Why Do Top Sailors Have Hairy Ears?

I read a lot of blogs and books and watch a lot of videos about sailboat racing.

To be honest, I don't often come across a tip or piece of advice which is totally new and that I haven't heard, in some form, before.

But I did learn something totally new today in this US Sailing Team Sperry (USSTS) video about Brad Funk.



"I make sure that now I don't shave the hairs in my ears. So now they are super long because I can feel the wind shifts better. It's for real... I am going to let these suckers grow so I know when to tack."

The good bit starts at about 1:40.

The Best Racing Advice in Six Words

If you only had six words to pass on some advice about sailboat racing to a new racer, what would they be?

For example, the first answer that springs to my mind when faced with this question would be the somewhat cynical...

"Win the start. Extend your lead."

But I am sure you can do much better than that.

Please leave your answer in the comments to this post.

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This post was inspired by the post The Best Cruising Advice in Six Words on Windtraveler the excellent cruising blog about that "estrogen-rich family" Brittany, Scott, Isla, Haven and Mira. (The estrogen quote is theirs, not mine.)

That post was inspired by a recent New York Times contest calling for parenting advice in "six words or less" which was, itself, inspired by the book The Best Advice in Six Words: Writers Famous and Obscure on Love, Sex, Money, Friendship, Family, Work, and Much More.

Is that what they call a "meme?" Whatever they call it, please participate, and leave your answer in the comments.

Racing advice in six words.

First thing that comes into your head.

Now.

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This challenge is a little reminiscent of the group writing projects we used to run on this blog.

For example in 2008 I asked people to write blog posts or articles on the theme of Best Sailing Innovation Ever which received 25 entries.

A couple of years later we turned that one on its head and had a group writing project on Worst Sailing Innovation Ever which had 28 entries.

Wurst - Worst. Get it?

Some of our group writing projects have had even more entries than that.

But today's challenge is a lot easier than writing a whole article.

Just six words.

Six words of racing advice.

How hard is that?

Please leave your answer in the comments.

Your name - or nom de plume - would be nice too.

"Nom de plume" is French for "name of pen."  Some stupid name you make up if you don't people to know who you are and, really, who could blame you.

Where was I?

Where am I?

Oh yes. Six words of racing advice.

Submit more than one idea if you feel like it.

In the comments to this post.

Now.

---

I don't know what I will do with all the answers.

Probably put them all in a separate post.

Maybe organize them into categories.

Perhaps use some of the best ideas as jumping off points to write some of my own blog posts, full of insane rambling and half-remembered reminiscences about races in which I used - or failed to use - your advice.

I'm not in this video but it does cover a situation which is pretty typical of my own racing career.

I really do need your advice.

Embrace the Boredom

Boredom is good?

I don't know what to think of this.

I would appreciate your opinion.

There appears to be a whole series of posts and articles lately on the general theme of how boredom is good for you and why you should "embrace the boredom."



For example, James Clear had a chance to talk to a top Olympic coach and ask him the thing we all want to know...

“What’s the difference between the best athletes and everyone else. What do the really successful people do that most people don’t?”  

He briefly mentioned the things that you might expect. Genetics. Luck. Talent.  

But then he said something I wasn’t expecting. “At some point,” he said, “it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day and doing the same lifts over and over and over again.”

Hmmm! The boredom of training.

It sounds right, If you are going to be good at anything - running, sailing, playing the guitar - you are going to have to do lots and lots of practice and training.

And sometimes that gets boring. The ones who succeed learn how to "embrace the boredom."

I can see that. The people who rise to the top are mentally tough enough to stick at the training plan and keep working at it even when they are bored with it. They "fall in love with boredom."



But is that really the only way?



When I was training to run marathons I had to do a number of really, really long runs. Longer than the marathon distance itself in some cases. And what's more boring than running? Put one foot in front of the other. Repeat for 30 miles.

I solved it - to an extent - by exploring different places to run. Trails through unfamiliar woods (until the time I got lost and had to run even further than planned to find my way home.) A trail alongside an historic canal in another part of the state. Actually it was still pretty boring at times.



It's much the same with sailing.

The top Olympic sailors are sailing on at least 100 days every year. I think even sailing would quickly become boring if you were doing the same drills with the same people in the same boat at the same place day after day after day.

Of course, we sailors are lucky in that the winds are rarely the same from one day to the next so that introduces some variety into the program.

But we can also avoid boredom and burnout by mixing it up. Sail in different places. Sail on the sea and on lakes and on rivers. Sail on flat water and in waves. Do solo practice. Tune up with one training partner. Attend a group clinic. Sail small regattas. Sail large regattas. Travel to other countries to sail. Sail in different boats.

But surely most of us sail for fun. Why do it at all if it's boring?



What do you think?

Do you have to "embrace boredom" to succeed.

If so, how do you make yourself do that?

Are there other tricks if you want to put in the time to hone your skills to a high level without getting bored out of your mind in the process?

