

Make sure you are getting plenty of good food and drinking plenty of water.  When you are doing workouts on a daily basis, your body burns through an immense amount of calories.  Make sure you are eating three good meals during the day, focusing on healthy foods with plenty of fruits and vegetables, carbohydrates from pastas and breads, and foods high in protein and iron.  Those are just a few examples.

Drinking plenty of fluids during the day is very important this time of year as well.  When the air is cold and dry, your body loses a great deal of fluid, even from something as simple as breathing (you can see it with every foggy breath you take outside).  You need to be replenishing that fluid on a consistent basis in order for your body to operate at maximum performance.  Our bodies are made up of mostly water, so it is natural that without enough of it you can’t be at your best.  The key is not to wait until you feel thirsty to drink, that is a sign that you are already getting dehydrated.  

Try keeping a water bottle with you all day and slowly drinking from it so that you are drinking at least two liters per day.       AVOID CAFFEINE!!!!    Caffeine is a diuretic and will end up working against your goal of hydration.

 

Also make sure you are getting plenty of sleep.  It is very important to get plenty of rest to properly recover from the workouts and give your body a chance to strengthen itself.  Try to get a least 8 hours per night and you will really be able to benefit from the hard work you are putting in everyday at school and practice.

That’s it for now, have a great Thanksgiving!

2 Comments »

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 11:12 pm and is filed under Team Communication, practice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.