Living The High Life By Danny Mackey

December 3, 2008

Living The High Life
by Danny Mackey M.S.

Altitude tents have a personal interest to me. One major reason is because last year, I decide to be a subject with an ongoing study AND help my own running. So I started using an altitude tent. The problems began right after I bombed in the trials (unrelated to the tent) and began having sleep issues relating to disappointment from the race, then to make matters worse I bumped up the tent to 12,000 feet. Combine sleeping 2 hours a night, full-time job, and 12,000 feet air while I’m supposed to be resting…you have the beginnings of receipt for disaster. Long story short; I was in and out of the doctors most of the spring and I could barely run times I ran in high school. By March my red blood cell count had dropped 11% (scary bad), hematocrit was in the 30’s, my thyroid levels were low and my cortisol levels were sky high. What I used to increase my performance had the opposite effect. I began looking more into these tents and found that there is not much actually known research wise.

So why don’t we talk about them…altitude tents; are they beneficial?

Why do athletes use, or want to use altitude tents?

Considering the differences in performance outcomes are minimal, any gain in fitness (non-cheating of course, though that is an important controversial discussion, in my opinion, relating to tents) should be considered. As evident in the 2000 Olympic Men’s 10,000 meter final won in 27:18.20, second was 27:18.29, third was 27:19.75, among the three finishers 0.04% separated the 3 athletes. Pretty close huh? That is one big reason; as runners we live in a world of milliseconds. Using that same Olympic race as an example………all those fast guys live and train at altitude. These results help to illustrate why most contemporary endurance athletes feel compelled to incorporate a “form” of altitude training. Although the efficacy of altitude training (or hypoxic training, hypoxia literally means deficiency of oxygen in the body) relative to sea-level performance remains controversial from a research perspective, athletes continue to use it in preparation for elite level competition.

Living and training at altitude can also be skewed to benefit the performance state of an athlete. There are two different kinds of way to live and train: live high-train high or live high-train low. In my situation, as most athletes using an altitude tent are attempting to simulate the live high-train low environment. Evidence, both anecdotal and scientific, show that the benefit of training low is that athletes will not lose race specific fitness and turnover. Another way to look at it is; high altitude or hypoxic living/sleeping will increase red blood cell volume and sea-level training can maintain sea-level training intensity and oxygen flux. We get the benefits of both worlds! Sweet! Or is that the case? Looking at my personal circumstance may argue otherwise…

One notable difference between altitude/hypoxic tents and natural altitude is the tents are normobaric. Whether you are in Oregon or on the top of Mount Everest the air is 20.9% oxygen and 79.0% nitrogen, the only difference is the atmospheric pressure it much lower on Mount Everest (~about 1/3 of what is at sea level). As altitude increases, the air becomes thinner, the density of air decreases, and the pressure of the air decreases as well. As the air becomes less dense, the air contains less gases per unit of volume, and therefore less oxygen. The tents could only mimic this by having thick steel walls able to handle a drop in pressure. It is weird enough to have a tent in your room, a steel chamber? So the next option is the use nitrogen dilution. What the generator will do is take the ambient air and turn it into 100% nitrogen air and pump it inside the tent. This can change the concentration inside the tent to approximately 15% oxygen and 85% nitrogen (this specific concentration is supposed to mimic about 7,000 feet altitude), the higher you want to go up, the less oxygen you want available. Stemming from this rational arise other questions in protocol of using these tents. First, what is the optimal altitude at which to live. Second, how many days are required at altitude. Third, how many hours per day required? Questions, questions, questions. In the essence of saving your time, I will just bring about these questions for now and not discuss them….

Do these things work?

Well that is the million dollar question. Thus far research regarding several the methods of live high-train low is either limited or equivocal, particularly regarding the optimal live high-train low (hypoxic dose, like sleeping in a tent) method. Living in a stimulated altitude of above 10,000 feet may have an impact on ability of the body to produce a normal immune response, BUT this effect may not have physiological significant consequences. So something might happen, that may be an increase in red blood cell concentration, something adverse (like increase of stress hormones), or nothing we can notice. In due time, research will bring us more and more evidence to help us make the correct decision. The best science can show us is that there is a considerable individual variation in the physiological responses of athletes and that the differentiation between responders and nonresponders is probably based in part on genetic predisposition. In other words, did I just blindly roll the dice when I last September?