Is embracing boredom the new mindfulness?

Does embracing boredom make you more creative?

Or is boredom just a bore?

Surfing a bore

Back to the Laser

I have been neglecting her.

No, it's worse that that. Ever since I took delivery of my RS Aero, I have been totally ignoring her.

We have had so many good times together - and helped each other through a few bad times - for so many years and yet I just put her aside.

Yes it is true. Until Friday I hadn't sailed my Laser at all since that memorable day when my Laser and I crushed my friends in their Aeros on the last race of the day on May 17. Crushed!



Michael O'Brien from Seattle who has also been committing boat bigamy with a Laser and an RS Aero warned me. He said in a comment on A Tale of Two Boats …

"When you switch back to the Laser after sailing the Aero for a while, you will feel like you are driving a truck. The momentum and weight difference is dramatic."

So I took my faithful but neglected old Laser over to Bristol last Friday to give here some attention and renew my relationship with her.

I wasn't sure what to expect.

But it felt good.

It felt familiar

It was fun, even exciting at times.

It wasn't like driving a truck at all.

A truck

Phew! I was seriously worried that sailing an RS Aero for a few weeks might have killed my passion for  Laser sailing. Far from it. In fact it felt so good to be back in the Laser, almost as if my time in the Aero had re-energized my enthusiasm for the Laser. I guess I really am going to be a two boat sailor.

---

The next thing I was interested to explore was an initial answer to the question I asked myself in A Tale of Two Boats - would sailing an Aero help develop sailing skills that would also make be a better Laser sailor.

Sailing upwind in 6-8 knots I did notice three things…

1. I was much more sensitive to weather helm. I think I had got used to sailing the Laser with a heavy helm - because I wasn't sailing the boat flat enough - that I had grown to tolerate it. The Aero is very light on the tiller and now I was more sensitive to when the Laser had weather helm and was naturally trying to reduce it.


2. I was much more active in the boat - moving my upper body in and out a lot to balance the boat. Whether this was because I had got used to doing this in an Aero or whether it was in response to the extra sensitivity when the helm felt too heavy, I don't know. A Laser coach once told me that I am not active enough in the boat; I tended to lock my body in one position and hope that would work all the time. Sailing the Aero seems to have cured me of this fault in a Laser.


3. My tacks seemed a lot smoother and under control compared to how they were before in the Laser. I really don't know why, because I don't really feel I am doing good tacks in the Aero yet. Perhaps I am really comparing my current Laser tacks to my current Aero tacks, but I don't think so. Or perhaps in struggling to get my Aero tacks right I have somehow indirectly made my Laser tacks seem easier.

It's early days yet, and I wasn't comparing my boat speed to another boat. But it does seem that sailing the Aero may develop skills that will positively impact my Laser technique too.

---

On Sunday, I took my Laser out for a sail on Mount Hope Bay. I was expecting to be drifting around practicing my roll tacks, but almost as soon as I launched the wind picked up from under 5 mph to more like 17 gusting into the low 20s from the south-east.

So, I cranked down the cunningham and cranked on the vang and hiked as hard as I could and worked my way through the waves upwind for a couple of miles or more, towards Roger Williams University.

I have nothing positive to report at all about how sailing the RS Aero may have helped my upwind technique in a Laser in stronger winds. In fact quite the reverse. Either I am not hiking hard enough in the Aero, or maybe the Aero hiking position is so different from how you hike in a Laser, that it's no real help when you go back to the Laser. Whatever the reason those two upwind miles felt like damn hard work.

I have a vague recollection that after dinner I fell asleep on the living room floor. This morning my back feels like it always feels when I go back to Laser sailing after too many weeks off.  Sore.

Memo to self: the only way to keep fit enough to hike hard in a Laser is to do a lot of Laser sailing in heavier winds. Seriously.

But going back downwind, even though the wind had dropped a little, was pure pleasure.

I love my Laser

I love sailing on the bay.

I am a two boat sailor.

Laser Hiking with Nick Thompson

Pursuing the theme I started on Tuesday of trying to get a good mental picture of an

aspect of Laser sailing technique in order to improve my own pathetic attempts at sailing a Laser fast… check out this video of British sailor Nick Thompson demonstrating correct Laser hiking technique going upwind in about 14-15 knots occasionally gusting more.

This is a screenshot taken at about 0:21 seconds.

Makes it look easy doesn't he?

Ha ha. Only joking. The shot above shows Nick's "just sitting comfortably in the boat while chatting to the camera and explaining what he is going to do in this video" pose. That is not how you sail a Laser upwind in 15 knots. Well, maybe if you weighed 250lbs this would work.

This is a screenshot taken at about 1:00. Now Nick has his feet in the perfectly adjusted toe-strap, toes pointing up, leg straight, quads tight to keep his bum out of the water, leaning back and hands high.

Hmmm, That looks a bit more strenuous.

But wait. It gets worse.



