Heat & altitude

Heat acclimation and hypoxic training, with realistic timelines.

Four documents, each carrying a practical protocol: the mechanisms and applications of human heat acclimation, consensus recommendations for training and competing in the heat, a meta-analysis of sea-level performance after altitude adaptation, and work on combining hypoxic methods to peak.

What makes this section useful is that it is specific about time. Heat acclimation follows a known course over roughly one to two weeks and decays when you stop, and the altitude meta-analysis is measured about how much sea-level benefit to actually expect. Leo uses it when your race conditions differ from your training conditions, which is more often than runners plan for. If your goal race is hot and your build is not, that is a gap in the preparation, and it is one of the few that can be closed cheaply in the final fortnight.

Papers in this domain

6 peer-reviewed references. Titles link to the publisher via DOI.

  1. Influence of Exercise Heat Acclimation Protocol Characteristics on Adaptation Kinetics: A Quantitative Review With Bayesian Meta-Regressions

    McDonald P. et al. · 2025 · DOI 10.1002/cph4.70017

  2. Effects of Precooling on Endurance Exercise Performance in the Heat: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

    Yu L et al. · 2024 · DOI 10.3390/nu16234217

  3. Adaptations and Mechanisms of Human Heat Acclimation: Applications for Competitive Athletes and Sports

    Periard, Racinais, Sawka · 2015 · DOI 10.1111/sms.12408

  4. Consensus Recommendations on Training and Competing in the Heat

    Racinais et al. · 2015 · DOI 10.1136/bjsports-2015-094915

  5. Combining Hypoxic Methods for Peak Performance

    Millet, Roels, Schmitt, Woorons, Richalet · 2010 · DOI 10.2165/11317920-000000000-00000

  6. Sea-Level Exercise Performance Following Adaptation to Hypoxia: A Meta-Analysis

    Bonetti, Hopkins · 2009 · DOI 10.2165/00007256-200939020-00002

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