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2015-01-06 12:14 PM

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Subject: Elevation acclimation?

How long does it take to properly acclimatize to elevation? I'm racing at 10k feet in July and live at 1k feet. I've heard something like you either should show up the day prior or a week prior, but nothing in between. Would it do me any good if I could spend 4 days a week (the two weeks prior to the race) up in Flagstaff at 8k feet or the entire week leading into the race? I could spend numerous weekends (Fri, Sat, Sun) up there but suspect that wouldn't be long enough (coupled with returning to the valley during the week) to really net any benefit. 



2015-01-06 12:46 PM
in reply to: thebigb

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?

Altitude is a tricky thing. I don't really have an answer to your question. 

Do you have any experience with altitude? How about experience competing at altitude? 

2015-01-06 1:00 PM
in reply to: Asalzwed

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?

Originally posted by Asalzwed

Altitude is a tricky thing. I don't really have an answer to your question. 

Do you have any experience with altitude? How about experience competing at altitude? 

 

Some experience training, none racing. Flagstaff is only an hour and a half away and I head up there frequently in the summer to run trails. Granted, Flagstaff is only around 7-8k feet and I'll be running from 10k up to 13k feet so Flag may not even be of benefit. From what I've been reading it looks like the ideal option would be to spend a couple weeks up there at least 2 weeks out from the race, otherwise just show up the day before and accept that you will run much slower. 

2015-01-06 1:17 PM
in reply to: thebigb

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?

When I lived in Colorado I would drop friends who were better mountain bikers than me the first few days out.  After two week, they were dropping me.

When I looked into it (and with anecdotal experience), it is 1 week at least to get acclimatized, preferably two if you want to realize your current abilities.

Granted, I'm going from memory from 15 years ago.   

2015-01-06 2:38 PM
in reply to: Kido

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?

From my experience, the longer the better, so 2 days prior is better than one day prior.

2015-01-06 3:17 PM
in reply to: thebigb

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?
There is less oxygen at higher elevation, so your body produces more red blood cells to compensate. This takes time, most recommendations for skiers is to spend 5 days at the higher elevation in order to feel normal. I know when I come back from high elevations I can train much harder with less fatigue for the first week, after that the effects seem to be gone.

When I go skiing I do not spend time at elevation before actually skiing, the first day or two I am sucking wind before starting to acclimate.
From my experience I would think spending the week before the race at that altitude would be best.

Any Dr's out there have formula or charts that might better estimate the time required?


2015-01-06 3:56 PM
in reply to: mike761

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?

Originally posted by mike761 There is less oxygen at higher elevation, so your body produces more red blood cells to compensate. This takes time, most recommendations for skiers is to spend 5 days at the higher elevation in order to feel normal. I know when I come back from high elevations I can train much harder with less fatigue for the first week, after that the effects seem to be gone. When I go skiing I do not spend time at elevation before actually skiing, the first day or two I am sucking wind before starting to acclimate. From my experience I would think spending the week before the race at that altitude would be best. Any Dr's out there have formula or charts that might better estimate the time required?

 

The last time I was at any serious elevation it seemed like I never actually felt good and that was 5 days at Copper Mountain, skiing. If a week would lend enough time I could swing that and just make it a long vacation. 

2015-01-06 5:34 PM
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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?

In my former life I was a search dog handler on a Search and Rescue team.  We specialized in high elevation back country searches so had to deal with the elevation question quite frequently.  We weren't supposed to deploy into the back country until we had been at elevation for a minimum of 48 hours to make sure we weren't going to have mountain sickness issues.  We often violated the rule and a surprising number of rescuers were airlifted out after suffering ill effects of the elevation.  I found the formula on Wikipedia that we used to calculate how long to fully acclimate - Full acclimation can be approximated by multiplying the elevation in kilometers by 11.4 days.  I imagine you don't want to spend a month on site before the race.  From personal experience, if you live at or near sea level and depending upon how high you go, it takes 7-10 days to start to feel half-way normal.  It may take several weeks to fully adapt.

Here is the link to the article where I finally found the formula we used - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_high_altitude_on_humans.  There is some evidence that living high and training low will help acclimate.  You mentioned that you can get to Flagstaff.  That isn't as high, but again, in my experience, getting up to 8,000 feet for a number of days would go a long way towards beginning the acclimation process.  The article does mention a couple things about elevation and athletic performance.

Hope that helps.  Oh, take Ibuprofen with you, that seems to work best if you do get a touch of altitude sickness and drink LOTS of water.



Edited by k9car363 2015-01-06 5:35 PM
2015-01-06 7:26 PM
in reply to: k9car363

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?

