Challenging the Efficacy of Altitude Training in Elite Athletes

The spotlight falls on the most influential sports science research ever published. A recent paper produced a list of the 100 most influential sports science papers of the last 100 years. Gareth and Ross choose a handful of them, discussing what they found, what their authors didn't know at the time (and got wrong), and what it means today. We discover that the arc of sports science knowledge runs through all these studies, connecting people from AV Hill to Noakes, and themes including oxygen debt, lactate, altitude, pacing strategies, fatigue, and even the 2-hour marathon !

Show notes

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• Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The paper that inspired the episode, a collection of 100 influential sports science articles
• The AV Hill Paper on muscular exertion, oxygen and 'lactic acid'. The OG of sports science
• George Brooks proposes the Lactate Shuttle
• Noakes, St Clair Gibson and Lambert explain the concept of complex regulation. This is the summary and conclusion paper. The more detailed papers are:
• Why the "catastrophic model for fatigue" fails to explain real-world performance physiology
• Evidence for complex systems integration and regulation of muscle activity
• How fatigue and performance help control homeostasis during exercise
• de Koning and Foster explain how pacing is regulated during exercise, using the RPE and duration remaining
• Michael Joyner applies his physiological determinants of the marathon to the sub-2 hour question
• Lundby's review questioning the performance benefits of altitude training
• A more recent review on altitude training that covers how periodization, managing training, repeat visits and smarter nutrition may help create and increase the effect
• A more detailed paper on the role of nutrition when at altitude

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