Canada's multi-talented marvel: Clara Hughes
In 1996, at Atlanta, she won her first Olympic medal. In 2002, at Salt Lake City, she became the first Canadian — and only the second woman — to climb the podium at both a Summer and a Winter Games.
In 2006, at Turin, she claimed her first Olympic gold.
And in 2009, inside her own cranium, Clara Hughes made the big breakthrough.
“Honestly,” says the elite speedskater and cyclist from Winnipeg, one of the most decorated athletes in Canadian history, “it’s really only been this past year that I feel like I really have it figured out in terms of nutrition, in terms of therapy, in terms of training, hydration, recovery, sleep.
“I know it sounds ridiculous,” adds the 37-year-old Hughes, “because I’ve had a lot of success as an athlete. But I just feel like, for the first time, that I get it — and it’s kind of a neat place to be right now.”
Hughes’ athletic resume is astonishing. At the age of 18, she started a fruitful career in competitive cycling, a path that would take her to two Olympic Games, three Commonwealth Games, and four Pan American Games in both the road and track disciplines.
And in the winter of 2000-01, she returned to her first sport of long-track speedskating, which led to two more Olympics, a world record, and annual appearances at the world championships.
Heading into her fifth and final Games at Vancouver 2010 — she’s already pre-qualified for the 5,000 metres — Hughes has five Olympic medals, a sterling reputation and that new-found outlook, too.
“The life of an athlete is not a normal one, with the high-intensity work and the fatigue,” says Xiuli Wang, Hughes’ longtime coach. “But a human is a human, and sometimes it’s not easy to follow the instructions written down on paper — eat this, eat that.
“But Clara has really committed herself to the sport. The great thing about Clara is, she’s still got an open mind, and is still willing to accept suggestions about training, about eating, about hydrating, and realize which ones are important. That’s part of what makes her one of the most remarkable athletes in the world.”
As an endurance skater, Hughes trains 11 months of the year, six days a week, usually twice a day.
Off-season training includes intense cycling and running, dryland imitation sessions and weightlifting. Once Hughes and her mates are on the ice for pre-season training, it’s two sessions daily — about 25 kilometres around the oval in the morning, and either riding, running or weightlifting in the afternoon.
Hughes estimates she burns as much as 3,700 calories a day when training sessions are at their most intense.
“Most of the time, the level of exhaustion is . . . baffling,” she says with a laugh. “I do look forward to not being this tired all the time. But at the same time, it’s amazing to be so exhausted, and then go to sleep for eight hours and wake up and actually feel better. I’m like: ‘Wow, I’ve actually recovered!’”
As a reward, Hughes has the freedom, each spring, to add a personal element to her regimen by beginning her year with a training holiday in a different part of the world.
“This spring my husband and I did a mountain traverse in the desert out on the Nevada-California border,” she says. “Nineteen days. More than 250 kilometres. We had to melt snow for water the entire way, and it was possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
“We had seventy-five-pound backpacks, and we had to prepare by putting a couple of food and water caches up in the mountains, so it was epic and it was amazing. My physiologist had said he wanted me to do altitude training, and I was able to tell him that my highest camp was 13,400 feet. So he was happy.”
To stoke that calorie-burning furnace, Hughes starts with complex carbohydrates in the morning, a source of sugar during morning training, carbs with plenty of vegetables and fruit for lunch, a recovery shake with soy milk and fruit after afternoon training, and a protein-heavy meal for dinner with more vegetables and fruit.
“I practise something called food combining,” she says, “where you separate the protein from the starches in your meals, and you combine them with fruits and vegetables.
“I find it a really good system. I feel like I never get tired from what I’ve eaten, and I never feel bad. I just feel energized from my food.”
Hughes feels as though her personal epiphany — with a healthy confluence of diet, training, hydration, recovery and sleep — has set her up for a lifetime of health, long after she’s hung up her blades.
“Genes and flexibility got me through a lot,” she admits. “But it’s exciting to be at this stage. It’s just my whole mindset — not in my sport, but in my life.
“It sounds goofy,” says Hughes, “but I feel like I’m a happier person than I ever have been. I’m finally taking care of myself really well . . . as a human being, not just as an athlete.
“It only takes doing a few little things for yourself, and you can change your whole perspective on every single experience, encounter, interaction you have in your day.”
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Think Health
You’re not about to walk out the door, lace up the blades and skate 5,000 metres. But elite Canadian speedskater Clara Hughes has some suggestions to get non-Olympians on the road to healthy living.
Hydration
Drink plenty of water. There’s nothing like that old Adam’s ale to cure what ails you. “You just really can’t beat water,” says Hughes. “It has such an effect on every cell in your body. That’s one thing I’ve been really diligent with the last eight months, and I feel so much healthier. My skin is better; my hair is healthier. I now believe that for years and years, I was chronically dehydrated. I think people often confuse thirst with hunger.”
Exercise
Whatever you do, the key is to get up, get out and move. “To me, health is movement. I think you have to move to feel good,” says Hughes. “There’s a park across from my apartment (in Vancouver), and it’s packed with people walking, swinging their arms, everyone with their own little routine. It’s just a matter of finding out what you actually like and not torturing yourself to do the things you hate.”
