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The Strength Running Podcast

186. The Physiology of Altitude: What Training at 10,000 Feet Does to Your Body

The Strength Running Podcast

Jason Fitzgerald

Fitness, Sports, Running, Health & Fitness

4.71.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2021

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, we're talking to Jonathan Levitt who took his high altitude training seriously. Not only is he paying attention to how he performs at 9,600 feet, he's also using blood tests to track important biomarkers that indicate how his body adapts.

Jonathan is a sub-3 marathoner, sales manager for InsideTracker (code strengthrunning saves you 20% on any test), and host of the For The Long Run podcast.

Jonathan shares not only anecdotal stories of how his body is responding, be he also has the data to back it up. He is lucky enough to have a team of experts helping him figure out how to adjust to altitude.

In our conversation, Jonathan and I talk about:

  • Adjusting workouts when first moving to higher altitude
  • Increasing fitness with decreasing intensity
  • Biomarker changes after 2 months
  • Importance of fundamentals like sleep and nutrition

Links & Resources from the Show:

Thank you Elemental Labs!

A big thanks to Elemental Labs for their support of this episode! They make electrolyte drinks for athletes and low-carb folks with no sugar, artificial ingredients, or colors.

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Elemental Labs' products have some of the highest sodium concentrations that you can find. Anybody who runs a lot knows that sodium, as well as other electrolytes like magnesium and potassium, are essential to our performance and how we feel throughout the day.

The citrus flavor has quickly become my favorite and I'm drinking one a day now to help me get enough fluids in our dry Colorado air. It's tasty and delicious and I find that I'm not peeing every 45 minutes throughout the day, which might be an indication I wasn't eating enough sodium.

There's now mounting evidence that higher sodium intake levels are not unhealthy – and athletes need substantially more than your typical sedentary person. Of course, ask your doctor if you're worried. But for those athletes running outside in the heat, an electrolyte replacement makes a lot of sense.

So check out Elemental Labs to try their sample pack for free and get your hydration optimized for the upcoming spring season.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Ready, set, go!

0:04.9

This is episode 186 with sub-three marathon or Jonathan Levin about his training at nearly

0:10.5

10,000 feet altitude and what that did to his physiology.

0:23.9

Welcome to the Strength Running Podcast.

0:26.0

I'm your host, coach Jason Fitzgerald, and the episode you're about to listen to is

0:30.0

a fascinating conversation about the effects of living and training at high altitude.

0:35.2

Jonathan Levin is the sales manager for Inside Tracker and a competitive runner.

0:40.0

He moved to Breckenridge, Colorado, altitude 9,600 feet for nearly two months, taking blood

0:46.7

tests before he went and very recently.

0:49.7

You're going to hear about his training, how he felt, the changes in red blood cell

0:54.3

accounts, testosterone, and more, plus how he felt after a few strong drinks.

0:59.8

But before we start, I want to make sure we all have our bib number pinned on correctly.

1:04.2

On this show, you can expect conversations between me and the thought leaders in the

1:08.3

running industry, coaches, performance psychologists, elite athletes, registered dietitians, authors,

1:14.9

and physical therapists.

1:16.6

Our goal is to give you the knowledge, the mindsets, and tools to elevate your running performances.

1:23.5

Because when you better understand the process of improvement, when you recognize knowledge

1:27.9

as a competitive advantage, you'll be a wiser and more productive athlete.

1:32.6

By the way, if you haven't yet, go to YouTube and join our community there.

1:37.0

The Strength Running YouTube channel has more than 42,000 subscribers and hundreds of

1:41.7

videos on weightlifting for runners, injury prevention, how to run with better form and

1:47.3

a lot more.

...

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