One of the metrics that athletes use to measure their level of fitness is something called resting heart rate. Resting heart rate measures how efficiently your heart pumps blood throughout your body and delivers oxygen to your muscles. For a normal healthy adult this is usually between 60 bpm to 80 bpm (bpm=beats per minute). For athletes, it is normally between 40 bpm to 60 bpm. As an example, my resting heart rate, during a training cycle, is normally a very steady 42 bpm to 44 bpm as measured by my Fitbit Surge.
I am always looking for ways to demonstrate, in a visual way, the impact of our decisions on our fitness, and on vacation last week, I got just that opportunity! Below is a chart of my resting heart rate from the last thirty days. You can see how it was very steady in a range between 42 bpm and 44 bpm and then we went on vacation! Look, I am Joe the Runner, but I am just a normal guy and when I go on vacation, I enjoy myself just like everyone else. And being on the island of Capri in Italy, I indulged in gelato, wine, and staying up a little too late with my family.
That is the holy trinity of interrupters! What I am talking about is alcohol, poor nutrition, and poor sleep. If you didn’t think that those things had that big of an impact on your fitness and training effectiveness, just look at that chart! A picture says a thousand words. What surprised me was how quickly the impact occurred. Literally, within a day or two, my resting heart rate started to climb! Let’s look at each of the three in a little more depth:
Alcohol
- It is a diuretic so it has an impact on your ability to hydrate properly.
- It is high in calories AND makes you hungry which means… more calories! Since your decision making is impaired, do you think you’re whipping up a salad or hitting the Taco Bell?
- It negatively impacts your sleep quality which is another interrupter… Ouch!
- It screws with your body’s ability to process good calories and nutrients.
Poor Nutrition
- Empty calories are like a death spiral for weight loss. You are consuming calories with little to no nutritional value, so you either have a deficit of the nutrients and anti-oxidants that we need as athletes OR you need to eat those calories too… Pick your poison!
Sleep
- Muscle repair, tissue repair, and cell replacement all occur during sleep.
- Our brains get recharged.
- Human growth hormone is released.
I’m not telling you not to enjoy life or a vacation, I’m just saying that we need moderation and we also need to really understand that these things truly do have an impact on our fitness level and training efficiency. This is why I go “clean” for 12 weeks prior to a race. I want to make sure that I am giving my training and my body the best opportunity to succeed!
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