I could have saved myself the cost of a trip to the coast. I live at an elevation of 3,500 feet, and last year I traveled to Victoria, British Columbia, to run my Boston Marathon qualifying race. As it turns out, any boost I got from traveling to sea level was purely psychological.
That isn’t to say there isn’t significant merit in altitude training for competitive athletes, but there is a science to doing it properly, and so I spoke to the man who practically invented it.
In 1997, Dr. Benjamin Levine was lead author on “Living high-training low,” the most-often-cited paper on high-altitude physiology. Published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, Levine, director of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, and his co-author created the model for living high/training low.
He explained why my trip to the coast for my qualification marathon wasn’t worth the expense: I don’t live high enough, and I didn’t train low.
“Good studies that compare living and training at altitude with living and training at sea level, for the most part, are a wash,” Levine said. He explained that while you get a boost in red blood cell production, the ones that carry oxygen, by living at a higher altitude, this is offset because “athletes can’t train as hard at that altitude, so there is a relative de-training effect.” Conversely, those at sea level may have lower red blood cell production, but the higher level of oxygen in the air allows them to train harder, making it come out pretty even.
And where I live isn’t high enough to make any difference. “You need to get up to about 7,000 feet before you start to diminish the amount of oxygen in the blood at rest,” Levine said. “Living at 3,500 isn’t enough of an acclimatization effect to make a difference.”
“There is a certain threshold altitude that you have to live above before the effects are beneficial in terms of coming back down to sea level,” said Robert Chapman, assistant professor at Indiana University and the sport science director for USA Track and Field. “Seven thousand to 8,000 feet is just right. As you go higher, it’s an inverted ‘U.'” Living above 9,000 feet starts to have a negative effect on performance.
But again, it’s not just where you live, but where you train. As Levine’s 1997 study showed, the trick is to not just live up high, but to travel down low to work out. For the study, “We asked the question: ‘What if you could get the best of both worlds?'” The study used controls for comparison but found that it was only those who lived at 8,000 feet in Deer Valley, Utah, yet went down to 4,000 feet to train in Salt Lake City who garnered a measurable performance improvement.
“On average, the athletes who have done live high/train low have seen about a 1.5 percent improvement, which at the Olympic level is absolutely massive,” Chapman said. “It can significantly influence the outcome of events.” What kind of events? Endurance sports. Altitude is popular for running, cycling, cross-country skiing — any event that requires lengthy aerobic exertion.
But this type of training sounds like a lot of time in the car, doesn’t it? Dropping 4,000 feet in elevation isn’t just a trip down the block.
“It turned out that the most important workouts to do at lower elevation are the high-intensity ones,” Levine said. “You don’t need to travel down to a lower altitude every day. It’s only two to three times a week.”
This protocol also isn’t about living at high altitude all the time, or mountain towns would be overrun with Olympians year-round. Chapman explained that it’s generally a five-week camp in preparation for a major competition. And these camps have gone from being a fringe training method to a fundamental part of preparation.
“For the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, none of our top distance runners trained at altitude,” Chapman said. “Fast-forward to 2012 in London, and every single one of our distance runners who made a final trained at altitude as part of their preparation.”
It’s important to understand that live high/train low is for getting a benefit while competing at sea level. To compete at a high elevation, you need to get used to training at that elevation. And while I, living at 3,500 feet, wouldn’t have an advantage over my hypothetical identical twin who lived at sea level if we were competing on his home turf, I would have an advantage if he came to my town to race me. In other words, without live high/train low, going down from a moderate elevation doesn’t help, but going up can hurt.
Speaking of hurting, last July I was in Vail, Colo., which is 8,300 feet, and a 10K run made me pray for death. Levine explained that being in good shape made exercising comparatively harder at high elevation than it would be for a nonathlete. Wait, what?
Those in good shape can pump blood a lot faster through their lungs than most. As a result, the hemoglobin in the red blood cells doesn’t have enough time to get fully saturated with oxygen because the air is so thin. For moderate exertion like hiking, it’s not a problem, but running was unpleasant.
On the subject of hiking, during my trip to Colorado I climbed Homestake Peak, which is above 13,000 feet. This involved spending a night in a hut at 11,000 feet. I spoke with owner and head guide Will Elliott of Paragon Guides about how these hikes affect people and how they can cope.
“The huts are a very high altitude for people to sleep at, and negative effects are common: headaches, loss of sleep and lack of appetite,” Elliott said. “Staying well hydrated and making sure you eat enough is very important.”
Elliott stressed giving your body a chance to acclimate before a big hike. This sentiment was echoed by Chapman, who said, “When you’re hiking above 10,000 feet, every day you can get there in advance is a day that’s going to help you.”
And don’t try to be a hero. Elliott has seen many marathoners blow up by going out too hard and fast on a climb. Slow and steady is what will get you to the top.
Fell is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and founder of bodyforwife.com.
Source: Chicago Tribune
October 2, 2014
By: James Fell
http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/sc-health-1001-fitness-altitude-20141001-story.html
