Featured – Page 4 – Racer on Rails: High Performance Track and Race Car Shop and Race Team based in Renton, WA

What: Motorsports is exactly that, a sport that revolves around motors. It is a sport, thus health and fitness is important. Road racing works your heart (and lungs) like if you were running a marathon. A healthy heart is critical!

If I knew then, what I know now: Have a healthy mix of aerobic, anaerobic and strength training to your work out program. Too much of anything is not good. I’ll cover this in a separate post.

Products that can make running easier:

Apple Watch Nike Edition – I like the green color scheme
Fitbit Surge – used this before an Apple watch
Endomondo – this is my primary running app
Strava – this is my primary cycling app
Polar Heart Rate Monitor – use for long distance runs
Nike running clothes – I like the kind that have the built-in compression underwear. Helps with inner thigh chafing
Hoka One One running shoes – great cushion, light and very durable.
Bodyglide Anti-Chafe Balm – nipple chafing and bleeding is real and no joke. Depending on the shirt I am wearing, if I am running more than 4 miles, it’s required.

Foundational truths

Before we dive into what should be done, let’s all get on the same page about what happens when you’re driving and especially when you’re competing.

Your heart is important: This is not a question or an opinion. It is important for you to not only live but to handle stressful situations. While most of us enjoy putting a car, motorcycle, kart or boat through it’s paces, the fact that your heart rate goes up, means that it is a stressful situation, where your body and heart (and lungs) specifically, work harder.
Aging doesn’t help our cause: Generally speaking, as we get older, our hearts are not able to work as well and our maximum heart rate slowly goes down over time. Here is a good article on Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) from Runners World.
Oh yeah, the lungs: The lungs are the things that bring oxygen into the bloodstream, of which then the heart pumps all that good, nutrient and oxygen rich goodness all over the body. Then the various body parts use that goodness to power themselves, such as the brain, eyes, muscles, literally everything in your body.

Maximum Heart Rate (MHR)

Per above, as we get older, this goes down. See below and find your age.

Find your age and see what the estimated ranges are for you.

I am currently 33 (less than a month from 34) and what this says is that my maximum heart rate is around 185 Beats Per Minute (bpm). If I were to get my heart going above that OR near that level for too long, I’d probably end up in a hospital unless I explicitly trained my heart for those situations.

It’s been documented in several articles, studies and my own personal data collection (below) that for a racing car driver, the heart rate can range from 120 – 160bpm, throughout a race.

Below is an example from a race, in August this past summer as I was wearing an Apple Watch and collected heart rate data (note – I did not start a workout session and thus why it didn’t collect data every 1 second). Note that you can see when I started doing warm up exercises before getting into the car and my heart rate picking up as we got into the thick of the race. If I remember correctly, the race started ~4:35pm and was a 1-hour race.

Heart Rate data from my Apple Watch during a 1-hour endurance race.

Update: When I was originally writing this post, I looked everywhere for this screenshot below. This was taken using a Fitbit Surge, during a day of three races and near 100 degree heat. That is some serious heat, sweat and elevated heart rate. Racing is no joke!

Heart rate logs using Fitbit Surge during a race day. — Heart rate logs from one day of intense racing in nearly 100F.

Now, here is a screenshot from a 4+ mile run I did recently as well at a ~9:00 minute mile pace. Not super fast but not a slouch by most measures.

August 2017 ~6 mile run using Endomondo and a Polar Heart Rate monitor

What does this tell us? Driving at even 7/10’s in a track day or racing session for ~20 minutes is the equivalent, cardiovascularly, as going for a relatively intense run. So you are sitting in a hot race car, covered head to toe with fire-resistant material and your heart and lungs are working like if you were running a half-marathon.

Ok, healthy heart and lungs are important, but why again?

Like everything else on this site, it’s about helping you be a better driver. A driver who makes good decisions, usually, ends up being a faster and more consistent driver than someone who doesn’t make good decisions. Several things can lead to someone making bad decisions behind the wheel (on-track that is):

Being nervous or confused (which usually elevates the heart rate)
Being scared (which usually elevates the heart rate)
Being angry aka the red mist! (also elevates the heart rate)
Being tired (I won’t repeat again)

It gets more difficult to make good decisions, quickly, when you are tired, sweaty and out of breath. So the goal here is to condition your heart and lungs in a way, that you’re comfortable being in the stamina & endurance zones, and can make good decisions.

