Altitude?... What Altitude?

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a men's retreat with the men from my Church. We went to a camp at Big Bear, Calif. along with a few hundred other guys from around the Southwest.

We were at about 7,000 ft. altitude. I live at approx. 2,000 ft. Needless to say the oxygen supply was somewhat different than what I am used to.

Along with many(!) hills and valleys (I think my cabin was about 3,000 ft. below the rest rooms!) I was able to get in a couple of outstanding workouts.

They say that running, or just exercising (even horseshoes was strenuous), at a higher altitude than you are used to increases ones aerobic capacity at lower elevations.

I must admit that at my present level of fitness, or lack of, I was not able to notice much change in my performance. However, many years ago, when training for the St. George (UT) Marathon, I found that by training both at the Grand Canyon and at Mt. Charleston (near Vegas) I was able to develop my ability to run the beginning of St. George with far greater ease than the previous year.

Over the years many world class athletes have indicated the need to train at altitude for major races. Unfortunately us regular Joes' just can't pick-up and go to our favorite altitude training facility whenever a "big" race comes along.

For me the best alternative has been to find the grandstand at the local High School and do stair work. At least I can get above street level that way! Or, if they lock the field during non-school hours, some simple interval work will do in a pinch.

Suffice it to say that unless you are, indeed, world class you can probably get by without altitude training unless the mountains are close by.

Our goal is to keep it simple.