Greg Swinand (Aqua Blue) is currently training at altitude in Colorado as he counts down to his Irish hour-record attempt next Monday. The national Masters 40 road race champion demonstrated the difference between higher and lower altitudes using two empty water bottles.
By Brian Canty
Greg Swinand is just days out from an Irish hour record attempt in the Colorado Springs Velodrome in the US and the Aqua Blue man is leaving absolutely nothing to chance as he aims to break a 17-year old record set by Tommy Evans in 1999.
Swinand is currently based in the Denver suburb of Westminster and training all around the state of Colorado, from the Boulder Valley Velodrome to the oxygen-deprived highlands of Aspen.
On a recent training week in the latter town, Swinand accessed it via one of the highest-paved roads in North America, Independence Pass.
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It sits at an altitude of 12,100 feet, or 3,688 metres.
He will perform his hour record attempt in the Colorado Springs Velodrome on Monday, November 21st, a location that’s at 6,043 feet, or 1,842 metres.
Training at altitude is one way sea-level-based (endurance) athletes can improve fitness and by simply ‘being’ higher than usual they can get a significant training benefit.
The thinness of the air – as well as the air pressure - is something we don’t often get to physically see.
But Swinand, one of the real students of the marginal gains philosophy demonstrated the difference between high and lower altitudes using two empty water bottles, pictured above.
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The Canadian-born Irishman and reigning national Masters 40 road race champion opened one bottle at the top of Independence Pass before closing it sealed and returned to his base at around 5,500 feet.
As he descended back to Westminster he visibly saw the bottle collapse and deform.
This is simply because the air outside the bottle was ‘pushing in’ at a higher pressure than the air inside.
In other words, Swinand ‘trapped’ thin air at a low atmospheric pressure (top of the Pass) in the bottle and sealed it.
So, more air (molecule) couldn't get into the bottle as he came back down the mountain to Westminster.
The air pressure, however, kept increasing, which forced the air inside the bottle - and the flexible bottle itself - to shrink and deform.
The bottle on the left did not deform because it was closed at the top of the Pass which meant air could freely travel into it and out of it.
So set against that context, it means that at altitude is advantageous for cutting through the air - which is what Swinand must do next week.
For that reason, there is an aerodynamic benefit also - because he has less air to push out of the way, basically.
However - and this is where we get very geeky - though there is less air, and Swinand can chop through it quicker, he is also likely to be down on power.
That's because the thinner air means his blood doesn't get as much oxygen in to nourish his working muscles.
But this is why he is eating loads of red meat, protein pasta and plenty of beets as he tries to offset the power disadvantage of doing the hour-record effort at altitude.
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