Skyline starting midnight (1am) April 12 & May 5 &12

[zippetydude]

Go Kathy! What, no announcement?! Just slipped it in at the end of a post! Be proud, that was a big accomplishment, and I know you had been working towards it this spring over several hikes. Great job!

By the way, if you're getting ready for some altitude this summer, please post if you come across any valuable strategies. I posted some questions about blood oxygen saturation - maybe something there will be of use to you.

I've heard, "Train low, sleep high." It seems that you get a more intense workout if you train where oxygen is plentiful, then your body acclimatizes as you sleep at altitude. I don't know if it's correct, just a strategy I've heard.

Are there any general rules you use?

z

[cynthia23]

KathyW--Congratulations!!! Your first C2C, an awesome achievment! You approached it in exactly the right way, too, with incremental increases. Way to go.

Zippety: I'm with you in wishing I understood more about altitude training. One fundamental question I have never gotten answered is whether one CAN train for altitude. Of course, you can LIVE somewhere high and that will "train" you, but my understanding is that the minute you leave that altitude, all of your adjustments vanish. It's not like aerobic conditioning, which remains in your body even when you're not cycling or running. It's purely situational. In other words, if I took the tram up every day, and ran up there, when I got back down to the bottom, within a few minutes I'd be back to being plain old Sea-Level Cynthia (which, come to think of it, pretty much describes me.) My feeble understanding of altitude "conditioning" is that the only thing that "helps" is genetics, and spending a few days adjusting at each increase in altitude as you climb. It isn't really related to being superbly aerobically conditioned, beyond a certain level. I heard that Reinhold Meissner had a Vo2 (?or am I thinking of the hair conditioner?) max that was only at a very average "good" athletic level--he was no Lance Armstrong. Whatever made him able to climb high without altitude sickness was not clear.... as for the adage train low sleep high, I think that would only work to a certain level, as in climbing mountains the adage is of course the opposite--to try as much as possible to sleep at lower elevations.

I dunno--I have had people tell me ten different things about this. All I know is, if I take the tram up and start hiking, I feel sick pretty promptly, and I wish to goodness someone could give me tips on how to make that not happen ...

[AlanK]

Eric is done with track season so we are seriously considering doing C2C this Saturday. We hope to see some of you out there. Look for a fast kid and another guy -- that'll be us.

[Cy Kaicener]

Above 8000 feet it is better to hike high and sleep low
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_mountain_sickness

[KathyW]

I know that when I'm backpacking I struggle the next day when I sleep above 11,000 feet. If I sleep at 10,000 feet or lower I'm okay. I suppose if I stayed long enough at higher elevations it would be easier.

[glamisking]

KathyW--Congratulations!!! Your first C2C, an my understanding is that the minute you leave that altitude, all of your adjustments vanish.

Hey Kathy the good news is your body hangs on to the changes longer than you believe. I am a nursing student and through my studies in Physiology I have studied a fair amount about the body at altitude. It takes routine or extended periods [3-5 days] for your body to begin adjusting to the strains put on it by the lack of O2. Your body responds to the lower O2 levels by producing more red blood cells which bind to the oxygen and deliver it to the muscles. So after routine training or a few days your body continues to carry the extra RBCs. If the body senses that the higher level of RBCs is unneeded it will stop producing so many and they will die off and your body will be as before. It is harder to say how long the benefits of spending time at altitude last but it is lot longer than a few minutes---more like a week or two.

20 years ago when this was first discovered scientists experimented with blood doping on athletes. This involved giving them blood had all material except the RBCs removed thus increasing their overall count. In moderation this greatly improved their endurance---the muscles could continue to work at a higher level for a longer period because there was a greater O2 supply being carried to them by the extra RBCs. This was eventually outlawed in the Olympics so now the US does it the natural way by having them train in Colorado.

Hope this clears up a small portion of the altitude question. see ya

[KathyW]

Thanks for the great information glamisking. So, unless I stay at a higher elevation for several days then I really won't be bringing any benefit home with me?

[glamisking]

in terms of building the supply of red blood cells, a once a month day hike does little. It all comes down to the percentage of time spent at X elevation. Hiking once or twice a week the body would gain some advantage but spending a week at 8,000 feet a week prior to a 12,000 foot serria backpacking trip would help.

[AlanK]

There was a closely-related article in Monday's LA Times: http://www.mt-whitney.info/viewtopic.php?t=1880

[magikwalt]

Okay so if I hang out at the Tram Station Bar for a week or so it will help me to hike in the upper elevatons. I knew those old climbing heros of mine hung out in pubs for a reason.