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| Arno Laitinen. |
Hello readers! My name is Arno Laitinen and I’m a 26-year-old ”semi-pro” hammer thrower from Jyväskylä, Finland. I represent the local track and field club Jyväskylän Kenttäurheilijat.
I attended my first sports competition when I was 2 years old but more
seriously I have been practicing and competing in hammer throw since I
was 15. During my teenage years I was one of the best hammer throwers in
the world in my age group. In the U17 World Championships I finished
7th and a couple of years later I won the U19 European Championship. The
final breakthrough in the adults’ series has eluded me due to a couple
of more challenging injuries. Now it’s starting to look like I’ve
overcome the difficulties and therefore I believe I will be seen in the
adults’ elite competitions during summer 2014.
Before this spring’s training camp abroad I was offered an opportunity to monitor my recovery with the Firstbeat SPORTS Individual Home Lab.
During the whole eight-week training camp I monitored my recovery with
the Quick Recovery Test using the Firstbeat heart rate belt and the
Night Recovery Test with Bodyguard 2 heart rate variability measurement
device.
My training camp was located in El Paso, Texas. A training camp
enables the athlete to train and recover inside an optimum environment.
When an athlete is taken away from their everyday life the amount of
stress factors decrease, it becomes easier to focus on training and both
daily and dietary rhythms improve. The combination of decreased stress
and improved diet leads to more beneficial and effective training
conditions. In these kind of circumstances also monitoring recovery and
listening to one’s body is easier. Combining this package with Firstbeat
equipment made me very interested in testing the limits of my
performance.
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| Laitinen throwing. |
During the training camp I utilized a training cycle I had already
found good back home. The training cycle includes a ten-day block of
high intensity training followed by four days with low intensity and
more recovering training. The cycle is based on the idea of first fully
tiring the body before the resting and recovering period. Together with
my coach we have noticed that this system is the best for me not only to
develop but also to avoid injuries. A ten-day training block includes
throw training, basic and sport specific strength training and “general
physical training”. General physical training includes medicine ball
throws, plyometric jump exercises, basic training, and endurance
training. The four days of recovery included very low intensity
endurance training, body maintenance, cold baths and massage.
I took the Quick Recovery Test nearly every morning during the camp.
Combining the test results with my own experiences gave me a good
insight on my state of recovery. I also took the Overnight Recovery Test
a few times during the camp.
Recovery during the training cycle
Both the devices, Firstbeat heart rate belt and Bodyguard 2, were easy
to use. My morning routine was to attach the belt half asleep, log in to
my computer and relax for five minutes to take the test. Previous to
using SPORTS I was wondering whether the Bodyguard 2 would make falling
asleep more difficult but I discovered the device was very unobtrusive
and didn’t bother me at all.
I already had a pretty good understanding on how intensively I could
train since I had been following the same kind of training cycle for
over a year. The recovery tests confirmed that I am on a right path.
During the first ten days of the cycle, that included high intensity
training, my state of recovery weakened remarkably. At the beginning of
the training cycle my share of recovery was nearly 100% whereas at the
end of the ten-day block it was about 30%. This is exactly how I think
it should be: Starting the training cycle fully recovered and resting
when the body is exhausted.
Results
of the Quick Recovery Test on the 1st and the 10th morning of the
training cycle. The results show the percentage of recovery based on the
individual maximum level.
During the camp I also attended a
competition in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was interested in how the
excitement previous to the competition affects my recovery so I took the
Overnight Recovery Test the night previous to the competition. I found
the results very interesting.
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| Results of the Overnight Recovery Test previous to the Albuquerque competition. |
The red bars present the stress reactions
whereas the green ones present the relaxation and recovery. The image
illustrates that only about one half of the sleep during the night
previous to the competition was recovering. These results suggest that I
probably had the competition on my mind and that I was stressing about
it. The most interesting part is that I was fully recovered because of a
few days of low intensity training.
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| Results of the Overnight Recovery Test during the recovering block. |
The results of the Overnight Recovery Test
after the recovering training block shows that training doesn’t cause me
as much stress as competing. The overall load previous to the
measurements had been quite similar.
Altogether the training camp was a success. Even though the quantity
and the intensity of the training were extremely high during the whole
camp, I managed to avoid injuries and other harms. In addition, I was
also able to improve on my results during the camp. Firstbeat equipment
confirmed that the intensity of my training is quite optimal for me.
After the successful training period this spring I feel confident to
start the competitive season 2014 and reach for the European
Championships in Zurich.
Writer:
Arno Laitinen
Hammer thrower
Jyväskylän KenttäurheilijatLabels: Arno Laitinen, Bodyguard2, competition, Firstbeat SPORTS, Firstbeat SPORTS Individual Home Lab, hammer throw, Overnight Recovery Test, Quick Recovery Test, recovery, Recovery during the training cycle