Testing sessions
initiation of blood draws, Ewing
At the baseline familiarization visit, participants were asked to attend the lab euhydrated and given instructions on adequate fluid consumption along with methods to remain properly hydrated. Participants were also asked to arrive 2 h fasted, to not have exercised within 12 h and to not have consumed any alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine within 12 h prior to the baseline visit. Height and initial weight were obtained on a stadiometer and calibrated scale (Health-o-meter Professional, Pelstar LLC, Alsip, IL, USA) and body composition assessment was performed via air displacement plethysmography (BodPod, Cosmed, Rome, Italy) according to the manufacturer’s guidelines. Female participants underwent a urine pregnancy test (First Response Pregnancy Test, Church & Dwight, Ewing Township, NJ, USA) to confirm a negative pregnancy status. This was done as pregnancy may have influenced both performance testing and blood biomarker results. Finally, participants underwent a brief familiarization session with the cycle ergometer (Velotron Racer-Mate, Seattle, WA, USA) that was used for both testing sessions and provided a detailed description of the HIE protocol and expectations.Participants’ T1 and T2 testing sessions were performed at the same time of day (<1 h difference) to help control for individual diurnal variations in performance measures or biomarkers. In addition to baseline familiarization session instruction, participants were required to consume a meal 2–4 h prior to the testing session but did not consume anything else except water within 2 h prior to the testing session. Then, 24 h dietary food logs were collected for food intake the day prior to T1. These food logs were sent to the participants prior to T2, and participants were asked to replicate the diet as closely as possible, which was verified by the administration of a second 24 h food log prior to T2. A second pregnancy test was administered to female participants at T2 before the initiation of blood draws and the exercise protocol to verify a negative pregnancy status for the duration of the study. Same-day participant body mass was obtained prior to HIE protocol to update and program the equipment software (Velotron, Wingate version 1.0.2). Following completion, the first blood draw was obtained, and the participant initiated the HIE protocol.