Short Days and Long Nights

As the nights get longer and colder, the hours of daylight become shorter, meaning that we see less of the sun and are exposed to fewer UV rays.

This is good news for those that burn easily, but its not just sun tans and sun burn that UV rays are responsible for. They also help produce a large proportion of our Vitamin D requirement as sunlight reacts with a precursor of the vitamin on the skin. Vitamin D deficiencies are becoming more common in athletes, partially due to the precautions taken to prevent skin damage from the sun.

While there is no strong evidence to suggest that Vitamin D deficiency leads to under-performance in athletes, it will have effects on their ability to train and recover and on injury risk. Athletes who are are Vitamin D deficient could be at increased risk of minor illnesses and stress fractures, ultimately leading to interruption in training and competition.

Vitamin D, along with Calcium, Phosphorous and Protein, has a key influence on the growth and mineralisation of bones. It is involved in the absorption of calcium, meaning an athlete could have a really good intake of Calcium within their diet, but if the Vitamin D levels are low, this won't be able to have a positive effect on bone growth and strength.

Vitamin D also has a role in immune function, making it an important nutrient for athletes involved in heavy training. 

Its not all doom and gloom though! Although sunlight is the best source of Vitamin D, small amounts can be taken in through the diet, particularly through fish sources - reiterating their importance within our diet.

Good Sources include:

• Fortified Cereals
• Eggs
• Margarine
• Tuna 
• Sardines
• Mackerel

So why not enjoy training outside and making the most of the daylight we have at the moment, and take advantage of the sources above in our diet. Simple meal ideas include- Jacket Potato or Pasta with Tuna and Sweetcorn, or an Omelet adding lots of different vegetables for variety and added nutritional benefit. 

The Break is Over

As I sit here aching from two days of training after nearly a month layoff, I decided I should take a rest day.  In the past few years I have only taken a couple of weeks fully off, with a couple of easy weeks, but this year, due to other events, it made sense to have a complete rest for four weeks. And I am noticing the difference as I try to get fit again.

As hoped, this has given me a new motivation to train and compete, and hopefully my body, like my mind, will soon be ready to do so.  As so many athletes are also preparing to step back into winter training, I thought I would give a few hints and tips to help ease back into it.

Before I start, lets remember that it is important to take a break from training and competition. It allows both your body and mind to recover, and allows athletes to re-focus. However, when you stop exercising completely you loose aerobic fitness, lungs loose elasticity, blood vessels shrink and blood volume decreases. You use oxygen less efficiently and your heart pumps less blood per beat, not only that but you will also have lost muscles strength. Therefore, when you go back to exercise, just like a car that has been parked in a garage for several years, your body needs to be warmed up before it is taken out for hard exercise. If an athlete was to return to the same types of workouts as they were doing before the break, then the athlete risks straining inspiratory and expiratory muscles but also joints and muscles can become more stressed and increase the risk of injury.

Below are some simple tips which will help reduce the problems faced when athletes return back to exercise:

• Have a plan - it’s easier to commit, especially when motivation drops, when you have a plan, and a plan can stop you from doing too much too quickly
• Set attainable goals - and ease back into training, build slowly and allow momentum to grow.
• Weight training (even if it’s just body weight) - this allows you to build strength and prevent injury. Functional exercises are great to start with. 
• Get training partners - help to maintain motivation especially when the cold nights are coming in.
• Stretch - improve recovery, help flexibility and prevent injury.
• Try something new - Those athletes who are used to running and cycling on the roads could be encouraged to try cross country running or mountain biking to help gain fitness in a different environment, one which will  help challenge the core muscles too.
• Keep warm - whilst out training and when you finish training remember you will cool down fast too.  Remember to take layers to keep warm once training is finished.
• Stay Hydrated - Even during the winter and in the colder months you need to stay hydrated and remember to drink even when you may not feel thirsty. 
• Plymometrics - Be aware of explosive movements. When cold these movements pose a greater risk of injury.  Always remember to warm up properly.

Lifestyle, personal development and welfare support

There's more to high performance sport than training for an event, turning up, and competing.  Athletes, particularly in the professional era, have a lot to think about.  Eating healthily on a tight budget, keeping their finances in order, balancing a social life with an intense training programme, dealing with the media, keeping sponsors happy, handling the expectations of others, coping with long periods of time on the road, building functional relationships with coaches and teammates, keeping anti-doping whereabouts information up-t-date, and dealing with injury and other setbacks, are just some of the additional challenges faced by athletes.  Add to that the everyday demands of human life, work and educational commitments, personal relationships and financial concerns, and the busy life of the athlete, becomes the hectic life of the person.

