Thanks Laura!
Yah we use altitude quite a bit. I used the simulated altitude house in Canberra at the Australian Institute of Sport a few years back and had a 6% increase in my HbMass (hemoglobin) which is quite high! (a increase of 2-3% over the same 3 week period is considerable) so I am quite a high responder to altitude which is awesome for me ;) (We lived at 3000m/ 10,000ft for 18 hours a day or so)
We also go to St. Moritz usually before Major Champs, before Rio and London I would say there was a group of 10+ of us there.
We are really good at pooling resources, so if using our budget we can pay for accommodation we get a big place, and have some of our aussie or kiwi friends stay with us, and if their budget allows them to pay for food then they buy all the food and everyone benefits!
In 2016 we did a month in Flagstaff in April before our World Team Champs in May in Rome, and then another 3.5 weeks in St. Moritz before heading to our pre-camp in Brazil for 10 days of Heat. So I raced the 50km in Rio (because i did the 20km a week earlier) nearly 3 weeks down from altitude, which is nearing the limit you'd want to reap the benefits.
But again, think of race walking exactly like you'd think of running, all the same things apply, we are just doing a less efficient movement so we are moving slower but our HRs our fractional % VO2max and all that jazz are just the same!
Speaking of "real" jobs. I think it would be useful to give you guys a breakdown! I know there is a lot of speculation that goes on here about how much people make. So let me be honest.
I make a living doing this. I also have a part time job that I work for beer money and something to do every now and again to distract myself but it's like a $1000 a year that I end up working probably.
So how do I do it?
In Canada we have government support we call Carding. a Card is worth $21,000 and is tax free. Great start.
Next one of my sponsors who I have been with for nearly a decade (they have a program specifically designed to assist high performance athletes who have a parent or grandparent that works for the company, and when I got too old for that they wanted to keep supporting me with a proper contract) treats me very well, but Im actually not 100% if Im allowed to say how much...
Hudson Bay- our clothing sponsor for the Olympics has a bursary program that has 20 athletes in it and Im lucky enough to be one of those and that is $10,000 a year until Tokyo.
This year I didn't have a great year but I managed to get a bit of prize money, about $6000
We also have budgets through Own The Podium which I can use for training camps, physio, flights, etc... that is worth about $10,000 which isn't money in hand but it brings my out of pocket expenses significantly down.
Plus I do some speaking, mentorship, random events here and there that nets me maybe another $6000 a year.
And New Balance gives me stuff, no money (yet, crosses fingers and toes)
All told it's over $50,000 a year.
But Im one of the lucky ones. I'll touch more on sponsorship and my opinions there later, but I gotta go walk 25km!