Why did you choose to do altitude training?
I was looking to do something extra in my training regime to try and make the St Kents Senior A cycling team. My dad did altitude training when he was training for Ironman WA, he did his best ever time and recommended I give it a try.
What do you like about it?
It's an extra session I can get in, hard work but fun to do. I believe it helps my performance.
What method (passive or active) did you choose to use and why?
I use active altitude training to simulate race and training conditions.
How has it impacted your training, racing or health?
I feel I recover better after hard training sessions, I can do longer intervals, and I'm back in the A team at school. I'm asthmatic but after I'd completed my first round of sessions last year I found I didn't need to use my inhaler as often during training or racing.
Was there anything that surprised you that maybe you were not expecting to come from the sessions you did?
The speed of my improvement, within three or four sessions my training times had improved significantly.
-Simone Knightingale, Cyclist