   
Juerg
Senior Member Username: Juerg
Post Number: 1164 Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - 12:56 pm: | |
The new group of coaches, as well as athletes comming up in european skiing start to implement "old' ideas now into their trainings. Spiro Tiger for dwonhill skier ( Gut ) as well as lactate testing to assess metabolic intensities during runs. Here a summary from the lataest info sheet . Blood lactate for monitoring training intensity in alpine skiers In sports mostly depending on endurance capacity, blood lactate monitoring is widely used to evaluate training status and to set training intensity. After a single bout of exercise performed at high intensity, blood lactate concentrations are reflecting lactate levels in muscle cells, thus helping to define the best moment for starting the next training load. In addition to training status and exercise intensity, blood lactate is also influenced by depletion and reple- tion of muscle glycogen stores, as well as by hypoxia. Training sessions of alpine skiers often take place at high altitude. They are characterized as high intensity repetitive loads lasting approxi- mately 60 seconds where energy supply mostly depends on carbo- hydrate metabolism. The present study was designed to test the feasibility of blood lactate monitoring as a means of quality con- trol in alpine skiers training at high altitude. Skiers of the Swiss National Slalom Team participated in a final pre-season training camp at Colorado (USA), where they lived and trained at altitudes of 3000–3500 m above sea level. Blood lactate concentrations were measured before and after each training run and at the occasion of preliminary competitions. In addition the skiers had to perform a submaximal test on a bicycle ergometer every third day, where blood lactate concentration, heart rate and rating of perceived exertion were monitored. Slalom runs of 25–45 sec duration led to blood lactate concentra- tions exceeding 10 mM, but interindividual variation was quite large. Recovery times averaging 17 minutes between training runs proved to be too short for some skiers at the beginning of the training camp, since blood lactate concentrations at the start of a run were often higher than 4 mM in those cases. Lactate concentra- tions both at the start and at the finish of the slalom runs tended to decrease in the course of the first seven days of the training period. The same pattern occurred with respect to the average heart rates and blood lactate concentrations measured in the submaximal ergometer tests, demonstrating an adaptation to high altitude and/ or to the training program. It is concluded that blood lactate monitoring in alpine skiing is useful to adjust training intensity and to prevent local muscle overload. Repetitive submaximal ergometer tests may indicate adaptational processes to specific situations such as adaptation to altitude. |