Originally posted by k9car363

In my former life I was a search dog handler on a Search and Rescue team.  We specialized in high elevation back country searches so had to deal with the elevation question quite frequently.  We weren't supposed to deploy into the back country until we had been at elevation for a minimum of 48 hours to make sure we weren't going to have mountain sickness issues.  We often violated the rule and a surprising number of rescuers were airlifted out after suffering ill effects of the elevation.  I found the formula on Wikipedia that we used to calculate how long to fully acclimate - Full acclimation can be approximated by multiplying the elevation in kilometers by 11.4 days.  I imagine you don't want to spend a month on site before the race.  From personal experience, if you live at or near sea level and depending upon how high you go, it takes 7-10 days to start to feel half-way normal.  It may take several weeks to fully adapt.

Here is the link to the article where I finally found the formula we used - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_high_altitude_on_humans.  There is some evidence that living high and training low will help acclimate.  You mentioned that you can get to Flagstaff.  That isn't as high, but again, in my experience, getting up to 8,000 feet for a number of days would go a long way towards beginning the acclimation process.  The article does mention a couple things about elevation and athletic performance.

Hope that helps.  Oh, take Ibuprofen with you, that seems to work best if you do get a touch of altitude sickness and drink LOTS of water.

Awesome stuff, thank you. Kind of sounds like just arriving 5-7 days early is the way to go so probably will just go with that. The more I look it seems like the "show up the night before" are more for those running shorter events while I'm looking at a 50 miler. 

2015-01-06 8:27 PM
in reply to: thebigb

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?
I think another important aspect is that everyone is different and handles the altitude differently, I think it would be best to get to altitude as much as possible before hand and see how your body handles it. It does take some time to fully acclimate, but there are some that say if you race within the first 48 hours you won't feel the effects, I'm not sure that I believe that?
I will be dealing with a similar experience in September when I race IMLT, going from sea level to swim start of 6200 and bike over 7K.

Good Luck!
2015-01-06 9:04 PM
in reply to: thebigb

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?

Originally posted by thebigb

Awesome stuff, thank you. Kind of sounds like just arriving 5-7 days early is the way to go so probably will just go with that. The more I look it seems like the "show up the night before" are more for those running shorter events while I'm looking at a 50 miler. 

Hope you post a race report.  I would love to hear how it goes!



2015-01-07 6:51 AM
in reply to: thebigb

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?
Originally posted by thebigb

Originally posted by k9car363

In my former life I was a search dog handler on a Search and Rescue team.  We specialized in high elevation back country searches so had to deal with the elevation question quite frequently.  We weren't supposed to deploy into the back country until we had been at elevation for a minimum of 48 hours to make sure we weren't going to have mountain sickness issues.  We often violated the rule and a surprising number of rescuers were airlifted out after suffering ill effects of the elevation.  I found the formula on Wikipedia that we used to calculate how long to fully acclimate - Full acclimation can be approximated by multiplying the elevation in kilometers by 11.4 days.  I imagine you don't want to spend a month on site before the race.  From personal experience, if you live at or near sea level and depending upon how high you go, it takes 7-10 days to start to feel half-way normal.  It may take several weeks to fully adapt.

Here is the link to the article where I finally found the formula we used - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_high_altitude_on_humans.  There is some evidence that living high and training low will help acclimate.  You mentioned that you can get to Flagstaff.  That isn't as high, but again, in my experience, getting up to 8,000 feet for a number of days would go a long way towards beginning the acclimation process.  The article does mention a couple things about elevation and athletic performance.

Hope that helps.  Oh, take Ibuprofen with you, that seems to work best if you do get a touch of altitude sickness and drink LOTS of water.

Awesome stuff, thank you. Kind of sounds like just arriving 5-7 days early is the way to go so probably will just go with that. The more I look it seems like the "show up the night before" are more for those running shorter events while I'm looking at a 50 miler. 


[/QUOTE

Another thing I was always told is to take asprin everyday for a week or two before the trip, it thins the blood. Don't know all the science behind it but a quick google search showed it was recommended for athletes going to high altitude.
2015-01-07 8:00 AM
in reply to: Mountaindan

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?
Originally posted by Mountaindan

I think another important aspect is that everyone is different and handles the altitude differently, I think it would be best to get to altitude as much as possible before hand and see how your body handles it. It does take some time to fully acclimate, but there are some that say if you race within the first 48 hours you won't feel the effects, I'm not sure that I believe that?
I will be dealing with a similar experience in September when I race IMLT, going from sea level to swim start of 6200 and bike over 7K.

Good Luck!


I did Tahoe in 2013, coming from Michigan to Tahoe 48 hours before gun time. It went fine but I could tell I was racing with a little less oxygen available.

There is a huge difference between 6-7,000 feet and 10-13,000. Huge.
2015-01-07 2:11 PM
in reply to: wannabefaster

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Subject: RE: Elevation acclimation?
Sildenafil sometimes will help.

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