maanantai 23. marraskuuta 2009

1st 5 weeks on water

Training for season 2010 has been going on now for 5 weeks. We have had very good conditions on the river Vltava, we have completed almost all training on water. Technical level of the younger mambers of our group has improved and we have had time to experiment many different combinations in 2x and 4x. Having this experience next spring will be easier to put together boats for racing and competition.

At the end of this 5 weeks we had a 2k test. At this point records are quite rare, because training has only started and the aerobic capacity is under construction. However 2 younger members of our group pulled new PB:s. Jakub Houska 5:57,6 and Martin Basl 6:07,5. Normal performance was about 4-6 seconds behind the record pace.

Next 3 weeks will be quite demanding in terms of quality and quantity. Eventually we will have to move indoors to work with Concept2 rowers. Demanding period of 3 weeks will be followed by easier period. We will take part at the ERGO Praha on 12.12., at the end of the demanding training.

It would be important to stay healthy now that we are building the aerobic capacity for the future...

sunnuntai 15. marraskuuta 2009

Lakkoileva suomi

Täältä seurattuna tuntuu käsittämättömältä että tänä aikana Suomessa lakkoillaan. Työpaikat katoavat muutenkin halvemman työvoiman maihin ja niillä aloilla joilla töitä kuullaan lakkouutisia jatkuvasti. Ei ole suurikaan ihme jos lama Suomessa jatkuu pitkään. Finnair tekee muutenkin tappiollisena aikana lakon takia pari miljoonaa ylimääräistä pakkasta päivässä. Hiihtokeskukset olisiva auki ensimmäisiä viikonloppuja ja ei muuta kuin lakko päälle... Luottamus Suomeen ja suomalaisiin yrityksiin rapistuu, ja etenkin Finnairille se on kova kolaus. Idän liikennettä on markkinoitu voimakkaasti ja toiminnan epävarmuus toimii negatiivisena markkinointina. Lentäjien uho on huolestuttavaa, valmius jopa kuukausien lakkoon!

Täältä Tsekin vinkkelistä katsottuna näyttää siltä että suomessa on totuttu liian hyvään. Keskiansio täällä on n. 800€/kk, ja asioita osataan tehdä halvalla, eikä valiteta turhasta. Jos palkka tippuu, niin voi hakea muita töitä tai niellä pudotuksen. Viereisellä rakennustyömaalla paiskitaan hommia 7pvää viikossa aamuseitsemästä iltaseitsemään. Jos irtisanominen iskee, ansiosidonnaista ei taida kovin kauaa laariin liristä; motivaatio uuden työpaikan löytämiseen tai yrittämiseen on suuri. Pienen Suomen paras keino säilyttää työpaikat on joustavuus. Joustamattomuus tekee heikkona aikana helposti yritysten toiminnan kannattamattomaksi ja usein seurauksena on toiminnan alasajo tai konkurssi. Joustolla olisi mahdollista päästä yli laman ja ehkä sitten nauttia paremmista eduista parempina aikoina. On käsittämätöntä ja lyhytnäköistä pitää kynsin ja hampain kiinni saavutetuista eduista silloin kun se merkitsee työpaikan loppumista!

Finnairilla on edessä kovat ajat. Lentäjien lakko kohdistuu loppukädessä myös heihin itseensä. Saa nähdä kuinka kauan Finnair nykyisessä muodossaan ylipäänsä on olemassa. Ehkä lentäjän ammatissa on helppoa saada töitä muista yhtiöistä kun Finnairin tulevaisuus ei tunnu lentäjiä huolettavan...Ammatin vastuullisuutta ja vaativuutta väheksymättä Finskin lentäjä tienaa kuukaudessa enemmän kuin keskiverto EU-asukas Tsekinmaalla vuodessa!

torstai 12. marraskuuta 2009

Airo

Airo-lehti on osa suomalaisen soudun identiteettiä. Sain tiedon että Soutuliitto on harkitsemassa julkaisun lopettamista. Olen itse ollut mukana kirjoittamassa lehteä, myymässä mainoksia, ottamassa kuvia ja ostamassa mainostilaakin, jo kaksikymmentä vuotta. Nyt olen töissä Tsekissä ja seurailen suomalaista soutua jonkinlaisen etäisyyden päästä. En ole juuri nyt ajan hermolla soutuliiton asioista, mutta olen joskus ollut, joten ehkä minulla on kompetenssia sanoa mielipiteeni tähän asiaan.

Toivon että lehden kuoppaamista harkitaan tarkoin. On harmi että suomalaisen soudun pienuus on johtanut siihen että henkilöresursst eivät riitä lehden ylläpitoon. Henkilöresursseistahan tässäkin on kysymys; lehti tuottaa tappiota koska siihen ei kenelläkään ole aikaa myydä mainoksia. En sano että mainosten myynti on helppoa, mutta jos mainosmyyntiä tehtäisiin aktiivisesti ja organisoidusti, olisi tappio ainakin pienempi. Toivon että lehden kehittämistä harkittaisiin tosissaan lakkauttamisen sijaan. Yhteistyö Sulkavan Suursoutujen kanssa on ollut järkevää, koska vahva synergia löytyy molempien organisaatioden nimessä esiintyvästä SOUTU sanasta. Laji tarvitsee markkinointia kuten Sulkavan Suursoudutkin.

