Biochemical and functional modifications in biathlon athletes at medium altitude training

Objective: The aim of our research was to identify physiological and biochemical changes induced by training at medium altitude. Methods: Ten biathlon athletes underwent 28-day training camp at medium altitude in order to improve their aerobic effort, following the living high-base train high-interval train low (Hi-Hi-Lo) protocol. There were investigated three categories of functional and biochemical parameters, targeting the hematological changes (RBC, HCT, HGB), the oxidative (lipoperoxid, free malondialdehyde and total malondialdehyde) and antioxidative balance (the hydrogen donor capacity, ceruloplasmin and uric acid) and the capacity of effort (the maximum aerobic power, the cardiovascular economy in effort, the maximum O2 consumption). Results: All the biochemical and functional evaluated parameters showed significant increases between the pre-training testing and post-training testing (5.13 +/- 0.11 vs. 6.50 +/- 0.09, p < 0.0001 for RBC; 44.80 +/- 1.22 vs. 51.31 +/- 2.31, p < 0.0001 for HCT; 15.06 +/- 0.33 vs. 17.14 +/- 0.25, p < 0.0001 for HGB; 1.32 +/- 0.04 vs. 1.62 +/- 0.01, p < 0.0001 for LPx; 1.61 +/- 0.01 vs. 1.73 +/- 0.01, p < 0.0001 for free MDA; 2.98 +/- 0.08 vs. 3.37 +/- 0.03, p < 0.0001 for total MDA; 45.92 +/- 0.13 vs. 57.98 +/- 0.12, p < 0.0001 for HD; 25.95 +/- 0.13 vs. 31.04 +/- 0.06, p < 0.0001 for Crp; 3.47 +/- 0.03 vs. 7.69 +/- 0.02, p < 0.0001 for UA; 63.91 +/- 1.00 vs. 81.53 +/- 1.97, p < 0.0001 for MAP; 33.13 +/- 0.57 vs. 57.41 +/- 0.63, p < 0.0001 for CVEE; 4190 +/- 50.45 vs. 5945 +/- 46.48, p < 0.0001 for VO2max). Conclusions: Aerobic effort capacity of biathlon athletes has increased in the post-training period, using Hi-Hi-Lo protocol.