Just after this shot Nick says, "And then the hard bit. Lean back and keep that work rate up all the time. The harder you hike, the faster you go…. As the wave hits the boat the weight goes out and back."

You really have to watch the video from about 1:00 onwards to appreciate how active Nick is in the boat. Working the waves with his body. Working the sheet.  Steering aggressively. But here is one screenshot to give you an impression of what it's all about.

I can do that.

Well sort of.

For a short time.

A minute or two, perhaps.

But I'm not fit enough to do it all day long for multiple mile long beats.

And I bet if I put a GoPro camera on my boat, I would discover that I'm not really hiking like Nick Thompson at all. It just feels like I am.



Hmmm.

Maybe I'll just buy some of that cool Zhik hiking gear and a matching hat and PFD in a fetching shade of turquoise.

That should work?

Right?

Finish Every Race

An Optimist sailor reminded me recently of one of the most important tips for the racing sailor.

OK. Technically Damian, of the Final Beat is no longer an Optimist sailor. But he did write a couple of weeks ago a (typically) excellent post about the British 1988 Optimist Selection Trials in which he raced along with Iain Percy and (the now late) Andrew Simpson.

And 2015 Damian passed on words of wisdom about what 12-year-old 1988 Damian learned at this event.

There was something about ferrets.

And chocolates.

But the thing that really caught my attention was this…

One of the main things I learned was that

it is worth finishing every race,

especially in breezy conditions.

Oh, man, Isn't that so true?




I have been very bad at following this golden rule in recent years.

I have become lazy.

I have become a quitter.

For example, I quit early and skipped the last race of the first day at the 2010 Laser Masters Worlds. Actually I skipped the last race of the day three times that week, and skipped another whole day of racing. Not good.

Last year I called it a day before the last few races of the day at the 2014 Newport Regatta.

And those are only two example of many.

I have even got into the habit of quitting early at local fleet racing at Duxbury and Tuesday night practices in Bristol.




"Habit" is the right word. A bad habit.

I have invented excuses… I'm getting older… I have a bad back… I'm not fit enough… I'm only doing this for fun etc. etc. etc.

I even devised a self-serving "philosophy" complete with crappy chart to justify my laziness.

But Damian is right.

You should sail every race especially in windier conditions.




Why finish every race?

1. Sailors' high is one reason. I think it's much the same thing that runners call "runners' high." It's that amazing buzz you feel when you push yourself hard at a regatta and lay it all out in the final race of a long windy day. I wrote about such a race at the 2008 Buzzards Bay Regatta in Cannabinoid Moment. The last race of the first day of the 2011 Hyannis Regatta was another example - Lawn Mower Guy Goes Sailing. I used to get high that way pretty often in the old days.

2. The personal satisfaction of completing what you started is a second reason.

3. And then even a blind squirrel finds a nut some days.

Or to put it another way, if you hang in there for every race and work hard right up to the finish of the last race, once in a while even a mediocre sailor like me can go home with some silverware. Or even better… a towel. It happened on the day at the 2008 New England Laser Masters which I wrote about at Not Throwing in the Towel.




Let me finish by quoting some advice on this topic from blog reader SoxSail which he wrote in a comment to a post titled Stamina in which I tried to justify why I didn't sail in the fourth and final race of the Saturday at the Buzzards Bay Regatta back in 2010 using the usual pathetic range of excuses… I had "put it all on the line" in the third race… I was "exhausted"… I would only be "hacking round the course" in the fourth race… blah, blah, blah.

Here is what my wise reader said...

I think you are overestimating your competition, and possibly underestimating yourself. The other guys don't run half marathons and probably hit the wall after race 1.5. You might have been tired, and not raced as well in that 4th race, but I bet there would have been tons of others who would have done even worse. Not to mention automatically beating all the other guys who wimped out early. No disrespect, but I think you should have raced, and that you would have done well. 

So this year it will all be different.

I won't be a quitter.

Laser sailors finish every race.

27 Things To Do on your Laser or Sunfish While Waiting Between Races

A reader asked what you should do when waiting between Laser races at a regatta.

Good question.

Personally I hate waiting for anything.  But it's an inevitability at many large regattas. We wait for wind. We wait for the RC to adjust the course. We wait for other fleets using the same course to get their starts off. We wait while other fleets using the same course have a gazillion general recalls.

etc. etc. etc.

Ugh!

So what to do.

1. Hydrate. Very important on a long day of racing, especially if the weather is warm. Sometimes the RC will hand out water and sometimes you have to bring your own drink. Whatever. Drink something between every race. Dehydration will degrade your racing performance and make you feel weird too.

2. Pee. You did read #1 I hope. After drinking gallons of water, eventually the time will come when you have to get rid of it. We all do it. But if you are a man and are going to stand on the transom of your Laser and unzip and wave it around, then sail a distance away from your fellow sailors. We all have one. Well most of us do. But we don't want to see yours.

