How fit do you have to be before things like altitude/heat/breath training would make sense?

Training
1

Just saw a (likely sponsored) post on heat training with the core body temp sensor. I am definitely guilty of going into the minutiae of my training, while just sticking to a basic plan with consistency would likely still provide gains and have some self awareness of that. But beyond consistent structured training and then the addition of some resistance training at what point would these extra things like heat training, breath training or altitude training even begin to be worth the marginal gain?

2

The examples you’ve mentioned, they’d only make sense (to me) if the specific adaptation was needed for an A event. e.g. if you’ve got a hot race coming up, work on this in speciality, no extra sensors needed.

3

There is a recent Performance Process podcast about how heat training may actually be beneficial in general, rather than just for hot events, though I haven’t tried it.

I’d say if you are plateauing in your training or getting bored, it can’t hurt to try.

4

You will achieve adaptation to heat training or altitude training regardless of your fitness level. The question is whether the juice is worth the squeeze if you could have achieved the same performance increase with just another 10 (or however many) good workouts on your bike in the pain cave. That’s something you are better able to assess.

But @spinnnout makes a great point…if you’re going to race in the heat, might be a good idea to do some heat training. If you’re going to race at altitude, might be a good idea to do some sort of O2 deprivation.

5

I agree with what @Brennus said.

You will likely get the adaptations (increase in hemoglobin) regardless of your fitness level, but it is still a stress on the body, and whether or not those hours a week are better spent training without heat depends on several factors.

I think that there are likely few downsides to using your Z2 days for active heat training, and if you have the time/capabilities to incorporate passive heat training each week, it probably wouldn’t hurt.

You do need to be careful, though, and use HR to govern effort and ensure that you’re able to recover from and absorb all of the extra stress.

These adaptations are not heat-specific, though. While heat is what brings them on, higher hemoglobin levels are an advantage across all conditions. :drop_of_blood: