Hey Silly Sally:
Effective and proper training can increase blood volume for sure. Training at higher altitudes also increases this effect (which is what many athletes will do). It's excellent for performance as higher plasma volume and hemoglobin content gives the blood a higher O2 carrying capacity while simultaneaously increasing the stroke volume and cardiac output of the heart. Summary: your heart pumps blood to the working tissues quicker and that blood will bring more O2 to the tissues and wash out the CO2 quicker as well.
It is all dependant on each person's individual physiological composition, so not all people respond the same or can achieve the same results. Which is why not all cyclists will do La Tour De France and not all runners clock sub 4 minute miles. It's part of the genetic potential and advantage some people just have. It is also dependant on the adaptation of other systems, so it's a tricky subject. It's also the reason so many athletes will try to use some form of blood doping.
An off topic but interesting fact is the horse's physiological response to exercise (mainly when it comes to the sport of racing). They hold a splenic reserve of red blood cells (which contain hemoglobin our O2 carrying friend), and there is both the psychological excitment and physical drive which causes the spleen to contract and increase packed cell volume by 20-30% during intense exercise. Unfortunately, there are as many people in the horse world that don't know the basics of conditioning and will use EPOs/blood dopers on horses; with this splenic reserve released the blood actually becomes too viscous and drags performance down. Now strength training for horses is a whole other topic lol....
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