3. Eat something. Whole screeds have been written on what to eat during exercise that lasts several hours. Sometimes we race more hours in a day than it would take us to run a marathon. Nutrition experts will lecture you on what to eat and what not to eat. My own personal advice would be to find something that works for you and stick with it. Personally I like Clif Bars and those energy gels that long distance runners use - especially the ones with caffeine. What do you like to eat on the water?

4. Stretch. Some people are quite skilled at doing all those fancy yoga stretches on a Laser but I never seem to manage them without falling off the boat. I should practice this more.

5. Watch the other fleets starting. As Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a lot by watching."  What's the bias on the start line? Which side of the beat seems to be paying? Stuff like that.

6. Plan your strategy for the next race. What are you going to differently?

7. Chat to your friends. Talk about baseball or where you're going for dinner. Tell some jokes. Sail over to that weird looking dude and ask him if he's Tillerman. Talk some trash about other sailors. You could even ask some of the good sailors what they did in the last race. You might learn something.

8. Relax. This is my favorite. Get your bum in the cockpit and stretch out. Sometimes other sailors even think I am asleep. Maybe I am sometimes.

9. Watch out you don't get run over by a mommy boat. Especially if you are asleep. Enough said.

10. Pull up your hiking pants. They always slip down when racing. At least mine do.

11. Check out your boat. Is anything working loose? Coming untied? Falling off? Ready to break? Maybe you can do some emergency maintenance before the next race. You do carry an emergency kit don't you? Seriously, I was in a race this season where another Laser sailor had his mainsheet break! You think there might have been a few warning signs first?

12. If there's no wind and it's a hot sunny day and it looks like there is going to be a long wait, then strip off, hang your sailing clothes on the boom to dry, and work on your suntan.

13. Put some more sunscreen on.  Preferably before #12.

14. Play. You did bring a frisbee and a water gun didn't you?

15. Have a beer. I have raced at places where the RC hands out beer to Laser sailors between races. Personally I have never indulged until all the races were over. My sailing performance is bad enough without being under the influence too. But whatever rocks your boat.

16. Pose for the photographer boat.

17. Work out exactly what you are going to write on the protest form about that fooking idiot who fouled you in the last race.

18. Get yourself fired up for the next race. Talk to yourself. Mutter your mantra.


What else?

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Update Sep 19: This post was first published on Sep 17 as Waiting - 18 Things. An anonymous commenter suggested another 9 things to do (some with photos to illustrate them) that are so good that I have added her contributions to the list and changed the title of the post. 

19. Check all the GoPro cameras and other gizmos on your boat and body.

20. Use one camera to make better photos then the photoboat (and charge nothing.)

21. In case you misinterpreted the wind for the race you just finished, change the 'boat mode' eg the mast rake or goose-neck (Sunfish!)

22. Clean your sunglasses.

23. Cool your feet.

24. Read a newspaper (or SI or ..)

25. Do Yoga exercise.

26. Discuss your sailing with your coach.

27. Do some swimming

Thanks to Hertogenbosch for her contributions to this post. (Note the  new policy on this blog: anonymous commenters will be assigned genders and names at random by the blog owner.)

Back Pain - there's an app for that

Regular readers of this blog will know that from time to time I suffer from lower back pain.

I don't think it's directly caused by Laser sailing (although that may be a contributing factor.) The pain can be triggered by the silliest things like putting my socks on or reaching for a weed in the garden. (A doctor recently told me that primary care physicians hear stories like that all the time.)

But I think the last two bouts have been brought on by my bad posture while spending way too much time hunched over a computer writing blog posts and other stuff.



/Pam over at the Improper Course blog (where did they get that name from) posted some advice on the issue the other day at No More Back Pain. And there's plenty of other advice on the Internet including many videos on how to contort yourself into various poses and if you only do them for 6 hours a day, 365 days a year you will never experience back pain again.

Do this for 6 hours a day 

and never experience back pain again

Or you could go to a doctor who will chop off parts of your spine, or stick together parts of your spine, or replace parts of your spine, or implant some doohickey in your spine. You know the old saying: If all you have is a scalpel, the solution to everything is back surgery. (Or something.

Back surgery

Or if you are not into knives then you can go to a man or woman with big hands called a "chiropractor" who will push and pull at bits of your back and make it crack a lot and then give you a bill and never tell you that you would have got better anyway without having him or her crack your bones.

Your chiropractor with her previous patient

But now there's a better solution. At least for people like me who mess up their backs with bad blogging posture. There's an app for that. Or to be more accurate a device and an app. It's called the Lumo Lift.

The Lumo Lift is a small device that you place on your clothing near your collar and it detects the curvature at the top of your spine. When you slouch, your spine curves, and the Lumo Lift gives a small buzz to remind you to straighten up.  (Just like your Mum and your schoolteacher and your drill sergeant used to.) The Lumo Lift can also track your physical activity like the Fitbit and other gadgets.

Wow. What will they think of next?