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#29	Anonymous Coward December 12, 2008 at 10:00am altitude tents are the crazies!! reply
#28	Ryan From Flotrack December 7, 2008 at 6:48am and they also go to mexico reply
#27	Dave Mosier December 7, 2008 at 3:55am Ya, she trains in Colo Spring reply
#26	Sal W. Delle Palme December 5, 2008 at 6:32pm Does anyone know if Shalane Flanagan used any form of altitude training this year? reply
#25	RunDMC December 5, 2008 at 2:13pm As you and others stated, the altitude chamber is not the same as living at altitude. I spend 4 months in Mammoth Lakes, CA this year (~8000ft). While I cannot fully attribute gains to altitude because I also trained harder, I did see a significant increase in my running performance. Altitude works. Altitude chambers probably work too, but most likely not as well because they work on a different scientific principle. The body will adapt slightly differently. Also, it is well known that you do not go climb a 12-14K peak without some level of intermediate acclimatization. Most people sleep poorly at altitude anyway. I can't tell if the study required you setting the tent to 12K, but this seems a bad choice if there were already other problems and intermediate steps were not made. Sleep is the most critical part of hard training. It can never be neglected for more than a few nights without detrimental effects. reply
#24	Ryan Hall December 5, 2008 at 8:33am oh yeah---listen to M83. They are kinda rad. reply
#23	Ryan Hall December 5, 2008 at 8:32am I think your propensity to dwell on the negative, try so hard and get wound up, your recent bout with pneumonia and selby-itis, ovetraining and the fact you bumped it up to 12,000ft was the nail in the coffin. when your body is not able to rest and getting sick its telling you something. and lastly...the sexual tension built up by sleeping in an altitude tent cant be good. you have no game...throw in coaxing someone back to sleep in an incubator like ET and your getting nothing. reply
#22	C Clark December 5, 2008 at 1:38am A few simple facts remain regardless of the support people post on this board for other people’s success (specifically Rupp and Armstrong). Does anyone know of a site or research available that documents Rupp or anyone else’s routine with these tents? I heard something about lance documenting all his training for the next tour. Here we have an honest testimonial of a negative reaction. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so where are people documenting these methods of successful tent living? Of course I am a little biased in this situation. I happened to sleep in a tent at 10,000 feet for a couple years of my life. Unfortunately in regards to this article I was not training 100 miles a week, nor did I purchase an apparatus to pump chemicals in a tent. The fact is I ate, slept, and worked at 10k feet in a walmart tent for the enjoyment of it, not to higher or lower my blood cell count. I do know for a fact it takes your body more time to recover when living at high altitudes, and when you first start living at that elevation you feel drained. If you want to compare people’s success stories, an interesting case study may be a race that took place last summer very close to where I slept in my “Altitude Tent”. Since I can remember I have been an Armstrong fan. Not sure if Lance slept in an altitude tent this last summer or not, but I would put money on the fact that Dave Weins naturally lived at altitude in Gunnison last summer. If you have no idea what I am talking about google the Leadville 100 or Dave Weins. I am not trying to bash anyone here with these statements, if you are happy and successful sleeping in death valley in a tent full of Nitrogen, then good for you. I would however challenge anyone to prove me wrong that a false environment can be equal mentally, ethically, physically, and financially to the real thing. If anyone wants to take it seriously I will even buy you a walmart tent and point you to some free camping around Leadville next summer. reply
#21	Nick Osborne December 4, 2008 at 9:47pm hmm...well it seems to be working for Rupp.... reply
#20	Danny Mackey December 4, 2008 at 9:36pm Bobby (and Alec), The study did not require me to only get 2 hours of sleep. I was having some issues post trials and also stress from work. Then, the problems snowballed (look up Bobby Curtis on here as he had similar sleep issues) I was not dishonest to the researchers of the study as they knew exactly the situation (I was subject, not a researcher as to not bias the results). The study is ongoing and not completed yet. Not many people want to be a subject so the variable is not controlled for, I am sure they will though (good observation and thanks for bringing it up). You guys have similar perspective to what I felt...it was a combination of things (rest & tent), but considering I have to work full-time and train there is no way I would have 10-12 hours to sleep in a tent at night to get appropriate rest. Well, that is just my doctor's opinion. reply
#19	Bobby Kenney December 4, 2008 at 8:58pm Did the study require you to get only 2 hours of sleep a night? If not, isn't that dishonesty on your part for being a subject in a scientific study? I like how you mentioned that as a possible cause for your sickness following the altitude tent; if you assumed getting very little sleep would make you sick, why did you do it, especially when we, as athletes, depend to some degree on the results of studies like these to justify why we train the way we do? As a man of science you know that you should have controlled as many variables as possible in whatever the study was that you took part in- that's the only way experiments can be deemed reliable. reply
#18	Alec Villiva December 4, 2008 at 8:52pm I think the tent just had an incredibly negative effect on your becuase you were only getting two hours of sleep while stressed. not supplying yourself with enough oxygen while you're already keeping your body from being able to reenergize itself, it would make sense that you tanked out reply
