Altitude and heat training in preparation for competitions in the heat: A case study

Purpose: To quantify, for an elite-level racewalker, altitude training, heat acclimation and acclimatization, physiological data, and race performance from January 2007 to August 2008. Methods: The participant performed 7 blocks of altitude training: 2 “live high:train high” blocks at 1380 m (total = 22 d) and 5 simulated “live high:train low” blocks at 3000 m/600 m (total = 98 d). Prior to the 2007 World Championships and the 2008 Olympic Games, 2 heat-acclimation blocks of ~6 weeks were performed (1 session/week), with ∼2 weeks of heat acclimatization completed immediately prior to each 20-km event. Results: During the observation period, physiological testing included maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max, mL·kg−1·min−1), walking speed (km·h−1) at 4 mmol·L−1 blood lactate concentration [La−], body mass (kg), and hemoglobin mass (g), and 12 × 20-km races and 2 × 50-km races were performed. The highest VO2max was 67.0 mL·kg−1·min−1 (August 2007), which improved 3.1% from the first measurement (64.9 mL·kg−1·min−1, June 2007). The highest percentage change in any physiological variable was 7.1%, for 4 mmol·L−1 [La−] walking speed, improving from 14.1 (June 2007) to 15.1 km·h−1 (August 2007). Personal-best times for 20 km improved from (hh:mm:ss) 1:21:36 to 1:19:41 (2.4%) and from 3:55:08 to 3:39:27 (7.1%) in the 50-km event. The participant won Olympic bronze and silver medals in the 20- and 50-km, respectively. Conclusions: Elite racewalkers who regularly perform altitude training may benefit from periodized heat acclimation and acclimatization prior to major international competitions in the heat

Sleep at the helm: A case study of how a head coach sleeps compared to his team

In recent years, research examining the sleep of elite athletes has increased. This is predominantly due to the importance sleep has on an athlete’s psychological and physiological well-being. Despite the growing importance of sleep in athletes, the amount and quality of sleep coaches obtain has been neglected. The aim of this study was to examine the sleep of a head coach and compare it to his team. The sleep of 16 members of the Australian U/20 men’s football team (age 18.8 ± 0.9 years) and the head coach (age 55 years) was monitored using wrist activity monitors and self-report sleep diaries. Sleep was examined for 15 nights in preparation for the 2011 U/20 FIFA World Cup. The head coach went to bed earlier (23:30 h ± 65 min vs. 23:36 h ± 30 min), spent less time in bed (8.4 ± 1.3 h vs. 8.6 ± 1.0 h), obtained less sleep per night (6.4 ± 1.5 h vs. 6.6 ± 0.8 h), and woke up earlier (07:54 h ± 46 min vs. 08:12 h ± 52 min) than his team. In general, the head coach obtained less sleep than his team and slept considerably poorer the night before important games. Future investigations need to examine the extent to which sleep impairs psychological state, decision-making and overall coaching performance. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017

Altitude training and haemoglobin mass from the optimised carbon monoxide rebreathing method determined by a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To characterise the time course of changes in haemoglobin mass (Hbmass) in response to altitude exposure. METHODS: This meta-analysis uses raw data from 17 studies that used carbon monoxide rebreathing to determine Hbmass prealtitude, during altitude and postaltitude. Seven studies were classic altitude training, eight were live high train low (LHTL) and two mixed classic and LHTL. Separate linear-mixed models were fitted to the data from the 17 studies and the resultant estimates of the effects of altitude used in a random effects meta-analysis to obtain an overall estimate of the effect of altitude, with separate analyses during altitude and postaltitude. In addition, within-subject differences from the prealtitude phase for altitude participant and all the data on control participants were used to estimate the analytical SD. The 'true' between-subject response to altitude was estimated from the within-subject differences on altitude participants, between the prealtitude and during-altitude phases, together with the estimated analytical SD. RESULTS: During-altitude Hbmass was estimated to increase by ∼1.1%/100 h for LHTL and classic altitude. Postaltitude Hbmass was estimated to be 3.3% higher than prealtitude values for up to 20 days. The within-subject SD was constant at ∼2% for up to 7 days between observations, indicative of analytical error. A 95% prediction interval for the 'true' response of an athlete exposed to 300 h of altitude was estimated to be 1.1-6%. CONCLUSIONS: Camps as short as 2 weeks of classic and LHTL altitude will quite likely increase Hbmass and most athletes can expect benefit