I think most of you have probably heard about Colorado Altitude Tent (CAT) high altitude training sleep tents (if not, they got an $8,000 one shown in the gear section of TriAthlete Mag). I think there are several companies that now make these tents. If you live at sea level (or close), train outside, and sleep in the altitude tent, you are supposed to get a "train low, sleep high" effect, or so the story goes. I understand that the tents only simulate high altitude by reducing the O2 content of the ambient air (as they are obviously not hypobaric chambers).
It has been a while since I took my physiology classes, so my question is this (especially for folks with University and Physiology Dept. access): have these goofy things ever been reliably studied? I.e., has any unbiased, peer-reviewed research been published which used a decent sample size and a control group with a placebo? My focus here is not on whether the tents simulate high altitude adequately (I would guess that they do), but whether such 'train low, sleep high' training with an altitude tent actually has ANY verifiable effect on race speed and performance?
If you know of any such studies, can you post a link or list the journal, date, researcher(s), etc.? Thanks!
Where would you want to swim ?
It has been a while since I took my physiology classes, so my question is this (especially for folks with University and Physiology Dept. access): have these goofy things ever been reliably studied? I.e., has any unbiased, peer-reviewed research been published which used a decent sample size and a control group with a placebo? My focus here is not on whether the tents simulate high altitude adequately (I would guess that they do), but whether such 'train low, sleep high' training with an altitude tent actually has ANY verifiable effect on race speed and performance?
If you know of any such studies, can you post a link or list the journal, date, researcher(s), etc.? Thanks!
Where would you want to swim ?