Question

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Vinnie is a professional road cyclist participating in the 2020 Giro d’Italia, a three-week race nearly 3,600 km in distance with some stages exceeding altitudes of 2,700 m above sea level (i.e., Stelvio Pass, Italy). As the newly hired head of the high-performance team, it is your responsibility to manage his preparation for the event. You must demonstrate to your team a fundamental understanding of physiology, the chronic adaptations expected from his training, and methods that could be implemented to improve the likelihood of success.

QUESTION:

You recommend that Vinnie performs altitude training as part of his preparation for the race, a training approach that is novel to him.

1. What physiological changes would you expect in the short (i.e., acute), and long-term (i.e., chronic)?
2. How will the physiological changes influence performance in the short (i.e., acute), and long-term (i.e., chronic)?
3. What parameters would you specify to achieve these benefits, and why?

Answer 1

PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES

1) SHORT-TERM: Athlete's oxyhemoglobin will fall rapidly.

Also, tachycardia is expected at such high altitudes to compensate the low oxygen levels in blood.

Tachypnea is caused.

Bleeding from nose and ears may occur in rare cases.

2) LONG-TERM: Due to a regular training schedule, in the long run, athlete will have a greater amount of RBCs and hemoglobin in his blood. This may cause a rise in the hematocrit(PCV) of the athlete.

EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE

The immediate or short-term effect on the athlete's performance will be detoriorative. Athlete will experience uneasiness and the endurance is bound to fall.

But, in the long run, as the body adapts to the environmental changes of high altitude and low oxygen, athlete's performance will slowly and gradually improve on a regular basis. The tachycardia and tachypnea will gradually subside and with the body's higher RBC concentration, oxyhemoglobin concentrations will also go up. Athlete will gradually start feeling less of discomfort in breathing and cycling at higher altitudes.

PARAMETERS

In order to monitor athlete's progress, I would suggest revording the following parameters:

1) Heart rate

2) Breathing rate

3) Oxyhemoglobin concentrations

4) Tidal volume and Vital capacity

5) Time taken to finish the daily training sessions (especially at higher altitude)

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