High altitude training in Bolivia

Bolivian and Mexican race walkers are bundling up to train in high altitudes ahead of August's Olympic Games in Beijing

Across the icy glaciers of Bolivia and the frigid waters of Lake Titicaca, Bolivian and Mexican race walkers are bundling up to train in high-altitudes ahead of August's Olympic Games in Beijing.

Here at Chacaltaya Glacier near the Bolivian capital of La Paz this Bolivian race walker, Geovana Irusta is training for her fourth olympics....at around 17,400 feet above sea level.

SOUNDBITE: Bolivian race walker, Geovana Irusta, saying (Spanish):

"So training at high altitude has given me a lot of satisfaction and that is why I trust training at altitude, it gives me more strength - mainly security - to face my competitions."

Experts say training at high altitude increases the number of red blood cells which in turn improves oxygen delivery to muscles.

Irusta is not alone. For at least 25 years, Mexican race walkers have also trained here.

The athletes have withstood low temperatures, rain and high altitudes, but training here has become a tradition.

The Mexican race walkers and the Bolivian Institute of High Altitude Biology carried out high altitude training investigations in 1978 and stemming from those results, they have put training methods into practice. They have also obtained results.

Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters