Abstract
To investigate the influence of exposure to low altitude on flat sea level running performance, we measured the changes of red cell indices in middle and- long distance student runners before and during a summer training camp at 1, 000m above sea level. 2, 3-diphosphoglycerate (2, 3-DPG) concentrations in blood increased significantly from 2.31±0.36 μmol/ml before, to 2.69±0.56 μmol/ml during the camp (P<0.05). Hematocrit (Hct) before the camp was 43.0±4.2%, and was significantly (P<0.01) decreased during the camp (40.2±3.7%). Hemoglobin (Hb) concentration was not changed before and during the camp. The present study demonstrated that a low altitude of 1, 000m was not sufficient to increase Hct or Hb, but did appear to increase 2, 3-DPG concentrations.
