GPS & Heart Rate Data from UK Nationals by Chris Wright

I have some information on fitness using a GPS and heart rate watch; the picture of my heart rate for Race 9 on the Thursday at the nationals shows just how much effort is put into sailing the boat in a 12-15 knots breeze.

I will go through the GPS devices with heart rate later, the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS at £125 is the best valve for money but only estimates kcals used from the distance moved using the GPS. Polar and sunnto use the heart rate to calculate kcal, some heart rate monitors measure the heart beat and the rest period between beats, using this gives EPOC levels to measure on-set of fatigue and analyse the training effects with watches from Suunto and Polar using First beat software. The Garmin 305 give a training partner to help you, which is good for running or cycling.

Going through the graph you need to remember that the heart rate lags behind the movement by about 15 seconds, so after putting the kite away and heading up onto the beat your max heart rate will be when you are standing still on the beat just after the rounding, but your heart will be going like mad.

http://www.heartratemonitor.co.uk/polar_rs800cx_n.html . GPS view on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIttdmLOwGU

The graph from the watch, a Polar RS800CX with the GPS extra ,this is the best watch that I have, if we go through the graph using the polar software it gives a 1.23.20seconds recording, gives 11.2 miles travelled with an average of 136 BPM, It gives

(1%) 42 seconds at Maximum intensity training
(26%) 21 min 29 seconds at Hard intensity training
(49%) 40 min 40 seconds at Moderate intensity
(24%) 19 min 50 seconds at Easy intensity
(1%) 39 seconds at Very Easy intensity training.

The polar software give a 959 Kcal used

The Firstbeat Athlete software gives it as 758 kcal with a EPOC of 108ML/KG and a training effect of 3.6 for this one race only

Average speed of 8 Mph including the walk up the beach

Maximum speed of 17.1 Mph

Going through the graph you need to consider that I went for clean air with a relaxed no hassle race, this means not fighting the other boats or other competitors, no tacking to get clean air or exhaust from upwind boats, not going within the fleet so avoiding lots of movement and wind shadows, this means the graph is lowest possible heart rate for this race, being in front of the fleet also reserves energy as clean air is very stable.

The watch is in BST but the GPS data is in Europe time one hour in front,

Time on watch 15.15hrs to 16.39hrs time on GPS data 16.15 to 17.39hrs
1 15.26 Three seconds to start start gun speed goes from 5. 4 Mph to 11Mph keeping behind the line. Heart rate moves from light to Moderate intensity, 140 Bpm at the pin end of the line, very good start port bias.. “As with the two earlier races, race 9 got away at the first attempt with Griff Tanner leading closely followed by McIntosh, Chris Wright and Andy Peake. McIntosh pulled through Tanner on the final run to take the win, with Kean taking a well deserved second place having been mid fleet at the first windward mark.”

2 15.27 to16.32 Moderate intensity 136Bpm average at 11.3 mph going bow down then around 9 mph with extra height
3 15.32 Tack onto port, Heart rate moves from Moderate to Hard intensity peeking at 148 Bpm then back to 136Bpm
4 16.40 Tack onto Starboard then hoist, Heart rate to155 Hard intensity then drop slowly to 136 Moderate intensity before Gybe 15 Mph speed
5 15 43 Gybe Heart rate from Moderate to Hard intensity peaking at 150 Bpm speed 15 Mph
6 15.46 Kite drop and round onto Starboard, Heart rate from Moderate to Hard peaking at 158 Bpm then back to Moderate.8 mph on beat
7 15.47 to 15.49 Moderate intensity at 8 to 10 mph speed.
8 15 49 Tack onto Port Hear rate from Moderate to Hard peaking at 152 Bpm the back to Moderate
9 15 55 Tack onto Starboard, Heart rate from Moderate to Hard peaking at 147 Bpm
10 15 58 Tack onto Port Heart rate from Moderate to hard then hoist
11 15 59 Hoist, Heart rate to Maximum intensity follow behind by Andrew Peake and Bruce, Andrew Peake was going very very fast on the beat going bow down with speed but low height, just kept in front of him with poor tacking from me. Pressure on.
12 1602 Gybe Heart rate from Moderate to Hard peaking at 156Bpm the back to Moderate
13 1605 Gybe Heart rate from Moderate to hard peaking at 161Bpm just below Maximin intensity, very close between three of us to the finnish line, Bruce came through, I just got Andrew Peake by inches.
14 16.07 to 16.28 The graph then shows the beat back to the beat, why is the heart rate at light intensity, not working the mainsheet? No pressure not racing?
15 16.07 to 16.38 the long pull up the beach, heart rate going to 158 Bpm just of max intensity, this would have gone higher but stuck behind the boat in front of the boat wash.

The three races on this day would use 3000 kcal or more, if this is your first year in the Musto then as you would be fighting the boat and sailing longer around the course, the energy used could be much higher for the new to the class, add a capsize or two then you could be up to 4500 kcal plus, add this together with the upper body strength you require then your arms would let you down?

Thinking back about the days racing and the evening after the race I had no ill effects on the body, no pain or stress, no pains or aches, but a good nights sleep, this is why I went to the Musto class instead sailing the laser 1, I would end up Disabled if I continued to sail a laser 1 every week, not only did I find it hard to walk the next day after sailing the laser1 but it was always painful.

The heart rate graph for sailing the laser 1 is like looking at an interval training graph with hard and light training every five minutes.

Going back to the graphs of my early Musto sailing days, the capsize is a big energy drain with maximum training levels reached also maximum heart rate reached 171 Bpm.

If you are new to the Musto then a good way of using you energy to right the boat is required. This would be to put you weight in the water and quickly pull yourself around the boat with little energy used then pull very slightly on the tip of the dagger board before climbing the boat like a climbing frame and just stand straight backed on the board using little energy, why fight the boat by pulling like mad, just take a break and control the boat coming up.

All this information and I came unstuck on day two of the nationals, two very long races in a very in and out conditions, much harder than races 7,8 and 9 in stronger winds, waiting for race 6 to start I ran out or energy waiting for the wind to come back before they would start the race, on day one I had taken a box of Jaffa cakes out with me in a water proof bag, this gave me an energy boost to get me through the day, but on day two I had left them back at the car and paid the price, no race 6 for me as feeling rough and went in.
At the RS700 nationals years ago I knew that the four days in a row forecast for 20mph winds was going to be too much for my fitness level, I would sit one race out, I have been bad before some years ago on day three, ill due to lack of energy on day three in strong winds, with a bad start on race 5 I went back to the start to wait for race 6, with a DNF for race 5 I was ready for race 6 to my horror they abandoned race 6 too much wind and I had lots of energy left but no racing, lesson learnt always sit out the last race if any.

The importance of food and correct fluid intake will make a big difference to you results, isotonic water is very important to hydrate yourself without wanting to go for toilet on the water out at sea.
Thank you to Bruce and Dan for correction my poor sailing in light wind, Dan set my strop length on Thursday as it was much too long on the days before, this made me able to hold my lane on the next races with better leach tension.