Altitude Training for Everyone

Runners who spend limited time at altitude can still see some benefits.

Altitude training is a component of virtually all elite running programs -- 95 percent of all medalists at the world championships and the Olympic Games since 1968 have either lived or trained at altitude. Indeed, the world's fastest distance runners will do everything they can to gain a fraction of improvement to become the best.

Obviously professional athletes have the resources (time and otherwise) to hide away in the mountains and run. They live at altitude or simulated altitude over the course of weeks or months (several studies say it takes 21 to 28 days for the body to make adaptations), and often come down to sea level to train, following the "Live High, Train Low" method shown to produce the greatest benefits.

But what about the rest of the pack, who might only be able to spend a week or two at altitude? It's a little more complicated than taking a vacation in Colorado and coming home to win a local 10K, although doing some training at high elevation, if only briefly, can reap benefits for almost anybody.

"[Researchers] are trying to elucidate the parameters under which altitude training will have an impact on performance," says Jay Kearney, an exercise physiologist from Stonington, Maine, who served as a consultant to the U.S. Olympic Committee in endurance sports leading up to the Vancouver and London Olympics. He adds that experts continue to ascertain what altitude promotes the greatest physiological changes (and hence the best performance boosts). Many professional runners believe 8,000 feet above sea level is the optimal elevation for training, though all athletes react differently to the stimulus, so there's no conclusive evidence of a certain sweet spot.

Kearney says if you sat down with 10 leading performance altitude researchers, you'd come up with 10 different responses on what altitude is best or how much time is necessary there to create performance changes.

For those who are only spending a week up high, the benefits of exposure have little to do with training and more to do with the body's response to a lack of oxygen.

"Immediately upon arrival at altitude, the kidneys react to send erythropoietin (EPO) to the bone marrow, which produces new red blood cells to carry more oxygen," says Greg McMillan, an exercise scientist who offers adult running camps in Flagstaff, Ariz., a mountain town that sits at 7,000 feet. "This process is helpful for the distance runner, but requires no training at all -- you just need to go to altitude."

But beware. Most athletes make the same mistake when they arrive at high elevation: They train too hard, too soon. McMillan says this robs the body of the energy it needs to complete the process of creating more red blood cells and shifting more fluid to the blood to balance the increase in red cell mass.

"Rule number one: Train easy," he says. "No hard workouts or hard efforts in the first three to seven days. Just run easy and know that the benefits are happening inside the body."

Vince Sherry, co-founder of the Run SMART Project, which also offers week-long adult running camps in Flagstaff, agrees that runners must take it slow at first.

"Normally everyone feels fine for the first day or so, but the problem lies in the recovery time and the toll working out hard at high elevation takes on the body," he says. "Running too hard in the first several days can leave you feeling flat and tired for a week, ruining what should have been a great trip."

McMillan and Sherry also emphasize hydration, not only because the body needs it as plasma volume increases, but also because the environment is typically dry. Many runners will experience a headache, poor sleep, and gastrointestinal issues during the first days in the mountains. Proper hydration will also help these symptoms.

"This is normal and usually subsides in a few days," McMillan says.


Given the drawbacks, why head for the hills? First, coaches emphasize that time at altitude won't create magic results. Before taking time off for a retreat, runners should be sure that they're already doing what they should to improve at sea level. "What 90 percent of runners would benefit from," says Dean Hebert, a running coach in Tempe, Ariz., "would be a sound running or training program."

For those who decide to give elevation a try, improvements might come because of other factors -- often more psychological than physiological. Attending a one-week camp, away from the demands of everyday life, with elite coaching and a rejuvenating change of scenery, could do a runner as much good as the altitude itself. Sherry says he sees many runners alter the course of their training every year after spending a few days in the mountains.

"Finding yourself on a trail in the middle of the woods will put you in a completely different head space than running from crosswalk to crosswalk on a busy street," Sherry says. "There are also opportunities to run up some pretty big mountains -- taking the lessons in mental toughness home can lead to more positive results."

Are the benefits worth the time, money and sacrifice required? Catherine Mormile, a 58-year-old half marathoner and physical therapist from Palmer, Alaska, thinks so. Last summer Mormile attended three week-long sessions at Terry Chiplin's Active at Altitude camp in Estes, Colo. "My legs burned," she says of her first days at altitude. "I was gasping for air, and I thought my lungs were going to fall out of my chest."

As she acclimated, however, the breathing -- and the running -- got easier. And when she returned home to sea level, she noticed a difference. "I felt like I had been propelled out of a cannon," she says. "My legs wanted to go fast." She immediately ran a personal best at Anchorage's Skinny Raven Half Marathon.

At altitude, she felt she learned to run and breathe more efficiently. "When I started at Estes, I had a heavy, tight, lactic acid feeling in my legs," she says. "But when I focused on my breathing, I noticed my legs felt better." With the sparse oxygen available at altitude forcing her to work harder, Mormile concentrated on maximizing her breathing and minimizing her movements through more efficient form, which led to improvement in performance at sea level.

Chiplin, Mormile's coach at the Colorado camp, says he sees many attendees set personal-best times after just one week at high elevation. What causes those PRs is uncertain, but something good is going on in the mountains.

"I haven't seen any research as yet, but I think we sometimes forget that we are spiritual beings having a human existence," Chiplin says. "And sometimes what happens in our heads has a pronounced impact on our physical performance."

If You Go. . .

Greg McMillan, a coach and exercise scientist based in the high-altitude town of Flagstaff, Ariz., offers the following training advice for runners who have a short altitude stint planned:

DAYS 1-3: Run easy and 25 to 50 percent less than you would normally run at sea level. The body is working hard to produce new red blood cells and shift fluid to the blood. Easy running helps the process and allows you to run throughout your stay.

DAYS 4-7: Run the normal distance you would at sea level, but keep the pace easy. Those who have previous exposure to high elevation or are not experiencing headaches or poor sleep can try a workout. Avoid hill repeats or repeats at VO2 max -- instead, stick to lactate threshold pace, adjusted for altitude (slower than at sea level) or a leg-speed workout (short, fast repeats that last less than 30 seconds). These workouts don't demand as much oxygen.


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