You Need to Work Harder – Relax

 It was the third race of the Laser’s New England Masters in Newport, RI. I had been aiming toward this regatta for the second half of the summer and now I was quite literally hanging on by my toenails, and that was with my radial rig set board flat and eased. The committee boat said that gusts to 30 were overlaid on top of steady wind of 24 plus. I was keeping the boat upright by easing the sheet and hiking off my toenails, or so it felt, but my energy was evaporating.

I started racing Lasers as a push to keep in shape. My wife and I have certain things we spend money on that we identify as our “investment in our retirement.” My Laser falls into that category; what good are financial resources if we aren’t healthy and active enough to be enjoying our lives. I’m not a fanatical sailor, I also bike and hike some even during sailing season, but I try to set goals and invest the practice time to keep growing in the sport. This regatta was challenging my idea of a good fitness level.

At the third start I was solidly in the middle of the line, and of the fleet, as we beat to windward on starboard. My steering through the waves was adequate and my ability to hold my lane was enough to keep me with the fleet. But to hold the boat flat and have the power to drive through the confusing wave pattern that was funneled into the mouth of the river, I had to hike full out most of the time, even with the sail eased.

I timed my tack to port to coincide with a slightly longer period between peaks and felt some nice acceleration as I rode the back of the next wave that was now coming in at a better angle. This would be a great tack to hold until I crossed over to the slightly more protected right side of the course. But my legs were aching and no amount of easing the sail allowed me to take the pressure off them.

It’s at times like these that you remember all that good advice you read in front of the winter fires in your cozy living room. “Top Laser sailors can wall sit for 30 minutes or more.” “Bicycle racing helps develop your quads for sailing.” “The only way to build your hiking muscles is to build or buy a hiking bench and hang out on it for hours in front of the television.”

What chance did I have? I was lucky if I could wall sit for 3 minutes; I wasn’t about to start racing my bike; and I don’t watch television. I want to race Lasers, but I can’t and don’t want to, approach it like an Olympic campaign. I need a way to keep my competitive goals in line with the rest of the demands in my life. I’m willing to invest some real time, but it apparently isn’t enough to let me hang with the fleet.

As I tacked across toward the right side of the course, the waves began to disrupt my smooth flow more and more. I could feel in the jerky motion of the boat, the results of my eroding ability to make my body work and keep my mind focused. My tiredness and pain were slowly absorbing all my energy. Then the final straw appeared. The launching beach was right in my line of sight. My mind must have felt like it was fighting for its survival because it took over what was left of my attention with a singular thought, “I’d better get out of this race before I dump and can’t get back in the boat.” I tried to fight the notion for a few minutes and then the reasonableness of it overwhelmed my resistance. I eased off a bit so I could pass within hailing distance of a mark boat and after announcing my intentions to withdraw I headed toward the beach.

Two questions filled my thoughts as I trailered back home, “What are the other skippers doing that allows them to keep their speed up and physically hang in there for that long?” and “What do I need to do to get better control of my persistence?”

Now I don’t have a lot of room in my schedule to increase my physical conditioning. I do at least 30 minutes of aerobics two to three times a week, 45 minutes of resistance training twice a week, and 20 minutes of stretching 3 to 4 times a week. I manage the aerobics by cross training between rowing, running and bicycling. The resistance training is partially tailored to sailing and hiking. I schedule my resistance so that I have periods of time to build strength and then work on endurance. I keep looking for information on ways to increase the effectiveness of the time I spend, but there isn’t much I can add to it.

Where do I go from here? My step-son reminded me of part of the answer the other morning at our regular two-hour writing time. He’s a rock climber and I love when he shares some of the techniques he uses to improve his ability. There’s often some piece of information that throws a little light on an unrelated problem I’m struggling with. This time he had a piece of data that was applicable to my Laser sailing problem and reminded me that I had forgotten some of what I had read in front of those cozy fires.

In rock climbing you improve faster if you learn to take mini-breaks rather than just pushing through. A mini-break is as simple as completely relaxing your arms and hands, between holds. A good climber will dangle his arm and shake out the tension then raise it to find the next hold. This is what we Laser sailors need to remember also? Take mini-breaks to relax your legs, and to build our endurance?

Yeah, I know, lots of books say to find ways to relax; I just keep forgetting it when I’m practicing or feeling competitive and hiking hard to hold the boat down. The idea is to let one leg take all the tension and then relax the other one for a few seconds. I sometimes find this easier if I cross my ankles and let the top leg relax. Of course occasionally I can sit in and take the pressure off both legs. The blood flows back in easier; the muscle recoups a bit, learns to manage the endurance requirements better and will soon be ready to hold for awhile again.

Sometimes, to work harder we need to relax. And making our muscles work at less than maximum level may increase our endurance, so sometimes to train more effectively we also need to relax.

When top sailors advise us that having tired legs isn’t an excuse to tack to just give our legs a break; they’re trying to motivate us to build up our endurance. But when you’ve made the best investment in conditioning you’re willing or able to make, or when your age seems to be setting limits on your ability to build further endurance, try short breaks. Then when you’re racing try to find a way to hang in there until the wind shift gives you the leverage you need – take a break, even if that means taking an extra tack or switching to one leg for a quick break.

Practice relaxing to build endurance and use it to survive a hard regatta.

Jay Livingston