Altitude training and exposure is becoming ever more important in today’s times of training application as it has significant benefits which include a reduction in lactate build up, increase in aerobic capacity or V02Max, increase in the muscle protein myoglobin. In this blog post, we will cover everything you need to know when considering training at altitude.
The most common benefit when anyone thinks about altitude, is the increase in erythropoietin aka EPO, the hormone that stimulates red blood cell production. Having a prolonged decreased partial pressure of oxygen stimulates the kidneys to produce erythropoietin (EPO). EPO then stimulates the marrow in the long bones to produce more red blood cells and therefore increases blood volume and oxygen carrying capacity, thereby enhancing cycling performance being the end result.
While this sounds all easy and you’re packing your bag to stay at altitude to come back and have a significant gain, there are a few considerations such as location and duration before heading for the hills and leaving the kids to the missus for a few days.
The most important factor to consider is whether or not you are a responder to altitude.
By this I mean does your body adapt and respond in a positive way – or does your body not respond well to altitude? Not everyone is a responder and if not, this can – and often leads to negative physiological gains which results in athlete detraining. If this is the case, it’s better to not go to altitude and rather do quality training.
Are you only going to train or sleep at altitude? Or are you going to train and sleep at altitude?
The research has highlighted, these are all critically important components of designing an altitude training block. The primary models which have been investigated include:
Live high (at altitude) and train high (at altitude) (LHTH)
Live high, Live Low, Train High (LLTH)
Live high, Train Low (LHTL)
While I am not going to go into each one of these in detail, I will go into the most common of the options: Live High, Train Low (LHTL).
LIVE HIGH, TRAIN LOW (LHTL)
This a common and favored method of altitude training and its pretty simple – the lower the altitude the more oxygen the air contains. Yes, at altitude 2000m +there is oxygen in the air, but it is less compressed and making it harder to breathe, which makes it harder to produce power. While you benefit from the physiological response of erythropoietin production for one, your muscles will detrain. Where you win you also lose.
By going training lower, you are still able to train at maximal capacity at a lower altitude or even at at sea level where possible.
A classical study by Levine and Gundersen compared the LHTL model to the LHTH and LLRL models.
The results showed far greater performance benefits to LHTL. The LHTL model demonstrated increases in VO2 max, exercise performance, red blood cell and haemoglobin mass. A further study proposed additional benefit to performing all “base” training sessions at altitude and only very hard interval sessions at or near to sea level.
Now that we have that out the way, you can consider location and time spent at altitude.
In South Africa I often here riders say, “We are going on an altitude camp for the week to Graskop”. Sure, it is a good training area and Harries pancakes are great, but it’s just under 1500m and 5-7 days won’t do much in the way of adaption from altitude.
Stimulus at altitude starts after 10 days from above 2000m but no higher than 3000m and no more than 21 days.
My personal experience with athletes has shown that 16-17 days at altitude has yielded good overall adaptations. For some athletes the extra week into 21 days sees a drop off in performance and values.
We have found that going above 3000m impacts sleep and recovery in a negative way. I had the some out of this world dreams at a camp that was at 2800m!
So, by taking the altitude and duration into account, it is possible to find an option that can be beneficial to your training.
WHEN TO GO TO ALTITUDE
With that all out the way, the timing of the altitude exposure against your race or target is important. The effects or window of the adaptations last three weeks when done correctly.
However, the effects in this window are not always immediate. You will generally feel good for the first 2- or 3-days post exposure, sometimes up to week after returning to “base”, but it is not uncommon for to feel fatigue, or fall ill on days 4 and 5 back at regular altitude.
Once these sensations pass, athletes will enjoy another window period of two sometimes three weeks of good effects. This should benefit you, when doing a 3-week racing block or tour, for example.
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN TRAINING AT ALTITUDE
There are additional factors to be considered when going to train at altitude, such as adaptation to altitude, intensity of training, supplementation and duration to name a few.
Understanding this, it is recommended to factor in three days of adaptation when you arrive. You cannot simply go out on day 1 and smash it with an intensity session. This will have a negative effect and put you at a deficit for the remainder of your ‘camp’.
The body will excrete water for the first 72 hours. This means a lowered fluid volume in the blood, which in turn results in an inefficient cardiovascular system. Your maximum cardiac output will be limited – and can result in increased breathlessness and heart rate for the same level of exertion at sea level. After 72 hours, your liver begins to produce an additional blood protein, which progressively restores the blood volume to pre-altitude levels around days 6-7.
Another method of monitoring is to do a blood count. This would be done before arrival at altitude, with follow up tests done at the end of each week – or every 7 days with the last count done on the final day. This is not always the easiest to do in terms of locating a clinic or hospital in the area you are at.
Another reason to monitor your blood, is to keep an eye on your iron levels. Iron absorption is poor at altitude and as such, iron supplementation will benefit your altitude training. It is important to start this supplementation 10 to 7 days before arriving at altitude.
90mg to start is sufficient, increasing to 100mg a day. 100mg is enough to prevent a big drop in ferritin (although there will still be a drop).
In short, if you arrive at altitude with insufficient iron levels/stores your body won’t be able to produce the much needed red blood cells – and can result in anaemia.
Remember to include vitamin C with your iron supplements!
When at altitude, your body’s carbohydrate metabolism will increase, while your fat metabolism decreases – which is why athletes often return from bouts of altitude very lean. Because of this, it is essential to include sufficient carbohydrate intake when at altitude, as the fuel for your training.
TRAINING AT ALTITUDE
Power production or producing power at altitude will always feel harder. Often as is the case in training logic, people think that the harder the training, the better it is for you. (Especially from the JHB Engen to Engen group.) When at altitude this is not the case – and could mean that the stimulus or gains lead to de-training.
When at an altitude camp, I use and implement a table based off the athlete Functional Threshold Power (FTP) at sea level. This is derived from the studies of Bassett.1 and Peronett.2
These equations from Bassett et al.1 were generated from four groups of highly trained or elite runners (this is obviously population-specific to that group.) However, this estimate can be used for aerobic power at a given altitude. This as a percentage y of what is normally available at sea level, where x = elevation above sea level in km.
for acclimatized athletes (several weeks at altitude): y = -1.12×2 – 1.90x + 99.9 (R2 = 0.973
non-acclimatized athletes (1-7 days at altitude): y = 0.178×3 – 1.43×2 – 4.07x + 100 (R2 = 0.974)
Where Perronet et al.2 had found the following formula
y = -0.003×3 + 0.0081×2 – 0.0381x + 1
Easy riding for the first three days and then from day five after arrival you can have your first key session.
TO ALTITUDE OR NOT?
I often get asked the advantages of altitude training; whether or not it is good to include into an annual plan for an athlete’s season. This dependent on the athlete, their level, and goals. If you are World Tour or similar athlete or going to win Cape Epic for example, my opinion that not going to altitude is a disadvantage.
I hope this answers the thoughts and questions you have about the ins and outs of altitude training – and helps you to prepare specifically for your seasons ahead.