In endurance sports, altitude training has unreflectively established itself as a sensible training method for improving performance. Endurance runners from the highlands of Kenya and Ethiopia are mainly responsible for combining altitude training with athletic performance. However, altitude training is initially differentiated into a competition preparation for competitions at higher altitudes or for competitions in higher areas.
Altitude training is an indispensable element of preparation for competitions in higher altitudes. Acclimatization periods last up to 3 weeks. Due to the negative conditions (low air pressure) the training conditions are much worse.
The intensity and duration of training are therefore lower. In the area of short-term endurance (sprint), there are no factors that reduce performance at medium altitudes. Athletes can start without much preparation.
The use of altitude training to improve performance in competitions is always controversially discussed in sports science. The success of numerous endurance athletes from the highlands in recent years and decades suggests that there is indeed a connection between staying at altitude and improved performance. There are studies that have shown that endurance athletes who train at altitude have an increase in maximum oxygen intake.
The effects are probably due to the increase in the myoglobin content of the blood and the increase in enzyme activity. Other studies have not shown any significant increase in performance of an altitude training. These authors are of the opinion that, despite the increased oxygen capacity of the blood, the performance-reducing effects of altitude training outweigh the effects.
These negative effects are: From this connection a method of the living- high, training- low has developed in the past years. Athletes live in special houses through which oxygen-poor air flows. When measuring the increase in performance in sports, however, there is a significant problem, since it cannot be exactly clarified whether the increase is due to altitude training or other factors.
- Increased respiratory minute volume
- Reduced training intensity
- Reduced buffer capacity of the blood
- Reduced maximum heart minute volume
During altitude training, a number of dangers can occur that are often neglected in training practice. On the one hand there is a basic danger in the mountains. A distinction is made between objective and subjective dangers.
Among the objective dangers are weather changes. The weather situation can change within a few minutes, cold spells, thunderstorms, hail, blizzards etc. can suddenly occur.
Furthermore, steep slopes and loose ground are objective dangers. Subjective dangers include incorrect equipment, lack of mastery of alpine techniques and performance slumps. In case of exhaustion symptoms an immediate stop or return is necessary.
Recent tragedies prove how dangerous endurance sports in the mountains actually are. The radiation intensity of the sun is many times higher at altitude than in the lowlands. A distinction is made between three types of damage caused by solar radiation: At high altitudes, the danger of hypothermia is particularly high, especially during weather changes.
Incoming winds additionally support this effect on wet skin. As a result of too fast ascent to higher altitudes, the organism cannot acclimatize fast enough. The cause is a lack of oxygen in the body tissues.
Symptoms of altitude sickness are headaches and insomnia, up to nausea, vomiting, brain edema with loss of balance.
- Heat supply by infrared rays (heat stroke)
- Increased UV radiation leads to skin damage
- Danger of glare from sunlight, crevasses etc. can be overlooked.