With all these concerns and issues to balance, it's easy to see why an athlete might benefit from having a member of support staff to keep them on top of their 'life'.  But there is also something else that needs to be considered, and that's where the welfare, career or lifestyle support person really comes into their own.  A sporting career is like few other careers.  A lucky athletes will compete at their peak to somewhere in their early to mid thirties.  Many will finish much earlier, be it due to injury, burnout, lack of funding, or simply reaching their sporting goals.  Usually when individuals retire, they're done with work.  They've earned enough money to see them through their final years, and though a life without work can be difficult for anyone, of any age, to adjust to, the more relaxed pace of life is usually welcomed.  Retiring from a career in your early thirties is a whole different conundrum.  Goals may not have been achieved, few athletes have earned enough money to last the rest of their lives, and having lived on adrenaline and endorphines for many years previously, a massive void normally dominates the outlook of a retired sportsperson.  Retirement in the athlete has been likened to bereavement, and a particularly traumatic one in those who have not prepared for the retirement, or have not been able, for whatever reason, to retire on their terms.

The lifestyle adviser or welfare support person can help the athlete prepare for retirement in a number of ways.  Crucial to the transition is the development of other skills, and preparation for another job or career after sport.  A considerable volume of research supports the pursuit of dual careers from the early days, and though the value of dual careers is widely accepted, the reality is often very different.  Centralised training, increased professionalism, and increased social pressures on athletes makes the pursuit of education, training and employment very difficult for high performance athletes.  Furthermore, the increased money involved in sport often means that athletes don't need to work during the good years, meaning that they have less experience, and less earning potential after sport.  As professional increases, the role of lifestyle and welfare personnel becomes more important.  They are, to some extent, constantly fighting against the system.

Helping with transitions, dual careers and retirement is just part of what the lifestyle, career or welfare support person will help an athlete with.  Councelling and communication skills are important, and by helping an athlete work through their small issues, they are helping build the skills to manage and deal with issues and challenges in the future.  Development of goal setting, time management, conflict resolution and decision making skills will stand to an athlete in future sporting and non-sporting contexts, and though largely relevant to life outside of sport, some of these skills will actually help the athlete in their sporting performance.

This piece from the EIS website outlines how Performance Lifestyles helped Olympic champion rower Katherine Granger achieve sporting success. One of the greatest challenges of this whole area of support, however, is that not all strategies will help to improve performance.  Conflicting roles often exist, particularly if the lifestyle advisor or welfare officer is employed directly by the governing body or funding agency.  How do you support an potential Olympic medallist with depression would be best to spend time away from the support, when the sport as a whole, and ultimately your position, is dependent on medals won at the Olympics.  Obviously, the athlete's welfare is always top of your agenda, but measurement of your performance can be far from clear-cut.

While nutritionists are universally called nutritionists, and sports psychologists are known as sports psychologists across the board, different terms are often used to describe the people who provide the crucial lifestyle support to athletes.  UK Sport, and relevant home country sports institutes (EIS, SINI, SIS and SportWales), refer to the area as Performance Lifestyles, delivered by Performance Lifestyle advisors.  The Irish Institute of Sport run a Performance Transition Support Programme that is "designed to help [athletes] recover, refocus and re-energise" after an Olympic Games, and prepare for the next phase of their life. They refer to the area as Athlete Lifestyle.  TASS refer to the area as Education and Lifestyle Support; The Australian Institute of Sport deliver support through their Personal Excellence (PE) and Athlete Career and Education (ACE) programmes and High Performance Sport New Zealand runs an Athlete Life Programme delivered by Athlete Life Advisors. The England Cricket Board and the Professional Cricket Association run a comprehensive programme delivered by their Personal Development and Welfare Team, while the support professional rugby players receive through the RPA is delivered by Player Development Managers. Support personnel on some university scholarship programmes are simply called mentors.  The skills required by these professionals, the CPD opportunities available, and routes into this type of work will be covered in a future post.

Most professional athletes have access to lifestyle support through their national governing body or professional players association.  Athletes who are not yet at that level, and who would benefit from support, can contact us at Athlete Life Development to discuss and arrange one-to-one or small group support sessions.

The Benefits of Sports Massage on General Health and Sports Performance

All sportsmen and sportswomen should consider building a regular Sports Massage into their training routine whether they are injured or not. Sports Massage has a number of physical, physiological and psychological benefits and can help keep the body in better condition, reduce the number of injuries, improve mobility and flexibility and help reduce the likelihood of fatigue.

Sports massage can achieve a number of different benefits depending on the client’s needs; for example someone with tight muscles may be able to improve flexibility after treatment, someone who is stressed may feel more relaxed and someone suffering signs of fatigue may see improved  recovery.

The Physiological Effects of Sports Massage
Utilising natural blood flow, massage can have a significant effect on the micro-circulation through the pressure and movement of the strokes, helping to flush out any muscle waste and stimulate osmosis.  This improves recovery, aids metabolic processes and improves tissue health. Massage also improves the flow of the lymphatic system and therefore helps drainage removing waste from the system, and can strengthen the immune system due to the increase in white blood cells. 

Sports massage can also have a significant effect on the nervous system through stimulating the sensory receptors and either stimulate or soothe nerves depending on the techniques used. Sports Massage can also stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, helping promote relaxation and reduce stress, and can help reduce pain by the release of endorphins.