Alla muutamia ajatuksia jotka heräsivät keskustelua silmäillessäni

Airo on ollut osa lisenssipalvelua: toisin sanoen lisenssin lunastaessaan saa myös Airo-lehden. Osa lisenssituloista kuuluukin näinollen käyttää Airon toimittamiseen.
Soutu on soutuliiton jäsenseurojen ja soutajien yhteinen laji. Soutajat ovat ylpeitä soudusta ja Airo-lehdestä. Tunteeko sama joukko samanlaista ylpeyttä koko vesiurheilusta? Soudussa on useita lajiryhmiä, kuten on melonnassakin. Jos Soutuliiton ja Kanoottiliiton julkaisut yhdstyvät, riittääkö eri lajiryhmille tilaa lehdessä niin että se säilyy kiinnostavana kaikille osapuolille, vai kuihtuuko se omaan pirstaleisuuteensa?

Toivotan Soutuliitolle menestyksekästä syyskokousta; tehkää punnittuja päätöksiä!

Suuri voi olla kaunista - pieni voi olla dynaamista ja toimivaa

maanantai 2. marraskuuta 2009

Efficient nutrition – way to improve health and performance

When formula one or rally team chooses fuel for their car, they do not consider 56 octane gasoline. Surely they prefer better quality. I do not see any difference with the situation in sports. Athletes need 1st class fuel to perform optimally. In my opinion 56 octane gas is equal to bad nutrition, in many cases considered normal nutrition even for athletes. We should do better than that. For example red blood cells live about 120 days and almost all cells in human body are renewed within one year! Replacement of them requires quality nutrition.

What to eat?

Eating healthy is about choices. When we go shopping or to a restaurant we choose what we buy. If athlete lives at home, maybe we can choose to influence to one who actually makes the shopping and prepares meals. Knowledge helps us to make right choices. With good nutrition we can stay healthier on short and long term as well as recover better from training. I try to point out simple guidelines for you to be able to make the right choices.

Antioxidants / free radicals

Antioxidants enhance recovery, and fight against free radicals. Best sources for antioxidants are fruit, vegetables and berries. I should point out the fact that quality of the fruit, vegetables & berries is very important. Everything should be ripened by sun, not some gas during transportation. In recent study it was found that organically cultivated carrot has 40% more antioxidants, vitamins and enzymes in comparison to “normal” cultivation. Free radicals are produced as result of combustion processes of our bodies. They cause oxidative stress that weakens our immune system. Antioxidants neutralize the situation and help body to recover. Free radical sources are various; tobacco, too much alcohol, preservatives, artificial colors and sweeteners of our nutrition, medicine, too much sunshine, hard training, radioactive radiation, pollution, infections, big amounts of coffee, animal fat and so on. If we burden our bodies with lot of causes for free radicals and train hard, situation becomes unbearable for our bodies and we became ill. I believe that we have a good reason for trying to minimize the other sources and keep training hard to meet our goals.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates provide us big part of the energy that we consume in training. It is common belief that athletes can eat lot of white sugar and it would not harm them. This belief is not correct. White sugar does not have much nutritional value, it does give us energy, but not in a correct way. The Glycemic index of white sugar is very high and causes big variation in blood sugar level, variation that hurts our performance on training and competition. Large quantities of white sugar weaken also our immune system. It is better to consume carbohydrates that help to sustain blood sugar level somewhat stable, and that release energy over longer period of time. This we can reach by selecting full grain products, rice, pasta, bread and so on. Full grain products have many advantages; they contain more vitamins and minerals and more dietary fiber that is important for our well being as well. Fruit sugar is generally better than white sugar, and fruit can be consumed by large quantities with no problem. Many times we can replace the sugar with honey, excellent source of variety of different sugars as well as beneficial phytochemicals.

Protein

Need of protein is individual, but here is some guideline of daily need for athletes. In case athlete eats too little carbohydrates need for protein becomes bigger as well. In this case body uses protein instead of carbohydrates for source of energy. In rowing the need for protein would be around 1,5g/kg/day for men, little less for women. The amount we need depends also on the intensity of our training. For recovery from hard training both, carbohydrates and proteins, are important, as soon as possible after the workout. Best sources for proteins are beans, nuts, eggs, sesame seeds, fish and bird meat. Some red meat is not off limits, but we easily eat too much of it.

Fat

Fat is necessary for us. Many cases lightweight rowers cut all fat from their nutrition in order to reduce their weight. This is absolutely wrong. Body needs fat to function. Small amount of animal fat is also necessary. Vegetable oils are the most important for us, and we need to get them daily. Oils contain lot of energy and it is important that the quantity of daily intake of oils and is correct.


