PhD, Professor L.N. Korchevoy¹
PhD E.A. Gonchar¹
O.I. Karpushkina^1
1Far Eastern State Academy of Physical Culture, Khabarovsk

Keywords: method, test, cross country skiing, biathlon, junior athletes, performance and technical skills rates.

Background. Presently training loads on junior athletes, in contrast to adult training systems, are still unrestricted in fact, and this fact complicates the training process design on a consistent basis, particularly in the period of transition to adult training groups. High-intensity and strenuous training impacts in the junior athletes’ training systems are known to trigger fast adaptation to the training process on the one hand and fast exhaustion of the growing body adaptation resource on the other hand.

Therefore, a high priority needs to be given to the projects to develop highly informative performance and technical skills control and management models with application of modern test equipment to make timely adjustments to the athletic training process and scale down, when necessary, the training loads and improve the training process efficiency.

Objective of the study was to improve the express-test methods to obtain the performance and technical skills rating data of the racing skiers and biathletes.

Methods and structure of the study. The educational process experiment embraced two annual junior athletes’ training cycles. Subjects to the educational experiment were junior ski racers and biathletes of 16-17 years of age split up into Study and Reference Groups (SG and RG) of 10 people each. Prior to each training stage (once in 3-4 months) the SG was repeatedly tested by special instruments to rate the lactate levels. The lactate rates were applied to compute the anaerobic threshold (AT) and maximum oxygen consumption (MOC) rates for the training process individualisation at the preparatory training stage. Later on the SG and RG were subject to similar training loads, albeit the RG training process was regulated by the standard training program with submaximal load on discretion of the trainees; versus the SG training process with the practices stopped as soon as the instrumental tests showed the functionality rates exceeding the acceptable limits. The everyday tests of the SG training process was secured by the relevant test software, POLAR and GARMIN systems for the HR control that generate visual data to profile the training process versus competitive accomplishments.

The skate skiing training process in both of the groups was recorded twice per week. The SG technical progress was profiled using Dartfish-7 application software followed by practical recommendations to the athletes on how the technical skills may be improved, plus corrective exercises designed to correct technical errors in the process. Therefore, the SG training model was better equipped with the modern instrumental test tools to profile the functional and technical aspects of athletic fitness and make timely adjustments to the individual training paths. The SG training model was expected to demonstrate its benefits in the physical fitness and technical skills and competitive success aspects. The preparatory training process was dominated by cross-country races, 100-450m diagonal stride mimicking runs, and 500-5000m roller-skiing practices.

The proposed training model benefits were rated by the progress rating tests on the distances close to the ones in the upcoming competitions. The progress rating tests included the varying slope surmounting tests, 100m/500m plain sprint (double pole and non-pole race) tests, plus 5/10km race tests.

The new approach to the training process design and management customised to the athletes’ adaptation and rehabilitation cycles gave the means to employ their functional resources on the most efficient basis and effectively prevent overstrain risks in the functional training process.

Study results and discussion. The study data and analysis showed the lactate rating test with the relevant correlation index of r = 0.853 being the most informative in the range of the applied biochemical instrumental tests.

The V.L. Karpman’s MOC (maximum oxygen consumption) rating test (1987) made it possible to reliably test the aerobic working capacity of the subjects for it shows a fairly high correlation with the competitive success rate (r = 0.623). It should be noted, however, that MOC is quite a constant value and, hence, the test results may not vary widely in the same athlete in a short term.

The study data and mathematical statistics processing gave the means to profile the training loads versus the physical working capacity (PWC) and MOC rates. To profile the rate variations, we computed the mean arithmetic values of the study rates for every group and every competition. For the study period these rates were tested to grow by 4.6% or 8.3% by the Dushanin’s and Karpman’s formulae, respectively. Knowing that the physical working capacity rates are always in direct positive correlation with the competitive success rates, we may fairly assume that the competitive accomplishments have also grown for this period.

Prior to the new training model piloting experiment, we tested the subjects’ functionality in different aspects and found the physical fitness rates in both of the groups being virtually the same (р≥0.05). The comparative analysis of the experimental model versus the traditional training system based on the progress test rates prior to and after the experiment showed growths of the special fitness rates in the groups. The SG, however, showed a higher progress in the sport technical skills including the 5km test rates improved by 40.5s (4.5%); 10km race test rates improved by 70s (3.9%); versus that in the RG that showed improvements by 25.7s (2.85%) and 38.9s (2.16%), respectively.

The video-capturing data obtained using Dartfish-7 system made it possible to improve the athletes’ technical mastery in a focused manner based on the training process individualising recommendations supported by the special sets of exercises. As a result, the SG skiing technique was improved as verified, among other things, by the speed resource rate improvement by 12.3%.

Conclusion. The educational process experiment geared to improve the performance and technical skills rates using informative instrumental test methods showed progress of the 16-17 years old racing skiers and biathletes as verified by the notable growth of their special fitness rates; and made it possible to scale down the cyclic training loads by 11% in the training process that may be interpreted as indicative of the high efficiency of the proposed training model.

References

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Corresponding author: dobrovolsky@list.ru

Abstract

The study considers some issues of special endurance building in junior racing skiers and biathletes. Objective of the study was to improve the express-test methods to obtain the performance and technical skills rating data of racing skiers and biathletes. The study was designed to assess benefits of athlete’s fitness and performance test equipment and methods by a practical experiment.

Subject to the educational experiment were junior racing skiers and biathletes of 16-17 years of age. The experiment was intended to improve the performance and technical skills rates of the athletes by the training process being supported by the test data. The experiment showed progress of the athletes as verified by the growth of their special endurance rates and made it possible to scale down the cyclic loads in the training process that may be interpreted as indicative of the high efficiency of the proposed method.

The proposed informational support method with the modern test equipment and software used to obtain the performance and technical skills rating test data gave the means to cut down the training loads and improve efficiency of the training process.