"Living high-training low" altitude training improves sea level performance in male and female elite runners. Stray-Gundersen, James, Robert F. Chapman, and Benjamin D. Levine. 1Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education, Oslo, Norway; 2Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; and 3The Institute of Exercise and Environmental Medicine, Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, Texas 75231
APStracts 8:0307A, 2001.
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«minus»1×min«minus»1). 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 mug/ml). Hb concentration measured at sea level increased 1 gm/dl over the course of the camp (13.3 ± 0.2 to 14.3 ± 0.2 gm/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. 

Received 20 July 2000; accepted in final form 17 May 2001
APS Manuscript Number A0664-0.
Article publication pending J Appl Physiol
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 2001 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 29 June 2001