UKLA Chair Blog #72

Jan 8

Tonight is our second winter online training - Fitness for ILCA racing. I talked about fitness back in Blog #32 where I said physical fitness remains at the core of ILCA sailing. No matter what level you are sailing at. Certainly, in windy weather it is hard to win without decent fitness, but the fitness needs changed after the Laser became an Olympic class, mainly as races became much shorter at all levels and serious aerobic fitness was required. Shortly before starting sailing full-time, I did a fitness and medical assessment. The latter identified potential back problems due to my core strength not being good enough. It was easy enough to address this but the result of the fitness assessment was a complete change of emphasis.

Prior to then, fitness for Laser sailing was mostly focussed on building stamina. For me that was long, steady runs. Today that could just as easily be cycling. That was fine for 2-hour races (or building core fitness) but the need for increased aerobic fitness meant a heart rate monitor (HRM)! I started using one after a VO2 max test and I have not stopped (sad hey?)! A VO2 max test is a measure of fitness using maximum oxygen consumption that also indicates the threshold at which there is an abrupt increase in your blood lactate. Once that happens, you can only sustain serious effort for a short period. It’s all to do with how the body consumes energy at different levels of effort.

I started doing high intensity interval training a couple of times a week using my HRM. I also did a couple of medium intensity sessions near my threshold level where you can keep going for an hour without tiring through the lactate build-up.

Did this make any difference? Yes I believe I saw this in Race 6 of the Olympic Games, where everyone was not yet training like this. We had the first race of the day in a steady 15 to 20 knots, pretty hard work. As we went up the first beat of the second race, a thunderstorm started to move through the race course with the wind increasing to 25 knots and shifting right. I rounded the weather mark in about 10th (and had to execute a hairy gybe in big waves with my kicker still on as I had to tack in under at the last second – funny the things you remmber). I survived the run passing Robert Scheidt who had been leading but death-rolled halfway down. The fitness makes a difference at the leeward mark where despite all the effort so far, you have to be able to think straight without being exhausted – left or right, has the thundercloud passed through enough? I chose right and after a couple of tacks, found myself on the weather quarter of the eventual bronze medallist and, after a minute, sailed straight over the top based on fitness alone (at least in my mind). I flew up the rest of beat and rounded in 3rd - I wasn’t one of heaviest in that fleet but I believe I was one of fittest. And the importance of that I have never forgotten. The next day we had two moderate wind races but if we’d had two windy ones, I don’t think the bronze medallist would have hung on. Ben Ainslie won that race (as I recall) and Robert passed me downwind to the finish – as well as being brilliant sailors, they were incredibly fit too.

As an aside I also tried to put on some weight through strength work in the gym but this was never successful – it works for some and not others.

Today one of reasons I keep Masters sailing is because it forces me to do fitness training as I know how important it is.

I am sure the fitness regimes have moved on a lot in the last 20 or so years so I expect you will hear what the top sailors are doing tonight from Tim Hulse and Ali Young. But one thing has not changed - fitness remains at the core of ILCA sailing.

Snippets

UKLA Youth Event

Queen Mary on 3rd/4th February - entry details shortly

UKLA Training

Winter training dates for Jan, Feb and Mar - UKLA Calendar

On 8th Jan at 7pm we are having our second virtual training of the winter – Fitness for ILCA racing. This winter the sessions are open to members (if you are not a member please join here for 2024 or renew here). Last year we ran three sessions which are available here to anyone Setting up your ILCA for performance, ILCA technique for upwind/downwind in light and heavy air and Getting your tactics right.

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