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Live @ the USA XC Champs: “18 months to Beijing” Lecture

Posted February 9th, 2007 at 9:23 PM by Sarah Mandell

Section: News & Results, Cross Country, Special Features, Live Race Coverage

Although the 2007 USA XC Championships are in less than 24 hours, athletes and coaches are already concerned and preparing for next summer’s Olympic games.

Physiologist, Dr. Randy Wilbur, began the conference entitled “18 Months to Beijing: How heat, humidity and extreme pollution won’t keep USA athletes off the podium,” and was accompanied by eight time US Marathon Champion Steve Jones, and world, US record setter, and Nike Coach and running legend Alberto Salazar. The panel of speakers discussed the fears and concerns of entering such a hot, humid and polluted environment for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Beijing, China lies at the same geographical latitude, as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and 1.3 billion people inhabit the country. The environmental conditions there, especially during the summer, are quite grueling. During the month of August the approximate average temperature is 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and can get as high as 101 degrees. The ambient temperature combined with the humidity of the area can make the average temperature in august feel like 90-95 degrees therefore causing between caution and extreme caution conditions. Caution conditions can cause fatigue and extreme caution conditions can cause such symptoms as sunstroke and muscle cramps.

In addition, in past Olympic games they had the runners begin later in the day and progress towards cooler temperature, but in the summer of 2008 they are having the marathons begin at 7:30 a.m., causing the athletes to hit mid day heat and humidity.

Not only are athletes concerned about the heat and humidity, but pollution is also an extreme concern. Such factors as automobile exhaust, cigarette smoke, coal, fueled power plants, and petrochemical refineries have led to excessive amounts of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and Ozone (O3). Beijing even has worse air pollution than Los Angeles, one of the most polluted cities in the world. Carbon dioxide is known to cause extreme headaches, and Nitrogen Dioxide and Ozone are particularly stressful on the lungs threatening those runners with Asthma or Exercise Induced Asthma (EIA).

So the question posed was “how do you prepare an athlete for such harsh conditions?” Although it only takes about 14 days to acclimate to the intense conditions, it’s important to prepare yourself throughout the year so you’re not putting extreme strain on your body. Altitude is a great way to train, but in order to be accustomed to wet hot conditions, opposed to cooler drier conditions, you need to add an extra dimension. Layering clothing is a wonderful way to train and condition yourself for the ambient weather. By layering your clothing you “crank up the heat,” which is extremely helpful in training for such conditions.

Dr. Wilbur also strongly recommended receiving a pulmonary test. If you test positive then you can receive medication that will help with the asthma. Whether you test negative or positive the test is said to help athletes, especially on the psychological level. If a person tests positive then they have medication that helps ease their mindset, and if they test negative than they know there alright, which also helps ease their mind set.

During the conference we were also graced by the presence of 1992 bronze medalist Lorraine Moller who stressed the importance of becoming familiar with the environment in which you’re going to run. A year before the Barcelona games she scouted around and became familiar with the conditions, which she stated, was extremely important in taking home a medal.

Both Alberto Salazar and Steve Jones also stressed the importance of acclimating yourself to heat and humidity throughout the year. They both agreed that layering can greatly help, but emphasized that there’s nothing like the real thing. They also both stated that there is a great importance of putting your body through stress throughout training, whether it is through speed work or miles. Although you have to be careful not to over do it, when facing challenging conditions, the important thing is overcoming the stress.

It is true that there are some genetics to this. If you grow up in an environment surrounding certain conditions, then you’ll obviously have an advantage over those who see these conditions as unfamiliar territory. But with physical as well as psychological training, you can overcome those climatic obstacles that you think stand in your way. Lorraine Moller stated: