Altitude Trainers

Master

1651

Breckenridge, CO

Subject: RE: Altitude Trainers

I can't imagine why anyone would want to train at altitude. Not being able to breathe isn't much fun. IMO, there are huge advantages to living and training here at 9600' but hypoxia during the actual training isn't one of them.

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Cycling Guru

15134

Fulton, MD

Subject: RE: Altitude Trainers

Are you talking about an altitude "tent" or something else?

For a good read on how altitude affects training for sea level athletes, pick up Daniels Running Formula and read the little section on it. There is definitely a benefit if done correctly. But as far as an altitude chamber/tent, I am not sure of the realistic advantages. That is completely different than actually training at altitude.

But breck lives up in the thin air, so he has the day to day "pleasure" of having to train in it.

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Elite

5316

Alturas, California

Subject: RE: Altitude Trainers

Wow 9600. I am only at 4500 and it takes me 10 days to reaclimate if I spend too much time down with the flatlanders. I went up to only 7600 feet for a 5k last year and could feel the difference. When I first started training it took a long time to be able to work at any intensity without my breathing rate shooting up way too fast.

Um, but no idea what an Altitude trainer is.

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Master

1651

Breckenridge, CO

Subject: RE: Altitude Trainers

Baowolf - 2009-04-20 9:28 AM
Wow 9600. I am only at 4500 and it takes me 10 days to reaclimate if I spend too much time down with the flatlanders. I went up to only 7600 feet for a 5k last year and could feel the difference. When I first started training it took a long time to be able to work at any intensity without my breathing rate shooting up way too fast.

Um, but no idea what an Altitude trainer is.

Yeah, I think the effects of altitude grow exponentially as you go above 4500' or so.

It took me about six months to really feel comfortable here in daily life and about two years total to get past waking up in the middle of the night in panic thinking I was suffocating. If I spend a couple weeks at sea level, I always get AMS but it's pretty minor. We have to be pretty careful about it because we're at a high risk of HAPE when we return to altitude, especially kids.

After 12 years, I don't notice it at all in daily life and very light exercise. But it still effects me in training especially swimming where I just cannot push my muscles hard without getting hypoxic.

The beauty part is that even racing in Denver at 5280' it's hard for me to get out-of-breath. At sea level it's almost impossible for my muscles to go hard enough to get me out-of-breath. In a sprint tri that's a huge advantage but at anything longer pacing is a mess because I can't determine RPE. So far I've err'ed on the easy side on my bike because my run was weak but my run is much improved this year so I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Whether my race-day breathing advantage offsets the negatives of not being able to train at hard efforts here and pace well on race day, I have no idea. But it doesn't really matter since I'm never leaving...

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Regular

107

Subject: RE: Altitude Trainers

So the gist is keep to being a normal sea level athlete because the masks and tents that remove o2 will really f$%& you up?

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Cycling Guru

15134

Fulton, MD

Subject: RE: Altitude Trainers

No, there is definitely a benefit to altitude training. But it takes time to adapt. And for people like Breck who are always dealing with it, coming down to sea level can have some affects for a few days. Again, I'd recommend checking out Daniels info on the topic (I'm sure there are a ton of others as well).

The benefit of an "altitude tent" is a different topic which is what I was trying to understand if it was what you were asking about.

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Master

1651

Breckenridge, CO

Subject: RE: Altitude Trainers

Daremo - 2009-04-20 1:56 PM
coming down to sea level can have some affects for a few days.

Yeah, the breathing benefit only lasts a few days and drops off quickly to zero within week or so.

The benefit of an "altitude tent" is a different topic...

I think you'd benefit if you simulated living at high altitude with a tent or something all of the time EXCEPT during training but that would be one major PITA if it's even possible.

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Elite

2608

Denver, Colorado

Subject: RE: Altitude Trainers

breckview - 2009-04-20 12:31 PM

Baowolf - 2009-04-20 9:28 AM
Wow 9600. I am only at 4500 and it takes me 10 days to reaclimate if I spend too much time down with the flatlanders. I went up to only 7600 feet for a 5k last year and could feel the difference. When I first started training it took a long time to be able to work at any intensity without my breathing rate shooting up way too fast.

Um, but no idea what an Altitude trainer is.

Yeah, I think the effects of altitude grow exponentially as you go above 4500' or so.

It took me about six months to really feel comfortable here in daily life and about two years total to get past waking up in the middle of the night in panic thinking I was suffocating. If I spend a couple weeks at sea level, I always get AMS but it's pretty minor. We have to be pretty careful about it because we're at a high risk of HAPE when we return to altitude, especially kids.

After 12 years, I don't notice it at all in daily life and very light exercise. But it still effects me in training especially swimming where I just cannot push my muscles hard without getting hypoxic.

The beauty part is that even racing in Denver at 5280' it's hard for me to get out-of-breath. At sea level it's almost impossible for my muscles to go hard enough to get me out-of-breath. In a sprint tri that's a huge advantage but at anything longer pacing is a mess because I can't determine RPE. So far I've err'ed on the easy side on my bike because my run was weak but my run is much improved this year so I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Whether my race-day breathing advantage offsets the negatives of not being able to train at hard efforts here and pace well on race day, I have no idea. But it doesn't really matter since I'm never leaving...

Same experience. During the week I go up to Breckenridge at least 1x a week to do some XC skiing, 2x if I'm lucky, and even that little bit gives me a slight edge when I come back to Denver to train. And when I did the Disney marathon, I ran the first 10 miles at a personal best (still slow, but a PR for me) and I wasn't even tired and I was barely breathing hard. My breathing was about what I would be at doing a fast walk at altitude.

Having said that, I don't know if it's worth messing with altitude tents and all that. I don't know if I would feel comfortable in a contraption designed to restrict air, which I imagine is what those tents and such do.

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Altitude Trainers

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