training at altitude- y'alls thoughts?
1132
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1022 days
UFTriGator posted 19 weeks ago.
No. You need over a month at altitude to see results.
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-Matt
Not fast enough.
190
Member
345 days
chekmarks posted 19 weeks ago.
if you can pull that off at elevation you should be pretty confident that you can push hard at sea level and be fine. not too many 2,000 feet hills in nashville i bet! i spent the summer in steamboat springs and am now in bloomington indiana. the hills here seem tiny even though i know they tough. perception is more important than reality (IMHO).
209
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616 days
krazyfranco posted 19 weeks ago.
No. You definitely need to be at altitude longer, 4 weeks is the number I see a lot. And even then, most if not all of the physical benefits are lost after 2-3 weeks at sea level.
205
Member
1229 days
ht001 posted 19 weeks ago.
Agreed on the"no" consensus. I live in Denver and Breckenridge and train in both places. Even when I race at sea level I'm not convinced that I have much, if any, physical advantage. Although this last March I felt amazingly good racing a HIM in Galveston, TX which may have been related to the altitude running all winter. But really, I just have yet to be convinced on the whole altitude thing, but that could just be me being skeptical.
One thing I think is true is that after high altitude efforts your body has a lot of red blood cell repair to be doing. (at least according to Mike Carter (a well respected cycling coach).
That takes some recovery time and maybe it is that recovery time that the altitude advantage comes in. Maybe. I really don't know what I'm talking about except for what I hear from others.
Good on ya for climbing Vail Pass coming from the flat land! Didn't you love that section when you first get on the rec path and it just seems to get steeper. Awesome!
So last week I was in Avon/ Beaver Creek, CO (elevation 7400) from Thursday til Tuesday. I did the following workouts:
3 runs, all at 7400 feet: 4, 7, 8, mi on Thurs, Sat, Mon, respectively
1 bike at 6500ish feet of 20ish miles on Friday
1 bike of 30 miles starting at Vail (8200ft?) up to top of vail pass (10,500ish) (main part of climb is from mile 5 to 15, approx 2000ft of elevation gain)
Spent one night camping above 10K feet
My question to yall is this: I live in Nashville, TN, most of training and racing is done here between 750ft and 1500 ft (max) of elevation. Was the 5.5 days I spent out there enough to make a material difference in training physically? I.E.: raised red blood cell counts to transport oxygen; enough oxygen depletion to raise any sort of threshold (LT or AT) or VO2 max?
Looking for any feedback from anyon who has had any experience with his-- just curious.
Thanks!