Nutritional choices

YES/ NO
+ Full Grain rice, whey …/ - Sugar
+ Fish & white meat / - Lemonades
+ Sesame seeds, (rich on calcium, zinc, magnesium)/ - White wheat
+ Vegetables / - Milk
+ Rice, Soy and Oat milk / - Animal fat in big quantities
+ Organic have higher nutritional values / - Artificial colors and sweeteners
+ Nuts / - Sweet lunch
+ Fruits & berries / - french fries
+ Cold pressed vegetable oils / - fatty stakes with creamy sauces
+ Eggs, especially egg white / - sweet rolls
+ Sauerkraut / - potato chips
+ Sour milk products / - almost all fastfood


Best way to use fruits for snacks is to eat them to empty stomach, this way nutrients are absorbed well to our bodies to use, and you prevent some non-welcome symptoms that you get if you eat fruit right after meal.


Supplements

Market is full of products that are said to be good for enhancing the performance. Many times these products are money for nothing. It is individual what people want to have, but I would choose my supplements according to following:

Protein

Sometimes we need additional protein after hard training and competition. My choice would be some protein powder with no sweeteners or color. I do not know what Czech suppliers offer, but surely there is some good products available.

Carbohydrates

Sports drink should also be without artificial sweeteners or colors. One possibility is to use honey and sea salt mixed to water.

Antioxidants

I recommend as natural products as possible. I do not accept synthetic vitamins because they are not absorbing well at the body. Fruits, vegetables and berries provide us big variety of vitamins and minerals. We get the benefit of these substances working together. This benefit you can get for example from these products:

- Juice Plus+ capsules that are made from fruit and vegetables
- Vitamin D that is produced to linseed oil that enhances absorbing to body

Minerals

- Calcium, Zinc and Magnesium are important and very necessary at least when training in hot environment when sweating is increased. Sesame seeds are excellent source for calcium and magnesium. There is a product called Tahin or Tahini that is sesame pasta and can be used with bread instead of butter. Try it! It is also rich on protein and other minerals and vitamins.

Timing

Timing of nutrition is important for training and competition.
- 1-4 hours before training 1-5g/kg of carbohydrates. (Carbohydrates 30-60 min before race or training seem to effect negatively to performance.)
- During training 45-75g/ch if training lasts over 1h
- After performance 1,5gch/kg first 20min, 2h and 4h after performance

Joy

When our general nutrition is good, we can also enjoy the taste of delicacies occasionally, without making harm to our training. In general it is important to enjoy the challenge of winning. At the end, it is the motivation of the athlete that makes the winner. The motivation requires athletes to enjoy what they are doing, maybe not every day, but in general.

Time

At the beginning of this blog I wrote about the time it takes before cells are renewed. It takes a long time before one can really feel the input of better quality nutrition. It is important to try to make the right choices permanent way of living. This way we will, at some point, really feel the difference and enjoy improved health and performance.

In the next blogs I will write about training, and the reasons behind my views. In case You have questions, no not hesitate to ask. There is no stupid questions, maybe stupid answers, though.

sunnuntai 1. marraskuuta 2009

Training for 2010 has begun

We started training on 19th of october. To this date we have had excellent 2 weeks on water. New develpoment is that we work now with close co-operation with the LM group, we share training programs and camps. In my group is now about 10 athletes. It is possible to make U23 4x or 2x as well as 4x and 2x for adult races. The goal for winter is to improve technique and physiology to meet world standard next year. We need to improve technically towards more similar thinking and and rowing amongst our group.

We will do most of indoor training on slides, and we also have sceduled some skiing camps during winter. On fall we try to row on water as long as it makes sense regarding to weather conditions. Indoor rowers will be in very heavy use during this winter. Total of about 45 rowers train on the same Dukla facility.

For the winter training we try to keep some variation, so that the winter is not only ergo, but some skiing, biking, running, ballgames, yoga, fitball and so on. It will be an interesting winter and definitely very interesting season. World championships in New Zealand are a real challange for the organization. Reservations have to be made very early, and trip is very expensive, so we should know now which boats are going. Problem is that nobody knows the speed of boats next season. Preparation to championship that takes place on end of october on the opposite side of the world is not traditional either. From athletes point of view they seem to have very good motivation for the next season. Qualification to London looms only one year away from next season! The level of the European Championships next year will be extremely hard. To make good result there we have to be ready!

I will write some blogs about training, nutrition, rowing technique and so on and have them translated in to Czech. I would like to increase the discussion about rowing and this way to improve the quality of training. Understanding the rowing technique will make our training more efficient! Having said that, I do not think that my thinking is the only way to the top, but one group should have the same idea of rowing to go fast. I have experienced various levels of understanding english and I feel that is i important to publish my ideas in Czech language. Thanks for Daniela and Rowline for helping out in this!