Rucking On The Road

Long-distance travel goes with the rugby territory in Finland. Away matches can therefore be seen as challenging for any side.  Consider OYUS Rugby in Oulu: the Freetime Machos stars never have the luxury of a local game, travelling 288km to Kuopio, 319km to Vaasa and 339km to Jyväskylä.   Keep in mind that this must seem easy compared to the time of the film, where Turku and Oulu enjoyed a 648km journey for their match. More recently we saw teams setting off in the wee small hours to enjoy a fine day at the Tampere 7s, where the first game began at a very friendly 09:20.  With travel putting such a strain on performance we look at simple, but effective, ways of succeeding on the road.

Top tips for travelling:

1. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!

Simple as it may sound, take 15 minutes to get your kit together the night before the game.  This becomes especially important when leaving early in the morning as last-minute packing will eat into your sleep time and add unnecessary stress on match day.  Perhaps more importantly, last-minute rush may cause you to forget something, leading to embarassing fines at the end of season party!  Linked to this is the need to get enough sleep.  Compensate for an early departure and give yourself good quality sleep rather to stealing a quick snooze in the car.

2. Put down that steak!

Red meat takes far longer to digest than white meat and fish. Consequently, if you wolf down a 400g of rump or a tasty double burger on Friday night, all that meaty goodness will still be sitting in your gut come kick-off time.  This means your body is not only diverting energy towards digestion, but you are also dragging around extra weight.  Instead, opt for a pre-match meals based on quicker digesting carbs (pasta etc) with chicken or fish for your protein.

3. Hey, Waterboy!

Hydration is not just something to think about during the game – it starts from the moment you wake up and even the day before.  Away games often mean hours in a car, but this can also be a great time to get the fluids in – take 2-3 litres of water with you and continually take small sips to keep hydration levels high.

(photo by Rod McCracken - Hydration should begin well before the match)

4. Keep it simple!

Some people have their match day rituals but the general concesus is that sticking with normal routine is the best way to prepare. If you have a regular breakfast on other days, current thinking says that sticking close to that is the safest strategy, with the caveat that fry-ups are not included!

5. The painful truth.....

We’ll tell you straight: if you want to play to your full potential, having some beers on the Friday night is a terrible.  All you will do is increase the dehydration, making it even harder to climb back to your best before kick-off.  Save the partying until after the match.