Racing at Altitude
Was thinking about racing IM Boulder but I'm unsure about racing at altitude. What is the best strategy for racing at altitude, especially when you don't have ability to arrive 2-3 weeks before race? What is effect on performanc?
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but the original topic focus was predominately training at altitude rather than racing at it. Still, this is a topic that has been getting a ton of play since IM Tahoe last year.
My personal opinion? Boulder isn't that high. At a hair over 5000ft there is definitely going to be an altitude impact, and that impact will vary person to person, but there is a huge difference between say 5,000ft and 7,000 or 8,000, and another huge difference between that and 10,000.
I'm by no means a mountain-man or expert, I live at like 8ft of elevation, but regularly climb up to 4,000-6,000ft, have ridden up to about 8 or 9k before and am racing a half in a few weeks that starts at 8,000ft and goes up from there. Again, this varies from person to person, but I personally don't notice much of anything until you start to get to 6,000 or so, and I really start to feel it in the 7,000-8,000 range.
As David pointed out, the biggest challenge likely anyone will face when racing at altitude is the swim. On the bike, certainly you may feel it but you will mostly be effected during the climbs. On any flats or downhills you are going to be *faster* at altitude because the thinner air offers less resistance. With only 3100ft of elevation gain over 112 miles (according to the IMBoulder site), I think the Boulder bike is actually going to be a fast course if there is not crazy heat or headwinds.
Back on the run, the scales tip back to the disadvantage, but not quite as bad as the swim.
There also has been a ton of discussion on the altitude acclimation period with a lot of people suggesting that if you don't have the ability to do a proper acclimatization, that you should literally show up the morning of the race and power through it before your body starts the acclimatization process, which can be fatiguing or sickening in the early stages. I have not seen any hard science to back these claims up and even if that method does work in some cases, I have *considerable* doubts over its effectiveness for a race as long as an Ironman, ignoring the logistical nightmare of coming up to altitude for athlete/bike check-in, returning to low altitude, returning back to altitude on race morning, etc.
After spending the better part of year pondering these questions, my honest to god answer to you is that if you want to do a race at altitude, but cannot do a proper 2-week (min) acclimatization period, you just deal with it and scale back your intensities. The other 95% of the race participants are going to be in the exact same situation as you. Affect of altitude at a relatively low altitude (in terms of 'high altitude') of 5,000 ft are not going to be that severe in general, but may affect some more than others.
And lastly, you aren't going to know until you try it. Especially the swim. I've biked and run at altitude and I know how it affects me, but the swim is the million dollar question. That's why I'm headed up to the high sierras in a few weeks to do THIS. Depending on how much it sucks to swim a half at 8,000ft, I'll have a much better idea of what to expect racing at ~6,000 at Tahoe and my prospects for a ~5,000 race like Boulder.
Trevor nailed all the big points. But I'll add a little anecdotal:
I live/train @ 7000ft (Flagstaff, AZ). We have a local HIM every August here. Its one the big boy AGs from Phoenix (~2000ft) come up for. Their times are very close to what they would do down low, and no slouch times at that. Last year the winner (no pros) went 4:18, and the other top finishers were well under 5 hrs. This is no easy course with ~2000ft of climbing on the bike, and a 3/4 mile 4% grade hill on the run in mile 2. The altitude doesn't seem to really have much impact on their performance. This is not a race they acclimatize for by training here for 2 weeks, they drive up the night before, race and call it good. Guys Ive talked to say they notice the difference in altitude, but it more akin to being a little breathy, than actually impacting their pacing and racing, they pace it just like any other race.
So what? Well Im not convinced that the altitude will have that great an impact on a race thats paced all at z1, it doesnt seem to with the z2/z3 pace of HIM. It might suck to do a sprint or oly with 5000ft of change, but at HIM or IM distance the struggle will still be with executing not catching your breath. Just my $.02
That said, my experience from training and racing at altitude tells me the major impact of lower O2 comes into play only if one tries to go at or close to (or even over) one's anaerobic threshold. This is usually seen when folks try to go out hard at the start of the swim. It is VERY hard to recover from that. Similar issues come into play if you try to go up a hill at 90+% of your FTP....that is actually close to an altitude adjusted IF of 1.0 and recovering from that WILL slow you down somewhere along the way.
As long as you bike at or below your proper IF with NO spikes, you should be OK . Again, the problems will be staying sufficiently hydrated on the second half of the bike and first half of the run, and going slow enough to account for the probable 90+ temps. Dry heat is a sneaky dehydrator.
Oh, and did I mention the probability of afternoon thunderstorms?
As you all know, I'm in Lake Tahoe right now, previewing the course. When I get back I'll consolidate all the internal EN altitude training and racing resources for the team.