Altitude

Clum

Anybody know at what height altitude has a negative affect on performance?

I was reading a race report about the Madrid marathon on iaaf.org and they said "Due to its 650m altitude Madrid is a far from ideal place to run fast times at distance events."

I don't know if I should take that to mean the altitude was too high or too low for Madrid to be an ideal place to run fast times. I assume too high.

The reason I'm interested is I ran Zurich (altitude slightly over 400m) marathon and came home with a very good PB but I'm wondering if the altitude would have come in to play at all. I doubt it myself.

I'm from a part of Ireland with an elevation of 100m.

High&Low

Altitude - good for sprinting bad for long distance.

Air is thiner so less resistence but also less oxygen, which makes it tougher for longer distances.

From the IAAF statement on Madrid I would take it that the altitude was negative at 650m, why else would they mention it?

How Strange

IMO, altitude of 650m shouldn't affect anyone. My experience of altitude is that once you go above 2000m you may start to feel the effects but 650m would be considered very low. It's like running a race in Roundwood or Enniskerry.

I'm no expert but I've been at various altitudes up to 5000m and I've only noticed the effects at 2500m+ and I would be quite sensitive to the effects of high altitude and reduced oxygen.

Pherekydes

Altitude-training-effects

This is mostly about the efficacy of training at altitude, but there is some reference to how performance is affected. The partial pressure of oxygen decreases exponentially with increase in altitude, so my guess is that we reach a physiological tipping point, where our performance starts to degrade, which may be around 500m. There is also the complicating factors of weather and atmospheric conditions on the day to consider.

In the top 4700+ 5000m performances, Zurich (408m) has 8 of the top 20 and 303 in the full list, while Lausanne's (599m) top performance is at number 299 and 106 in the full list. Madrid (676m) has NO performances in the top 4700+!

Source

Clum

Nice bit of research there Slow Coach. Thanks.

Looks like I ran an honest marathon then, with no ill effects from altitude.

token56

Quick question
What altitude do top African long and middle distance runners train at? I thought they would have trained at > 500m, maybe I am wrong.

Clum

token56 wrote: »

Quick question
What altitude do top African long and middle distance runners train at? I thought they would have trained at > 500m, maybe I am wrong.

They do. The Kenyans train at about 7000 feet above sea level in Eldoret. So to does the US Olympic team (and some US running clubs) but they train in Flagstaff, Arizona. Training at high altitude is supposed to benefit athletes when they compete at lower altitudes.

I've always trained at low altitude and had no idea how high I'd have to be before altitude would have a negative affect on me.

ss43

Studies have shown that there is a small drop in either performance/Vo2 max or both from altitudes as low as 500/600m and above. Can't cite them off the top of my head.

I would imagine that you wouldn't actually notice a difference at that height though i.e. it would feel the same as runnign at sea level but there would be a slight reduction in performance.

For altitude training, people tend to go between 1800 and 2500m where you would notice it feeling a lot different (breathing tends to be shallower).

As you go higher, reduced pressure has the net effect of less oxygen being available. However, there is also less air resistance so economy is improved which means that drop in performance is not as great as drop in Vo2 max.

bo-sco

Surely your V02 Max isn't reduced at altitude either? I'd have thought It would remain the same but the fact that there is less oxygen available reduces performance.