Owner's Manual: Is Altitude Training Right for You?

Altitude training works, but it's not for everyone

November 1, 2007

Ever dash through the airport in Salt Lake City? Worse yet, have you ever run a 5K in Denver?

Even if you live at high altitude, you’re bound to be more winded and considerably slower than you would be running in San Diego, Chicago or any other low-elevation destination.

The impact of training at higher elevations isn’t the same for all runners. Many athletes have reaped the benefits of training at high altitude in places like Boulder or Flagstaff, but others have fallen prey to overtraining that has led to debilitating fatigue. To determine whether or not a spurt of altitude training makes sense for you, consider the physiological differences between running at low and high elevations.

Regardless of the altitude at which you run, the air you breathe always contains 20.93 percent oxygen. However, with an increase in altitude comes a decrease in barometric (atmospheric) pressure, which decreases the partial pressure of oxygen in the air, the lungs, and the blood — consequently decreasing blood oxygen saturation — maximum cardiac output, and aerobic power (VO2 max).

The decrease in performance in endurance events (1500m and longer) at altitude is largely attributable to the altitude-associated decrease in VO2 max. Interestingly, research has shown that better runners experience a greater reduction in VO2 max at altitude compared to less fit or less talented runners because better runners exhibit a greater decrease in hemoglobin’s oxygen saturation. So, the more you have to begin with, the more you have to lose. Since your VO2 max is lower at altitude, running at the same pace as at sea level will feel harder because you’re running at a higher percentage of your (altitude) VO2 max.

Although many coaches, athletes, and TV commentators attribute much of the success of the Kenyan and Ethiopian distance runners to their altitude training, there is little scientific or historical evidence that training at altitude is superior to training at sea level for improvements in VO2 max or sea level performance.

Historically, the best U.S. distance runners (with the exception of a few) have been born, lived and trained at sea level. If altitude were a key ingredient for success, there would be a disproportionate percentage of elite U.S. distance runners coming from altitude compared to the percentage of people in the U.S. who live there.

In my study on the training characteristics of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifiers published in International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance in March 2006, I found that only 24 percent of men and 16 percent of women trained at altitude, and did so only because they resided there. More tellingly, there was no difference in marathon performance between athletes who trained at altitude and those who didn’t.

While living and running at altitude stimulates the production of red blood cells (called “erythropoiesis,” after erythropoietin, the hormone that stimulates their production) to compensate for the decreased oxygen, giving you a greater oxygen-carrying capability (which is a good thing), you can’t run at the same speeds for your workouts as you can at sea level (which is a bad thing). So, altitude training is a balancing act: making more red blood cells on one hand versus training at slower speeds on the other hand. The trick is to not let the latter outweigh the former.

The slower speeds associated with altitude training have led to an interesting area of research that has examined the physiological and performance effects of living at altitude but training at sea level (called “live high/train low”) to acquire the benefit of both worlds. Some studies have examined this issue by actually having athletes travel back and forth between altitude and sea level, while other studies have simulated altitude conditions by having athletes at sea level breathe different concentrations of oxygen for varying amounts of time during the day.

There is some evidence that this live high/train low strategy may improve sea level performance by inducing the erythropoiesis associated with altitude exposure while maintaining sea level training intensities.

However, research has also shown that not all runners respond to altitude training to the same extent, with responders showing a greater concentration of erythropoietin in the blood and a smaller decrement in training speed at altitude than non-responders. Thus, while altitude training may work for some runners, others would be better served by remaining at sea level where they can train at a faster pace.

That’s one of the big reasons Dathan Ritzenhein moved from Boulder (5,400 feet) to Eugene (426 feet) with coach Brad Hudson last spring.

“For the marathon, running high mileage at sea level seems to work a little bit better for us,” Hudson says. “We want to be able to run 15- to 16-milers at race pace, and it’s a lot easier to recover at a lower altitude, whereas running like that at high altitude takes a lot out of the athletes.”

If you’d like to give altitude training a try, research has shown that the ideal altitude is between 6,500 to 8,000 feet for at least four weeks to obtain the greatest erythropoietic benefit while minimizing the occurrence of acute mountain sickness.

To maintain your sea level training intensity while at altitude, try running what I call “sea level speed” workouts in addition to your altitude workouts, especially if you’re going to be at altitude for an extended period of time. Run at the same pace as you would run at sea level but cut the length of the interval so you can run at your sea level speed. For example, if you normally run 1,000-meter repeats at sea level in 3:45 (6:00 pace), run 600-meter repeats at altitude in 2:15 (6:00 pace).

Also, be sure to give yourself ample rest and recovery time and try to add an extra day between hard workouts.

Otherwise, live in a house at the top of a big mountain and drive to the bottom for your workouts.

Jason R. Karp is a Ph.D. candidate in exercise physiology at Indiana University, director and coach of REVO2LT Running Team, freelance writer and competitive runner. A resident of Albuquerque, NM, he  coaches athletes of all levels through RunCoachJason.com.