Professor, PhD, Honoured Trainer of the USSR and the Russian Federation
A.A. Grushin¹
Honoured Master of Sports, Olympic Champion S.V. Nageykina^2
1Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sport, Youth and Tourism, Moscow
²Moscow State University of Land Management, Moscow

Keywords: sport training, regular season, qualifying competitions, annual macro-cycle, highland mid-cycle, middle altitude area, mountain home, hypoxic effect, physical working capacity, sport success rate.

Introduction. Our analysis of the available theoretical and practical studies of the middle- and high-altitude highland environments being used in the long-term athletic training systems demonstrate that the positive effect of hypoxic training on the athletic fitness and physical work capacity levels is now recognized by the sport community and highly ranked among the modern elite sport training methods. Nevertheless, most of the available studies on these matters tend to rather consider the medical and biological aspects of the process then give some responses to concrete and practical issues of top priority for the coaching community, e.g. “when and how often the highland training cycles will be applied?” Therefore, it should be noted that there is a high demand for the studies to spell out in detail the best middle altitude highland training methodologies designed to improve athletic functionality on the whole and physical work capacity rates in particular, and every practical research in this area will be welcomed as highly topical.

Objective of the study was to find the most efficient highland athletic training formats within the annual training cycle of the female national cross-country ski racers – tailored to the upcoming major sport competitions of the season and qualification events for the latter.

Methodology and structure of the study. The study was based on a retrospective analysis of the athletic training systems applied by the women’s national cross-country ski racing teams of the USSR/RF for the 14 year-period of 1985 through 1998. Subject to the study were the elite female skiers of the international cross-country ski elite of that time. Conceptual subject for the study were the highland training mid-cycle designs within the annual macro-cycles tailored to the upcoming major sport competitions of the season and qualification events for the latter. Given hereunder in Table 1 are the background data on the Winter Olympics (WO) and the World Championships (WC) in the period of 1985 through 1998.

Table 1

Note: * Winter Olympics; ** World Championships

Given in Table 2 hereunder are the qualification systems for the major international competitions for the period subject to the study.

Table 2

Efficiency rates of the hypoxic training systems applied in the elite female racers’ training process were estimated based on calculations of the three Success Rates (SR) indicative of the accomplishments of the elite female cross-country ski racers at the Olympic Games and World Championships, as follows:

ü  Rating-points-based Success Rate (SR _points)  was computed as a percentage ratio of the rating points awarded for the 1-6 places on the scoreboard to the total rating points won by the team (SR _{team points}):
SR _points = SR _{team points} ÷ SR _{total points} × 100%;

ü  Medals-based Success Rate (SR _medals)  was computed as a ratio of the total medals won by the team (SR _{team medals}) to the total medal stock of the competition (SR _{medal stock}):
SR _medals = SR _{team medals} ÷ SR _{medal stock} × 100%;

ü  Gold-medals-based Success Rate (SR _{gold medals}) was computed as a ratio of the total gold medals won by the team (SR _{team GM}) to the total gold medal stock of the competition (SR _{GM stock}):
SR _{gold medals} = SR _{team GM} ÷ SR _{GM stock} × 100%.

Study results and discussion. As demonstrated by the data analysis of the Winter Olympic Games, World Championships and qualification events for them, including a variety of the international and home competitions given above in Table 1, the process implied at least three (normally four) highland training mid-cycles per annum designed to:

ü  Train the athletes for the competitions held at least 1000 m above sea level, conditional on participation in qualification events under two competitions for a relatively short time (up to two weeks) – that was the case in 1988 and 1991.

ü  Train the athletes for the competitions held at virtually the sea level, conditional on participation in qualification events under two competitions for a relatively short time (up to two weeks) – that was the case in 1989.

ü  Train athletes for the competitions held at virtually the sea level and more than 1000 m above the sea level (1992), with participation in a series of qualification events under multiple competitions (including the middle altitude highland ones) for a relatively short period (up to 6-7 weeks) – that was the case in the 1993 through 1998 period.

It was in the above period of time that the women’s national cross-country ski racing team participated in seven World Championships and four Winter Olympics and made the highest success in the global history of cross-country ski races. Given on Figure 1 hereunder are the national team Success Rates (SR) variation for the period of 1985 through 1998.

Figure 1. The national team Success Rates (SR) variation for the period of 1985 through 1998

The Success Rates of the national team showed the highest growth paces in the 1988 and 1998 Winter Olympics and 1995 and 1997 World Championships.

Given in Table 3 hereunder are the full data on the middle altitude highland training component in the women’s national cross-country ski racing team training systems in the period of 1985 through 1998. Please note that the sport seasons are arranged depending on the classified Success Rates (as provided by Figure 1).

Table 3

Note: HLHS/ HLHN means “highland home” based training in Sweden and Norway; WC: World Championship; WO:  Winter Olympics

For the historic period under the study (1991-1992 and 1986-1987), the highland training cycles were scheduled twice at the startup of the warm-up phase of the pre-season (preparatory) period. They were also scheduled twice (1984-1985 and 1985-1986) at the end of the warm-up phase and at the beginning of the base phase (in July) of the pre-season. In the remaining ten sport seasons (including the most successful ones) the highland training cycles were scheduled for August or September within the annual macro-cycle, i.e. only in the final time of the base stage of the pre-season.

In was in the seasons of 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 that the coaches for the first time resorted to additional training impacts on the athletes using extra hypoxic effect of the “highland home” based training when the athletes stayed day and night at mountain hotels in Norway (“Trisil”) and Sweden (“Gallivare”) – all the time except the training time.

Analysis of the data given above in Table 3 gives us the grounds to sort out the following time periods by the total highland training days per annum:

• The hypoxic training time totaled 83 to 100 days in the most successful years;
• The hypoxic training time totaled 63 to 83 days in the less successful years; and
• The hypoxic training time totaled 50 to 63 days in the least successful years as verified by the worst Success Rates.

Conclusion

We developed the following practical recommendations based on the retrospective study data and analysis of the elite female cross-country ski racers’ accomplishments at the major international sport competitions:

1. Day-and-night stay and training at altitudes of 1500-2000 meters above the sea level are recommended as the most efficient model of a middle altitude highland training process;
2. High-intensity highland training cycles are recommended to be scheduled for the final stages of the long-term athletic excelling periods;
3. It is beneficial to schedule the middle altitude highland training cycles following the base stage of the pre-season when the athletes come to the maximum (volume-wise) training workloads;
4. The middle altitude highland training mid-cycles are recommended to take 7 to 21 days depending on specific training objectives;
5. Total middle altitude highland training should total at least 90 days per annual macro-cycle to be efficient enough; and
6. Coaches should prudently schedule the final training session on the site of the major upcoming competition for 7-9 days prior to the first event.

References

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