The Olympic triathlon is a hybrid sport consisting of a 1.5 km win, 40 km bike journey and 10 km run that takes round 2 hours whole to complete. Successful it takes not solely prime bodily situation but additionally approach and psychological preparation. In Could a global triathlon was held in Yokohama. Kenji Nener (31, NTT) completed seventh, the all time inserting by a Japanese male. “I am getting near my supreme vary of bodily movement,” he stated afterward, sounding keen about his possibilities on the Olympics.
Temperature has a significant affect on long-distance triathlons, so acclimatization is essential. Paris in July will be over 30˚, and in a heatwave even hotter. Core physique temperature is a key ingredient in conserving it collectively in situations like these. If the physique’s core temperature goes over 38.5˚ blood circulate to muscle tissues and pores and skin will increase, leading to decrease blood circulate to inside organs and the mind and the danger of harm to them. Sweating reduces the quantity of water within the blood, and elevated coronary heart charge places pressure on the center.
The Japan Triathlon Union (JTU) has been rigorously getting ready methods and strategies for mitigating warmth in Paris. One of many catalysts for this was testing accomplished on the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics group’s coaching camp. Within the testing, athletes have been directed to cycle for over half-hour in an indoor facility with the temperature raised to at the very least 35˚. Modifications of their core temperatures have been recorded. Even when ingesting chilly water each 10 minutes, some athletes’s temperatures rose to 38.4˚ inside half-hour. However this rise was slower once they consumed a sherbet-like “ice slurry” or wore an “ice vest” that held ice packs.
Primarily based the outcomes of this testing, the JTU will put a variety of cooling methods into play in Paris to go well with the wants of every athlete. Workforce coach Kazunari Goto, a professor at Ritsumeikan College, commented, “The central difficulty is whether or not we will maintain them in a situation the place they will carry out as much as to 100% of their potential.”
Whereas on-site in Europe, Japan’s triathlon Olympians will bear warmth acclimatization coaching. Low to reasonable depth train in a sizzling setting continued over the course of 5 to 14 days leads to the physique adapting to the situations, suppressing the will increase in coronary heart charge and core temperature and rising the water content material of the blood. Workforce member Makoto Odakura (31, Mitsui Sumitomo Denko), stated, “I am coaching two hours each day on the hottest time of day.”
Japan has by no means received an Olympic triathlon medal. “As an underdog, we now have no selection however to place all of our knowhow into technical areas the place we maximize our possibilities,” stated Naoki Moriya, director of athlete scientific help at JTU. Higher scientific help means a greater probability of bringing residence a medal.
Together with the JTU and business companions, the nationwide authorities can also be offering athletes with help in getting ready for the situations. The Excessive Efficiency Sports activities Middle (HPSC) in Tokyo, which serves as a coaching base for Olympic athletes, has developed a devoted app referred to as the Athlete Port. Athletes enter information equivalent to their weight, physique temperature, fatigue stage, and each day sleep, and this information will be shared with coaches as a way to facilitate administration of the athletes’ bodily situations. Which means even when coaches cannot go along with their athletes to coaching camps, they will nonetheless work with them intently from a distant location. HSPC researcher Mariko Nakamura, 48, commented, “Coaches can objectively consider modifications within the athletes’ bodily situations and assist convey out their greatest performances.”
With JSA help, a analysis group from Juntendo College started an in-depth examine final 12 months to watch the mind construction of observe and area athletes utilizing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to discover that variable’s relationship with athletic means. The hope is that it will assist tailor coaching to go well with particular person neurological variations. Juntendo professor of physiology Hidefumi Waki defined, “The extra complicated the physique’s movement, the stronger the mind’s involvement.”
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translated by Brett Larner
