What makes Jono Swain and his team tick and how do they prepare for such a dangerous and long event? Not only does the Puma Sailing Team prepare their vessel to endure the Volvo Ocean Race, they must also prepare their bodies and minds to undergo the Volvo Ocean Race. There are rigorous strength and conditioning components involved in the preparation for such a prestigious event. Here is a first hand account of how the sailors prepare for the race and what they go through on the open seas.
What are some of the physical challenges preparing for a race around the world? How did you prepare for the challenges?
Personally it?s one of the hardest things because you spend a good part of the year physically preparing for this race, going to the gym, eating healthy, getting as fit as you can, because once the race starts it?s all downhill. While racing we have a lousy sleep pattern, awful diet, we?re abusing our bodies, and you never have a chance to recover. You?re almost always losing weight and you accept you?re never going to be as healthy or as fit as you were at the start. That?s probably the biggest challenge of getting around the world. Every team has a trainer, every team has a nutritionist, and they all tell you ?this is what you?re going to do, that?s what you should do.? But really the hardest part is starting the race and then losing it all and never feeling 100% after that. Before the race we suggest a lot of gym time, a lot of cardio?rowing, kayaking, cycling, running, anything really? But we usually start an extensive fitness program way out. Nutritionally, we hire some help to ensure we have a good combination of fats, proteins, and carbs in our race meals before the start. We try and cut back on the alcohol, sleep, and get as much rest as you can; that?s all you can really do. Once the race starts its downhill from there.
Did you or anyone on the boat participate in a strength and conditioning program to prepare for the Volvo Ocean Race?
We participated collectively as team, yes. And then everyone had a unique fitness program stipulated by our trainer, so that when we went on breaks between sailing sessions we could all go to the gym at home and continue with the program, and when we got back to our full-team conditioning nobody was behind. Our training base was in Newport, Rhode Island, at a local gym there called Bridge to Fitness. The owner, Mike Cecchi, has been a personal trainer for many years and has good knowledge of physio, so he could see if people were pushing too hard or if there were any potential overuse injuries. He?s been instrumental in getting guys in shape and has been traveling around the world with us too so that we have him, and his evolving regiments, every break from racing we get.
If so, can you give an example of a circuit or daily exercise regimen to prepare for the race?
A typical daily program would comprise of going to the gym between 6:30 or 7:30 in the morning. We?d keep it a bit short and sweet, usually about an hour and fifteen. In the early phases we would do a push day followed by a pull day, followed by a leg day. But by race time we did more circuit work, three sets of different exercises, a two minute break, then three sets of another exercises, including everything from push-pull and legs, some good cardio work, and then we?d finish off with 15 minutes of abs and stretching--every single day. It was a really good way to go into the race. You want to be as strong as you can but there?s a fine line between too much muscle and not enough cardio, or too much cardio and not enough muscle. Dragging sails around and working the grinding pedestals takes lots of strength.
It must be hard to simulate the conditions you experience at sea in the gym, does the strength/endurance training performed in the gym translate to conditions on the sailboat?
One of the good things that we?ve always done is we?ve taken our trainers sailing with us so they can see exactly what we?re doing out there, as far as the instability of the boat, the type of movements were doing. There?s a lot of bending over and picking heavy things up and you want to use your legs and not your back, and once we took Mike sailing he had a very good idea of what we were all about. He applied that to his fitness program and we ended up with a lot more Bosu ball work, single leg stuff, bending over, single leg squats, single leg movements. He incorporated quite a bit more core as well, and always encouraged every movement to come from the hips. It?s hard to simulate, yes, and there?s no way to do it in the gym, but it was imperative we take him sailing so that he could see what movements we needed to concentrate on in the gym.
What qualities and physical skill sets does a sailor need to be able to sail around the world?
An around the world race is a lot different than say the Americas Cup where you have a specific job onboard, and you can go to the gym and train specifically for that role. Grinders get bigger and trimmers do lots of cardio and pulling... But for the Volvo Ocean Race you need to be an all-around sailor, you need to do a variety of gym and cardio work and in the meantime try and eat healthy, get rest, and not get sick. Everyone wants to be 80kg-plus, but you?re not always going to find guys like that that are good at everything on a boat. Primarily you?re looking for an all-around sailor and you can work around his fitness, but you do need a good balance of youth onboard. You of course need the s
trength too, you need your big guys and hopefully they?re good all-around sailors as well. Those guys are very well sought after.
Can you give an example of how bad the ocean conditions can be while sailing in a race such as the Volvo Ocean Race? Do you alter the course or sail right through storms and squalls?
We?ve just left New Zealand week ago in some very extreme conditions on our way to Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America. Conditions can get very, very, bad, virtually life threatening. You tend to switch over into survival mode for that period of time while the weather blows through or you move into different conditions. These boats move very quickly, 30 knots is not uncommon, and so you?re constantly moving through weather patterns. Conditions do change and you just have to tell yourself mentally that it?s not forever. Yes, we sail though storms and squalls and we do have radar onboard to keep an eye on those sorts of things. Wind can go from little to lots, serene to rough, in seconds, and it?s usually cloud related. If we see a big cloud on the horizon we?ll ask someone at the navigation station to check the radar, see how big it is, whether it has precipitation, how far away it is, and where it?s moving. If it looks dangerous we?ll take precautions on deck?reefing our sails or even taking some down.
Have there been any injuries on the boat?
We were injury-free until the beginning of this leg. So far, we?ve had three injuries. The first one was one of our key guys who tweaked his back lifting a sail. He was ?man down? for the better part of five or six days on muscle relaxants, idle in his bunk. There?s not much you can do for a back injury but get lots of rest. We hope it?s not disk related and is just muscle. He?s showing signs of improvement and has just been on deck so we?re hopeful for a full recovery. Second injury was a dislocated shoulder, a common Volvo Ocean Race problem. It was the second day and we were in bad weather, the boat was heeling over, and he fell from the high side to the low side?maybe 14 feet?and landed on his shoulder. It dislocated instantly and we shuffled him down below. Myself and two other guys, every boat has to have a few trained medics onboard, called the team doctor who suggested lying him face down on his bunk with the arm hanging over the side. Gravity is supposed to eventually work the shoulder back in, but the problem was the boat was moving around so much his shoulder muscles never relaxed enough for it to go back in on its own. We phoned again, tried another method, and it went right in. It was instant relief for him and a day later he was back on deck. After a bit of rest and some painkillers, and muscle relaxants, he was back at work behind the wheel with a tender shoulder. The third one is just a staff infection on an elbow. Some antibiotics and it?s looking much better.
Is there room to rehab or treat the injury while on the boat to prevent further injury?
There?s not much room to do rehab or treat a problem, no. These boats are extremely uncomfortable and chopped up down below, and it?s always moving around a lot. Flat surfaces are impossible to find. The only thing you can really do is put a guy in his bunk. We carry extensive med kits with lot of drugs to keep someone sedated if it?s really bad, like broken bones, but really there isn?t a whole lot we can do. It?s up to the individual to manage his pain; it?s his problem. His bunk is the best recourse. Injuries can be really disruptive to sailing the boat, though. There are only 10 of us and if someone goes down it really disrupts the watch system and the other guys have to put in the extra effort. As it is, you only get maybe three hours of sleep at a time and if you ever have more than one at a time?as we did?it completely screws up the whole watch system, the pairings, and the timing. But you adjust, you have to, and you just hope they get better.
We wish Jono Swain and his team a safe and successful race.
salvia cybermonday deals cybermonday deals steve johnson norman reedus norman reedus sears
No comments:
Post a Comment