Effects of Acute Altitude, Speed and Surface on Biomechanical Loading in Distance Running

Altitude training camps are a popular measure to enhance endurance performance at sea level. This study elucidates the effects of acute altitude-induced hypoxia, running speed and surface on cadence, peak tibial acceleration (PTA), gait asymmetry and residual shock in distance running. Ten healthy, trained native lowlanders (6 males, 4 females; 28.2 ± 9.2 years; mean V˙O2,peak of 54.9 ± 5.9 mL min^-1 kg^-1) participated in this study. They ran 1500 m bouts of at 50, 1000 and 2300 m above mean sea level on paved roads and natural trails at three different speeds. Those speeds were chosen to represent the most common training zones and were defined as v1=90%⋅vVT1, v2=12vVT1+vVT2 and v3=100%⋅vVT2, with vVT1 and vVT2 denoting the speeds at the ventilatory thresholds 1 and 2. Based on the experimental results, cadence increased by +2.2 spm per +1 km h^-1 (p < 0.001) and fell by -1.1. spm per +1000 m of elevation (p < 0.001), whereas surface did not show any significant effect. Likewise, PTA was not affected by surface, but grew by 0.9 g per +1 km h^-1 (p < 0.001), and decreased by -0.6 g per +1000 m in elevation, with significant effects particularly at speeds beyond v_VT1 (p < 0.049). Absolute lateral asymmetry was not altered by elevation, surface or running speed. Mean shock attenuation increased with running speed by +2.5 percentage points per +1 km h^-1 (p < 0.001) but was independent of elevation and surface. In essence, running speed seems to be the predominant factor defining biomechanical loading, even under acute hypoxia and for varying surface conditions.