#17	CJ Jessett December 4, 2008 at 5:30pm they also have a positive psychological effect, kind of like a placebo... reply
#16	Anonymous Coward December 4, 2008 at 3:51pm If you are going to post an article on an internet site, visited daily by thousands, try editing your work. Terrible, I would be embarrassed. reply
#15	Nick Dwyer December 4, 2008 at 2:00pm Your right a normobaric tent wouldn't have that effect. A normobaric tent works off of the simple principle of diffusion. Decrease the concentration of O2 in your lungs than that in your blood and the O2 in your blood is pulled to the area of lower concentration (lungs). This creates an O2 debt in your blood which triggers your body to create more red blood cells. I think you just had too many stresses on your body at the same time plus 12000 ft may be above what your body can handle. Everyone is different. Some people quickly develop Acute Mountain Sickness at just 3000ft whereas some won't develop it until an extended stay at 12000ft. reply
#14	Anonymous Coward December 4, 2008 at 1:05pm your basic model with CATS will run you 5,000-7,000. reply
#13	Tristan Willey December 4, 2008 at 12:43pm What is the cost of an Altitude Tent, and how available are they? Expense of running them? Do you need a technician, or are they easily set up and used privately? What I am curious about is how elite these are... is this something that any athlete around the country can use or do you need to have a large amount of funding behind you? What kind of advantage is this giving to large institutions over small ones? reply
#12	Danny Mackey December 4, 2008 at 12:27pm I like the comments! This is good, we can learn from each other. I should have pointed out that I lived at "real" altitude (5,000 feet) for 2 years and I started out in the tent at 8,000 for 4 weeks before bumping it up to 12,000. I ssee the point Anonymous brings up with his/her comment about elite athletes using the tents. They do have a team of doctors that monitor their blood profile so any negative "changes" the athlete experiences can be fixed, but that might border on the ethic/moral line (at least in my opinion). Thus far I'm not aware of any controlled longitudinal studies on these, so what I'm getting at is even though a lot of people use them and we know quit a bit, there is variance individually. For example, I had 2 specialists (these are doctors that coach and are also physiologists dealing with elite endurance athletes whom use tents) look at my scenerio and they could only guess what the problems were. The more I began researching them the more holes I discovered. David, This wasn't going to be a series but given the comments I might do another article. Nick, I like that point, but given the tent is normobaric decompression sickness probably wouldn't be the case. But, I might not read what you're getting at so explain more if I'm missing the point! reply
#11	Anonymous Coward December 4, 2008 at 12:18pm Altitude tents are very interesting. I had no idea how they worked and now I do. I imagine that most people that have/use altitude tents use them blindly assuming that they work wonders. reply
#10	Nick Dwyer December 4, 2008 at 11:51am You may have experienced Decompression Sickness. It's the opposite of what divers sometimes experience when they rise to quickly from a dive (the bends). Look up Henry's Law if your interested or check out this paper http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:twpwv727IeEJ:www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/designees_delegations/designee_types/ame/media/Section20II.1.520Altitude20Induced20Decompression20Sickness.doc+evolved+gas+decompression+sickness&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us&client=safari Pilots sometimes experience this sickness. Your body can become supersaturated if exposed to any gas for an extended amount of time. It's very similar to CO poisoning. I believe the tents are safe just as long as you slowly acclimate yourself to the altitude. 13000 feet is generally the ceiling for most humans but it can vary from person to person. reply
#9	Michael Machado December 4, 2008 at 11:31am http://www.higherpeak.com/ http://www.altitudetraining.com/ http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=BUY_PRODUCT_STANDARD&PRODUCT;.ID=3404&CATEGORY;.ID=448&MODE;=&TFC=TRUE&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Google+Base&utm_campaign=Datafeed http://www.hypoxico.com/?gclid=COjH6J6-p5cCFQMCagodL1ISJA reply
#8	Anonymous Coward December 4, 2008 at 11:26am Lance Armstrong, Galen Rupp, and several other professional or really good athletes use altitude tents. Doesnt someone like Lance Armstrong who gets some of the best treatment in the world from doctors and scientists know what he's doing? reply
#7	Michael Machado December 4, 2008 at 11:19am i didn't know that there was an 9k-12k range but that's nice to know. the highest i've trained at is at mammoth which i think is 10k. if there is a 9k to 12k range why not just sleep at 9k? reply
#6	Anonymous Coward December 4, 2008 at 11:10am Ive also heard the 9-12k range, but i have also heard from several sources that all of Salazar's athletes sleep at 13k... reply
#5	Anonymous Coward December 4, 2008 at 9:23am Its actually known that everyone has a certain altitude limit between 9,000 and 12,000 feet. Its different for everybody and the results of someone going over their limit are very similar to what you experienced. reply
#4	Pat Hitchins December 4, 2008 at 8:08am mack daddy, you are a mad scientist.... reply
#3	David Cohen December 4, 2008 at 7:42am Is this the first installment on this topic? I want answers! Haha. reply
#2	Karla Larson December 4, 2008 at 7:40am You may want to consider that 5000-8500 feet is thought to be ideal for altitude training/living. reply
#1	Anonymous Coward December 4, 2008 at 1:58am thanks for sharing this, i will be sure to pass this along to many people (runners mostly). reply