Prep for high altitude

[TonyE]

No blood test has been done, but the conventional wisdom state that altitude make your body produce more red blood cells. If this is the case, endurance should definately improve, as Lance Armstrong has shown.
Don't you think this is the case?

Oh I don't doubt for a moment that training at altitude can produce more red blood cells.

It's just that EPO is even better at it.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Testosterone also has that effect.

[Justin Smale]

OK fellow geezers:

I'm more or less happy with where my lifts stand for the moment, but I have a high altitude fishing trip coming up in about eight weeks. The altitude is around 6,500 feet and on some days we might hike out five or six miles, mostly over trails, although there's some fairly rough terrain. We try to move pretty quickly (more time spent hiking means less time fishing).

There's less pressure to move fast on the way back, but of course the beer and whisky are calling, so we end up moving pretty quickly anyway.

I don't have to carry much beyond my fishing gear and a light pack. Last year, I didn't have any problem making the hikes, but I was definitely slower than I'd like to be. I'd like to be faster and we might try to go farther and higher, depending on weather conditions and where the bigger fish are hanging out.

How would you train for this? I'd like to improve my ability to hike at high altitude at a pace around 15 minutes per mile. I live at low altitude in a flat country, but do have a treadmill at home. I'm not planning to do this on a permanent basis, I just want to improve as efficiently as possible. After the trip, my focus will be on lifting again.

I spent 7-8 years as a part time guide in the Canadian Rockies, leading mostly Baby Boomers and people new to the area on hikes/backpacking trips or snow shoe trips. In my experience, I'd say the difference in altitude at that height is probably more in your head than your body. I mean it's not like you're going from sea level to Everest base camp or anything. It's probably more due to the fact that the activity itself isn't something you do on a regular basis and thus haven't thurst the stress/recovery/adaptation of that activity onto yourself, or really learned how to best pace yourself for the activity. Also for what it's worth, I've found going "faster" rarely works, it just means you burn out quicker and need more breaks (especially if you're in a group). The better idea is shake yourselves out of bed earlier. If you leave even 20-30 minutes earlier, it likely gets you to the same place at the same time, but with more energy in the tank and without feeling like you bagged yourself on the way up. And early morning is the best time in the mountains anyway.

[Fulcrum]

This doesn't help the OP's problem, but "they" are doing a lot of studies on the high altitude training recently.
Turns out, although all the Olympians and what not are all doing this, it MAY be all BS in the end.

Like Mark said (sort of):
Living and sleeping and training at high altitude helps with performing at that higher altitude. (notice "and" x3)
That's a fact.
Mostly the living and sleeping ... not so much the training...in fact not really the training at all.
Training alone at high altitude doesn't do jack squat.
Say you live at 2000 ft.asl and go up to 8,000-9,000 to train for a few hours, everyday, for four months.
That doesn't do anything really.

Funny enough, and more recently, living and sleeping and training at high altitude doesn't really get you anywhere
if the contest, performance, test is at a lower altitude.
This idea about "Supercharging" Red blood cells and all that: there are some other unexplained bottlenecks they haven't quite figured out yet.
Or better said, they CAN see all the physiological changes taking place in the blood work, they DO improve and change with living and sleeping and training at high altitude. BUT this seems to ONLY help with high altitude performances/contests.
If these 'adapted' athletes THEN perform at lower altitudes, they have no advantage over athletes that trained normally (at a contest held at a lower altitude).
Any altitude "gains" seen are very very minimal; are just "noise" in the data and/or are placebo.

This isn't the exact article/study I was looking for ... but yeah this:
Altitude training is little more than placebo | ScienceNordic


TL;DR: Train AND live at the altitude of the endeavor or contest.

[poser]

I used to live at low altitude and take regular trips and excursions to much higher altitude. I now live (and train) at 6,500 feet and spend quite a bit of time at 10-12,000 feet.
IMHO, the best thing you can do is show up in the best possible shape for the activity you will be doing in addition to drinking lots of water and getting as much sleep as possible (night time sleep aids will help with this as it’s usually a symptom). So, in your case, do some hiking (potentially difficult hiking) ahead of the trip and learn to regulate your pace in a manner that avoids redlining. At altitude, that threshold will be obviously be lower, but regulate your pace in a appropriate manner. While different people respond to altitude in different ways, generally speaking, the better shape you are in at sea level, the better shape you will be in at altitude (barring altitude sickness or other severe reactions).

[christorhodes]

With all due respect to Expat am pretty sure he is not an elite endurance athlete working near the top of his aerobic potential. So the studies being referenced wouldn't be particularly applicable.

People who live at altitude have physiological adaptations to reduced oxygen that are similar to endurance athletes, just not to the same degree. Like Mr. Ripetoe said there is no training for altitude there is just exposure and adaptation.