Into thin Air..

Are those mountains in the background? Yes, it probably a little too soon to already write a blog post for this, but I figure I should write it now instead of a couple days before when I'm anticipating I won't have tonnes of time to write a post. Really though, it's only 2.5 weeks until the biggest trip of my life. For those who don't know yet, May 17 I am heading up to 7000ft altitude in the absolutely stunning Wasatch Mountains of Park City, Utah, where the ski/bobsled venues were for the 2002 Games in Salt Lake. I will be there for one month the absorb the effects of the lower atmospheric pressure, and therefore the lower driving pressure for oxygen. I think it's pretty cool that many people go on long vacations hoping to come back a different person, whether more relaxed or more cultured, etc, but with a trip up to altitude to train hard for one month my body will literally be different. The blood running through my body will be nice and rich with hemoglobin, and the have the ultimate oxygen carrying capacity to my thirsty muscles, elevated buffering capacity, and improvement in the structural and biochemical components of muscles such as the capillary density and mito density. So yes, I will be different. On my trip I'm hoping to give a more detailed day-by-day summary of not only what I'm doing, but also I will take you through the physiological adaptations that my body will going through, for instance Day 1: Dehydrating itself to trick the brain into believing the hematocrit is not reduced. Truly, besides having the month to immerse myself into my running, and come back with a new sense of mental toughness, physiological prowess, and a new view of what a hill is, this trip is going to be so great because it really will involve applying what I've studied through four years of university. I can't tell you how many courses whether Kine 2010/2011, 4010, 4120, 4445, etc we have learned about the physiological effects of altitude, and me personally for my lecture on Carbohydrates discussed the nutritional implications athletes need to keep in mind at high altitude.

Picture doesn't say but to me from my own research this looks to be taken from the
Glenwild Loop - about 1.5 from my condo. 

Why Park City? Well, my condo sits at 7000 ft, the perfect altitude to lower Hb sat% sufficiently, and not too high so that I can't train at all. Park City is ranked in the Forbes Top 20 Prettiest Places in North America, and is home to over 350 miles of beautiful trails in the mountains (some trails go up to 10500ft) with varying terrain, from smooth single track to rocky mountain ridges, forested sections, open slopes, and everything you could ever need. The training spot is so well respected that the elite Nike Oregon Distance Project coached by Alberto Salazar, including stars like Galen Rupp, Mo Farah, and Dathan Ritzeihein choose Park City for their altitude training camp. The smooth flat Rail Trail about 200 ft from my condo door is completely flat and packed dirt/with some paved sections will be where I do marathon specific, or half-marathon specific workouts, and the Park City High School 8-lane rubber track on the other side of my condo building about 0.5 km will be my spot for fast stuff. Hopefully, the students don't mind, with a sweet cafeteria with a breakfast/lunch/dinner menu and a vegetarian option I should just bring my St. E uniform and go in for a cheap and tasty looking meal. Heck, an added benefit of being at mountain time: I can watch the West Coast Games without having to pull an all nighter. But really, the place looks great, and when I get back I will race as much as possible in the first month back. What do I expect my performance to be? I'm not sure, studies are varied over sea-level performance after altitude training. Some say it works some say it doesn't because they suggest that because of the altitude you can't get those some high-quality faster speed sessions in which means you may lose leg turnover, and the neuromuscular connection to fast leg speed. Plus there are some responders, and non-responders as is the case in most training protocols. Regardless of what the research says I look to the population based data over the control trials, because out of the 215 running performances by runners who have run under 13 minutes for the 5 km, 214 trained at high altitude. Based on that stat, I really stopped listening to studies which said altitude training may not work. So for my performance I say if I'm able to train hard (baring any tibia mishaps - knock on wood) there's no reason why I can't rock that races in the subsequent weeks and really make up for the dreadful winter/spring filled with injuries, and disappointment. With ample time between training sessions, I will hope to give daily updates, and pictures from my long time coming trip into thin air.