hi everyone -
i’m wondering what peoples’ opinions are on the usefulness of iron supplements for altitude training. i’ll be running at ~2100m. i’ve spent lots of time at altitude in my life, and acclimatize well, and develop very high hemoglobin quickly. on this trip, though, i’ll be there long-term and training for performance.
i don’t have any underlying iron issues and eat red meat (though probably fewer leafy greens than i should). but possibly long-distance running at that elevation will be increasing my iron needs? the literature seems divided on this.
any thoughts?
-mike
Takes some time to increase iron stores (ferritin) which Hb is dependant upon. Take any iron (I use DEVA chelated 29mg) for a few months leading up. Every lil bottle got 100 caps: take one per day and you got yourself a good 3 month supply. One every third day if you only need it to keep stores high through training.
hi everyone -
i’m wondering what peoples’ opinions are on the usefulness of iron supplements for altitude training. i’ll be running at ~2100m. i’ve spent lots of time at altitude in my life, and acclimatize well, and develop very high hemoglobin quickly. on this trip, though, i’ll be there long-term and training for performance.
i don’t have any underlying iron issues and eat red meat (though probably fewer leafy greens than i should). but possibly long-distance running at that elevation will be increasing my iron needs? the literature seems divided on this.
any thoughts?
-mike
Scott Simmons has done a lot of interesting work on this, He is the old coach at Charlotte and Renato Canova’s liaison in the U.S……But IIRC he has retired and now owns a brew pub in Colorado Springs 
Basically his thoughts after reviewing the research was that (Natural) EPO production spikes in the first three days at altitude and then tapers in days 4-10.
He was cycling 3-4 days easy up with 5-10 intensity/volume or specific down…for three to four cycles. He had an interesting presentation where he talked for about an hour, but half of that was related to Iron testing and supplementation and needs, both ongoing and at altitude. (with short cycle training) You get benefits of altitude but don’t lose intensity and heat adaptation.
Basically he was talking a lot about female (and male) college runners, a lot of which have great talent but horrifying diet and lifestyle. He thought it was irresponsible for coaches (at least college running coaches) to not test their athletes for Iron. He also went higher dosage for altitude intervention.
Get tested by your PCP and discuss this with them. Lots of info for minimums that apply to athletes but not necessarily general population.
Maurice