Attractive young lady wearing a Lumo Lift

Check out all the details and buy one for everyone you know who has bad posture at www.lumobodytech.com



Full disclosure: I did not receive any bribes or payments or free samples to write this review and to be honest I have never even tried a Lumo Lift so I have absolutely no idea whether it really works or not, but it does sound like more fun than back surgery. All opinions are my own (except when I used cut and paste.)

Jersey Pump

I thought I would write a post about the importance of the Jersey pump in my life.

No, no, no.

I haven't taken to wandering around the boardwalk in flowery pants and a tank top and making gestures at the passers-by.

I am referring to a certain product called Jersey Pump.

Jersey Pump is a protein supplement designed to "fuel the gladiator in you" whatever that means.

But I have never actually tried drinking Jersey Pump. So I can't really comment on whether it will "increase your stamina and build lean muscle mass."



No, no, no.

I am here to praise the creativity of the motivational messages crafted by the person who is posting to Twitter with the handle @JerseyPump.

It appears to be the corporate twitter feed for the folks who sell the stuff in the orange bottles but there is very little direct pushing of the product. To be honest there is some macho weightlifters' trash talk. At least I think that's what it is. I don't circulate in trashtalking macho weightlifter circles very much these days. Tweets like these….

To be honest the main reason I wear tank tops is to avoid a concealed weapons charge  

I've got 99 problems and idiots curling on the squat rack is one of them 

Gloves to lift weights? Don't you mean bitch mittens?   

I'm too big? Not possible! You're too small. 

I eat dumbbells for breakfast  

More Plates=More Dates 

I don't even know what most of those mean.



But along with those are some real inspirational messages that I actually find useful in pushing me to stop reading twitter feeds from protein supplement marketeers, walk away from the computer, and actually go for a run or work out on the hiking bench or even… yes even lift some weights.

If you keep saying tomorrow, you will run out of time.

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

I will do what you won't today, so I can do what you can't tomorrow.

Of course it's hard. It's supposed to be hard. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it.

If you want something you've never had, then you've got to do something you've never done.

Your body is the baggage you carry through life. The more excess baggage the shorter the trip.

Thanks to @JerseyPump I am determined to be fitter at the start of this year's Laser sailing season than I have ever been before.

This year will be different.



As long as I don't put my back out again while weeding or sitting at my desk.

Are My Bathroom Scales Broken?

How important is to be the right weight to do well at racing Lasers?

Or do Laser sailors - and dinghy sailors in general - obsess too much about the impact of their body weight on their racing performance?



There is a great series of articles about fitness and nutrition for sailing written by Meka Taulbee on the SailFit website.

One year she measured the heights and weights of sailors at the Laser Midwinters East, and compared the results to how the sailors performed in the regatta. This is how she summarized her conclusions in Wit vs Weight…

The figures I used are based on ten sailors finishing in the top 25% of each fleet. 

Let’s start with the full rigs.  

The average height was 6’1/2” and the average weight was 180.4 pounds.  

One thing that I noticed was that the sailors who weren’t 6 foot or taller were generally the ones who weighed more, while the ones who were 6 foot and over generally weighed less.  

Most of the heights were pretty close, but the range in weight was actually 35 lbs.

Interestingly both the lightest and the heaviest sailor in this group finished near the bottom of the top 25% and the closer you got to the top of the group the closer the sailors came to the average.

Hmmm. The top sailors were all close to the average of 180.4 pounds.



Confession: I am currently around 200 lbs. Apparently that's about 20 lbs overweight for optimum performance as a Laser sailor.

Some years recently I have weighed a bit less in the summer when I am running and sailing and gardening a lot more than I am in the winter. Some years I get down to 190-195  lbs but it's been a long time since I've been 180 lbs.

Back in 2004-2006 when I was training to run marathons I was around 180-185 lbs.

Should I be aiming to get back to that range again?



Let's look at some more evidence.

Pam and Doug over at Improper Course have been discussing recently the question as to whether Doug should be sailing a Radial or a Standard Rig Laser at Masters Worlds. In one of their two posts on this topic they presented this chart.

Doug is clearly in a different league to myself, but let's look at how much he weighed in his worst and  best performances sailing a Standard Rig Laser at the Masters Worlds in recent years.

1997 - 185 lbs - 1st
2006 - 180 lbs - 1st
1999 - 182 lbs - 3rd
2000 - 183 lbs  - 3rd

2008 - 190 lbs - 12th
2007 - 186 lbs - 9th

OK. Not a perfect correlation. But when he was his heaviest (190lbs) he had his worst result.

And he won two world championships weighing 180 and 185 lbs.



Hmmm. I think the evidence is clear. I need to lose some weight.

This year I will race at a competitive weight of 180-185 lbs.

This year will be different.

Right?



PS. Right now I have no plan as to how I am going to lose 15-20 lbs in the next few months.

Any suggestions?

Or do Laser sailors obsess too much about the impact of our body weight on our racing performance?

