High altitude training in the Pyrenees
June 16, 2008
Bonjour!! Welcome back. I am presently in beautiful, warm Europe doing my last competitive phase before the Olympics. I have been over for nearly 3 weeks now, with most of the time spent at an altitude training facility in the Pyrenees (a mountain range in southwest Europe between France and Spain).
Font-Romeu, is a small village in the hills, and although the accommodation was very basic, it was an excellent training base over here. The highest training centre (50 metre pool) in Australia is at Thredbo and is around 1300m above sea level. This is very useful but nothing when compared to Font-Romeu where we were living and training at 1900m above sea level.
One of the questions I get asked most frequently is about altitude training and chambers, so I will take a quick moment to explain. Firstly at sea level, the percentage of air which is oxygen is around the 21% mark, this figure drops as you ascend, to around 19% at Thredbo and more like 17% when at an altitude like Font-Romeu. This has two real benefits; firstly the body will start producing more red blood cells so it is more efficient at getting oxygen into the blood. This will allow the body to have more oxygen in the blood when it returns to sea level and therefore the body should be aerobically (working with oxygen) fitter. Secondly the body’s anaerobic (working without oxygen) system will get a bigger workout and should therefore be better prepared race day. The lack of oxygen at that altitude will mean you body will produce more lactic acid (the burn you feel when you exercise hard). The body builds a certain tolerance to lactic acid when it is produced in large amounts regularly.
It was a nice change from the usual Mare Nostrum racing series plan. Usually we fly over here for three or four days before the racing starts to get the body clock right, then race and fly straight home. By coming over early, we better utilised the days leading into racing on a proper training camp (in conditions tougher then anything at home in Australia) and made the large amount of travel required a little more worthwhile. Now the focus must turn from training to racing, which can be difficult sometimes.
I swam about 65 kilometers in the last calendar week in Font-Romeu, which is probably the most I have ever done. So it will be interesting to see whether the body can regain some spark after such heavy work to be fast for racing.
It is not important to be swimming fast now, the main goal is to be swimming fast in August but with a few of my rivals for Beijing medals racing here, I am hoping that I get the best out of myself and send a little message.
Hopefully next entry I will have some good news on how my racing went!
Font-Romeu, is a small village in the hills, and although the accommodation was very basic, it was an excellent training base over here. The highest training centre (50 metre pool) in Australia is at Thredbo and is around 1300m above sea level. This is very useful but nothing when compared to Font-Romeu where we were living and training at 1900m above sea level.
One of the questions I get asked most frequently is about altitude training and chambers, so I will take a quick moment to explain. Firstly at sea level, the percentage of air which is oxygen is around the 21% mark, this figure drops as you ascend, to around 19% at Thredbo and more like 17% when at an altitude like Font-Romeu. This has two real benefits; firstly the body will start producing more red blood cells so it is more efficient at getting oxygen into the blood. This will allow the body to have more oxygen in the blood when it returns to sea level and therefore the body should be aerobically (working with oxygen) fitter. Secondly the body’s anaerobic (working without oxygen) system will get a bigger workout and should therefore be better prepared race day. The lack of oxygen at that altitude will mean you body will produce more lactic acid (the burn you feel when you exercise hard). The body builds a certain tolerance to lactic acid when it is produced in large amounts regularly.
It was a nice change from the usual Mare Nostrum racing series plan. Usually we fly over here for three or four days before the racing starts to get the body clock right, then race and fly straight home. By coming over early, we better utilised the days leading into racing on a proper training camp (in conditions tougher then anything at home in Australia) and made the large amount of travel required a little more worthwhile. Now the focus must turn from training to racing, which can be difficult sometimes.
I swam about 65 kilometers in the last calendar week in Font-Romeu, which is probably the most I have ever done. So it will be interesting to see whether the body can regain some spark after such heavy work to be fast for racing.
It is not important to be swimming fast now, the main goal is to be swimming fast in August but with a few of my rivals for Beijing medals racing here, I am hoping that I get the best out of myself and send a little message.
Hopefully next entry I will have some good news on how my racing went!
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