I personally felt like my overall athletic and aerobic endurance was and is a competitive advantage in most races, as I felt just as fresh at the start of a race, as I did at the beginning. Start strong and finish just as strong! This was even more pronounced on the 1 hour or longer races and especially when it was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

What should you do?

Disclaimer: We are not doctors, nor play them on TV. Consider consulting your doctor before taking on a new exercise program.

We will cover other types of exercise for different benefits in future posts but for here, we will focus on cardio health. The goal is to do exercises, that have you for the most part, in the stamina & endurance zones. It’s ok to peak every once in a while into the conditioning zone or drop momentarily into the weigh loss zone.

Most of my driving sessions are 20 or 30 minutes and sometimes 60 minutes long. So I target conditioning myself to be able to easily handle 30 minutes by exercising for 45-60 minutes and having regular (about every other week) 60-75 minute workout sessions, usually 6+ mile runs. This is grounded in a theory from playing football and Taekwondo. Practice should be harder than the actual competition (most of the time) so that at least from a conditioning standpoint, the competition will be a relative breeze or you at least have plenty of reserves to go harder.

Here are some top exercises and plans to consider:

Running: It’s pretty much free. I found it the best to sign up for a race that forces you to build up to a goal, set a schedule and stick to it. Better yet, do a race with a friend or two, so you have support and accountability for when you’re too lazy to run in the rain.
- Highly suggest downloading an app like Endomondo, Nike Run Club or MyRunKeeper. They all have some kind of functionality where you can state your goal (like run a 10k), the pace you want to have and when your race will be held. They come up with a personalized training program to build up your performance, you just run! Sometimes these are in premium memberships but you can easily find training plans online and just track them manually.
  - - Here is the training plan I am using to run a half-marathon in September.
    - Lake Chelan September 2017 Half Marathon Schedule
    - I personally have trained to run a half-marathon for the past 4 years and have averaged about 300 miles ran per year. Check out my Endomondo profile here for the proof.
    - I’ve also used running on days while I am at the track to do track walks, after the track has gone cold for the day.
Cycling: One downside to running is the repetitive joint impact throughout the body, especially toes, ankles, knees, hips and back. Cycling is a great alternative to running for cardiovascular performance. I personally bought a used Bianchi road bike and over the past few years have used it off and on as an alternative to running.
- Here is a link to my Strava profile – it’s been sparse lately because it’s cold and rainy in Seattle. 🙁
- Same plan though – whatever time you were planning to run, get on a bike in the gym or on a trail and cycle up a storm.
Swimming: Admittedly, I am the least experienced here as I rarely get in a pool but I know it is great for aerobic exercise, working the body overall, core development and joint relief. If you have access to a pool, get on it!

Conclusion

Cardiovascular health and performance are not just important to live but they can give you a significant performance edge in driving. There is a reason you see several top professional drivers all over the world, also spend significant amounts of time doing the exercises above and in examples like Jenson Button, competing in Iron Man and Triathlon competitions.

Consider regular cardiovascular exercise to be part of keeping yourself healthier and it has a big potential upside to your driving.

What: Having some ideas on what kind of tent may work for you and what you do

If I knew then, what I know now: I would steer clear of Target/Walmart/Box-store tents all together at the track, they cannot put up with the use and abuse.

Product to check out: ShelterLogic – might not be as top of mind as the E-Z Up brand but solid product at a much lower price.

You should have seen that tent flying across the paddock! Pop-Up tents are one of the most necessary items to have in your track kit! It provides shelter, shade, support, and sometimes, even comic relief. Pop-up tents or E-Z ups as many call them, are the number one, most used and abused item at a track. I have seen my fair share hit the scrap heap for many different reasons. The number one reason is that you have to have one! There are a lot of options and considerations when it comes to tent. Hopefully I can help you decide on what might be best for what you are doing.

Got a team? 10×20 it is for you!

