Some happy moments - Kouremenos, Crete

Some happy moments from Kouremenos, Crete.

Although, the wind is very gusty and there is always a dilemma what sail to use...

 

...there is enough beauty around to make a windsurfer smile!

Cheers!

High Maximum, Low Minimum

Previous article from the same series: The Rhythm of the Heart

The goal of efficient athlete is to have a capability of high maximum heart rate, and as low resting heart rate. John Douillard says: "As we age the heart just cannot beat as fast as it used to. At the same time, the resting heart rate starts creeping up, bringing these two numbers closer together. One of the classic ways of measuring youth, overall health and cardiovascular status is to have a low resting heart rate and a high maximum heart rate."

Maximum heart rate (HRmax) is usually calculated by formula 220 – years of age. It can be measured, though, more precisely (the most accurate way of measuring HRmax is via a cardiac stress test: an exercise monitored by an ECG), but I doubt that average recreational windsurfer will go through that procedure. So, you are quite safe with the number you get with this formula. For me, that would be 169 bpm (beats per minute). Of course, chronological age is measured by calendar years, but this may not be a good reflection of fitness and health. We all know people who appear much younger—or older—than their chronological age. From Wikipedia: "…note that individuals of the same age, the same training, in the same sport, on the same team, can have actual HRmax 60 bpm apart (160-220): the range is extremely broad..."

Resting heart rate (HRrest) is heart rate measured after, let say, good sleep. You may stay a little longer in the bed in the morning, attach your heart rate monitor and measure the beats. Notice the lowest number – that is resting heart rate. Usually it will be around 60 to 80. If you are very fit, it can be less, even less than 50. Also, with exercising the number will go down.

I am not feeling safe to recommend (or to practice myself) any specific exercise aimed at increasing the capability of high heart rates. Of course, this will happen by itself with improved health and fitness. Since the efficiency usually demands lowering heart rate, let's focus on this.

As far as I can see, today’s recommendations also point to lower heart rates than we used to think. For example, exercising on 65-75% of your max heart rate is considered healthy. John Douillard and his zone training would put that even lower, actually so low that when you first time start to do it, you would probably think that you are doing nothing!

Douillard method is quite similar to old Karvonen formula based on resting heart rate (HRrest) in order to calculate target heart rate. However, while others aim at 85%, in zone training you will go for not more than 60% or 75%, while the best excersize will stay at targer heart rate (THR) of 50% (in the begining, it can be equal to stand up and walk!).

Here is Karvonen formula:

THR = ((HRmax − HRrest) × % intensity) + HRrest

My resting heart rate during last couple of months is fluctuating between 54 and 62, let say averaging 61. HRmax according to simple formula mentioned earlier would be 169.

50% Intensity: ((169 − 61) × 0.50) + 61 = 115 bpm
75% Intensity: ((169 − 61) × 0.75) + 61 = 142 bpm

I have examined, at least by reading, many different training methods. You may do the same. But whatever you do, my recommendation is that you try and keep your heart rate as low as possible. Heart is a muscle and it can be trained to do many things. If you train it to beat very fast when you walk, it will do so. If you train it to go over 150 bpm every time you start running, it will do so. We may think it should be like that, or that it is given by nature, but it is not completely true! Many things, including heart efficiency, can be changed.

I don't want to go into details of some specific training (I might do that in some other articles, although you are free to use whatever you find suitable), but my recommendation (and that is what I do) is to use your ability to control the heart rate via biofeedback-awareness link and make it lower in any case!

For example, I used to do 45 minutes biking exercise with average 125 bpm. That was the constant average for more than six months. I believe my physical fitness was improving just by doing it regularly three times per week. But the average bpm were the same. After only ten days of paying attention to heart rate, I was able to lower it to 118 bpm average, and it seems that I can do even lower. I am not talking now about improved physical condition (training and exercising is the only way to do it), but about the power of attention! That is what makes the difference, and what will, in the end, tell your heart that it can do the job without straining so much.

That is why it is important to use heart rate monitor. Sometimes, just watching it and wanting it to be lower, can do the trick. Sometimes, stopping when you see it goes too high is enough so the next time it will not do it. Breathing techniques can be of great help. I will go into that in later articles.

Whatever your chosen method of training is, do it with at least couple of heart beats less. As I said, with the training it will happen by itself, but using the heart rate monitor as a biofeedback, will make it quicker. In time you will learn to do it even without an intermediate device (heart rate monitor). Of course, if you see that your chosen method of training demands from your heart very high numbers, and there are no signs of going down, it would be wise to reconsider what are you actually doing and why.

There is one useful thing you can do with the resting heart rate. It will change from time to time, even from day to day. To measure it, it’s not necessary time consuming. Although it would be ideal to measure resting heart rate at least 10 or 20 minutes to get real number, for everyday use, you will learn to estimate if the heart rate is average, lower or higher in a very short time (one to two minutes is enough to get an idea). If you notice that it is unusually high, skip the hard exercise that day. Do just warm up or something lighter. High resting rate in the morning may be the sign of stress and fatigue in your body that you might not be aware of. Hard exercise in that condition may do more damage than good, decrease your enjoyment significantly and thus hamper your path towards the zone.

Next article from the same series: What Is Your Heart Doing While You Are Windsurfing?

Ierapetra and Koutsounari, Crete

I wanted to see the south cost of Crete and check how is the wind there. From Palecastro and famous Kouremenos beach, to Ierapetra, you have to drive about 80 kilometers through quite good pawed road and beautiful scenery of Cretan hills full of olive trees.

