Waterloo Chiropractor, Waterloo Physiotherapist, and Massage Therapist (RMT)

Category

Events

We’re excited at the clinic that we’ve decided to take on the Run Waterloo Grandway 5K as a team!

Completing 5Ks isn’t just about racing to your limit- conquering it in any capacity can do wonders for your health. Here at the clinic we all have all different goals for this event depending on factors like family, work schedule and our fitness starting point. Here is how everybody hopes to do and how they are going to prepare!

Dr. Sean

GOAL: Something that’s less than 2 minutes slower than my personal best- anything faster than 17:30.

TRAINING GOAL: I hope to run 50-60K/week most weeks with 1 interval workout and one longer run most weeks.

Chiro Intern Taylor

GOAL: Finish without walking! Anything under 40 would be great.

TRAINING GOAL: 1 run/week (3-5 km), 1 distance walk/week (3-5km), carrying around my 10-month old all the time otherwise!

Physio Sayaka

GOAL: To come in around 22:30 give or take 10 seconds. 

TRAINING GOAL: Run 3x/week and nail the weekly H+P interval workout. 

Karen Kennedy

GOAL: Why is Sean making me do this?

TRAINING GOAL: Walking 3x/week.

Jackie Hergott

GOAL: To complete the race with a brisk walk, and not be worn out when done.

TRAINING GOAL: Walking 2-5x/week, 3-5K total!

Lance Dawson

GOAL: Under 25minutes, enjoy the race.

TRAINING GOAL: A mix of cardio and weights every week. Playing in my band and drinking teas with 4-7 sugars.

Here is an updated, simplified version of our protocols as of July 2023.
 
  • Masks are no longer mandatory.  
    • Practitioners will either wear a mask or mirror what patients are doing.
    • All staff will wear a mask upon request.
    • Please wear a mask if you suspect you have been in close contact with a sick person. 
  • Do not enter if you have tested positive for COVID-19
  • If you are actively sick with COVID-19 or otherwise, please reach out to re-schedule. 

As always, we have virtual appointments available if needed.

Thank you!

If you have ever had the pleasure of talking with me about sport nutrition, you may have seen my eyes light up and and a big smile on my face as I passionately engage in conversation with you. That is simply because I absolutely LOVE talking about how nutrition can help you reach your athletic goals. I thoroughly nerd-ed out while researching this current topic for the dietitians at the Canadian Sport Institute, of how athletes can use ice slushy’s to keep them cool and increase their performance!

 

Why is Keeping the Body Cool Important?  

There are a few signaling pathways the body can use to increase feelings of fatigue. We all should know that low glycogen (carbohydrate stores) signal fatigue (aka when a marathoner “hits the wall”), but did you know that overheating will do the same thing? The body uses this as a safety mechanism in order to maintain a safe internal temperature. Therefore, exercising in extreme heat presents a few problems.

 

Problem 1. Increased heat results in increased sweating, which can make it difficult to maintain adequate hydration.

 

Problem 2. Dehydration increases core temperature and leads to increased use of glycogen.

 

Problem 3. Dehydration, increased core temperatures and low glycogen levels all lead to early fatigue and decreased performance.

 

To combat the effects of exercising in the heat, there are a few things to think about: stay hydrated as best you can, fuel appropriately with a good carbohydrate plan and lastly, try to slow the rate of increasing body temperature! Hydration in itself results in significantly lower body temperatures compared to letting yourself dehydrate past 2%, however sometimes in the extreme heat, cool water (or warm if its been on the fuel station for a while) might not be enough to preserve your performance. In this blog we will talk how incorporating an ice slushy can help you regulate your body temperature and perform better in the heat!

 

Pre or During Cooling with Ice

Pre-cooling strategies aren’t new and have been used to cool athletes prior to exercise in the heat. Strategies include arm, leg or full body immersion in an ice bath or using an ice vest. Sometimes these are not available or convenient (especially the bath!). Therefore, enter ice slushy! The main purpose of the drink prior to an athletic event is to drive the core temperature down before starting exercise, thus extending the time body temperature will rise to a critical high resulting in delayed fatigue. Pre-cooling provides a heat sink so during exercise more heat can be stored, and if ice is ingested during exercise it can reduce some of the heat storage even further.

 

 

Effects On Core temperature

The research consistently shows that the use of a pre-cooling protocol with an ice slushy results in reductions in rectal temperatures by 0.2-0.7°C. As the athletes began to exercise their core temperature was significantly lower for 25-40 minutes into exercise even when compared to precooling with cold water (4°C). If core temperature is measured from a pill, it results in reductions of core temperature from 1-2°C in upper gastrointestinal tract (Ihsan et al., 2010; Burdon et al., 2013; Stevens et al., 2013; Zimmerman et al., 2017). Pre-cooling seems to have a greater effect if done in a cooler environment, resulting in the best reductions in core temperature (Maley et al., 2018).

