Top endurance athletes are born, not made, according to a researcher in exercise science. You can train all you like but if your genes don't co-operate you won't be able to compete at the top level.
Waterford Institute of Technology's Dr Michael Harrison delivered a highly engaging talk as part of Science Week Ireland yesterday entitled "The Science of Endurance Sport".
He told his capacity audience at the institute about what makes a top endurance athlete. He also put a hapless student through his paces, churning away on a cycle to measure his maximum oxygen uptake.
Dr Harrison went through a number of physiological factors that help make a top endurance athlete. He also looked at how science has been "used and misused" in helping athletes improve.When it comes to endurance levels top players are born not made, he said. "There are no questions about it."
He described the performance of the top cyclist and multiple Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong, looking in particular at what he has that has enabled him to perform at such a high level. The key factor in measuring performance, "the gold standard in testing for aerobic fitness" is maximum oxygen uptake, Dr Harrison explained.
"Lance Armstrong has a very high maximum oxygen uptake and a high cycling economy," Dr Harrison said. "He can go at a given rate using less energy than his counterparts."
The lecturer in exercise science provided an example of how maximum oxygen uptake is measured by bringing in a student and setting him loose on an exercise cycle.
Oxygen uptake in sport relates to how efficiently your body gets oxygen into the bloodstream and out to the muscle cells. "The ability to get oxygen to your muscles is absolutely critical to your endurance," explained Dr Harrison.
The student worked at a steady rhythm of 60 rpm but over time more weight and therefore work was added to the exercise. The object is to push the subject to exhaustion. "We kept going until he could go no longer," Dr Harrison said.
This oxygen uptake is measured in millilitres of oxygen per kilo of body weight per minute and is expressed in a single figure. The student achieved a maximum oxygen uptake of 55, Dr Harrison said, a figure appropriate to a typical games player.
"We would regard 35 as low and 45 as a good score for a moderately fit person," he added. Not surprisingly Lance Armstrong's figure was significantly higher at 85.
Training isn't enough to allow one to reach this kind of level, you have to be born with it, Dr Harrison said. And one's ability to train to higher oxygen uptake levels is also heavily dependent on one's genetic make-up.
Dr Harrison also talked about how athletes try to cheat the system, describing two methods that have been used. Blood doping involves drawing blood some weeks before a peak performance is required and then transfusing this back into the bloodstream to boost levels of oxygen carrying red blood cells.
A chemically based method to achieve higher red cell counts was also developed. EPO is a hormone that increases red cell production in the body. Both methods are illegal in world sport.