Staying race ready in Rio
Written by Paul Mullan | 30 July 2014
There’s a real change in modes when you come to an event like the Rio Test Event.
As the Head of Sports Science and Medicine, my role when I’m working back at home is around managing the whole sports science support for the team, and working one to one with particular athletes from a fitness programming and nutrition basis. When we come in to event mode like we are here in Rio, it’s more about bolstering all of that preparation and going in to best practice routines and priming to ensure best athletic performance, and making sure that the sailors have the best routines that work for them.
In terms of our Test Event preparation period here in Rio, it’s about making sure that the team is really sharp with these routines. Travelling overseas, particularly long haul, we know that there are points of vulnerability that we know we can manage. There are a whole heap of challenges we have from a sports science perspective that aren’t Rio specific – they’re specific to the team travelling so in that sense Rio’s no different to when we’re competing in our European venues.
Due to the World Championships falling in just a few weeks’ time, our guys have come out to Rio in a higher state of training that we wouldn’t normally see running into a major event. As such it’s likely that their immune systems are going to be more suppressed. Some of the practices that we employ to help with that include nutritional supplementation for a minimum of two weeks leading into a period where we’re trying to sharpen immune systems. We’ve teamed up with Healthspan Elite and use their supplements to aid this – Probiotic Super 20, their Gold Multi-Vitamin and high strength Omega 3 – all of them are batch tested, so they’re absolutely perfect for our guys.
This is one of many practices we employ with the aim of supporting the immune system. Probiotics have been shown to reduce the severity and duration of upper respiratory tract infections in the research trials. In our practical experience we feel that it helps to support immune function through maintaining good gut health particularly during periods of stress and vulnerability. The gut plays an important role in immune function so keeping it healthy can help to prevent you getting ill especially when faced with germs and bacteria you might experience in foreign countries that you wouldn’t normally experience in the UK.
The Multi-Vitamin is something we always supplement during heavy training periods to ensure the body has everything it needs to repair and adapt. I particularly like the Healthspan Gold Multi-Vitamin as it’s 100% of your recommended daily allowance, no more no less. A lot of off-the-shelf vitamins you can get super high dosages of certain vitamins which can actually have the reverse affects on immune function if used for too long a period. Omega 3 Fish oils have been shown to have so many different effects from promoting adaptation, preventing muscle breakdown, supporting cognitive function and supporting immune function, so it’s a great all round supplement to have.
I don’t think we are at a significantly greater risk of picking up illnesses out here in Rio. There’s a lot of hype about the water here – I can say we’ve never experienced anything from an illness perspective that you can put down to the water quality, and even someone told us what the water quality level was, we wouldn’t be doing anything different – we are already covering all bases, just as with every event we go to. There are times even in the UK that the water quality can be less than ideal in certain areas. That’s something that’s beyond our control – what is in our control is how we go about preparing ourselves. The reality is that we don’t prepare the sailors any differently out here than we do in Europe or the UK. It’s about common sense, making sure that you’re not eating your food with dirty hands for example, but that’s the same wherever you are.
There are certain routines that we do need to be almost OCD about – anti-bacterial hand foams around mealtimes for example, and cleanliness of drinks bottles out on the water. It’s standard practice wherever we go, and we’re equally as conscious here about illness prevention here as we are anywhere else and that’s an important part of athletic preparation.
As well as the physical aspects of venue preparation there are also the psychological aspects to consider. Rio is a really tricky venue with regard to the decisions the sailors are going to have to make under the pressure of a really big regatta. Just being out here now and being systematic in terms of how we’re answering the questions that we’ve got about the venue is all part of addressing that process. You’ll need to be the best in the world to medal out in Rio and decision making under stress will be one of the key contributing factors to our success.
Having been out here to Rio before, and already knowing a little bit about the place and our set-up needs, we’re already starting to feel more comfortable about the environment and some of the challenges that we face. Some of them would be menial in the UK, but can turn into a big deal when you’re away, such as the language barrier. But the people out here are super friendly and always willing to help. It’s a really vibrant city and the Team all enjoy being here.
It’s a challenge, but it’s really exciting!