 

Performance

Ingestion of an ice slushy as a pre-cooling protocol seems to increase time to exhaustion (TTE) in the heat, as performance can increase 3-19% when compared to cool or room temperature water (4-37°C). (Siegel et al., 2010; Naito & Ogaki., 2017; Takeshima et al., 2017). Naito & Ogaki (2017) showed that pre-cooling with 1.25g/kg ice every 5min for 30min + mid-cooling with 2g/kg ice every 15mins resulted in 16% increase in TTE compared to same protocol with cold water (4°C). Research has also looked at the effect of timing of pre-cooling on cycling performance, where consuming ice after the warm up resulted in significant beneficial effect on performance vs a control beverage (37°C) (Takeshima et al., 2017).

 

Time trials can be improved by 1.7-10% for 10k run times (Mejuto et al., 2018) or 40k cycling (Ihsan et al., 2010). One study compared pre-cooling with 6.7g/kg ice ingestion split into doses consumed every 10minutes for 30minutes compared to water (27°C) showed there was a 6.5% better time trial performance in 40k cycle test (Ihsan et al., 2010).

 

Triathlons

Stevens et al., 2013 look at performance in triathletes in the heat. The trials included a 1500m swim, 1h bike at varied intensities, and a 10k self paced run, in which the 10k run was the performance measure. They consumed 10g/kg ice slushy (made with sport drink) or warm (32-34°C) sport drink during 15-45minutes into the bike portion of the trial, then drank as needed after that. The ice ingestion during the cycle resulted in 2.5% better run performance and was especially evident in the last 5km of the run, which is consistent with most research.

 

How Can I Use This?

7.5g/kg split into doses of 1.25g/kg/5mins for 30mins or 2.5g/kg/5mins for 15mins seems to be the most common protocol used and is well tolerated. The temperature of slushy’s should be -1- +1°C and can been made with plain ice, or sport drink ice cubes, which would be good for carbohydrate consumption for fueling purposes. Keep in mind individual fluid needs, but research also shows that ad libitum fluid intake is higher when a cold drink is offered. Pre-cooling with ice slushy’s should be done as close to exercise as possible, preferably post-warm up in the 15-30 minutes leading up to exercise to maximize the amount of time with lower core temperatures (Takeshima et al., 2017). You could also adopt a mid-cooling strategy to continue to cool your internal temperature.

 

Recipe:

Example for a 60kg person (60 x 7.5=450), pour 450ml of Gatorade into an ice cube tray and freeze. Add a splash of Gatorade and blend. Consume in 3 “doses” 5 mins apart (or sip on it for 15 mins). If you have a thermometer you could make sure it has reached -1-+1 °C for the best results.

Ideas: Freeze sport drink, diluted juice or sweetened coffee and enjoy prior to your event for your fluid, carbs and caffeine hit.

 

Reference:

Burdon CA, Hoon MW, Johnson NA ,Chapman PG, O’Connor HT (2013) The effect of ice slushy ingestion and mouthwash on thermoregulation and endurance performance in the heat. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.23 458-469

 

Ihsan M, Landers G, Brearley M, Peeling P (2010) Beneficial effects of ice ingestion as a precooling strategy on 40-km cycling time-trial performance. International journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. 5 140-151

 

Maley MJ, Minett GM, Bach AJE, Zietek SA, Stewart KL, Stewart IB (2018) Internal and external cooling methods and their effect on body temperature, thermal perception and dexterity. PLoS ONE 13(1): e0191416. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0191416

Mejuto G, Chalmers S, Gilbert S, Bentley D (2018) The effect of ice slurry ingestion on body temperature and cycling performance in competitive athletes. Journal of Thermal Biology 72: 143-147

 

Naito T, Ogaki T. (2016) Pre-cooling with intermittent ice ingestion lowers the core temperature in a hot environment as compared with the ingestion of a single bolus. Journal of Thermal Biology. 59 13-17.

 

Siegel R, Mate J, Brearley M.B, Watson G, Nosaka K, Lairsen P.B (2010) Ice slurry ingestion increases core temperature capacity and running time in the heat. Medicine and science in sports and exercise. 42(4) 717-725

 

Stevens CJ, Dascombe B, Boyko A, Sculley D, Callister R (2013) Ice slurry ingestion during cycling improves Olympic distance triathlon performance in the heat. Journal of Sport Sciences. 31(12) 1271-1279

 

Takeshima K, Onitsuja S, Xinyan Z, Hasegawa H (2017) Effect of the timing of ice slurry

ingestion for precooling on endurance exercise capacity in a warm environment. Journal of Thermal Biology. 65 26-31

 

Zimmermann M, Landers GJ, Wallman KE (2017) Crushed ice ingestion does not improve female cycling time trial performance in the heat. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 26: 67-75

 

 

4 months later, and here we are!  With many of the fall races now officially cancelled, this article is even more relevant than when I originally started to think about this the topic of how much one should train in a time of uncertainty.  Of course there is the chance that something will happen race wise, whether it be in the form of a small group or virtual race.  In the meantime, knowing how much training you should do to maintain fitness is a key question.

