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Red Bull Project Endurance

By Dudley Tabakin

Red Bull Project Endurance

The red Bull High Performance team once again rely on the Equivital LifeMonitoring system to test the limits of athlete endurance.

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The intention of Project Endurance was to better understand performance through the use of objective data from multiples sources including Equivital bodyworn sensors. The data was to be obtained whilst athletes performed fitness and endurance tests at different altitudes. The camp was located in Bishop CA and took place on the 14th through to 19th of May 2013. The camp was intended to serve as both a training camp for RedBull endurance athletes as well as a practical opportunity for staff to learn more about future possibilities and areas within physiological testing and training.

The wanted outcome of the camp was to find key concepts and methodologies for training and programming for athletic performances.

In the pursuit of improving the athletic performance of the Redbull endurance athletes, multiple different objectives of athletic performance components were set in place:

Physiological testing to give athletes an idea of optimizing their Cardio/Respiratory and muscular (histo-chemical) development through specific training methodologies:

Physiological testing in a mobile laboratory was done during the first two initial days of the camp in different environments.
Physiological testing was done both in a laboratory setting (mobile laboratory) as well as during practical training sessions while the athletes executed biking on the road.
Physiological data monitoring and analysis was done every morning, in a fasted state before breakfast.

Physiological training at different environments in order to expose physiological characteristics and give athletes and staff material to discuss possibilities for further performance improvements:

Group riding sessions during climbing was executed.
Intensive individual time trials, was on the schedule.
The athletes were also exposed to different intensities during the two days of physiological testing.
Also, in bringing athletes together from different specific sport fields, injected enthusiasm and excitement for increased intensity and quality of physiological work.

Staff education opportunities through data collection, data discussions and presentations:

Bringing this level of staff together creates opportunities for great collaborative discussions about possibilities and processes going forward in terms of training methodologies.
Introduce the staff invited to open dialogue about interesting aspects of endurance training and competition.
Have the camp serve as an introduction/initial platform for future camp structures and future investigative projects.

Physiological data monitoring and analysis:

Data and findings were presented on a daily basis during the camp.
Data and key findings will be analyzed during the month post camp.
Individual athlete data will be investigated and researched during the months post camp.

Athletes involved in the camp were:

Dakota Jones (Ultra-Marathon running)
Karl Meltzer (Ultra-Marathon running)
Kendall Norman (Moto-Enduro)
Kirsten Sweetland (Triathlon)
Rebecca Rusch (Endurance Mountain bike)
Tim Johnson (Cyclo Cross)

RedBull staff to support and follow through on these objectives were:

Adam Korzun (Chef)
Andy Walshe (Director of High Performance)
Damien Moroney (Physiotherapist)
Holden Macrae (Professor of Sport Medicine, Pepperdine Univ)
Kimberly Popp (High Performance technologist)
Lesli Shooter (High Performance Physiologist)
Marco Milano (Physiotherapist)
Per Lundstam (High Performance manager).

Invited specialists to support and follow through on these objectives were:

Allen Lim (Physiologist)
Andy Blow (Precision hydration)
Andrew Johnson (Training Peaks)
Clint Friesen (Physiological training specialist)
Dave Trevino (Moving images)
Dean Golich (Physiologist)
Frank Bour (Physioflow)
Jake Sorensen (Moving images)
John Lally (Pivot Sports Global)
Juerg Feldman (Physiologist)
Michael Darter (Photo)
Sue Robson (Director of High Performance SIS)
Troy Hoskin (Quarq/SRAM systems)

Other general information:

Athletes lived at 7000ft during the camp.
The athletes were exposed to physiological testing and training at altitudes between 0ft and 9400ft. The 0ft altitude was found in Death Valley. The 9400ft altitude testing was generated in the White mountains in the Bishop area.

The results of the camp will be published by the RedBull team at a later date.

Dudley Tabakin

Dudley Tabakin, MSc. is Chief Product Officer and co-founder of VivoSense and a fervent believer in “good data” over “big data” in the development of digital endpoints from wearable sensor technology.

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