title: Load management in elite German distance runners during 3-weeks of high-altitude training.
abstract: There is a debate on the optimal way of monitoring training loads in elite endurance athletes especially during altitude training camps. In this case report, including nine members of the German national middle distance running team, we describe a practical approach to monitor the psychobiological stress markers during 21 days of altitude training (~2100 m above sea-level) to estimate the training load and to control muscle damage, fatigue, and/or chronic overreaching. Daily examination included: oxygen saturation of hemoglobin, resting heart rate, body mass, body and sleep perception, capillary blood concentration of creatine kinase. Every other day, venous serum concentration of blood urea nitrogen, venous blood concentration of hemoglobin, hematocrit, red and white blood cell were measured. If two or more of the above-mentioned stress markers were beyond or beneath the athlete's normal individual range, the training load of the subsequent training session was reduced. Running speed at 3 mmol L(-1) blood lactate (V3) improved and no athlete showed any signs of underperformance, chronic muscle damage, decrease body and sleep perception as well as activated inflammatory process during the 21 days. The dense screening of biomarkers in the present case study may stimulate further research to identify candidate markers for load monitoring in elite middle- and long-distance runners during a training camp at altitude.
authors.affiliation: Integrative and Experimental Training Science, Institute of Sport Science, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany Institute of Training Science and Sport Informatics, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany The German Research Centre of Elite Sport, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany billy.sperlich@uni-wuerzburg.de.
authors.forename: Billy
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sperlich
authors.affiliation: Institute of Training Science and Sport Informatics, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany The German Research Centre of Elite Sport, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Achtzehn
authors.affiliation: Institute of Training Science and Sport Informatics, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany The German Research Centre of Elite Sport, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Marées
authors.affiliation: German Athletics Association, Darmstadt, Germany.
authors.forename: Henning
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: von Papen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Training Science and Sport Informatics, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany The German Research Centre of Elite Sport, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mester
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000531:Altitude; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006400:Hematocrit; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D010807:Physical Endurance; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep; D014508:Urea / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D019344:Lactic Acid; D014508:Urea
keywords: Blood urea nitrogen; POCT; creatine kinase; hematocrit; hemoglobin concentration; monitoring; red blood cell count; white blood cell count