David Carr Case Study

The need for sports science support? Recently FANS member David Carr volunteered to work with a student from the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Kent as a part of their MSc Sport Science for Optimal Performance degree course. Specifically, David’s involvement in the student’s studies involved a 12 week period of Sport Science support aimed at assessing, and then improving David’s sporting performance. David is a 3-time national age group champion in Modern and is a member of Pentathlon GB. The main constraint that he had was that his training time was limited to about 10-12 hours per week due to the requirements of his A-Level studies. The challenge was therefore how to split his available training time across the five disciplines required in modern pentathlon (, 200m freestyle , , combined pistol shooting and a 3200m cross-country run). Following initial discussions it was decided that we should focus on David’s swimming and performance. David had defined training sessions for fencing, horse riding and shooting during the week, and so swim and run training had to be incorporated into the free time slots. David’s goals for the season were to improve his 3200m running performance, and reduce his 200m swim time from his current personal best of 2:11 to 2:06.

What was done? At an initial meeting to discuss his requirements David identified that he would like a flexible approach to his training, with a range of sessions that he could select from according to time availability and upcoming events. An informal discussion allowed for a detailed discussion of David’s goals and aspirations, strengths and weaknesses, perceived barriers, and generally what makes him tick! We agreed a broad-brush strokes approach rather than planning in minute detail. This necessitated that David provide detailed feedback on how the programme was progressing, thus allowing changes to be made to the programme.

Following the meeting we conducted a needs analysis. Modern Pentathlon presents its own challenges, notably how to best plan training for five very different sporting disciplines completed within the same day.

To tackle this we identified David’s strengths and weaknesses by looking at performances from the previous season. We applied a triangulation method by tallying such data with David’s self-ratings of his strengths and weaknesses. David also attended the Exercise Testing Laboratory at the University of Kent for a full physiological assessment. This focused on the running and swimming disciplines as the initial needs analysis had identified this as the area requiring greatest attention. The assessment included measurement of resting blood parameters, running economy, lactate threshold and maximal aerobic capacity - all factors that have been shown to influence endurance performance. We also assessed David’s swimming performance in the pool, and in conjunction with his swimming coach, identified areas for improvement.

The test results identified running velocity at lactate threshold as the key area for development. We developed a training programme composed of one-week training blocks, each having an overall training intensity weighting anchored on a 5-zone heart rate approach. This was an ideal start point for David as it allows sessions to be clearly differentiated, whilst not overcomplicating things. A series of training sessions in each of the zones were developed from which David could select according to the overall aim for each week’s training and his available time. His swimming sessions were based upon both time and heart rate, and had input from his swimming coach. The programme allowed for 4 running and 3 swimming sessions to be completed a week. As the programme progressed we ensure that the intensity of David’s training increased with the aim of reducing his 200m and 3000m swimming and running times respectively. Further discussions with David and his swimming coach revealed that he needed to improve his breathing efficiency during swimming. To do this we implemented a twice-daily breathing training regime, conducted on five days of the week, with the aim of improving his breathing dynamics and inspiratory muscle strength. Did the programme have an effect? Following a period of three months David returned to the laboratory and completed the same fitness tests. David had improved his running speed at his lactate threshold and also improved his running economy. This meant that at his desired race intensity his body was not as stressed as it had been prior to the training intervention. Additionally, he did not expend as much energy to run at any given running speed. Ultimately these training adaptations mean that if we were to match David for the same level of pre-training metabolic stress and energy expenditure, he would be able to run faster and cover the 3km quicker. David’s swimming performance also improved markedly over the 12-week training period. His swimming times demonstrated a 4 second improvement over 100m and a 5 second improvement over both 200 and 400m distances.

Even though the programme we developed with David had the desired effect, from a pragmatic perspective, the perfect training programme does not exist. There are a multitude of complex interacting factors that impact on an athlete’s performance and training progression. Consequently, a continuous dialogue between the athlete and us as sports scientists is necessary. This allows the training programme to accurately reflect current training status and the changeable nature of other life commitments, thus maximizing the opportunity for a successful outcome. As an athlete it is important that training is an enjoyable process. When trying to balance the many and varied commitments of modern life, training and competition should not become a chore. For David, hard sessions on the track or in the pool are fine, as long as they don’t become the norm!

Dr. James Hopker and Marc Dendy-Sadler. School of Sport and Exercise Sciences University of Kent