We started with this title because it is time to start
with experimental research. Michel
Jouvet started with experimental research last century giving new light about how
things work during sleep, in particular during REM sleep. Experimental research was limited in the 90’s
due to understanding of the animals’ rights and abuses by the same experimenters;
cats and rodents are not used for experimental reasons as before. Even before Jouvet, and due to the Nazis’
experiments, nations got together to sign the Declaration of Helsinki which
deals with Human experimentation:
The 1975 revision was almost twice the length of the
original. It clearly stated that "concern for the interests of the subject
must always prevail over the interests of science and society."[6] It also introduced the concept of oversight by an
'independent committee' (Article I.2) which became a system of Institutional Review Boards (IRB) in the US, and research ethics committees or
ethical review boards in other countries.[7] In the United States regulations governing IRBs came
into effect in 1981 and are now encapsulated in the Common Rule. Informed consent was developed further, made more
prescriptive and partly moved from 'Medical Research Combined with Professional
Care' into the first section (Basic Principles), with the burden of proof for
not requiring consent being placed on the investigator to justify to the
committee. 'Legal guardian' was replaced with 'responsible relative'. The duty
to the individual was given primacy over that to society (Article I.5), and
concepts of publication ethics were introduced (Article I.8). Any experimental
manoeuvre was to be compared to the best available care as a comparator
(Article II.2), and access to such care was assured (Article I.3). The document
was also made gender neutral.
We are not talking about experimental research like
Jouvet’s. What Jouvet did was one of the
most important researches done regarding the brain and its functioning. The
theoretical frame is a masterpiece after Einstein and the Theory of Relativity:
Michel Valentin Marcel Jouvet (born 16 November 1925 in Lons-le-Saunier, Jura, France) is Emeritus Professor of Experimental Medicine at the University of Lyon. He spent one year in the laboratory of the Horace
Magoun in Long Beach, California in 1955. Since this date, he undertakes research of
Experimental Neurophysiology in the Faculty of Medicine of Lyon and of Clinical Neurophysiology in the Neurological Hospital of Lyon.
In 1959 Michel Jouvet conducted several experiments on
cats regarding muscle atonia (paralysis) during REM sleep. Jouvet demonstrated that the generation of REM sleep
depends on an intact pontine tegmentum and that REM atonia is due to an inhibition of motor
centres in the medulla oblongata. Cats with lesions around the locus coeruleus have less restricted muscle movement during REM
sleep, and show a variety of complex behaviours including motor patterns
suggesting that they are dreaming of attack, defence and exploration.
We are far from Jouvet. We speak about experimenting to help to
understand that running needs a technique. There is one in the web that caught
my attention:
The 4MM project is still in the testing phase, but
initial results are promising. One of the study's test subjects ran an
unassisted mile in 5 minutes and 20 seconds, and ran it in just 5 minutes and 2
seconds (a 5.625 percent decrease) with the 4MM. The same subject also
experienced a 10-12 percent improvement during a 200-meter sprint, shaving a
full 3 seconds off his time despite wearing the 11-pound pack.
While Kerestes hasn't quite gotten the average Joe down
to a 4-minute mile, he can demonstrate marked improvements that future
iterations of the 4MM can build upon.
Experimental research is what the Mexican Federation
has been doing for research without following what the Declaration of Helsinki
says about research on humans. The FMTRI
does not allow triathletes to compete internationally if they do not meet the “Marcas
Mínimas” criteria. The FMTRI’s research
says that “marcas mínimas” does not play a role on triathletes performance in a
triathlon but they still used them as a way of controlling budget and
athletes. “Marcas mínimas” could be a confounding
in research, but it is not a requirement to perform well in a triathlon. Please see our previous post on Medicine and
research:
For example, diabetes
confounds the relationship between renal failure and heart disease because it
can lead to both conditions. Although patients with renal failure are at higher
risk for heart disease, failing to account for the inherent risk of diabetes
makes that association seem stronger than it actually is.
Confounding is a problem in
every observational study, and statistical adjustment cannot always eliminate
it. Even some of the best observational trials fall victim to confounding.
Hormone replacement therapy was long thought to be protective for cardiac
disease[25] until the Women’s Health Initiative randomized trial refuted
that notion.[26] Despite the best attempts
at statistical adjustment, there can always be residual confounding. However,
simply putting more variables into a multivariate model is not necessarily a
better option. Overadjusting can be just as problematic, and adjusting for
unnecessary variables can lead to biased results.
Let’s continue with other kind of experimental
research: Jens Voight gave tons of information about what a well-trained
endurance cyclist can do when breaking the Hour-Record:
5,3 mm/lit concentracion
post 1 min. 412 watts. 102 cadencia. 43 años. Bien llevados. pic.twitter.com/Vqjxt4916V
It is interesting that he is comparable to a point
racer. We have posted what a point racer
has done in previous posts:
Our sample file is from a male rider at a World Cup race, where the race
is only 30km rather than 40km. The riders covered the 30km in just over 34
minutes, at an average speed of 51.22km/hr. That's breaking the speed limit on
residential roads in Canada. This rider averaged 419W, with an average heart
rate of 178.3bpm. You can see from the file that his power output varied
massively throughout the race, and this is why we mentioned earlier that riders
need to be able to tolerate repeated, sudden accelerations by recovering
whenever they have the opportunity.
