Can someone who ran this last year give us an idea of how the altitude affected your run? Any advice would be helpful!

I was very apprehensive, thinking the altitude would be one of the biggest factors in my completion of the marathon or meeting my goal time. Honestly, I could not tell it affected me at all. I will be as curious as you to see if anyone felt the effects of the higher altitude. I think maybe our being there a day early and the fact that we were just so pumped with adrenaline and energy, from being with transformation family, that most of us would give the same report.

Here are some things to be aware of when exercising at high altitude.
1) The very low water vapour pressure at high altitude promotes evaporation of moisture from the skin surface and can lead quickly to dehydration. Also a large volume of water is lost through resapiratory evaporation because of the dry air and increased respiration rate.
2) Solar radiation increases at high altitude.
3) Our respiratory responses to altitude are impaired due to the reduction in the partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere. Oxygen supply to exercising muscles is important to physical performance. Any limitation to an adequate supply of oxygen being brought into the body, moved from the lungs to the blood, transported to the muscles, and adequately taken up into the muscles can effect performance.

It takes about three weeks to acclimatise.

I have a bunch of info on exercise at altitude as I did a major paper on it last term. I don't want to confuse or complicate things but if you are interested I can send you more info as to how it affects the body.

Keep the Dream Alive!!!

Rohan

I didnt talk to anyone who noticed it drastically

HAving completed the Half in Denver last year, and being a person that lives at sea level I did not feel the altitude. Rest assured, you will find a wide variety of fact and statistics that will tell you all kinds of stuff.

Give your self a few days to be in Denver this will help your respitory adjust. Spending a half a day or more at a higher elevation will also help your respitory. Having a belief that the elevation will not affect you, in my opinion is the strongest element of the success.

Drink lots, and lots of water. You need to be extremely well hydrated at high elevation. Being in Transformation, this is after all just normal for us.

In my humble opinion, you will be just fine.

In light and love,
JeffSBrodie185 Jeff

i haven't completed a 1/2 or full marathon yet, but i train more than a mile high daily, after having grown up below sea level (louisiana).

it does affect my breathing a little. i notice it more when i go down south. i can run and run forever before my lungs fatigue. it's a crazy feeling for me that my muscles may actually fatigue before my lungs do. but it doesn't hinder me. it's just... different.

fully hydrate yourself before, during, and after the race. when i go on my long runs, i have to be very cognizant of hydration the day before and the day of my run. i also stash water on my run if it's going to be more than five miles, and i always plan an out and back route. when i go home, it amazes me that i don't even get thirsty! LOL

wear extra sunblock and sunglasses! i never burned in louisiana. here, i'll burn in 20 minutes in the foothills. denver is not in the mountains or foothills, but a mile high may still be a lot closer to the sun and in a lot "thinner" air than you're used to. so make sure you protect yourself MORE than you're used to.

~*stacey*~

Smiley that's my worries, I'm from New Orleans and live in Ms now, just 1 hr north Of NO and just the 5 k in Tn was a bif difference to me, also in Richamond Virginia when I visit my kids. It's like a whole different world. I'm told it's over 5,000 ft different. Since I would not be able to arrive 3 weeks or even 3 days ahead of time, I would be arriving and running the next morning I have to let my adrenaline and energy do what it can. I may be walking for 13 hrs. lol
I remember running up and down when visiting the 10,023-foot summit of Haleakala Creater ("The House of the Sun") the world's largest inactive volcano. in Hawaii with no problems, Of course I was 22 then, not 55, LOL

my dad lives in louisiana now, and when he came up to visit me about ten years ago, he continued running and he did just fine. it may be more challenging in some ways, but easier in others, but you'll be fine if you just concentrate on getting your level of fitness there by october! just hydration, nutrition, and sun protection are all you'll need to worry about after you get your training down. you'll do great! and i'll be there cheering you on as i will be muscling through the same race!