We have a nice custom E-Z up for the Track Attack Pro3 cars. It is a 10ft x 20ft unit that has a steel frame. It is a little heavy, but the quality is good and it is sturdy even in moderate winds. I personally like the 10×20 size for paddock use when at a race track. It allows for the car to be completely out of the sun or rain. It is big enough for a group to stand under during a long enduro race, and is only one item to load/unload out of the trailer for each race weekend. That being said. I am part of a team, and we have the luxury of having someone to help us most of the time when needed. Using a steel framed 10×20 EZ up solo is a bit of a tall order. Having a second person around is key. It comes in an awesome bag that holds everything in place but man, it is heavy. Probably around 60lbs total.

Nice big tent that can fit two cars sideways and one car, the long way.

Bigger than 10×20? Yup!

There are larger sized tents as well. In 2010, when I was on the TC Motorsports Grand-Am Continental Tire team with our Boss Mustang, we had a really large one for the pro-race weekends. It was a 20×40 foot tent, and it took no less than 3 people to erect or take down. For long weekends, or if you have a large team to work with a tent this size may fit the bill well for you. Again, it is one thing to load and unload instead of many. The big tent had a home on our flat deck Taylor-Dunn pit cart when in transport. This was the best way to move the thing when it was packed up as it was very heavy.

The grip racing group has a full pro spec tent that connects to their hauler.

One-person operation? 10×10 is the way to go!

If you are a one man operation, or have a very limited crew to work with. Going with a 10×10 tent or even a couple of them is likely your best bet. They are the easiest to work with when alone. They generally package much smaller than the lager sized tents, and are usually light weight comparatively. They are also the cheapest option to purchase as well. For my 4runner, I am going to get a 10×10 to pack for camping, and track work weekends. It is cheap, easy to pack and use solo, and will provide with a bunch of extra usable space when camping at the track.

Several 10×10 tents, grouped together. A single person with two 10×10 tents seems to be the way to go. One person operation for carrying, putting up and taking down.

You can even get the tent material customized to really stand out, like this one from the Hard Motorsports team.

Tent pole material – it’s important

Tent pole or leg material is also an important choice. To be frank, the amount of times you use the tent, as well as how careful you are when setting it up or taking it down will have great effect on the life of the tent and legs. I have found in my experience that for consistent usage, finding a tent brand that uses steel legs and arms is better than aluminum. The aluminum tents are very easy to work with and move, but are quite fragile and the legs and tent arms are easy to bend and break. If you are doing just a handful of days per year, then getting two light weight 10×10 tents will be a good option for you. If you are putting in a full season, then they would be very much light duty for your needs! Again, I like a 10×20 size with a steel frame. Try and see what works for you.

Custom 10×20 tent being used by the Molly Helmuth racing team for Oval racing.

Securing your tent

Securing your EZ ups is an often over looked portion of your paddock set up for the weekend. I have seen dozens of tents fly away, get destroyed, or plain out just collapse because they were not properly addressed prior to something happening. Having something to weigh each leg down is the strongest start to keeping your tent in the trailer for a long time. You can use anything as ballast, but we normally use spare wheels and tires. They are easy to strap to, weigh a good bit, and are easy to move if needed. At night if we are leaving the car out, we will tie the tent to the car to keep it secure during the night. One thing to remember, is that if it gets really windy, as much as you may not want to take shelter down, it could be beneficial to take the the tent down. We have seen tents that are secured to trailers fly away, even lifting the side of a empty trailer in the air because it was acting like such a sail. Needless to say that tent was also destroyed, but it happened to damage that trailer, as well as dent a race car on the other side of the trailer as it flew. So be prepped for that!

Again, there is no right or wrong way to EZ up! You just have to determine what is best for you and your needs. If you are solo and need to be quick on paddock load in and out, then some light weight 10×10 options may be in your cards. If you have a friend to help, or maybe you are part of a team, then going with the bigger/beefier tents will be your call for sure (I would be worried if it was not!). If you are running with the pros… then you are paying for someone to handle this stuff for you! Get out there, get some shade and shelter for your day so you can maximize your enjoyment, and as always, don’t forget to have fun!

Tag: Featured

Training the Body – Cardio for Drivers