Due to the effect on the circulation, Sports Massage can improve skin condition due to cell regeneration from the increase in nutrition to the cells. It can help with the removal of waste products through the increased production of sweat and through increased sebum production. Sports Massage can also help improve the skins suppleness and elasticity. 

The Physical Effects on the Body
During the body’s healing process there is the formation of scar tissue. This is normally broken down but sometimes (more common with soft tissue injuries), some can remain. Adhesions can form from this scar tissue and this prevents the fibres ability to glide alongside one another which is needed for them to function.

Massage can help restore the range of motion by helping to release the restrictions by breaking down this scar tissue and helping to free the adhesions. It can also reduce inflammation, and reduce muscle tightness, stiffness and spasms.

Massage can help increase joint mobility by reducing the thickening of the connective tissue and help to release the restrictions. It can also help to free adhesions, break down this scar tissue and reduce inflammation, thereby restoring the range of motion.

By increasing blood circulation and oxygen and nutrient supply to the muscle as well as promoting removal of toxins and waste products, Sports Massage can also reduce muscle fatigue and soreness. 

The Psychological Effects of Sports Massage
Sports Massage can help to reduce stress and anxiety through relaxing both mind and body, promote positive body awareness, improved body image through relaxation and ease emotional trauma through relaxation.

Goal setting: the key to lifestyle management?

Earlier this week I delivered a workshop to a group of talented young athletes.  We covered topics such as goal setting, time management and decision making, in that order, which was planned, but was only as we were discussing each topic, that it really dawned on me, just how important goals are to every aspect, not only of sport, but of life outside and beyond sport.  Knowing what you achieve is paramount in managing time, and it's a lot easier to make decisions, when we know what we want to achieve in the short, medium and long term.

Not all goals are made consciously.  High performing athletes will set goals for each session that they do, without realising that they have even done so.  Some days it will just be to get the session done; other days it'll be to perform a personal best on repetition.  After years of training and competing, goals in the performance setting will just come naturally.  Goals are not so easy in an unfamiliar environment, like when we are injured, or when we're planning for life after sport.  Considerable thought is often required in these situations.


Coping with Injury
Setting goals can be a great way to overcome injury.  You don't have to think about what you want to achieve after the injury - this often results in over-compliance to rehab programmes, and rushing back to training before you're ready - but think about the process goals that will help you get the most out of your time off.  Depending on the individual, the sport, and the injury, these are some goals that you might set for yourself while injured:

1. To undertake all exercises prescribed by they physiotherapist each and every day of rehab - no more and no less
2. To take up a new hobby, which I will practice daily (when I would normally be training), to take the focus away from the injury and not being able to compete
3. To carry out a period of mental imagery each day in which I will focus on perfect technique
4. To have a massage once every two weeks
5. To use the downtime to catch up on dental appointments and other things that normally detract from training
6. To maintain a structured routine

Not all goals need to be performance goals, and outcome and process goals are especially important during times of injury, illness, transition, or poor form.


Managing your time
Over the years of working with high performance athletes, I have noticed that those who manage to fit the most into their lives, are the ones who know what they want to achieve in both sport and outside of sport.  I've come across medical students who have managed to compete at an international level, and triathletes who can fit training for three sports around being a full-time student.  There are enough hours in the week - we just need to be motivated enough to use them wisely.

When planning for the week, it's a good idea to write down a few goals for the week; plan our time; and then reflect on whether or not our allocation of time is reflective of what we want to achieve in that week.  There is no special wand which will suddenly make us 'time-managed' but know what we want to achieve will make us more efficient with out time.


Making decisions
We all have important decisions to make from time to time - what subjects do we choose for A-levels/Leaving Cert? Which university do we attend? What will we do after university? Is it a good idea to become full-time athletes? Do we want children? Is it time to retire?  For some of us, these decisions will be made, or the options at least narrowed down naturally, but for many, we have to actively make the effort to wade through the options and decide what we are going to do next.  This takes energy and effort which we would probably prefer to conserve for training, but not making a decision, and leaving it to sit on the back of our minds, can use a lot more energy.  Decisions are important!

Knowing what are goals are can greatly help when making decisions.  If your sport is the most important thing in your world, then make sure that you choose a university where you have the facilities, coaching and environment to maintain your training.  There are rarely any right or wrong choices, but if your goals can't be achieved by the decisions that you have made, you are unlikely to lead a satisfied life.   Making decisions based on your goals also prevents you making them for the wrong reasons, or making them to keep others happy.


In summary, goals don't just help us to preform better - they help us decide what is important to us, to decide what we want to achieve in life, how to transition from one phase of life to the next, to deal with injury, to manage our time, and to make decisions.  They are the key to managing our lifestyle, whether that be as a student-athlete, retiring sportstar, or active mother.  Goal setting is the key to lifestyle management.