Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights_ - Alex Hutchinson [102]
There’s also a psychological component: reducing training makes some athletes feel anxious and lose confidence. The 2007 NCAA cross-country running champion, Josh McDougal of Liberty University, raised eyebrows by admitting that he had run a staggering 110 miles in the final week before his big win, a mere 10 percent reduction from his highest mileage. A more conventional taper the year before had produced a disappointing result: “Last year, I ran 48 miles the week of nationals, and my legs just felt terrible,” he said after the race. “I just run well off training hard.” That’s why Bosquet recommends using the results of his analysis as a starting point, and then adjusting the parameters based on your experiences. Like McDougal, you’ll eventually find a formula that gets you to the start line feeling both confident and well-rested.
Should I have sex the night before a competition?
The debate over whether pre-competition sex helps or hurts athletic performance tends to be argued with clichés rather than scientific studies. The conventional wisdom was articulated by Mickey Goldmill, the hard-nosed trainer in the original Rocky movie: “Women weaken legs.” Legendary New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel took a more conciliatory stance: “It’s not the sex that wrecks these guys, it’s staying up all night looking for it.”
If you’re looking for advice that has been tested in the lab, your options are much more limited. Samantha McGlone and Ian Shrier of McGill University found only three relevant studies of morning-after prowess in a comprehensive review of the literature published in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine in 2000. One measured grip strength in married male athletes, either after sex the night before or after at least six days of abstinence, and found no difference. A similar study at Colorado State University looked at a wider range of indicators including reaction time, stair-climbing, and balance, again with no apparent effect. Finally, a treadmill test of subjects who had been randomly assigned to either have sex or abstain 12 hours before the test found no effect on aerobic power and two other variables.
Given that a “normal” bout of sex burns energy equivalent to climbing just two flights of stairs, the lack of effect is not surprising. The review also exposes some major gaps in our knowledge. For instance, the studies were only on men—the question of whether women’s legs are weakened doesn’t appear to even arise in the literature. And those gaps haven’t been filled in the decade since the review appeared, Shrier says.
Physiological changes are only part of the equation, though. Sex undoubtedly affects mood, and changes in traits such as aggression could influence performance. But sports psychologists believe that the optimal state of mental arousal is very personal. Some athletes need to be psyched up, and others need to be calmed down in order to perform at their best. That means that there likely isn’t a definitive answer that applies to everyone—which leaves the final word to McGlone, who went on to be the top Canadian triathlete at the 2004 Olympics and is now one of the top Ironman triathletes in the world. “All I can advise is, before a big race, stick with your usual routine, whatever that may be,” she says, adding a note of Stengel-esque caution: “Just try to get a good night’s sleep.”
Can drinking slushies boost my performance on hot days?
When you exercise in the heat, your core temperature rises until it hits a critical value—typically around 104°F (40°C) or a little lower—and you’re forced to stop. One way to delay this moment is to “precool” your body, an approach pioneered by Australian sports scientists. It was the Australians who showed up at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 with form-fitting ice vests for their endurance athletes (which you can now buy for around $200), and they followed up at the 2004 Athens Olympics with ice baths for their athletes to plunge in immediately before competing.
Although these methods seem to work, they