4. EFFECTIVE FUELLING STRATEGIES The best piece of advice is to try a variety of diff erent foods and drinks in a variety of diff erent situations and see which works best for you. Personally I alternate every 30 minutes with a stop for:
250ml Gatorade (providing ~15g carbohydrate) 250ml Gatorade, water, coke or Ribena and 1x25g GU carbohydrate gel (providing a total of ~35g carbohydrate)
The general rule of thumb is to take on 600-800ml of fl uid per hour plus 1g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per hour. This for me would be 800ml and about 80g carbohydrate, but you can see that I'm falling short of this by some 300ml of fl uid and 30g of carbohydrate per hour. This seems like a lot, however, having experimented with the recommended intake, I found I was becoming too bloated and actually failed to fi nish an Ironman event in 2004 from eff ectively over-eating. Use this calculation as a starting point and then work either slightly up or down depending upon your needs, practising and recording your response during training. While you might not need as much fl uid, due to lower perspiration rates in the water (especially cold water), chances are you might need to increase your carbohydrate intake at times with supplementary foods as your body will be working hard to keep itself warm.
Don't let photographers distract you from taking on fuel
5. KEEPING IT ALL IN BALANCE There's no denying that when training over such a long period for a specifi c event that you have to work very hard to maintain a good balance between your home, social, work and training life. You're going to be tired and grumpy at times and this can have a negative impact on the rest of your friends, family and colleagues. Take time out by planning regular weekends off from swimming, and always remember that you're doing this because you want to achieve such an amazing goal that very few others have ever achieved. No one is forcing you or holding a gun to your head. Training for the English Channel has made me able to swim further and faster – knocking 41 minutes off my 20km time – than ever before. I can honestly say that I've thoroughly enjoyed the challenges of training for this event and haven't lacked the motivation or desire to train like I have at times with other events. It's such a unique thing to train for. Just the process of changing my body type to cope with the cold and converting my triathlete’s petrol engine to a long-distance swimmer’s diesel one has been so new that I've learnt a lot about myself and how I handle training stress. Learning how to zone-out during longer swims and to realise that every session that I do is just part of the bigger picture rather than a make or break situation has been key. All in all, I believe I have learnt better patience and control, and
even a better acceptance of myself and my capabilities. Training for the Channel has been a great thing to do. ○
Paul Newsome fi nished his Channel crossing in rough and windy conditions on 9 September in 12 hours 14 minutes and 23 seconds. Congratulations from all at H2Open!
Photo © Swim Smooth 31
Photo © Swim Smooth
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