What I Learned from the 2006 Laser Masters Worlds Grandmaster Champion

I've had a hiking bench for years. Built it in the late 1980s from the instructions in Dick Tillman's book.

Some winters I practice on it. Some years more than others. But I discovered a few months ago that I've been doing it all wrong.

Basically I would do lots of sit-ups, with hands on my head, moving between the flat-out legs-connected-to-the deck, body-straight position to sitting up. I was quite proud of how many sit-ups like this that I could do.



Then Doug at Improper Course burst my bubble with his his post last March, Everything I Know About Hiking Benches. Apparently what I should have been doing is maintaining that flat out hiking position, not doing sit-ups.

Makes sense. That's what you do when you are sailing, right? You don't sail a whole beat doing sit-ups. At least not unless the wind is changing from 15 knots to 5 knots very 3 seconds.

Doug on his hiking bench.

He says he doesn't hold the sheet normally.

So, this winter I tried following Doug's recommendation, holding that flat hiking position without using a sheet for support.

Embarrassing! I could barely hold it for 30 seconds. And after 3 repetitions of 30 seconds I was toast!

I guess you need different muscles to hike flat than to do sit-ups. Abs vs hip flexors? Something like that I suspect. I really don't know mussels.

Doug says he had the same issue at first but he found that he could, with lots of practice over many months, build up his muscles until he could hold that position on his hiking bench for 10 minutes without a break. At that point he says he "felt very fast on the water in a breeze."

Duh! I now understand what I have been doing wrong all these years.

It's not that I'm unfit. I'm so dumb that I've been working on the wrong kind of fitness.

And so I was inspired by Doug to get more serious this year about building up my hiking fitness. I have been working out like Doug on the hiking bench and can already see a lot of progress. But there's still a long way to go.



This year I will be fit for hiking.

I will be fast upwind in a breeze.

This year will be different.

Right?

The Fitter You Are The Faster You Go

12 Races

I kind of went crazy with running races in 2013. I ran 12 races in the year, certainly more races than I have run for many years - perhaps more races in a year than I have ever run before - for a total of over 80 miles of racing.

Part of the motivation was an attempt to qualify in the Grand Prix Series of the Rhode Island Rhode Running Club. This originally involved running in 9 out of 15 designated races around Rhode Island and nearby states, with the distances ranging from 5ks to half marathons. This was changed during the year to 8 out of 14 races due to some canceled race or scheduling conflict. I forget the details.

You know how I am with crazy artificial participation challenges. So I went for it and I did complete the required 8 races to qualify. (I could have done the 9 if I had needed to - so there!) I didn't make the top 5 but I was up there at times. And I did discover some new, different, interesting races as a result.



The year started, as it always seems to lately, on New Year's Day with the Hangover Classic 5 Miler in Bristol, which I wrote about at Celebrating the New Year Tillerman Style. It was frigging cold. There was ice on parts of the course. But I ran a good time (for me) so that was all good.



For reasons that escape me now I ran another race in Little Compton only 4 days later, a 4.8 mile road race. It wasn't even on the grand prix circuit. I must have been crazy.



In February I ran the 15k Run the Reservoir Race in N. Scituate RI, another regular on my schedule these days and took a few photos to use in one of my incredibly annoying Where Am I? quizzes. I thought my shot of the ladies lining up for the Porta Potty before the race was especially well-framed. O Docker was first to answer the quiz correctly. Isn't he always?

In early April I entered another of the grand prix races, the Thomas Giunta 5k in Fall River. Fall River MA is the town immediately to the north of my current home town of Tiverton RI but I hadn't thought of it as much of a running venue before. How wrong I was! The race is in honor of a fallen police officer and the pre-race ceremonies were very moving. I started near the back of the pack and had a lot of trouble in the first mile picking my way past the ladies who like to walk six-abreast with strollers and similar obstacles. But surprisingly in this race I achieved my best age-graded score in the grand prix series of all eight grand prix races I ran. No idea why. Maybe having to go slow in the first half mile ain't such a bad plan after all?

I took the opportunity of the Fall River race to take some urban landscape photos for another Where Am I?  quiz. O Docker was first to get it right. Again. Isn't he always?

The Laser frostbiting season was still going strong on the last weekend in April when I skipped sailing to go and run the Newport 10 Miler. The race started and ended at Fort Adams, the home of the Laser frostbite fleet, and at least one superfit young dude did both the running race and the Laser racing. Not me! I was knackered after the running so I went home and wrote a post about Socks. Sounds like I spent most of the race looking at lady runners' legs. Hey, it takes a long time for me to run 10 miles. I have to find something to pass the time.

At the end of May I went into Boston to run one of my favorite half marathons and wrote about it at A Half to Remember. Memorial Day Weekend. A few weeks after the Boston marathon bombings. A race which is always in honor of fallen Boston police officers, and this year especially in memory of Sean Collier the MIT police officer murdered by the marathon bombers. A very emotional day. Glad I was there to express my thanks to all the police officers attending for their courage and professionalism in dealing with the extraordinary challenge the city faced this Spring. Boston Strong!



