Sao Paulo triathletes last Thursday could not have asked for better guidance in balancing their rigorous training and work schedules.
SAO PAULO (Sept 2, 2004) Sao Paulo triathletes last Thursday could not have asked for better guidance in balancing their rigorous training and work schedules than what they learned at an evening seminar hosted by Sydney 2000 Olympian and 2003 Ironman Brazil winner Oscar Galindez (ARG),psychiatrist Adriano Resende de Lima, gynecologist Fábio Lopes Teixeira, and triathlon coach, Daniel Fernandes de Souza. The four industry leaders shared their expertise on the benefits and consequences of high-intensity sport in everyday life with more than 50 athletes, journalists and sports medicine specialists, at the Reebok Sports Club Morumby.
One of the most important issues addressed was understanding ourselves and knowing why we exercise. “Physical activity brings wellness for people, but excess can expose them to the depression,” Resende de Lima said of what may be deeper within the amateur or professional athlete. For those athletes and fitness enthusiasts, “physical activity functions like a disguise for a psychological imbalance,” explained the doctor.
Exercise might be the tool to ease the nerves or maintain balance, but problems, such as a compulsive disorder, might already lay within. Relative to high volume and or high intensity training, it is a fine line to tread knowing when training is healthy and helpful, and when the intended purpose has been defeated and it just becomes another manifestation of the problem.
Reebok's face of South American triathlon for the last ten years, Galindez, a two-time Pan American Games bronze medallist and former International Triathlon Union (ITU) duathlon world champion, talked about the psychological preparation for a race. “The psyche, or mind, was 100 percent what made the difference in the Olympic Games of Athens," he said. "The medals conquered in the triathlon in Athens came from hard work joined with psychological conviction,” added Galindez, who's got a arm's length list of titles to his name, including close wins over some of his world champion colleagues.
Behind the few seconds, tenths and even hundredths of seconds separating gold and silver medallists in Athens, the real difference may have come in the athletes' abilities to visualize the race during training, truly believe in themselves, their hunger to win, and being able to dig deeper than the rest of the field.
Sports medicine for women was also approached at the seminar, and the gynecologist, Lopes Teixeira, alerted athletes and doctors to the special needs these athletes, among them the metabolic changes that occur during pregnancy. Again a fine line to watch, it's widely known that fitness programs help the expecting mother and child, but paying attention to diet, training volume, and the body's changes is paramount.
To learn more about Galindez and to follow him in October's Ironman World Championships and the upcoming Southern Hemisphere racing season, visit his website, www.oscargalindez.com. To learn more about the new, OG Design high tech fitness and racing apparel, visit www.OG-Design.com.
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Balance is key to triathletes' Wellness.
Sao Paulo triathletes last Thursday could not have asked for better guidance in balancing their rigorous training and work schedules.
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