I’m racing IMLT next Sunday. Original plans were to leave tomorrow morning for a nice, extended stay at elevation prior. Life had other ideas about my plan
Now I’m trying to get up Monday eve - which will give me 6 nights up there.
Reading about acclimating, some state that a week is about the minimum you want - anything shorter and you should just show up the night before. Others say you start getting physiological benefit in 48 to 72 hours.
Anyone have thoughts or recommendations? I’m still going to go up Monday eve, but hoping I am not staying in the sub-optimal “no mans land” timeframe.
Also, it seems logical to try to find high places to hike. Is it better to go higher and shorter or stay lower and longer? Trying to figure out the light workouts I should do during the week leading up to the race.
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.
I’m racing IMLT next Sunday. Original plans were to leave tomorrow morning for a nice, extended stay at elevation prior. Life had other ideas about my plan
Now I’m trying to get up Monday eve - which will give me 6 nights up there.
Reading about acclimating, some state that a week is about the minimum you want - anything shorter and you should just show up the night before. Others say you start getting physiological benefit in 48 to 72 hours.
Anyone have thoughts or recommendations? I’m still going to go up Monday eve, but hoping I am not staying in the sub-optimal “no mans land” timeframe.
Also, it seems logical to try to find high places to hike. Is it better to go higher and shorter or stay lower and longer? Trying to figure out the light workouts I should do during the week leading up to the race.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
