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Contact: Donna Krupa703.527.7357 (direct dial)703.967.2751 (cell) or [email protected]

American Physiological Society (APS) Releases Highlights from It's Peer Reviewed Journals

"Living High-Training Low" Altitude Training Improves Sea-Level Performance In Male and Female Elite Runners

Summary: 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 achieve similar performance gains has been unclear.

Methodology: James Stray-Gundersen, Robert F. Chapman, and Benjamin D. Levine studied 14 elite men and 8 elite women before and after 27 days of living at 2,500 miles while performing high-intensity training at 1,250 miles. The altitude sojourn began one week after the USA Track and Field National Championships, when the athletes were close to their season's fitness peak.

Conclusions: 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 percent improvement in maximal oxygen uptake. Circulating erythropoietin levels were near double initial sea-level values 20 hours after ascent. Soluble transferring receptor levels were significantly elevated on the 19th day at altitude, confirming a stimulation of erythropoiesis. The researchers concluded that four weeks of acclimatization to moderate altitude, accompanied by high-intensity training at low altitude, improves sea-level endurance performance even in elite runners.

Source: Journal of Applied Physiology, September 2001

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The American Physiological Society (APS) was founded in 1887 to foster basic and applied science, much of it relating to human health.The Bethesda, MD-based Society has more than 10,000 members and publishes 3,800 articles in its 14 peer-reviewed journals every year.

Editor's Note: For the full text of the summaries cited above, or to set up an interview with a lead investigator, please contact Donna Krupa at 703.527.7357 (direct dial), 703.967.2751 (cell) or [email protected].

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