I train with an age group team. Our normal Saturday practices are in a pool around 85º and for 2 hours. The practices may not be hugely high in yardage but very high in intensity. I normally have chronic headaches and lately I've been getting migraines after these Sat practices. I don't know if it's the heat of the pool for the long time or the intensity. I talked to the coach today about getting out after 90 min as I find that helps. He mentioned upping my fluid and nutrition intake. What should I up and what else can I do to avoid the migraines? They are making for very boring weekends for my family as I lay on the couch in pain.
Thanks all. I will try to up the water intake and see how that goes. I normally go through 24 oz during the practice but I need to drink more. I tried silicone caps but they were too tight and caused the headaches to get worse. I use latex now.
Try weighing yourself before practice. Our practices are only an hour long, and I almost always lose 3 lbs, or a little less than a half gallon, from sweating and exhaling water vapor. I usually don't drink during practice, and the loss of this much weight, though seemingly extreme to some, is trivial--3/180 = only 1.6 percent of my body weight.
If blood expansion of head vessels is your problem, which is what many suspect is going on with exertional headaches, overdoing the fluids isn't going to help you. Baseball pitchers have been known to lose amazing amounts of weight during a game in the heat. I am pretty sure performance doesn't slip till you are significantly dehydrated.
If you do a regular Google search for hydration and athletic performance, you will find all the standard hooey about drinking constantly, before during and after, pee as clear as a spring in the Colorado Rockies, etc.
However, if you do a Google Scholar search, where the results of actual research are to be found (as opposed to the wishful thinking of the bottled water and Gatorade industries), you will get another story altogether.
Case in point: the abstract from a trial of cyclists in the heat:
Conclusions (1) Compared with euhydration, EID (up to 4% BW loss) does not alter cycling performances during out-of-door exercise conditions; (2) exercise intensity and duration have a much greater impact on cycling TT performances than EID and; (3) relying on thirst sensation to gauge the need for fluid replacement maximises cycling TT performances.
Notes: Euhydration refers to not losing any weight from normal. 4 percent of BW, in my case, would be 4% x 180 = 7.2 lb, or about a gallon.
In your case, assuming you weigh 130, you can lose 5.2 lb. of body weight from water loss and suffer no performance deficit.
Bottom line, as the article points out, (3) relying on thirst sensation to gauge the need for fluid replacement maximises cycling TT performances. (repeated for emphasis!)
Drink when you're thirsty, not when you're not!
Thanks all. I will try to up the water intake and see how that goes. I normally go through 24 oz during the practice but I need to drink more. I tried silicone caps but they were too tight and caused the headaches to get worse. I use latex now.
Try weighing yourself before practice. Our practices are only an hour long, and I almost always lose 3 lbs, or a little less than a half gallon, from sweating and exhaling water vapor. I usually don't drink during practice, and the loss of this much weight, though seemingly extreme to some, is trivial--3/180 = only 1.6 percent of my body weight.
If blood expansion of head vessels is your problem, which is what many suspect is going on with exertional headaches, overdoing the fluids isn't going to help you. Baseball pitchers have been known to lose amazing amounts of weight during a game in the heat. I am pretty sure performance doesn't slip till you are significantly dehydrated.
If you do a regular Google search for hydration and athletic performance, you will find all the standard hooey about drinking constantly, before during and after, pee as clear as a spring in the Colorado Rockies, etc.
However, if you do a Google Scholar search, where the results of actual research are to be found (as opposed to the wishful thinking of the bottled water and Gatorade industries), you will get another story altogether.
Case in point: the abstract from a trial of cyclists in the heat:
Conclusions (1) Compared with euhydration, EID (up to 4% BW loss) does not alter cycling performances during out-of-door exercise conditions; (2) exercise intensity and duration have a much greater impact on cycling TT performances than EID and; (3) relying on thirst sensation to gauge the need for fluid replacement maximises cycling TT performances.
Notes: Euhydration refers to not losing any weight from normal. 4 percent of BW, in my case, would be 4% x 180 = 7.2 lb, or about a gallon.
In your case, assuming you weigh 130, you can lose 5.2 lb. of body weight from water loss and suffer no performance deficit.
Bottom line, as the article points out, (3) relying on thirst sensation to gauge the need for fluid replacement maximises cycling TT performances. (repeated for emphasis!)
Drink when you're thirsty, not when you're not!
