Getting High, Getting Down
Posted By Ant Williams on 26 February 2006
At that point I went pretty cold on the SAT idea for a while until Bill Stromberg visited New Zealand and we tried some altitude training together on a slightly more aggressive protocol which Bill designed on the fly. Our goal was to see who could drop their O2 saturation the most without samba. I,for one, experienced some monumental head-spins. Bill seemed to hold it together nicely.
It seemed that the optimal standard for an ideal hypoxic session is saturations held to around 70% over the standard timing intervals. It's very similar to the sensation I feel on surfacing from a 6-minute-plus breathhold. The body seems to think it is actually freediving - you need regular toilet stops. After training sessions on this plan I can normally perform 4-minute dry statics with minimal discomfort - and I suck at dry statics. A definite performance gain.
On this occasion I took five days' rest after the SAT sessions before trying a maximum static breathhold. During the go-for-it static I experienced a couple of contractions at around 4 minutes, but generally felt comfortable through to 6:30. I did a bit of struggle towards the end but surfaced cleanly at 7:30. The best I had done without the SAT was 7:00. This is a very significant difference.
I haddn’t changed anything, to the best of my knowldge, in my warmup or in my training routine during the weeks leading up to the attempt, so I’m pretty confident that given the right protocol. SAT training can have a significant impact on breathhold times. I have, at times, been too aggressive with SAT work. I know when this has happened - during all-out statics I experience pins and needles or cloudiness by 6 minutes, warning me that a samba is close.
If you have some extra time and money then consider giving the SAT stuff a go. The downsides are the cost factor and the lack of portability. It's possible to get small, light hypoxicator units for travelling but they heat up and are a bit of a hassle to use. Anything’s better than drinking some dodgy oxygenated water for training -unless you're a Bevan Dewar, and simply hold your breath until your blood saturation reaches 60% then ever so slowly sip in air to hold your saturation constant for 5 minutes at a time.
I think I’ll be staying with the soft approach for a while longer.
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