On the first weekend of June 1 decided to bag another grand prix race. And I was so glad I did for several reasons. It was way over on the other side of the state, at least 30 minutes driving, a 5k in North Smithfield. It was the hottest day of the year up to then, so I didn't run very fast but discovered afterwards that I had scored two achievements…

• First it seemed that not many of the other Rhode Island Rhode Runner grand prix point baggers had bothered to brave the wilds of far north-western Rhode Island so I ended up in third place among "Rhode Island Rhode Runner men grand prix point baggers who bothered to do the race and also qualify for the full series." That didn't do my series score any harm. Woo hoo! I'll take it.
• Even better I achieved something I had only done once before in my life. I won a running trophy! It was only for second place in the "incredibly old geezers - we are amazed that they can actually stagger round the course in this heat" category. But even so. Only Twice in a Lifetime!  Woo hoo! I'll take it.

I also managed to use a photo of part of my trophy in one of my world famous What is this?  quizzes.

Guesses ranged from a Blogulator 5000 to a roll of carpet, and an armadillo. For once it wasn't O Docker who got it right.



Geeze, this post is dragging on and we are only up to race #7. Time to pick up the pace.



There was a 10 mile race on a Friday evening in July in Narragansett. It was called the Blessing of the Fleet but I never saw any blessed fleet. It was a showery, damp, humid day. The parking was a long way from the start. It rained on me at the end of the race. I couldn't find any free food or drink after the race. The finish was even further from the parking than the start was. But I did see an amazing double rainbow over the bay (through my rain-spattered spectacles)

There was a 5 mile race on a Sunday in August on Common Fence Point in Portsmouth. I ran out of oomph. Probably because I did a 12 mile training run only two days before. Some times I am really dumb.

There was a 5k race on a Sunday in September in Warren. It was called Finish for the Guinness. They gave you a Guinness to drink at the finish. I should have taken a photo of it to use in a What is this? quiz.



And there was a half marathon on a Sunday in October, the UnitedHealthcare Newport Half Marathon.  Best weekend of the year because…

• Spectacular course
• I didn't run out of oomph
• My son ran the race with me
• My son had a son on the day before the race.

And there was a 5k in Barrington on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to Trot Your Turkey Off, and that's all I have to say about that.



Phew.

So there you have it.

12 races. Four 5ks. One 4.8 mile. Two 5 miles. One 15k. Two 10 milers. Two half marathons.

82. 7 miles.

I must be crazy.

Savasana

Yoga can be difficult for the beginner.

But it can improve your Laser sailing immensely.

One pose that all Laser sailors should master, is Savasana, also known as the Corpse Pose.

It will prepare your mind BEFORE a major regatta. Do Savasana on the boat ramp while the keen guys are waiting to launch.

It will relax you and speed your recovery AFTER a hard day of sailing. Do Savasana on the floor of the bar at the yacht club while the other sailors are still arguing over their beers about how Rule 18 applied at the 3rd mark in race 5.



Here is how to do Savasana..

Lie on your back with your legs straight and arms at your sides. Rest your hands about six inches away from your body with your palms up. Let your feet drop open. Close your eyes. Let your breath occur naturally. Allow your body to feel heavy on the ground.

Working from the soles of your feet up to the crown of your head, consciously release every body part, organ, and cell. Relax your face. Let your eyes drop deep into their sockets. Invite peace and silence into your mind, body, and soul.



It's tough to get it right, but it's worth it.



I think I'll take a nap now.

Killing Two Birds with One Stone

Most of the top Laser sailors seem to favor cycling as their favorite cardio workout, not to mention that it can't do any harm at building those steel quads you need to hike flat out from your toes on mile long beats six, eight, ten times a day. I really should cycle more.

And I've been thinking for some time that I would like to have some way to get out on the water on days when there isn't enough wind for Laser sailing. Kayak? Stand-up paddleboarding?

But how about this?

Why not kill two birds with stone?

Perhaps I should get an itBike?

I wonder if they come with cupholders?

What do you think?

Ham String

Apparently we have a tendon or muscle or something in the back of each leg that's called a ham string.

Or maybe a hamstring.



I've never given it much thought before.

But I have read that runners can injure their hamstrings.

And I have read that Laser sailors can injure their hamstrings.



I've never had a problem with my hamstrings.

Through running or sailing or too much sitting at a desk or pulling up a little weed or putting my socks on or some other similar dangerous activities, I have at times hurt my ankles and my knees and my lower back. About once every year or two I do something stupid like that and end up having to lay off sailing and running for a while.

But I've never had a problem with my hamstring.

At least not until this week.



I went for a run on Thursday. Not a particularly strenuous run. Some half mile intervals on the East Bay Bike Path. I've done this workout many times before.