When we came to Makry Gialos, the first little village on south coast, the wind was blowing with amazing force (some 40 knots, at least). I don't know if that was a meltemi wind, or some local thermal wind prevailed. The direction was pure north. And some 5 km further down the road, there was no wind. Near Ierapetra, again quite strong (30 knots, at least).

In Ierapetra, the southernmost city in Europe, you can windsurf on the main beach near the old forest and the heart of the city. It is easy to come with the car and park it nearby. Assembling the equipment is another story, because the beach is full of people, and the is no windless place to find. The conditions on the see - bump and jump, perfect for freeriding and freestyling. For slalom and speed - only if you feel particularly masochistic that day.

My greatest discovery, however, was the Long Beach in Koutsounari, small village couple of kilometers east from Ierapetra. This is about 3 km long, strait, sandy beach. Half of it is reserved for swimmers, and the other half is free. The wind was wild: between 50 and 60 knots. It blows offshore, and the first 10 meters of see surface is laboratory flat! After that, chop and see dust: I imagine you can get in serious trouble if you forget where you are and let yourself too far out. I didn't have small enough equipment to try to catch some speed on it. It is a pity because this was the first time ever I saw live (not on photos or videos) such long speed stripe, with such strong wind and yet, flat water surface. If I will be lucky, maybe some of this days I will visit Koutsounari again.

The Rhythm of the Heart

Previous article from the same series: Turning 51

When we are talking about achieving the zone, we are talking about efficiency of the mind/body functions. Although the main characteristic of the zone is unique joy and pleasure, there are some physiological signs that mostly follow or precede the actual experience. Plainly stated, it’s about doing less, and achieving more. In physical sense, it means that your body is functioning on the lower level, consuming less "fuel", while in the same time performing the same or even more than before.

To transform usual athlete or recreational sportsman into zone master is like turning mean car engine producing 500 horse power and not minding consuming 25 or more liters of fuel per 100 km, into meaner 750 horse power engine, but consuming only 5 liters of fuel while doing the better job. Can it be done? Some say it can. Some shrug in disbelief. I know I was near that place once, and I want to come to it again.

What are the signs of high or low consumption of energy in our body while doing sports? Two things: the way we breathe and the rhythm of our heart. I will dedicate quite some time to breathing, but for now let's start with the heart.

The heart rate is directly related to, and a reflection of, the body’s oxygen need. It is important to know how your heart is working while you are training or compete. Probably every, at least semi-serious person about his or hers sport, have read something about heart rate zones. Everyone knows about heart rate monitors, of course. Nowadays, they can be bought for anything between 20 and 600 Euros, depending how fancy you want it to be, or how many functions you want it to perform for you.

Usual usage of heart rate monitors is to gather the important information about your heart. That is important to evaluate your state, but it can be of utter importance if you have or have had some heart problems.

However, heart rate monitors can be used as something more: as biofeedback devices!

Biofeedback is “the process of providing visual or auditory evidence to a person of the status of body function so that you may exert control over that function.” Biofeedback functions via awareness. For example, when you see your brain patterns on the screen, you may try to change them. It is not always clear how we do it: there are no visible switches in our mind to do something with brain patterns, but if we try, our body will learn what to do when we want it do something.

In ancient times there were people, for example yogis, who could lower, or heighten, theirs heart rate to unbelievable numbers. They used special techniques which are very demanding and time consuming. Today, we are lucky to have easier paths to achieve at least something from their repertoire.

The easier path in our case is a heart rate monitor! Buy one and play with it. See how your heart runs throughout the day. Later on, we will want to lower the heart rate, but in order to do so; we don't only need physical readiness, but also the live relationship between our awareness and the rhythm of the heart.

I don't know how many windsurfers ever used the heart rate monitor, but I assure you it is a very useful tool, if nothing from the standpoint of evaluation of your physical fitness. This will become even more important when you later understand what your heart is doing while you are windsurfing. I was quite surprised and somewhat shocked when I did! And of course, if we want the zone experience, heart rate must be low – probably much lower than you ever expected.

I used heart rate monitors before, but from this spring I have one purpose in mind: to examine how my heart behaves during different phases of physical exercise and during windsurf. I found something quite interesting and will write about it the articles to come.

But, the most important point at the beginning of the zone training is creating the biofeedback link between you and your heart. So, try it and play with it. My recommendation is that you don't do anything with it during the first month or so. Just watch and monitor what is happening when you are doing this or that during the day.

Next article from the same series: High Maximum, Low Minimum

Kouremenos, Palecastro, Crete

A little jump over the see to the island of Crete! Change of scene: Kouremenos beach is very beautiful sandy bay near village of Palecastro on the far eastern side of Crete. It is not crowded, quite a contrary. Most of the tourist on Crete stay in the central part, where the hotels are, and the most popular historical and archeological sites. To come to Palecastro you have to drive at least 2 and a half hours from Iraklion, pass through cities of Ageos Nicolaus and Sitia, and stop by the way and eat some delicious Greek food in one of the many taverns with breath taking view on the see.

Palecastro is occupied by peace lovers and windsurfers. Meltemi blows all the time; it's not so drastic as on Karpathos, but it's quite enough to give you a perfect windsurfing experience.

I was here 10 years ago, and now I found many changes. From almost desert place, Palecastro and its environment raised up to green oasis of windy peace. Looking forward to windsurf in this beauty!