No training at all 

With my last article, I looked at just how much fitness we can lose if we completely stop.  You can read the full thing HERE.  In summary, I discussed how:

  • You would likely lose 5-10% of your VO2max in a couple weeks
  • It would take a very long time to lose your running economy
  • The longer it takes the develop an adaption, the harder it is to lose it

How much is enough?

There are many reasons to be optimistic and to believe that non-optimal training will leave you not that far removed from your best performance.  But just how much is enough?

CLICK HERE to read the rest on the Run Waterloo Magazine 

To start things off, I just want to say I hope everybody is staying healthy and happy during this COVID-19 situation!

One of the biggest issues we have been tackling with athletes at H+P is just how hard should we be training right now. With no clear races in the foreseeable future, and the risk of burnout and injury going up when you are training at your FULL capacity over long periods of time, it definitely makes sense to decrease your training load for the time being. However, at what point are you decreasing things TOO much?

Where do you fit? 

Race-Training Ready 

All of the decisions about how to change your training comes down to a person’s individual circumstances and goals. For instance, somebody who is thinking about PB’ing a marathon the second we have finalized race dates will probably want to stay fit enough at a strategically decreased volume so that they are only a few weeks removed from a 12-16week marathon build.

Race Ready

On the other hand, somebody who tends to be exceptionally injury resistant and just enjoys high-level training might choose to keep training at a high level regardless.

Recovery Time 

Then, there might be the person who is prone to injury and burnout and may take this opportunity to detrain to a more significant degree, perhaps even including some major time off, saving their training weeks for when we have a definite set of races scheduled.

With whatever category or hybrid of categories above that you fall into, I am going to take a look at just how much you can expect to detrain at different levels of activity.  Before we get into the effects of training at a decreased volume, we must first look at how detraining actually happens when we do nothing. Understanding the basics of the physiology is not only super interesting (just me?), but it’ll help guide your decision making for how you manage your decreased volume and help you understand why you feel the way you do when you’re coming back!

 

CLICK HERE to read the rest on the Run Waterloo blog.

wlflyer

Let us help you take control of your health!  Stephanie has 6 years of post-secondary education at her disposal.  Learn more about her HERE.  Along with adapting to each individual’s needs, each session will include the following topics (and more):

First visit: Initial assessment and diet optimization

Second visit: Science and role of carbohydrates and carbohydrate quality

Third visit: Quality fats, micronutrients and sleep optimization

Fourth visit: Intuitive eating and responding to hunger

Fifth visit: Planning and goal setting for transitioning out of dieting

Sixth visit: Wrap up and measurements

This plan will arm you with what the most up-to-date research shows works.  No fad diets, fasting, cleanses, or cutting out foods you love.  Stephanie will help you conquer your challenges not only from a dietary standpoint, but a biopyschosocial standpoint- your mind and behavior matters if this is going to work!

If you are interested for yourself or a loved one, please contact us at (519)885-4930 or info@drdelanghe.com.

Our clinic had a great time at the 2018 Fall 5K Classic!  We had a huge group of runners out with our learn to run group who started from ground zero going all the way to running their first 5K ever (or at least first 5K in a long time).

It was amazing to see all of our teammates cross the finish line with a mix of smiles and exhaustion on their faces!  Running a race for a beginner can be super daunting and intimidating task, but this crew banded together and conquered the challenge with hard work and positive attitudes from start-finish.  For those who signed up with the team, our crew ended up averaging a very impressive time of 29:59!   Not all of you appeared on this list for various reasons, sorry about that!  Check out the full results HERE.

Screen Shot 2018-10-19 at 8.45.51 PM

Here are some of our favourite pictures of the team from the event.  You can check out our full album here.

30427124247_c9dc79aaaa_k

44349855_246603209544118_1928483317116567552_n

31490395818_2d4a655f73_k

44452437395_fbce4a34ee_k

OH and HUGE bonus points goes to Mark for winning the coveted Run Waterloo quilt in his first race ever!

44422189_307652966699332_2004139363604103168_n

Our learn to run group runners weren’t the only ones active that day!  Our practitioners and front desk crew all participated as well!

Our CPR instructor, Emily Hunter was in 1st for the team with a great time of 20:12!

45363414411_70fdd9aa9b_k

Physio Kayla was in next for the team with a solid new personal best of 20:46!

31452388528_65cbd1c6e8_k

Amanda had an awesome race!  The only Olympic medalist to ever wear an H+P singlet, she ran a strong 25:45 in her first race of any type since her Olympic career and having two kids!

45323185431_de7319cb72_k

Sean ran with his mom, Gail, and she ran a new personal best of 26:04!

43549980130_daa5528647_k

Our registered dietitian, Steph, had an awesome race running 31:24 despite being stopped by the traffic at Westmount/Erb!

44452510225_3b4cc602ee_k

Karen had a great time with the squad as well and will be back for more next time!

Combined our employee team finished 3rd in the corporate competition with an average time of just over 22 minutes!

Screen Shot 2018-10-19 at 8.45.37 PM

Thank you everybody for joining us on this journey, it was so much fun to do this as a team.  See you out on the roads sometime soon!

 

Book your appointment

Contact us to book your next appointment

Call Us 519 885 4930