How much time do i need to acclimate before a race? I live at 1300ft and am going to do a few races at 6000ft
I was talking to someone and she told me that I should plan on getting to the race either two weeks early or the day before.
also, how much training at altitude is necessary to see improvement at a sea level race?
rory
Lots of articles might help you with this. Truth is this is a highly debated topic in endurance training. I’ve lived at altitude my entire life so I have no personal experience, but as many may tell you swimming up this high is “impossible” Anyways I hope the following reading material can help you.
http://running.competitor.com/2011/05/training/racing-at-high-altitude_28105
http://triathlon.competitor.com/2010/12/training/inside-triathlon-excerpt-a-foolproof-guide-to-altitude-training_18186
I’d try and go up the morning of the race if possible. If I couldn’t do that - then the nioght before would be my 2nd choice. There are many adaptions that occur at altitude that start immediately and take a few days to months… There is also a lot of individual variability. Most people say they feel their worst for the 1st 1-3 days.
Sea level races - controversial whether altitude training does much or anything…but I’d say you need to train for months at altitude to get any possible physiologic benefit. You can get psychological benefit by doing short camps…
Dave
I’ve often seen it stated that one should arrive just before or a week before, but never 2-6 days in advance. That said, I have yet to find a study that demonstrated this effect. If anything, this ‘anti-acclimation’ effect has been refuted by the few studies that have come out.
See http://www.sportsscientists.com/2010/06/altitude-arriving-and-adapting.html for an overview of the research to date.
That said, I know a lot of runners who swear that they feel horrible for days 3-5 when they first get to altitude. I have this odd feeling that they are impacted by the sudden change in diet, sleep, hydration etc more than the altitude itself. (So if anybody wants to put together a study to show if and maybe why, that would be great 
And out of curiosity, what races at 6000ft are you looking at? There are not that many in the world.
Not that I’m any kind of expert, but I know that when we hosted the US Pro Cycling Challenge here in Colorado this past summer, the riders were all here pretty early (weeks). Granted that’s not something that us commoners could afford to do, but if you can squeeze in a few trainings at altitude before your event, it would likely be prudent. We notice that visitors tend to do better on trips into the mountains after they’ve been at 5000 ft for a few days (Denver/Boulder/Csprings/Ft Collins). Hope this helps.
Most folks will say that spending 3 weeks at altitude is better than 2 which is better than 1. So in the case of the cycling challenge, it was no surprise that all of the teams were here weeks in advance.
The one thing that always comes up in these threads are the folks who say that one should never arrive 3-5 days before because performance goes down. While it is supported by anecdotal evidence, the studies do not appear to back it up. The studies where they try and account for the variables seem to indicate that there is a progressive improvement such that 4 is better than 3 is better than 2 is better than 1, not the bathtub style of response curve where 2 is worse than 1.
On the flip side, this is one area where I disagree with Matt Carpenter. He notes a swelling that starts after about 48 hours and goes away after 4-5 days or so. He may have an abnormal reaction, or it may just be that he is hypersensitive to these sorts of things. Physiologically he is off the charts, so anything is possible with him. On the flip side, even my hands were swollen after spending 7 hours at 13,000ft as the aid station lead for the pikes peak marathon this year, and I’m a local who spent a good bit of time above 12,000ft to prep for the Ascent this year.
But I can tell you that after spending 20 years at 6000ft, with the lowest race ever being in boulder, going for a run while I was in Austin this past week felt like cheating. I rarely get to run in an oxygen rich environment and was shocked at just how much of a difference it made.
So many contradictions within your post…guessing some of that should have been pink or worded more precisely…
Haha I guess 6000 is a little on the high side. A couple Xterras, maybe the June Lake tri, and the Boulder 70.3.
As to the swimming at altitude, I posted one of my best times swimming the 1000 meter swim at Xterra Snow Valley which they claim is at 7400 or something. Who knows, it was my first swim that high up so maybe it will be different next time.
Also thanks for the articles.
We ran San Gorgonio in the San Bernardino Mtns recently - parking lot at 6500 to summit 11500. It was crazy how thick the air felt when we were on our way back down and that was only 6 hours, I can only imagine what years would be like!
Where were the contradictions? I’d be happy to try and clarify my opinions…none of it should be in pink though I’m sure I could have worded it better…
Dave
There are going to be some individual variations to altitude racing and training, but i think generally the guy that said 2 days is better than one, 3 better than 2, and on and on, has hit it pretty good. I think that a lot of problems folks have in the early days is that they train too hard, drink too little, and do not get good sleep. You have to remember that everything you do is harder than you think, and recovery is stretched out beyond normal routines. I have done a ton of altitude training and racing, even living there for years on end, and time there is your friend .
