I had my second session with Kayla on a hot Saturday at a track new to both of us. 25 minutes into our work on acceleration mechanics – the positions you hit from your first step until you get to top speed – she wobbled, then passed out.
Suddenly I was on high alert. But I should have seen the signs that things were off for her that day much, much earlier.
Caution Flags and Red Lights
Kayla had some trouble remembering the warmup drills, even as I named them. Now, remember, it was only the second session we’d worked together, so it’s reasonable that she would forget some drills. But her gaze was a little glassy at times and she didn’t mimic me right away when I demonstrated a movement like she had the prior time.
When we got into a few test accelerations over a short distance, I offered for her to sip some water while I adjusted the cones. Kayla grabbed her bottle but never took a drink – I learned later that her own bottle was empty when she started drinking from her mother’s.
After we did some I go-you go drilling against the fence on great posture during acceleration, I asked her to go back to one of our warmup drills to check on foot position. When she raised her leg, I saw some tremors in her stance calf and hamstring that made me wonder. She collapsed seconds later.
We got her water, took a long rest, and dramatically simplified the work for the remainder of the session. We kept things slow and low impact. She finished with no other issues.
But the external signs were all there. That means alarm bells may have been going off internally for Kayla long before I got my act together to audible the training plan for the day.
Heed the Brain Fog Messenger
Your body will never lie to you. So it’s up to you to trust what it’s drawing your attention to.
If you find your attention wandering while your captains welcome the team, that means something.
If you still feel lethargic at the end of your warmup, that means something.
If you feel like you couldn’t possibly drink enough water, that means something.
If your calf feels crampy hallway through practice, that means something.
Even something incredibly simple: if you feel like your skin is hot, that means something!
But it doesn’t mean you need to do something NOW. It usually means you needed to do something EARLIER…much earlier than you may think.
Pickle Juice, Salt Tabs, and Stretching Aren’t the Answers
The hardest part of listening to your body is going beyond the obvious connection between your symptoms (aka warning signs) and your immediate context. It’s too easy to assume you’re foggy and thirsty and warm just because it’s a hot day. But our bodies are magnificent at adapting to conditions.
You may need to sit out for a while or get a snack or just call it a day, because whatever put you in this condition started well before.
That was the case for Kayla. We met at nearly 2 in the afternoon, but I learned she’d had little more than toast and fruit for breakfast…6 hours earlier.
And she’d eaten essentially lettuce the night before.
Don’t write this off as a teenage girl not appreciating how much fuel her body needs to perform – though that’s certainly relevant.
Use the example to think through your own habits. Are you drinking water with every meal, regardless of that day’s training? Are you fueling the work you do at practice with both enough and the right food? Are you doing the stretches and PT exercises every night like you were prescribed?
Take it from the guy writing this at 11pm the night before time trials at morning track practice: you can’t sustain high performance with low behavior.
But even as I fail to take my own advice about sleep hygiene, I’ve fully learned my lessons about honoring the signs my body gives me at training time.
The Last Sign Of a Problem
There are a lot of early indicators that you’re not prepared to perform. By the time your teammates are asking “are you okay?” or your coach is chatting with you about nothing to extend your rest period, the hole is probably too deep to crawl out of.
Take the hints before you take the fall!
Oh, and Kayla? I worked with her mother to establish a repeatable suggested pre-training meal and pre-training snack schedule. We’ve had several sessions since – and a few massive PRs in competition – in similar conditions with no issues.
When you’re falling apart on the field, first, honor what your body is telling you. Then, look back in time at your habits…make sure they are setting you up to succeed more often than they are leaving you unprepared.
[The athlete’s name has been changed.]
P.S.: While I hate to generalize, female athletes almost always need to eat more at each meal, more often, and more frequently. Many, many performance issues go away when you fuel the work.