Sometimes after our workouts I feel completely wiped. (I refer to this as "blowing a gasket"). It's all I can do to drag myself to the car and drive home, which is luckily not very far. Usually it's a sprint workout that will do it. Let's just say that it makes it hard to get work done the rest of the day... Does this happen to anyone else? Any suggestions, other than "don't swim as hard," which seems to be defeat the reason why I am there in the first place? (It doesn't seem to me that I am swimming harder than anyone else).
Yeah, I don't think I have any heart problems either, just the low BP. Is there any way to measure that other than investing in a home BP monitor?
I may try the GU if my other solutions don't work. I tend to avoid what I see as expensive food products whose ingredients don't look like food to me, although perhaps that perception is not accurate in the case of GU.
Ask your teammates. I am virtually certain somebody already has a home bp monitor that he or she would agree to let you borrow for a few days. Who knows? Maybe you could get your whole team to do before and after bp readings during practice sometime? That would make for a fascinating little armchair scientist thread in its own right.
In terms of Gu, I agree: it's expensive, the Gel tastes pretty bad (I do like the Chomps better), and it's pretty much a man made food-like substance.
The reason I switched to it is that I was getting that bonk problem every practice. For a year, I would force myself to eat little peanut butter crackers before practice (real food, sort of). These worked, but they did a number on my stomach during hard practices. They also really dried out my mouth, something that swimming does even without the crackers.
I started brining some Gatorade to help swallow down the crackers. I felt more and more like a little old lady who swallowed the fly.
Anyhow, then a triathlete friend told me about GU. I tried it. It worked. It was simply to throw a half dozen in my swimming bolsa so I would always have one.
And I have been an enthusiastic GU guy ever since. I buy them by the case online. Still expensive, but not horribly so. GU and tap water is actually cheaper that peanut butter crackers and Gatorade.
I would be really interested in your bp before and after readings. I am not a doctor but, joking aside, I am a hypo, and find this stuff fascinating. My prediction: if you are normal, your bp should go up after a hard sprint. Or at least during it (though how to measure you bp mid-50 is problematic.)
Yeah, I don't think I have any heart problems either, just the low BP. Is there any way to measure that other than investing in a home BP monitor?
I may try the GU if my other solutions don't work. I tend to avoid what I see as expensive food products whose ingredients don't look like food to me, although perhaps that perception is not accurate in the case of GU.
Ask your teammates. I am virtually certain somebody already has a home bp monitor that he or she would agree to let you borrow for a few days. Who knows? Maybe you could get your whole team to do before and after bp readings during practice sometime? That would make for a fascinating little armchair scientist thread in its own right.
In terms of Gu, I agree: it's expensive, the Gel tastes pretty bad (I do like the Chomps better), and it's pretty much a man made food-like substance.
The reason I switched to it is that I was getting that bonk problem every practice. For a year, I would force myself to eat little peanut butter crackers before practice (real food, sort of). These worked, but they did a number on my stomach during hard practices. They also really dried out my mouth, something that swimming does even without the crackers.
I started brining some Gatorade to help swallow down the crackers. I felt more and more like a little old lady who swallowed the fly.
Anyhow, then a triathlete friend told me about GU. I tried it. It worked. It was simply to throw a half dozen in my swimming bolsa so I would always have one.
And I have been an enthusiastic GU guy ever since. I buy them by the case online. Still expensive, but not horribly so. GU and tap water is actually cheaper that peanut butter crackers and Gatorade.
I would be really interested in your bp before and after readings. I am not a doctor but, joking aside, I am a hypo, and find this stuff fascinating. My prediction: if you are normal, your bp should go up after a hard sprint. Or at least during it (though how to measure you bp mid-50 is problematic.)
