Combined Combined athletes are in an unprecedented situation at the Beijing Olympics: Ilkka Herola has prepared for the competition by camping on the balcony of his home

The United athletes are in an unprecedented situation at the Beijing Olympics, because hardly anyone has the experience to compete so high. World Championship medalist Herola slept for long periods in the summer on the balcony of her home in an alpine tent.

Ruka

Many Finns go camping in the summer, as is well known.

Instead, many have barely known that combined last winter’s World Championship silver medalist Ilkka Herola last summer he practiced a very specific subspecies of camping and did it mostly on the balcony of his home in Kuopio.

The ultimate reason for Herola’s special camping is that the Beijing Olympics are competing at an altitude of about 1,700 meters above sea level.

It is precisely on the balcony for camping at Herola that there is a more personal reason related to the relationship.

But we will return to these later.

Combined athletes are in an unprecedented situation in the Beijing Games, because hardly anyone has the experience to compete so high.

This is because the United World Cup does not actually compete in high places. A few mc races, such as the Seefeld in Austria, compete at an altitude of 1,100 to 1,200 meters, but are only “semi-high” by the standards of endurance sports.

Head coach Petter Kukkonen says that the Finnish national team has been running a project related to high competition for three years now.

According to Kukkonen, this includes camping in the mountains or living in a so-called alpine hut in Finland 5–6 times a year.

“That’s why the project has been longer,” says Kukkonen and points out that there is no experience of competing high.

Kukkonen points out that the preparation for the combined high place is hampered by the fact that the jumping hills are not high enough.

“We haven’t been long stretches high but such 6-10 day periods. The aim is to speed up high adjustment time and time again and not to affect blood variables. It would take longer periods, and it won’t work for us, because then there should be such long stretches without jumping. ”

From competing high, the national team has sought a feel for their own camp races made on roller skis. In Antholz-Anterselva, Italy, and Praxmar, Austria, roller skates were found at the same heights as at the Beijing Games.

At last winter’s World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany, Ilkka Herola enjoyed the spring conditions, even though the competition started in February.

Herola little experience of competing high is hardly thought of, and after all, everyone is practically in the same situation.

“Getting used to the high altitude has been so much a part of everything in design and everything for the past couple of years. It seems that the stones have been turned as far as possible. ”

Herola is one of the few top men who, after all, has little real-world experience of competing high. Of course, it will soon be ten years.

This happened at the 2012 World Youth Championships in Erzurum, Turkey. At the time, Herola was only 16 years old when she reached World Championship silver in a race held up to 1,900 meters.

“It was time for me to ski. Had the competition not been high, that medal would certainly not have come. After all, competing at height favors such a light physique and good oxygen uptake. Maybe I have the strength in strength in this team, and the differences there are highlighted. ”

The ability of athletes to adapt to height varies. According to Kukkonen, some adapt normally, some have difficulties, and then there are intermediate forms.

Herola feels part of a gang that has no difficulty adjusting to height.

“My experiences from high up so far are mostly positive. At least it has been easily predictable. The important thing is that it always repeats in roughly the same way. According to the textbook, I have worked pretty much like that when such basic rules have been implemented from the beginning. ”

Ilkka Herola in her home landscape at Puijo in Kuopio last February.

Then to that camping.

At Herola, turning stones has also involved using a so-called alpine tent borrowed from the Racing and Top Sports Research Center (Kihu) at home, which offers basically mountain-like conditions during sleep.

However, there have been challenges.

“In practice, it has only been aimed at making it easier to start high-pitch camps. It’s pretty impractical. It is difficult to use it during hard training sessions because it makes it so difficult to sleep. ”

According to Herola’s experience, the internal temperature of a tent can rise 5 to 6 degrees higher than the room temperature.

“It means, on average, intolerable conditions because there is heat and trouble. In the summer, you can keep the tent on the balcony, for example, and that was just fine. ”

Herola emphasizes that she prefers to go to the so-called alpine hut, where a fairly normal hotel room can be breathed with air equivalent to 2,000 meters.

The combined national team has utilized an alpine hut stay in both Pajulahti and Vuokatti.

“The tent is a pretty ascetic solution and would probably not be good for very long use.”

With balcony Herola has also been encouraged to sleep, so that the atmosphere is not too awkward not only in the relationship but also in the relationship.

“It’s a better option for those in a relationship to stay in harmony. When you bang on the other side of a tent on the other side of the tent, it usually hurts that other sleeper as well, ”he says.

Herola says she slept in the alpine tent on the balcony last summer for a total of two periods of about ten days. At that time, the tent had conditions equivalent to an altitude of about 1,800 to 2,000 meters.

Herola states that it is not advisable to go higher because it may impair recovery.

“If you were in a chalet for a long time, for example, the height could be raised even more, but that is not the only variable in our situation. The sport is based on much more than just endurance, and a lot is also practiced in the nervous system. Not all eggs can be put in the same basket. ”

Ilkka Herola’s jumping style in the Ruka combined race on Saturday.

Own its combined combined is hill jumping. How does height affect it?

“There’s little experience with that, too, but in a way, the feeling is like jumping into an empty or backwind hill. That is the basic idea. The difference between a heavy and a light jumper narrows there. Heavy jumpers suffer more at sea level, but as we go higher and closer to the vacuum, the difference narrows, ”says head coach Kukkonen.

According to his information, the hill of the Olympics is located in a rather windy place.

“There may be brisk headwinds that will probably compensate for this challenge.”

In recent days, Herola has, as usual, had problems on Ruka Hill. As a result, he has been able to ski far from the top, and the first two mc races result in places 18th and 22nd.

Read more: Ilkka Herola is the best skier in the world, but he doesn’t do well for his neighbors:

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