Monitoring of total body water to examine the progress of acclimatization of runners at varying altitudes

Abstract

The purpose of our pilot study was to find out if total body water (TBW) changes could objectively modify the course of adaptation during training for elite runners at different altitudes. The aim of this pilot study is to summarize the indication of the progress of acclimatization at high altitudes (1000–2700 meters above sea level) during alpine conditioning. In three training camps at various altitudes the TBW of elite runners (F = 3, M = 1; n = 4; age 23 } 0.9) was monitored, in order to check the progress of acclimatization. We used BIA measurement methods (Bodystat 1500) at different high altitude running camps at the Czech Republic, Morocco and Ethiopia. Changes in TBW were used to check the progress of acclimatization. We discovered that the retention peaks of TBW corresponded with critical days (p ≤ 0.04; Cohen’s d). The highest measured increases of TBW at an altitude of 1000 m were for runner 1, 1.7 litres and for runner 2, 2.1 litres with retention peaks for both occurring on the 5th day. At an altitude of 1770 m runner 1 reached an increase of TBW of 6.3 litres, with a retention peak on the 11th day, and runner 3 had an increase of 5.1 litres with a peak on the 8th day. In the acclimatization phase we found two critical periods, from the 4th–6th day, and after the 10th–12th day. For runner 4 in altitude 2700m who completed the camp at a higher altitude, the situation is more complicated because there were fluctuations of the content of TBW in the range of 1.25 litres, with the highest depression on the 5th and then again an unsettled rise and reaching a maximum on the 12th, when she nearly returned to the initial value. Detected retention peaks reflected different levels of altitude (5th–12th days).We can conclude that the measuring of changes in TBW during camps at higher altitudes may be one of the biomarkers during acclimatization to altitude.

Keywords

• acclimatization
• high altitude
• total body water (TBW)
• bioelectrical impedance (BIA)
• retention peak
• elite runners