5 Ways Athletes Can Prepare to Train, Compete, and Recover at High Altitude

USA Cheer has partnered with TrueSport, to provide new educational tools to equip coaches, parents and young athletes with the resources to build life skills and core values for success in sports and in life. TrueSport, a movement by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, inspires athletes, coaches, parents, and administrators to change the culture of youth sport through active engagement and thoughtful curriculum based on cornerstone lessons of sportsmanship, character-building, and clean and healthy performance, while also creating leaders across communities through sport.

If you’re an athlete living at sea level, the idea of training or competing at a high-altitude location can feel intimidating. Maybe you’ve heard horror stories from teammates who struggled to acclimate, or you’re concerned that you won’t be able to perform at your best.

While higher elevations will impact athletes, there are ways that you can prepare and set yourself up for success. Here, TrueSport Expert and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s Science Director, Dr. Laura Lewis, shares her best advice for handling altitude, regardless of how much time you have to acclimate.

1. Know what “side effects” to expect

The physical impact of being at higher altitudes can be tough for some athletes. But understanding what happens to the body and what to expect at these higher altitudes may help those effects feel less stressful.

For example, “The reduced air pressure at higher altitudes reduces the amount of oxygen that is available to us,” explains Lewis. “Essentially, for any breath that you’re taking, you’re getting less oxygen into your body. This lower oxygen level is sensed in the blood, and it sends your body into protection mode.”

This means that recovering from any efforts will take longer than when you’re at sea level, Lewis says. You’ll also find that you get into the “red zone” much faster. You’ll fatigue much quicker, dehydrate faster, and may burn through available fuel at a faster rate. You may even notice that you feel more mentally sluggish than usual, Lewis adds. Essentially, everything is going to feel a bit harder.

2. Control your controllables

Lewis suggests focusing on things that you can control, such as increasing your recovery periods between efforts, hydrating often, and fueling intentionally. Often, the stress from worrying about being at altitude can be as problematic as actually being at altitude, so instead, try focusing on all the small tweaks you can make to decrease those impacts.

Her top recommendation is to be more proactive with your fueling and your hydration. She notes that it’s almost impossible to come back from “bonking” (the feeling of depletion when your body is low on available fuel) when you’re at altitude, so prevention is key. This means sipping a sports drink more frequently, or making sure you always have available snacks and a water bottle.

If you’re playing a ball sport, altitude can have surprising effects on things like the ball’s trajectory, says Lewis. To combat this, ensure that you have plenty of practice time at that altitude ahead of any competition so that you’re familiar with those slight changes. “Because of the reduced air density, the trajectory of the ball will be different,” Lewis adds. “The good thing is that it's much faster to adjust to those effects in terms of your skill, than it is to generate red blood cells and adapt physiologically. It usually only takes a couple of practices to adjust, but remember, you’ll need a readjustment period back home too.”

3. Arrive early

“The best way to prepare is to go to the altitude that you're performing at,” says Lewis. “The gold standard for adapting to altitude is spending time there. But we obviously recognize that's not practical for lots of people.”

Other altitude adaptations require technology, like sleeping in an altitude tent, which uses a machine to mimic the oxygen levels at higher elevations. Some universities may also have access to altitude training rooms, where you’re able to run, row, or ride in those lower oxygen levels. While training for short amounts of time at higher elevations won’t give you the adaptations that long-term exposure does, Lewis explains that you’ll at least be able to better understand how those higher elevations feel, so it won’t be a shock.

If high altitude tends to hit you hard during competition, you can also try limiting your exposure by sleeping at a lower elevation. Sleeping at a lower elevation can slow how quickly you adapt, but since good sleep is so important for performance, it’s often a worthwhile tradeoff. That might mean racing at 9,000 feet before heading down to 5,000 feet to sleep.

Lewis explains that one of the great myths about performing at altitude is that if you arrive at the high-altitude destination as close to competition time as possible, you can compete before your body even realizes that you're at altitude. But that’s simply not the case. “Your body is way smarter than that and will immediately know there's less oxygen available,” she says.

4. Plan for slower speeds and more recovery

“You’ll need to adjust your pacing according to how you’re feeling at altitude,” Lewis says. “If you're doing intervals, you may need more time between them to recover. You’re not ‘being lazy’ if you need to modify your training schedule while you’re at altitude.” If you have a hard workout on the schedule and you’re struggling at altitude, it may also be necessary to drop down to a lower altitude to do the workout, then return.

She adds that in competition, you also should expect your heart rate to be higher than usual, which means you will fatigue faster. If you’re an endurance athlete, you may need to adjust your race or game strategy accordingly.

5. Be as fit at sea level as possible

If you can’t train at higher altitudes, Lewis says that the best thing you can do is simply be as fit and healthy as possible. Don’t panic about altitude or assume the worst outcomes. “Competing at altitude is more about how you prepare beforehand and your adaptive state at the time,” she says. “If you’re training well, managing stress, and recovering and fueling well, you’re probably going to struggle less.”

Takeaway

Training and competing at high altitudes can be intimidating and feel difficult for athletes who live at low altitudes, but there are ways to prepare, mitigate side effects, and adjust. Most importantly, focus on the things you can control, such as hydration and fueling. And while it’s not always possible, the best way to adapt to altitude is to spend time at altitude, so the earlier you can arrive before a competition, the better.

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