On The Trail

IN THIS ISSUE...

• Publisher's Message
• Skating Tip
• Trail Tactic
• Until Next Time
• Advertisement

Publisher's Message

Welcome to the third issue of On The Trail. As you already know, the best skating happens when the trails are dry, smooth, flat, clean, and uncrowded.

Unfortunately, this is an ideal set of conditions. More often then not, you'll encounter a situation where the surface is wet or cluttered with debris, the terrain is rough or hilly, and the trail is crowded with pedestrians and cyclists.

In addition, the recreational, trail skater needs to contend with road snakes, manholes, potholes, cracks, curbs, bridges, as well as high heat and strong winds.

In today's issue, we're going to discuss what to watch out for when skating in high heat in the middle of the summer. In particular, we'll look at the adjustments you need to make in your skating to avoid a rapid loss of moisture, as well as how much fluid you need to consume throughout the roll to avoid becoming dehydrated on the trail.

Skating Tip

Sometimes, especially on trails longer than 20 miles, and in high heat in the middle of the summer, you may start to fatigue due to dehydration. Under these circumstances, it's good to have a means by which you can conserve your energy and minimize your moisture loss until you reach the end of the trail. One approach is to use longer strides and glides.

Longer striding and gliding is a more relaxed way to skate and serves to reduce the rolling resistance. When you reduce the friction between your skates and the ground, you need to do less work to travel the same distance. During this maneuver, you're spending most of your time on only one skate, either the right or left skate, but not on both at the same time.

Refer to the advertisement at the end of this article for complete details about how to do this trail skating maneuver, which is part of Lesson #2 Intermediate Trail Skating available from the Inline Skating Center.

Trail Tactic

Realize that it's not going to be a normal roll. You'll need to take more breaks for shade and water. To avoid the onset of heat stress or stroke:

• Carry at least two quarts of water with you, especially on longer trails.
• Make a note of where the water fountains are along the way. If you do run out of water, you will be able to refill your containers on the trail. Trust me, this can happen, especially in high heat.
• Avoid drinking diuretics such as coffee, alcohol, soda pop, and fruit juices, before and during the roll.
• Wear a hat with a big brim, as well as a pair of sunglasses with yellow or auburn lenses.
• Take periodic shade breaks to get out of the sun, cool down, and hydrate.

While you're skating, you can lose between 1 and 2 quarts of water per hour. If you don't replace it, your heart will be forced to work harder to compensate for the lower volume of fluids in your body. This extra exertion can cause quicker fatigue, including cramping, lost reaction time, coordination, and endurance, as well as heat stress in hot weather.

To compensate, skaters should drink at least 2 quarts of water during the roll. That's equivalent to 8 x 8 fluid ounce glasses. Sounds like a lot of water, doesn't it? Not really, if you consider the following facts:

• Between sweating, breathing, and urinating, it's not uncommon to lose as much as 3 percent of your total body weight during a couple of hard hours on the trail, which is more than enough to affect your performance.
• For a 180 lb skater, that's equivalent to about 5.5 lbs. of body weight. Since a gallon of water weights in at 10 lbs., that's nearly 2.2 quarts of lost water.
• For a 120 lb skater, it's about 1.5 quarts of water.

But keep in mind that what you're drinking is just as important as how much. Be careful to stay away from diuretics, such as alcohol or anything with caffeine. Your body also needs a lot of water to process sugary drinks such as soda pop, which may also contain caffeine, and fruit juice. If you do quench your thirst with any of these drinks, you may actually be dehydrating your body. Be sure to drink extra water to balance it out.

In addition, it takes about half-an-hour for the thirst response to kick-in, and even longer as your body ages or becomes accustomed to dehydration. In other words, by the time you get a craving to drink something, your body can be as much as 2 percent dehydrated, which means you could already be down a quart of water or more. The point is not to become dehydrated, at any time during the roll. Just as you spread your intake of food throughout the day, so you should spread your consumption of water throughout the roll.

Until Next Time

When your out on the trails in the middle of summer, and the temperature is extremely high, skate to conserve your energy and minimize your moisture loss. In addition, carry plenty of water with you. Hydrate regularly and always before you get thirsty.

In the next issue, we'll look at the adjustments you need to make to handle higher winds, especially strong, head winds.

Advertisement

The Skating Tip section of this issue deals exclusively with the intermediate trail skating maneuver dubbed Longer Strides and Glides. To find out how to master the Staggered Stance to establish the proper balance, the Pumping the Brake maneuver for coming to a complete stop after skating at higher speeds, as well as how to do Mid-Radius Parallel Turns for skating on gradual slopes, refer to Lesson #2 Intermediate Trail Skating.

To find out more about this lesson, click the below:


Lesson #2 Intermediate Trail Skating