My experience is that 1 week does nothing good at all. Most data suggests you need ~5 weeks. Otherwise just get there right before. Altitude affects people pretty differently though. I've seen people totally swap in amount of talent when they hit 6k feet.

---

---

Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

no gains for ~5 weeks... wow.

so i guess i'm going up and getting away from the rat race. maybe stress reduction will still be a benefit!

I just come up the day before, or morning of, and have not had an issue. But others I know have. So as posted, everyone is different.

.

---

Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

As previously stated, altitude affects people in different ways. My experience (living at 150' and racing above 5000') has been show up the morning of the race or a week before for the best results. Arriving the night before has not worked out at all for me. In any case, hydration is very important.

---

Dean Wilson
http://www.anaerobiczone.com
Bicycle Protection Indoors & Out

Day 1-2 are usually OK
Day 3-7 are usually sucky as your body starts to adapt (different for everyone).

You are best off getting there as late as possible and having the vacation afterwards. Regardless, proper pacing (knock off ~5%) and you'll be fine.

---

Rodney
TrainingPeaks | Altra Running | RAD Roller
http://www.goinglong.ca

when i went up for a training weekend two weeks ago, i once again experienced a strange thing. i *struggled* to get my heart rate over 160 (LT of 167). in fact, once i hit 150, it was like running through molasses. i felt like i couldn't run any faster, and yet i couldn't get my heart rate up either. earlier in the summer visiting the parents in WY, same thing, so i know it wasn't an anomaly.

not sure why i react that way, but for me it was like my LT was just chopped down 7 beats or so.

for better or worse, going up monday for those 6 nights. i'm thinking of trying to get some hikes up high (maybe take a chair lift up at one of the resorts?) to goose the elevation effect.

If I were you I'd arrive last minute, check my bike in and then drive back down to low elevation to sleep. Arriving a week early is the absolute WORST time you could arrive. 5 weeks or 1 day.

And even for the 1 day, if a place like Tahoe, you reallly need to drive back down to lower elevation if your presence is not absolutely required up at LT.

---

Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

I'm sure everyone is different but the just 1 day idea didn't work for me. To try it since I will not be going up a week or more before IMLT, I went up for the lake tahoe tri last month to see how the altitude would affect me and I went up just 18 hours before from sea level. Had the biggest headache the whole time I was up there and like you, felt like I was just going through molasses. I think your week idea is your best bet at this point.

Edit: There is a gondola near Harrahs and Henrys casino on the south side of the lake (border of nevada and california) where I saw a gondola which seemed like in service.

If you've had a rough time in training weekends, I like your Monday plan vs the "morning of" plan that works for a lot of people.

I've done training weeks in Tahoe before and have noticed that day 1 and 2 I have pretty poor workouts and by days 3-4-5 I feel closer to normal. I struggle the most in the first couple days in the swim, but also the run. Least on the bike. If I were you, I would get in the lake for a swim every day starting Monday...start short and easy, focus on breathing. You might feel horrible the first couple days, but it should improve.

Good luck!

That sucks.

For me, after about 5 days I feel fine and get pretty close to normal performance after about 2 weeks. This would be at 8-10k feet.

I live a mile from the ocean.

Everyone is different. I've been bacpacking with a girl that developed acute altitude sickness after 8 days above 10k feet. Suddenly she was in bad shape. I carried her down to about 8k and she was able walk from there to the car. Didn't feel better until we drove down below 5k.

---

Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Agree that it's individual, but I also think there is some value to practicing (not training) at altitude so your body knows what to expect. If you haven't been training at altitude, you may want to ride Brockway to see how your body responds. Swim in the lake a few times, etc.

This may not lead to physiological adaptations, but I think the value in knowing how an effort feels vs sea level offers HUGE benefits for race day execution.

I'm going to be in the no-man's land too arriving Wednesday. But I haven't ridden Brockway since May and I want to know how a certain effort feels and swim in the lake a few times. It will also be more relaxing for me hanging out in Tahoe for a few days vs work and real life leading up to the race.

*I'm only doing the 1/2

---

/kj

http://kjmcawesome.tumblr.com/

Day before or day of is best. Watts lower by 8%

Good point. Forgot it was a bike race.

