{"id":799656,"date":"2019-09-21T10:37:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T16:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=371888"},"modified":"2019-09-21T10:37:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-21T16:37:35","slug":"team-usa-rower-john-graves-details-the-effects-of-high-altitude-rowing-on-lake-dillon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/team-usa-rower-john-graves-details-the-effects-of-high-altitude-rowing-on-lake-dillon\/","title":{"rendered":"Team USA rower John Graves details the effects of high altitude rowing on Lake Dillon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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John Graves, one of the country’s best rowers, is currently spending 16 days training out of the Frisco Rowing Center in preparation for next month’s Head of the Charles in Boston and the qualifying process for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

FRISCO \u2014 Heading into his final go-round at the world\u2019s largest two-day rowing regatta \u2014 next month\u2019s Head of the Charles on the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts \u2014 elite American rower John Graves changed his pre-race prep.<\/p>\n

It brought him 2,600 miles west to the Frisco Rowing Center on Lake Dillon, where he is undertaking two weeks of high altitude training on the 9,000-foot high lake.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old U.S. Rowing Senior National Team member is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, and said he and his coaches decided a session of high altitude training could prove beneficial. It could help him not only for Head of the Charles but also ahead of the qualifying process for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. Graves initially considered high elevation spots in California and Flagstaff, Arizona, before his father, Harry Graves, pointed in the direction of Summit County.<\/p>\n

Harry Graves thought Mark Stormberg, former U.S. National Team program manager at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, could provide the most ideal high altitude training environment for his son. After a week of single sculls rowing, including one doubles session out on the water with Stormberg, Graves feels good about the work he\u2019s put in on the lake. His focus is on staying cognizant of how his heart rate is affected during single sculls practice sessions each morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of my training is heart-rate capped,\u201d Graves said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of what I mean when I say that, \u2018If my heart rate is right up against that threshold, I need to back off pressure-wise to keep the heart rate in the right zone.\u2019 So that\u2019s challenging. But it\u2019s mainly challenging mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graves said rowing at 9,000 feet has been about as hard as he expected. The six-year veteran of the senior national team has exerted himself here in Summit before, during days out Nordic and downhill skiing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a given speed, I\u2019d say my heart rate is probably 15 beats higher here on average,\u201d Graves said. \u201cAnd then I\u2019d say if I was going off of speed on a given heart rate, my speed right now is 5 or 6 seconds slower per 500 meters. That\u2019d be 24 seconds slower over 2,000 meters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Out on Lake Dillon, Graves said he\u2019s been focusing more on the endurance element of rowing. Last month, Graves was in more of a sprint mindset in advance of the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz, Austria. At the biggest competition in non-Olympic years, he and the top U.S. team\u2019s four-man sculls boat finished in 13th place. That slotted them outside of the top eight spots to automatically qualify for Tokyo.<\/p>\n

One of the country\u2019s best rowers \u2014 John Graves, of Princeton, New Jersey \u2014 chats with Summit Daily News sports and outdoors editor Antonio Olivero about the effects of rowing at high altitude and why he chose to train on Lake Dillon for 16 days in advance of next month\u2019s Head of the Charles race in Boston.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That race, just like races in Tokyo next summer, was conducted at the 2,000-meter distance. But with the 5,000-meter Head of the Charles next on his slate, Graves has been using his time on Lake Dillon to focus on his endurance, rowing distances of about 16 kilometers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a different stimulus and way to challenge your body,\u201d Graves said. \u201cYou are really taking away all of your power and capability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graves said he can even notice the altitude\u2019s effect on his heart rate while falling asleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can feel those extra 10 to 15 beats,\u201d Graves said. \u201cIt\u2019s working a little bit harder to stay afloat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graves has podiumed several times at the Head of the Charles Regatta but never won. He hopes to change that during next month\u2019s single sculls race. As such, he\u2019s been rowing almost exclusively single sculls while on Lake Dillon.<\/p>\n

Graves said he noticed the altitude\u2019s effect on him from his first stroke earlier this month. In all the strokes since, Graves has kept an eye on his heart rate, as he knows how it relates to his lactate readings.<\/p>\n

Graves said two to three times a year Team USA rowers undergo lactate tests, which gauge the body\u2019s lactate readings via pricks of blood every six to seven minutes when undergoing a step test. Graves, like other elite athletes, knows how his lactate readings and heart rate relate to each other, signaling to him how much more or less he should push himself during training.<\/p>\n

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