But this time I started getting a pain in the back of my left leg. And every interval I did it was getting worse. So I eventually gave up and walked slowly back to the car.

I guess I had done something bad to my hamstring.  The left one was very tight and sore.



So I looked up on the Interwebs what to do about a hamstring strain, as one does.

Apparently there are lots of causes for a hamstring strain.

For some of the causes, some gentle stretching is recommended.

For other causes, then stretching is apparently the worst possible thing you can do.

Thank you Interwebs.



So I decided to treat myself with some rest and some gentle stretching.

And rum.

Mainly rum.



I'm not sure why I've messed up my hamstring after so many years.

Maybe I overdid it in the 10 mile road race I ran last Friday evening. It was hard going in the heat and humidity.

Maybe it was from trying to modify my Laser hiking style from type 1 to type 2 as I discussed in my post, Paul Goodison on Hiking Style. I did go out and practice this a bit on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Damn you Paul Goodison.

Or maybe it was from sitting around doing too much blogging? Damn you Fred A. Mabbett.



In the latest North American Laser Class newsletter, Ari Barshi from the Laser Training Centre in Cabarete wrote an article about feedback he received from some ISAF coaches. Apparently they told him to work harder upwind. (Although Ari is already so fast upwind and downwind I really wish he would ease off a bit so the rest of us have a chance of staying anywhere near him.)

Ari also learned from the coaches that the way to avoid injury is to warm up before sailing, stretch on the water between races and drills, and most importantly stretch after derigging the boat.

Ah ah! I have been neglecting my stretching routines lately.

Maybe I should have stretched my hamstrings after that road race.

And maybe I should have stretched my hamstrings after trying to hike differently on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.



So, as it turns out, it's a good job I didn't register for the Buzzards Bay Regatta this weekend. I wouldn't have been able to sail anyway.

I just did some gentle stretches. Now I think I will do some gentle exercise. Perhaps mow the lawn.

Or go to the store and buy some more rum.

Why is the rum always gone?

What do America's Cup Sailors Eat?

Great interview here with Head Athletic Trainer Craig McFarlane for ORACLE TEAM USA on the nutrition program for the sailors on his team.

These guys burn so many calories sailing the AC72 for 4-6 hours most days, plus working out in the gym, that they need to consume around 10,000 calories a day.

The sailors eat six to seven meals a day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus three or four lighter meals. 

That means they have to eat snack meals on the boat which at the moment means wraps, burritos, rice salads or potato salads, lean meats, fruit, and... Clif Bars.



Clif Bars?

That's what I like to eat when I am Laser sailing.

I'm actually doing something right?



Eat like the pros.

Eat Clif Bars.

Happy Meal?

How would you feel if your kid was served a McDonald's Sausage McMuffin as part of the boxed lunch (to be eaten on the water) at a youth sailing regatta?


Is this the kind of healthy snack that we should be encouraging young athletes to eat?


What do you like to eat when you are sailing?

Prancercise®

I am thinking of using this as my warm-up routine in the boat park at my next Laser regattas.

What do you think?

Four Things

One of our sail-blogging friends is thinking that his sailing days may be over. The adversities of advancing age are catching up with him and his wife, and they are trying to sell their boat. Or maybe not. He doesn't seem sure what he really wants to do.

It made me think about my own situation. I am lucky right now that I have good health and reasonable fitness, and some of the things I enjoy the most are outdoor physical activities such as sailing and running and gardening.

I was reminded of some advice I read a few years ago (can't remember where - can't find it on the Google) about how we should choose the activities and interests to pursue in retirement. It was suggested that we should think of two dimensions - physical vs mental and social vs solitary - and try and choose at least one activity that would combine every combination of those two dimensions. In other words do some physically challenging things with other people and some by yourself; and do some mentally rewarding activities with other people and some by yourself.

I think the logic was that it's good to get some exercise but as you get older your ability to pursue physically demanding pursuits may wane because of illness or injury or just old age, so if that's all you do you may find a huge gap in your life when you have to give them up.

Similarly it's good to get out and socialize with friends, but as you get older you may find your friends dying before you, or you may not be able to see them so often for other reasons, so it's good to have some rewarding activities that you can follow on your own.

Also it's good to exercise your brain. But if that's all you do, what's going to happen if and when your mental facilities decline?

Seemed like good advice.

Not sure how well I've been following it...

Physical and solitary - running is very much in this category for me, although some people make it more social.

Physical and social - in spite of being a single-handed sailor, one of the things I do really appreciate about sailing is the ability to hang out with sailing friends before and after sailing, preferably over a few beers.

Mental and solitary - when I'm feeling lazy this is my natural place to go. Reading, sudoku, browsing the web, playing SailX.

Mental and social - Hmmm. This appears to be the missing quadrant in my life. What am I supposed to do? Join a chess club? Take nuclear physics classes at a local university? Enter the Senior Olympics Spelling Bee? This one is a puzzle to me. Or does blogging count?

What about you?

How are your four things?