Altitude training
Yesterday the Tour de France stage finished in Alpe D'Huez which is at 1850m, having crossed over 2 mountain passes - the Col du Telegraph (1566m) and the Col du Galibier (2556m).
The previous day had seen the riders cross the Col Agnel (2744m) and the Col D'Izoard(2360m) and finish on the Col du Galiber (2360m).
As someone who suffers from altitude sickness I'm always amazed at the feats these endurance athletes demonstrate. I knew that many athletes trained at altitude in order to adapt the body to the lack of oxygen- it increases the red blood cells and hemoglobin. Apparently Tenerife is a popular training venue for cyclists during the winter months as it has several continuous 2300m ascents and cyclists such as Lance Armstrong, Marco Pantini and Miguel Indurain have all trained there in the past.
And it's not just cyclists who train at altitude - this summer the Hamburg football team have been training on a special football pitch up at 3250m at the side of the Hintertux ski area in the Ziller valley in Austria. It remains to be seen if it will help, but they'll certainly be getting some great views whilst they're training!
The highest football pitch in Europe.
http://www.skiinfo.co.uk/news/football-at-3250m-by-hintertux-summerski-104-en-170846.jhtml
Altitude training was posted on 23 July 2011 by Katie Waddington.
