Altitude acclimation - any way to do it without actually going to the rockies?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Altitude acclimation - any way to do it without actually going to the rockies?

Posted: 2/27/2006 7:48:06 PM EDT

Is there any way to get acclimated to a higher altitude, short of buying one of those insanely expensive oxygen deprivation tents? Sleeping with gas masks (or any kind of mask)?

I've got an endurance competition in boulder coming up - training in Chicago - it's basically a set up for 19 miles of wheezing and getting schooled by Colorado natives unless I figure out something...

Posted: 2/27/2006 7:52:04 PM EDT

[#1]

Yes, actually, there is.

A girl I went to high school with was the sister of Nina Kempell, an Olympic cross-country skier. She owned a sort of tent she'd sleep in to simulate living at high altitudes to help give her another edge. Read about that in the paper. I think the thing costs about $5000 or so though.

I lived in Santa Fe, NM at an altitude of about 7000' ASL for a year. When I got back down to sea level, I could drink my friends under the table and outclimb my very athletic father (I am rarely if ever in shape, but I smoked him when I got back to Alaska after living in Santa Fe).

Posted: 2/27/2006 7:56:19 PM EDT

[#2]

a trip to the himalayas?

Posted: 2/27/2006 7:59:16 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
Yes, actually, there is.

A girl I went to high school with was the sister of Nina Kempell, an Olympic cross-country skier. She owned a sort of tent she'd sleep in to simulate living at high altitudes to help give her another edge. Read about that in the paper. I think the thing costs about $5000 or so though.

I lived in Santa Fe, NM at an altitude of about 7000' ASL for a year. When I got back down to sea level, I could drink my friends under the table and outclimb my very athletic father (I am rarely if ever in shape, but I smoked him when I got back to Alaska after living in Santa Fe).

How does acclimation help with alcohol consumption?

Posted: 2/27/2006 8:00:47 PM EDT

[#4]

The best way is to actually live and train in the environment you will be competing in.

Sleeping in a tent depriving you of oxygen does not train your body to work under those same conditions.

Posted: 2/27/2006 8:26:00 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Yes, actually, there is.

A girl I went to high school with was the sister of Nina Kempell, an Olympic cross-country skier. She owned a sort of tent she'd sleep in to simulate living at high altitudes to help give her another edge. Read about that in the paper. I think the thing costs about $5000 or so though.

I lived in Santa Fe, NM at an altitude of about 7000' ASL for a year. When I got back down to sea level, I could drink my friends under the table and outclimb my very athletic father (I am rarely if ever in shape, but I smoked him when I got back to Alaska after living in Santa Fe).

How does acclimation help with alcohol consumption?

Not sure. But lowlanders going to high-altitude locales get wasted much easier, and drinkers acclimated to high altitudes find they have a hollow leg when they visit low altitudes. Goes away after about a week.

Posted: 2/28/2006 6:51:26 AM EDT

[#6]

Boulder isn't that high is it? Basically the same as Denver. I never felt much altitude in Denver, but really feel it in Aspen and the hills above Aspen.

GunLvr

Posted: 2/28/2006 6:55:17 AM EDT

[#7]

Never noticed any difference. When I moved to Colorado from 500ft elevation and unloaded a full moving truck at 8,000ft, I didn't notice. I noticed getting a little more winded at about 13,000ft up to 14,000ft+ climbing a mountain, but I still don't know what it's all about. I think that it's not as bad as they make it out to be.

Posted: 2/28/2006 7:02:12 AM EDT

[#8]

I lived in Colorado Springs during a tour in the USAF; it may be a good low-altitude train in wind sprints that may help. These will expand the alveoli in the lungs that are involved in the gas-membrane exchange of 02.

Posted: 2/28/2006 7:09:16 AM EDT

[#9]

Good rule of thumb is about 20% less oxygen for every 5,000 feet elevation gain.

So be able to run 20% farther than the distance you're trying to travel.

Also, Nebraska sits at a couple thousand feet elevation anyway, right?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Altitude acclimation - any way to do it without actually going to the rockies?

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