A big difference between a file like this and a road racing file is the
average cadence - in this file, the average cadence was 117rpm, much higher
than you'd see from most people in a road race. Remember the relationship
between power and cadence? Just to refresh, power = cadence x force, so you can
generate high power either through pedalling faster with less force, or more
slowly with a higher force. On the track, where you can't change gears, you try
to choose a gear that allows you to ride comfortably in the bunch and recover
when you can, but also allows you to generate the power you need when you accelerate
for sprints or breakaways.
At first glance, you can see how punchy this race was. The big surges in power, cadence and speed are characteristic of this type of race. They're a bit like stop-and-go traffic on the highway - you slow down, then things start to move again and everyone speeds up, then you have to hit the brakes again, over and over. This is very fatiguing, because each acceleration takes the riders up into their anaerobic zone, creating acidity that gradually builds up throughout the race unless they can recover and clear it out.
In terms of max power for different durations, track endurance riders
are fairly similar to road riders - in fact, track riders gain some of their
top end fitness by road racing. Points racers tend more towards the road
sprinter type or lead-out man type than the smaller, lighter climber type. Here are the max power efforts from this file:
- 1/2 second: 2,096 watts
- 1 second: 1,638 watts
- 5 seconds: 1,296 watts
- 20 seconds: 1,119 watts
- 1 minute: 677 watts
- 4 minutes: 558 watts
- 20 minutes: 443 watts
What all of these values tell us is that these riders need to not only
hit high powers, but to sustain them as well, over and over throughout the
race.
At the same time we have posted what Froome has done
in the past:
Vuelta Espana 2011 Stage 10: Salamanca 47km Stage
Results: 1.Tony Martin (Ger) HTC-Highroad.0:55:54. 2.Christopher Froome (GBr)
Team Sky.0:00:59. 3.Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky.0:01:22. 4.Fabian Cancellara
(Swi) Leopard Trek.0:01:27. 5.Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team.0:01:33.
General Classification: 1.Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky.38:09:13. 2.Jakob
Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek.0:00:12. 3.Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky.0:00:20.
Average Watts: 406w (412np) TSS: 99 Avg Speed: 31mph max Speed: 45mph Avg Cadence: 94 Avg Heart
Rate: 147bpm Chris Froome rode the time trial of his life as he rode his way
into the overall lead in the Vuelta. The Kenyan-born climber finished second
behind Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) in the 47km time trial to overtake the
general classification lead by 12 seconds ahead of of Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard
Trek). Team Sky's head physiologist Tim Kerrison is delighted with Froome's
performance, "Chris is doing a great job in the race looking after Brad
and staying in contention himself." Froome averaged 5.8w/kg at 406W for
nearly an hour! He paced the event to perfection as the first half had a total
altitude gain of 219m and he averaged 414w, versus the second half where the
course had a total elevation gain of only 86m and he averaged 398w. There were
certainly riders who started the time trial too hard and suffered the final
20kms where Froome ended up gaining ground. This is the ideal test of one's
true capabilities at what is termed Functional Threshold Power (FTP). A
cyclist's FTP is the average watts they can mantain for a 60' effort. Given the
fact that Froome's 47km time trial took him 57 minutes we can easily conclude
that his FTP equals a tad more than 400w. Now that you know what it takes to
compete at the highest levels it can be easy to see how you compare to the
world's best. Well it's easy to do if you have a power meter that is. If you
don't own one try asking if your local fitness gym has any indoor bikes which
display power. Or ask at your local cycling club to see if you can rent one for
a day in order to conduct some of your own field tests. How long can you
maintain 5.8 watts per kilogram? Chris Froome can do this for 60' and now he
knows his true poetntial and can apply those power values within his future
training. Another great concept we can learn from Froome's TT file is the idea
of assigning a score, known as Training Stress Score (TSS), to each and every
ride. Froome rode for almost 60' at FTP so that equals 99TSS. One hour at FTP
equals 100TSS. Using TrainingPeaks and SRM power meters Team Sky can quanify
each days training load in terms of intensity, duration and frequency. When
viewed over time TSS values paint a picture of each athlete's fitness, fatigue
and form. There is no doubt that Froome started the Vuelta with high fitness
and low fatigue. This is the ultimate scenario for any professional rider who
hopes to enter their important races with peak form.
Min Avg Max
Power 0 405 766 W
Heart Rate 91 147 169 bpm
Cadence 20 94 114 rpm
Speed 24.4 50.2 73.8 kph
Pace 02:28 01:12 00:49
min/km
Elevation 832 930 1040 m
Temperature 28 30 35 C
What to do about these cyclists data? High cadence is
a key to go fast. Timetrialist are very
close to breaking the record for the hour on the road!!! Wiggins won the last time trial World Championship
averaging more than 50K/hr. Somebody
like Wiggo who has practiced track has more chances of breaking the hour-record:
Wiggins was slower than Martin at the first time split
but had the speed and power to gradually carve out a significant lead over the
47.1km course. He set the fastest time at the second time split and then gained
more time on the climbs in the final part of the course as he stayed tucked in
his aero position and pushed huge power down on the pedals on his Pinarello
time trial bike.
He stopped the clock in a time of 56:25.52 to take the
rainbow jersey. Martin tried to fight back, pushing his huge 58-tooth chain ring
but lost further time on the climb and finished 26 seconds slower. Tom Dumoulin
(Netherlands) took the bronze medal, confirming his time trialing talent by
finishing 40 seconds slower than Wiggins.
It is possible to do experimental research without
stepping on the “right to compete” or the “athlete’s rights.” One-subject- experimentation
is the way to go due to multiple variables that we should take into account and
limited numbers of high performance subjects.
We can use the web to get information about subjects.
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