UKA/London Marathon Altitude Programme ... - Fidal Lombardia

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6 | UKA/London MARAthon (LM) ALtItUde tRAInIng CAMP AnnUAL RePoRt Number of PB’s 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Figure 1 3. WOrLd LEAdING SpOrT SCIENCE ANd SUppOrT Professor Andy Jones and Dr Barry Fudge are an essential part of the UKA/LM altitude programme team, educating and advising athletes and coaches. All athletes and coaches involved in the UKA/LM altitude training camp follow the physiological monitoring protocol set up for altitude training, which ensures athletes are best prepared prior to going to altitude, adapt to the altitude once at the venue and are reviewed when returning to sea level. The protocol set up by Jones and Fudge involves pre and post altitude laboratory/field work, and adaptation monitoring whilst at altitude. A key element within this process is blood profiling, which ensures all athletes have sufficient iron levels prior to going to altitude. As well as being part of the education process in exposing athletes and coaches to altitude training, the exercise physiologists will be able to provide specific feedback to the athletes and coaches to ensure they are maximising their time at altitude and are benefiting from the potential gains associated with responding well to altitude conditions. 0.8 2008 *Statistically significant PB’s Progression of race times 0.9 *1.4 2009 2010 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 Progression of race times from previous year (%) Data produced by Dr Barry Fudge highlights some of the progressions made in performances made by UK athletes who have been training at altitude: At the group level, there were 43 personal best performances (800m to 10,000m event groups) completed by the athletes that attended the Font-Romeu camp for four weeks prior to the 2010 track season. After normalising the data (i.e. discounting athletes who did not have three years competition data and/or athletes who completed their previous personal best performances indoors) there were 24 personal best performances from 14 athletes in the 2010 track season compared to just 15 in 2009 and 16 in 2008 (800m to 10,000m event groups). Given that these athletes were highly trained, it may be expected that the rate of progression would be similar or gradually smaller for each subsequent year. In the present group the rate of progression in performance was 0.8%, 0.9% and 1.4% in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively (see figure 1). Therefore this data suggests that a four week training period at altitude may be beneficial for subsequent endurance running performance, equating to about 0.5% improvement in progression of race times compared to sea level training.
4. FONT rOMEU, FrANCE - SprING CAMp 2010 Nestled in the French Pyrenees, 1800m (6000ft) above sea level, Font Romeu has been a popular base in Europe for many of the world’s best endurance athletes in recent years, including Paula Radcliffe who has a permanent base there. In the spring of 2010 (mid April to mid May) UKA, with support from London Marathon, held its main altitude camp for 3-4 weeks in Font Romeu. The group consisted of World Class Programme, Futures, Aviva GB&NI Team athletes and a number of developing athletes linked to the National Performance Centre at Loughborough and Regional Centres, such as Birmingham and St.Mary’s. The Font Romeu camp catered for 28 athletes and various support staff, of which details are listed here. prEpArATION CAMp prE ThE EUrOpEAN ChAMpS A group of endurance athletes used Font Romeu to prepare for the European Championships. The group consisted of Mo Farah, Chris Thompson, Jemma Simpson, Lee Merrien, Michelle Ross Cope, Helen Decker, Jo Jackson, Martin Williams and Ben Moreau. From that group, Farah won double gold in the 5000m and 10000m, Thompson took 10000m silver, Merrien finished eighth and first GB & NI team member in the marathon, Ross-Cope and Decker won team bronze in the marathon and Jo Jackson finished 10th in the 20k walk; she went on to win Commonwealth Games gold in Delhi in October. The preparation camp was a huge success and a similar preparation camp will be in operation prior to the World Championships in Daegu and the London 2012 Olympics. UKA/London MARAthon (LM) ALtItUde tRAInIng CAMP AnnUAL RePoRt | 7 Spring 2010: • 28 x Athletes (i.e. Mo Farah, Lisa Dobriskey and Laura Kenney) • 1 x Camp manager • 2 x Personal coaches • 3 x UKA Coaches (George Gandy, John Nuttall and Alasdair donaldson) • 3 x Physiotherapists • 2 x Exercise Physiologists • 1 x Doctor • 1 x Strength and Conditioning coach Note: not all support staff are there for a four week period, the staffing support is split across the camp The preparation camp costs prior to Barcelona were funded from the Championship budget and the Marathon team European Team Cup budget. Chris Thompson who prepared for the European Championships in Font Romeu, said: “The altitude camps have helped to me to focus solely on my running and put the edge on my fitness. I have found that my aerobic capacity has improved immensely through the camps being at altitude and this without doubt played a huge part in me gaining my silver medal in the European Championships this summer. My blood profiling has increased in ways impossible to recreate at sea level, and given me great confidence.”
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UKA/London Marathon Altitude Programme ... - Fidal Lombardia

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