And swimming is the hardest thing to do, even acclimated for years on end. You may get used to the feeling, but you never get to go near your potential speed at sea level. Cycling and running you can come close, and at times do some really fast times. Remember in cycling that air resistance is a big factor, and at altitude you have less of it. Many records are set around that 6k ft. you are talking about, but you will never see any long distance swim records set. In fact there is a table of handicaps that come in the swimming hand book to adjust your times at different altitudes. And to the dude that says he swims fast because of some xterra swim, guess what, it was short. If you want to compare any swim times anywhere, then you have to do them in the pool. OW times have no bearing to real pool times. 1k swims at altitude are always fast, especially when they are 850meters…(-;
“I’d try and go up the morning of the race if possible. If I couldn’t do that - then the nioght before would be my 2nd choice.”
contradicts:
“There are many adaptions that occur at altitude that start immediately and take a few days to months…”
and
Most people say they feel their worst for the 1st 1-3 days.
That is, if people feel their worst for 1-3 days, and there are adaptations that take days, why go up within that time frame? *Are you saying that by going up so close to the race start you don’t get those sensations until during/after the race? I guess that would make sense…
At first I read this:
“I’d say you need to train for months at altitude to get any possible physiologic benefit.”
and thought it contradicted this:
You can get psychological benefit by doing short camps…
(but then I realized that you used physiological vs. psychological. Lots of the same letters, so I just read it as the same word, but the distinction is clear now. That said, I’m still curious about your initial statement. I’ve never been to altitude before, except in an airplane, so I’m not really sure how everything works out physiologically. I’m curious if my take (marked by *) on what you originally wrote was correct…
We enjoyed a big advantage when UBC came in for dual meets our pool was at 4000’ and theirs was like 50’
.
Agreeing with others: when I lived and raced in Boulder for 5 weeks this summer it was the swim that was the hardest to adjust to. Mostly because the reduced oxygen meant that I had to adjust my stroke to a 2-stroke breathing pattern, rather than the 3-stroke rhythm that I was accustomed to at sea-level. The first few laps in the pool I felt like I was hopeless. Biking was easy, running just took a little adjustment, though there was an overall loss of speed.
There are clear adaptions that take place at altitude - some like dumping bicarb in your urine so you can hyperventilate more takes a few days…the increase in hemoglobin takes months to years…and the increase in 2,3-DPG also takes days I think.
Altitude comes with hypoxia which can affect some…bad sleep is common at altitude…drier air may contribute to dehydration…acute mountain sickness with decreased energy/nausea/vomiting/headache can occur also…
Most people I see state that they feel the worst 1st night and/or the 2nd day at altitude…and many people feel quite good for the 1st part of the first day…hence my recommendation to come up the morning of the race. Some people feel bad for 2-3 days then improve. Some people feel bad the whole time. Most people though feel o.k. for the 1st 6-12 hours. I think the sleep factor alone is worth sleeping low. Many people report poor sleep at altitude for weeks or even forever.
Just because there are clear physiologic adaptions that occur at altitude doesn’t mean that these adaptions help racing at sea level which was one of the OPs questions - and the negatives of altitude may outweigh the adaptions in the short or long term.
Morning of vs. night before vs. 2-3 days…Morning of the race is my 1st clear choice. The more days before you head up - the more potential days of poor sleep/poor recovery - plus poor training as you adjust. I know most people won’t train too hard the 1-3 days before races but you want the training that you do to feel good just before race time. Very few have the luxury to go up 1-2 weeks ahead of time but I’d vote against this for most due to poor training and possible poor sleep.
I do think that if you sleep well at altitude - AND - you will only train easy and can accept that your training will be off then every day from 3 on generally gets better and better…like Monty said…so you could make an argument to go up anywhere from 3 -14+ days before the race, too (if you do well at altitude).
Is that clear as mud now?
Planes are usually pressurized to about 5000 feet. I live at 8000 :).
Dave
(Off-topic) We are taught that commercial planes are pressurized to 8000 feet. Which is fairly significant if you imagine the people with health problems (especially heart and lung) getting on a plane. I have had a LOT of very sick patients from DIA
On-topic. I would think the earlier the better to get up before the race. I would say for me running is the worst, then swimming, and I don’t notice altitude on the bike. No idea why…
Jodi
From what I’ve read - it varies by plane. I thought 5000-7000 was most common on commercial flights…what is DIA?
Dave
Denver International Airport. Not only it at altitude, but also a main airport for emergency landings on trans continental flights. Don’t take grandpa with COPD on an airplane without his oxygen.
Jodi
Ah, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for taking the time to write all that out. What is your take on altitude tents for someone like me who trains, sleeps, and races low against guys who train and sleep high?
Ah, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for taking the time to write all that out. What is your take on altitude tents for someone like me who trains, sleeps, and races low against guys who train and sleep high?
or the mask systems that people use for 90 mins 3x per week for high altitude exposure, on the bike and/or on the couch?
.