So far does Elizabeth’s passion for helping athletes extend that she completed a PhD in sports science – looking into the biological impacts of athletic activity. Towards the end of her studies she also managed to find the time to represent Ireland at the
World University Cross Country Championships. Most recently she has edited the culmination of four years’ research into a book
Notes from higher grounds: an altitude training guide for athletes, which provides information and advice on some of the world’s best altitude training locations. Oh, did I mention Elizabeth also likes to travel.
It was a break following completion of her PhD that got her started. ‘I wanted to go to
Africa, and in 2004 I decided to go to
Kenya to train there for a while. I soon realised that running was a great way to see the world,’ she says of her ability to combine her two passions – running and travel. ‘In 2006 I decided to travel to more places and write a book about it.’ While I wonder if that’s clouding the pleasure of travel with work, Elizabeth assures me it’s not. ‘It makes such a difference to be doing something that I’m really passionate about; it doesn’t really feel like work most of the time’.
Being a lay-person, my extensive knowledge of altitude training amounts to it being something I hear mentioned during the sports segment of the news, as something footballers might do during the off-season. Elizabeth enlightens me, in as simple a way as possible, about how ‘above 1,600 metres air pressure the body detects the lower oxygen levels in the blood and increases production of a hormone that increases the synthesis of red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body.’ Right; got it so far. The increase in red blood cell mass, which she tells me is very important to endurance performance, is particularly beneficial to endurance athletes.
But apparently it makes you slower. ‘There are some limitations,’ says Elizabeth, ‘it’s simply harder [to run at the same pace you might at sea-level], due to lack of oxygen, so you have to strike a balance between quality speed work at sea-level and oxygen-boosting training at altitude’.
Like I said, I only know about altitude training because it’s where some clubs send their teams, however the reason Elizabeth wrote her book is to make this type of training accessible to anyone, not just professionals with the right contacts at the venues. ‘I wanted to show that anyone could train there, and benefit from it.’ As Elizabeth notes, for the professionals this type of training is ‘icing on the cake, it’s the extra little thing that may make the difference between being a world championship finalist and a medal winner.’
And for someone who’s serious about their running, but not quite that serious? ‘Training in a different place is good for motivation; training in places like
Kenya and
Ethiopia can be very inspiring, and training at altitude for sub-elite athletes can help prepare them for when they reach a high level.’ Even if you’re not aiming for a higher level of ability, Elizabeth says there are benefits for athletes at all levels from having extra red blood cells.
Although interested in athletics, running and training techniques for a long time, it wasn’t until that 2004 trip to
Kenya that Elizabeth first experienced the benefits of altitude for herself. ‘I probably trained too hard’, she says, ‘so it wasn’t the most successful trip I’ve been on’. Apparently this is a common problem for many altitude first timers. ‘I always advise people going to altitude to have their iron [needed to make red blood cells] levels checked about six weeks before they go, and to take it easy for the first two weeks.’ The benefits of altitude also extend to just being at height, so there’s no need to push it too hard to start with.
Notes from higher grounds… includes tips and advice for travelling to the 15 different training venues Elizabeth has experienced firsthand. According to Elizabeth it’s ‘basically a travel guide…including how to get there, some places for athletes to stay, the sorts of facilities they should expect, what the trains are like, and what activities there are to fill the hours between training’. And it fills a gap in the market. ‘When I was planning to go to
Kenya for the first time, I found it very difficult to get [the] information [I needed].’ It was a number of years before she decided to take the prospect of collating the information she herself couldn’t find seriously, however the decision to write the book was in itself a fast one, made in just 48 hours.
The culmination of four years’ research, that comparatively spur of the moment decision can’t have been easy to fulfil. ‘The biggest challenge was running out of money a couple of times. I had to take a job in 2011 to raise funds to finish the travels, but I promised myself that I wouldn’t let the hard work I’d done up to that point go to waste.’
‘When I set out on this project I had no idea what I was doing. I had no experience writing a book, or the publishing industry, but I knew I wanted to write one, and had an idea of what I wanted to look like, so that went a long way.’ And it did, to 15 sites no less. ‘I now respect how much effort and time goes into researching and writing a book. Because I did everything myself, I learned so much about writing, editing, and designing a book. I can’t wait to start writing my second one – it should be much easier.’
A long time coming Elizabeth says ‘the best bit was holding the first copy of the book, hot off the printing press, in my hands. It blew me away!’ Extra special, given she not only undertook the travel and research for the book herself, she also started her own publishing company,
Kukimbia Huru Publishing, to get it out to market. The only thing she didn’t do herself was name the company, ‘it was a friend that suggested I use the Swahili for run free – linking my passion for
Africa and
Kenya in particular, with my carefree approach to life. For me, it’s the perfect name.’
Of all the places she’s travelled, it’s clear that Africa is a favourite, but it was
Mexico that had the biggest impact on Elizabeth during her research, probably more so due to her state of mind at the time. ‘That was the first country I visited for the book and I was really unprepared’, she explains, ‘I finished my job, changed address and got on a plane, all in the space of a few hours. I didn’t speak Spanish and just about everything that could go wrong did!’ This, unfortunately, included her bank putting a stop on her card. ‘All I could do was get on with it and make the best of things. My attitude changed and that definitely helped with the rest of my travels…things could go wrong, but that was part of the excitement of travelling.’ Elizabeth acknowledges that she quickly had to become content with her own company but that doing so in
Mexico City, which she says is ‘completely mad’, helped her to come to terms with that.
And of
Kenya, the location that sparked it all? ‘
Kenya will always be one of my favourites; I’ve been six times already; that speaks for itself.’ Elizabeth notes that part of her mission in her travels has been to find somewhere that comes close to Kenya for her, and says she’s found two, ‘
Flagstaff in
Arzona and
St Moritz in
Switzerland – and I will definitely go back to those two.’ Not just yet though, ‘first I’m planning to go back to
Ethiopia. A new camp has opened on the outskirts of
Addis Ababa (
Yaya Village), which I hear very good things about. That and I know I didn’t see all that beautiful country has to offer when I visited the first time.’
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