The question that was asked to the scientific presenters (Altitude Training Around the World presenters) and coaches presenting at the US Altitude Programs was, “What amount of the performance gains could be attributed to getting the athletes all together in training camps versus an actual improvement from altitude training itself?”
Every speaker had a subtle twist on their response, but each speaker stated that there certainly seems to be a significant performance gain from simply getting good athletes together. The placebo data also suggested this to be true. Athletes improved in training camp settings even without altitude training based on the placebo data displayed. Trying to disseminate exactly what role each integral component plays is nearly impossible.
Coach Bowman discussed how the athletes observe and push each other in the pool during camps. He discussed a competitive aspect some of his athletes have to merely execute all the technical drills in the training session. He elaborated on the joking comment about the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs as “jail” to his athletes. He stated that everything (food, lodging, the pool and the weight room) are all very close in proximity and they wake, eat, train, eat, sleep and repeat. There is very little time in the day to do anything else and they simply can not positively absorb the training if they’re off doing other things in their limited free time.
Coach Mahon and Deena Kaster discussed the Mammoth Lakes area as a remote location with few distractions and great training partners. Coach Mahon stated that the Mammoth Track Club started in 2001 with seasonal training camps where the team gathered for 4-8 week camps prior to major events. Under the tutelage of Coach Bob Larsen & Joe Vigil, the Mammoth Track Club put American distance running back on the Olympic podium with Deena’s bronze medal and Meb Keflezighi’s silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympic marathon. Coincidentally, Meb and Deena were the only full time residents of the Mammoth area. Coach Mahon took over after Larsen and Vigil retired and Mahon prompted a full commitment for the athletes in the Mammoth Track Club in 2005. A small but very accomplished group of international caliber runners then made the Mammoth Lakes area their full time residence.
Dave Jarrett discussed the need to get the athletes together to provide technical support in both cross country skiing and ski jumping. All agreed that top caliber athletes working together learn from one another through competition, observation and consistent coaching helps keep them on track.
The similarities with each presentation were profound. Another major similarity was quality training. Each coach and scientist displayed very detailed training plans and training outlines for the whole year. Each workout within that plan had a defined goal.
Deena discussed the technical running drills that they do and how Mahon “gets on them” when they lose concentration and joke around. “With Purpose” was the coined term Deena stated that Coach Mahon says when concentration lacks.
Coach Bowman displayed workouts in his presentation. Each workout had bullet points that extended down about three-fourths of the page. At first, I thought the slide presented was all four training sessions for one day until he pulled up another slide that showed the second workout of four. Coach Bowman stated that swimming is a sport of intervals – some at low intensity and other at higher intensities. The listed workouts included the type of stroke, particular drills and number of repetitions at specific distances. It was apparent that all these workouts were defined “with purpose.”
Inevitably commitment was the most notable similarity. Deena and Bill Demong discussed their lifestyles. Deena stated that she sleeps twelve hours per day to be able to recover enough from her training regimen. This falls in line with an article I recently read in Runner’s World magazine about her teammate Ryan Hall, who calls his regimented naps – “business meetings.”
Bill Demong joked about the scientific data that was presented that stated an average of three weeks is necessary to acclimate to the time zone change in Europe. He stated that he has won more World Cup events by simply flying in midweek and racing right away. He agreed jet lag is a stressor that needs to be handled, but he has learned to sleep well on the plane and booking direct flights minimizes that stress. He stated that jet lag is as difficult on the body as one wants to make it and it does take time and unique strategies to minimize that stress. Bill also re-emphasized the importance of making sport an integral part of your life at the highest level of sport.
Sport is not what they do, but an integral part of who they are. There is no doubt that these athletes are physically gifted above the norm. None the less, I have witnessed a number of “gifted” athletes with a high capacity and high affinity for performance. Such athletes have the potential or CAN become great athletes, but having the ability is different than ACTUALLY DOING it. DOING it requires whole-hearted commitment, execution, making decisions that place one in the position with the highest opportunity for success, mindful execution, consistent monitoring, and a balanced and realistic mindset. Many sacrifices and steps are made to take an athlete that CAN and transform them into one that DOES.
