ALTITUDE VS SEA-LEVEL TRAINNING

I decided to write this article because there are a lot of people like me that have been changing of places for living, and therefore, changing of altitude and temperature.

I am from a City on the north-cental Mexico with an altitude btw 2,400 and 2,800 mts above sea-level, it is surrounded by mountains, now I am living on the beach and every time I visit my family I get trouble with my timing (it decreases) and the low temperature does not help.

Last year I had the opportunity to live in one of my favorite places in the world, Rome, Italy, located at 37mts above sea-level, but at the same time surronded of high points and mountains.

It was the perfect scenario to run, I enjoyed it to the fullest, I had the beach 20 minutes away, and the mountains 5 minutes away from my house, so I could vary the temperature and level anytime.

7 months later....

 I came back to Playa del Carmen, Mex.I continue my trainning

(obviously at sea-level).

After 3 years living at this altitude, and getting used to run at this level, it turns really hard to deal with the oxygen at 2,500 meters above sea-level, and it get worse in Winter....


I'll convey information on the topic from theory, research, and my own experience;

If you have the chance of making the "sleep high - train low" tecnique,

go for it!!!

Experts agree that to get the best effect of altitude adaptation with the intensity of training at lower elevations (more oxygen=higher intensity), you spend your training day 'low', and the remainder of your day 'high'. Clearly this is impossible for most of us, but can be done in certain locations.

For people like me  — who live at sea level — several devices exist to simulate the effect of 'sleeping high'. "Hyperbaric chambers" are sealed vacuum chambers you can sleep in that reduce air pressure exactly as living at altitude would.

http://hyperbaricinformation.com 

 

At altitudes of 1,500 mts or more, training at familiar sea-level intensities becomes progressively more difficult to sustain with less oxygen available. This applies especially to athletes who come from sea-level training environments whose metabolism is already working overtime to make altitude adaptations along with the regular stress of training.

So as conclusion,it is definitely TRUE that living on the beach makes it easier to oxygen your body while you are running, so if you live at sea-level and have a competition at a place above 1,000 meteres from the ocean,I highly recomend you to arrive at least 2 or 3 days before the race, so you can acclimatize your body and have a better performance,if the competition is 2,500 meters or more above sea-level, it would be necesary to prove yourself before the competition, even if you have done it before.

If you live in a town like Mexico City, (2,200 mts) you´ll feel inmediatly the difference in a race at sea-level;

so YES you "City people " have an advantage over "the Beach boys".

Some differences you'll feel coming from sea level to training at altitude is that your running will be slower for almost every workout.

On a recent trip I was about 3-seconds slower per lap on for a track workout, and about 12 seconds slower per mile for a tempo run at the same heart rates as sea level. The loss of run speed is less after the physiological adaptations take place, but because running is so oxygen intensive, I've never matched my best sea level run times at altitude even after spending months at 5000ft.


Patt Douglas(Amateur Runner)



Adriana HG

Don´t be discouraged, well-prepared mountain running can be even better, funnier and rewarding than running on the beach, just take note of which pair of shoes you are gonna take,wear a jacket, choose your perfect playlist and good luck!