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1 Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education, 0806 Oslo, Norway; 2 Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405; and 3 The Institute of Exercise and Environmental Medicine, Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, Texas 75231
Acclimatization to moderate high altitude
accompanied by training at low altitude (living high-training low) has
been shown to improve sea level endurance performance in accomplished,
but not elite, runners. Whether elite athletes, who may be closer to
the maximal structural and functional adaptive capacity of the
respiratory (i.e., oxygen transport from environment to mitochondria) system, may achieve similar performance gains is unclear. To answer this question, we studied 14 elite men and 8 elite women before and
after 27 days of living at 2,500 m while performing high-intensity training at 1,250 m. The altitude sojourn began 1 wk after the USA
Track and Field National Championships, when the athletes were close to
their season's fitness peak. Sea level 3,000-m time trial performance
was significantly improved by 1.1% (95% confidence limits
0.3-1.9%). One-third of the athletes achieved personal best times
for the distance after the altitude training camp. The improvement in
running performance was accompanied by a 3% improvement in maximal
oxygen uptake (72.1 ± 1.5 to 74.4 ± 1.5 ml · kg
1 · min1).
Circulating erythropoietin levels were near double initial sea level
values 20 h after ascent (8.5 ± 0.5 to 16.2 ± 1.0 IU/ml). Soluble transferrin receptor levels were significantly elevated on the 19th day at altitude, confirming a stimulation of erythropoiesis (2.1 ± 0.7 to 2.5 ± 0.6 µg/ml). Hb concentration measured
at sea level increased 1 g/dl over the course of the camp (13.3 ± 0.2 to 14.3 ± 0.2 g/dl). We conclude that 4 wk of acclimatization to moderate altitude, accompanied by high-intensity training at low
altitude, improves sea level endurance performance even in elite
runners. Both the mechanism and magnitude of the effect appear similar
to that observed in less accomplished runners, even for athletes who
may have achieved near maximal oxygen transport capacity for humans.
endurance performance; hypoxia; erythropoietin; symmorphosis; maximal oxygen uptake; running; athletics
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