---

/kj

http://kjmcawesome.tumblr.com/

When I moved from around 1000' to 7000' I felt great at first because I moved from hot and humid to cool and try. It reduced me to tears about 5 days later. I would go the night before.

Was part of an altitude study in 2009 and had big issues doing anything for days but the results of the study showed a % of the population experienced less degradation of performace than others. Some gene varient, but all participants did have performace drop. I just know mine is much worse than others.

---

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Founder: BestBikeSplit
Amazonian

Seems kind of weird to me that people's responses vary so much. I can see how nutrition or seat height or bike brand can be subjective but performance at altitude and time to acclimate should be pretty clearly nailed down.

Unless it really does vary so much from individual to individual.

Response to altitude is indeed all over the place.

I did IMLT and saw first hand how different responses can be.

Even though it can take weeks for true physical changes and acclimatization, it only takes a couple of days to realize what the impacts are. For many folks, the impact of altitude will be felt most in the swim. When I did my first two practice swims, it wasn't pretty. I tested how hard I could swim by sprinting. The test didn't last long, however, by Day 3, swimming was not problem. Cycling was never a problem for me. By the time I got to the run that day, oxygen was not my limiting factor.

So even though the theory says arrive over a week early, or as late as possible, for most folks I talked with, even a few days made a positive difference.

YMMV.

---

Jed

"If you want to ride by the Force, you had better make sure that you are a real Jedi." - FastYellow (6/13/2011)

I must be one of the lucky ones. I feel like ass the first day up usually but successively better each day after. Day 5-7 I'm hitting "normal" numbers up to 7-8k ft

---

Me: https://carnivoreendurance.blogspot.com/...ever-comes-next.html

Latest: Colorectal Cancer is in the News Again. Don't Blame Red Meat
https://carnivoreendurance.blogspot.com/...news-again-dont.html

I am an IMLT alum as well. I went out a week ahead. I can't comment on scientific power output. What I learned is that if I eased into my aerobic pace I was fine. If I started too fast I quickly went into Oxygen debt. It was as simple as that.

The study was more of an all out effort followed by a 4 mile tough mountain run up mount baldy in Breckenridge. So did a 2 mile run at roughly sea level then headed up a couoke days later and repeated the 2 mile test at altitude. The next day did the 4 miler (endurance effort).

Most people had a 1:30 to 3 min drop in the 2 mile time. But as a percentage mine was aweful 10:05 to 12:30.) For the test. Got altitude aickness that night and had to walk half the mountain run going out way too fast. Others where doing pretty well by the time we did the mountain run or at least not sick. All this was done at a bit higher alt though at 11 or so I think. Good news with the lower air density you can dial power back and still go faster than at lower alt ... on the other hand there is still the run

---

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Founder: BestBikeSplit
Amazonian

It varies a lot, for a lot of different reasons. My advice, head up when you plan to and don't think about the elevation. You can't do anything about it now, and if you don't know how you respond, you can't make an educated decision about what to do. You'll be better off if you are comfortable with the course and your prep, no sense thinking about something outside your control.

Spent years living in the mountains with many ski camps above 9k ft. Some of the athletes couldn't sleep well, hr was high, mood was low, etc. Others went up and it was all normal. Response to the training at altitude is also varied. Some don't have good blood values or nutrient levels (iron). Others just don't seem to respond. We had one athlete that would see blood values change dramatically within a day. Made doping tests challenging to manage.

Last year I went up Thursday morning. This year I'm heading up Friday morning. I felt fine. For Donner 70.3 (pretty much same elevation) earlier this summer I headed up the day before and slept in my car so aside from sleep deprivation and the heat during the run, the race went alright. Good luck. It'll be fun.

Going to (meaningful) higher elevation is adding in a new training stimulus. Not the thing you want to do just prior to the competition. Or put it this way, if you suddenly up your training time by 20% (just some significant number I made up), you're likely to be more fatigued for 1-2 weeks, but acclimated to it after 5-6 weeks.

I'd generally suggest if one can't spend 5-6 weeks at a significantly different climate, they're better off getting there about 48 hours beforehand.

But...you have to accept the event conditions. Luckily IM pace is lower intensity. Start the swim gradually and you might not see much of a difference in perceived effort.