Another similarity was the importance of individuality in training. Sport science driven by standard deviation, averages, means and P-values tend to generate as many questions as answers. The scientific results tended to point in a direction of individuality. “Sometimes” was a common answer to the questions many of the world’s top scientists received from the results of their research. Evidence also pointed to differing altitude responses from an individual. For example, an athlete might respond differently to altitude as the body is exposed to altitude more frequently.
I think the tests and data were valid. These are accredited and intelligent people that are not whimsical but methodical. They have chased down a number of paths to find “the” answer, but they simply kept finding that “one size does not fit all.” Even the scientists pointed toward looking at each athlete as a “test of one” and learning through trial and error versus using “one” right path to effectively utilize altitude training.
The results as well as coach/athlete presentations pointed toward individuality in altitude responders. The term “responders” and “non-responders” was thrown around a lot. Coach Mahon strongly challenged the “non-responder” theory and wanted to “correct” the terminology. Mahon stated that everyone responds to altitude, but some respond more positively to it than others. He redefined responders as fast responders, medium responders and slow responders.
Mahon’s thoughts were substantiated by Coach Bowman’s observations as well as the scientific data presented. The degree and modality of adaptation to altitude may align with the percentage of fast twitch to slow twitch muscle contribution of the individual athlete. Athletes that have a high slow twitch contribution and hence are predisposed to longer distance/ duration events respond more “rapidly” to the stresses of altitude, while fast twitch predisposed to sprint lengths tend to respond “slower” and hence the stress of altitude is more dramatic. In short, fast twitch athletes perceive altitude as a greater stress to the body than do their longer aerobic endurance athlete counterparts.
I walked away with a thought that altitude training is a mode of training that CAN be implemented in a positive manner if planned, monitored and executed properly. It is “a” type of training, but not “the” answer. It can be used for those athletes living low (like the Baltimore Aquatic Center) or positively implemented through consistent living and training. Altitude is a stressor. Progression in training requires a stepwise increase in stressors with ample recovery to elicit positive response. Altitude is also a stressor that people adapt to differently and hence may be a mode of training more readily suited for some more than others or the training may need to be modified slightly different for specific athletes when training and competing at altitude.
Altitude struck me as being similar to caffeine. I am a rapid responder to caffeine and therefore my daily migrations point me in the direction to the nearest coffee house. Others may not “respond” as aptly as I and may not implement such training into their daily regime as I align my days around frequent cups of Americano, shots of espresso, coffee or tea.
None the less, all respond to altitude to some degree and our sport includes events at a wide range of elevations. Top athletes need to be able to perceive, modify and execute at a number of elevations.
General “Rules of Thumb” in Altitude
- Ensure hydration and iron levels remain high. Iron supplementation may be necessary to keep iron levels high. This is particularly true for women.
- Greater than 2 weeks, greater than 2,500 meters above seas level & greater than 12 hours per day (often greater than 18 hrs/day) is necessary for the physical changes of the body to occur
- Post altitude and return to lower elevation – 1-4 days most favorable, 5-11 days – least favorable & 12-28 days second most favorable. All biological responses to altitude are generally erased after 28-30 days.
- Biological adaptation to altitude happens at a rate of approximately 1% per 100 hours at altitude.
- Many biological responses (blood, neuromuscular, endocrine, etc) can happen within altitude, but mainly used to boost red blood cell volume, increase EPO, increase VO2max, etc, etc, etc.
- Goal is more oxygen uptake, transport, delivery and processing
- Training at low elevations on a regular basis may train respiratory muscles, mitigating the effect of increased work of breathing, as well as maintaining neuromotor coordination.
USOC Altitude Training Symposium
David Lovgren 2:29 pm on March 8, 2010 Permalink |
Easy for me to say now, BUT, I would think for skiers planning to be regulars on the Euro tour, the safest bet for drills etc would be to invest in a drill bought in Europe. I did the Vasaloppet last year, and one of the first orders of business was to acquire a European wax iron. Might be a bit pricey compared to N.AMerican prices but as you found out – priceless if it works.
David Lovgren