Altitude Simulation Tent

boost creep

hi all, i am planning to run the Frankfurt Marathon in late October, i hope to finish in around 2hrs 48mins and i'm thinking of hiring an altitude simulation tent to help me achieve my goal time, my question is this... i have a 17 week training schedule to follow, when would be the ideal time to start sleeping in the tent?
i could just google the question but i would rather hear from real people on here who have used a tent themselves in training. i'm thinking to myself that 8 weeks use of the tent should be enough time to allow for acclimatisation and then having 6 weeks or so to reap the benefits in my training.

Krusty_Clown

Why would you need an altitude simulation tent to run 2:48 for the marathon? Why not just train appropriately? It's not really an altitude tent kind of target.

boost creep

i will be training for this time but i'm sure it wouldn't do any harm to be using the altitude tent at the same time. being honest i will be pushing hard to get 2:48 so i could do with the extra help to get what i want.

emerald007

boost creep wrote: »

i'm thinking of hiring an altitude simulation tent to help me achieve my goal time.

Do you know what costs to rent a tent? I would have thought that a tent would only benefit runners aiming for Olympic A or B times. For a 2.48 target, I'd use the budget on massage on a regular basis since this would have more benefit than any effect of the tent.

For building your own tent!

http://www.higherpeak.com/files/HomemadeAltitudeTent.pdf

and get the hypoxic air generator (~$2500) here

http://www.higherpeak.com/index.html

ebay, donedeal and adverts.ie had no matches

boost creep

yes i have spoken to a guy in Limerick about the rental, the benefits of 'altitude training' is not just for elite athletes, i already get a massage every two weeks, if i wasn't so busy at work i would head and train at an altitude training camp so i'll just have to do it the sneaky way!

Krusty_Clown

What are your PBs like boost creep? How far are you away from your target?
Plenty of runners on this forum have run sub 2:48, and many have run sub 2:40, and I wouldn't imagine any of them have used an altitude tent. Do you run with a club?

I can see why Rob Heffernan might need one, as he's trying to squeeze those last few seconds out of his performance, but for Joe Soap like you an I, those extra seconds come from more miles, less weight, and more commitment.

thirstywork2

Sorry Krusty I don't see the difference here between the OP and Rob Heffernan.

Ok rob is hoping to win an Olympic medal and does the walk and trains fultime.


Both athletes trying to gain any advantage possible without cheating.
No rule says a slower athlete cannot use an altitude tent(btw 2.48 isn't slow)


One of my friends used one before but it was so noisy and his missus wasn't too happy.

Id say go for it if you can afford to and Colin Griffin(another racewalker)looks after the altitude centre in Limerick.

Bill Rodgers reckons the reason why the Africans are better than his era of runners is because of being born and trained at high altitude. How much of a difference does it make? According to the research in the book, there’s great variability of performance improvement, 3-33% (~seen with runners, cyclists, and skiiers)– that seems like a lot, when extrapolated to the marathon (3% = 4.8 minutes for a 2:40 marathoner).

boost creep

well Krusty, my best for ten miles is 60:40, five mile is 29 flat, 10k is 36:20 and my best for the half marathon is 81:20. so i would be pushing very hard to to 2hrs 48 min in the big one. i have spoken to Colin Griffin and i am happy with the price he quoted me for the rental. i am a member of a running club and i know a couple of guys who have used the tents and they say it does enable you to push that bit harder without blowing up. thirstywork is right, even though i'm not Rob Heffernan i will be pushing myself to the limit and if using a tent allows me to push harder then i'm all for it!

Krusty_Clown

thirstywork2 wrote: »

Sorry Krusty I don't see the difference here between the OP and Rob Heffernan.

The point I'm trying to make is that if you, I and boost creep want to make gains in terms of performance, we can get off our asses and train harder. Rob is probably very close to hitting his peak, in terms of performance, number of hours he can train, stress on the body etc. (I used him as an example, as he uses an altitude tent). We shouldn't automatically reach for external stimulus to solve our training problems; we should look at our training.

Krusty_Clown

boost creep wrote: »

well Krusty, my best for ten miles is 60:40, five mile is 29 flat, 10k is 36:20 and my best for the half marathon is 81:20. so i would be pushing very hard to to 2hrs 48 min in the big one. i have spoken to Colin Griffin and i am happy with the price he quoted me for the rental. i am a member of a running club and i know a couple of guys who have used the tents and they say it does enable you to push that bit harder without blowing up. thirstywork is right, even though i'm not Rob Heffernan i will be pushing myself to the limit and if using a tent allows me to push harder then i'm all for it!

I've run 2:48 a couple of times over the last 18 months, and both times I was running 10k in around 36:15, so it's not a crazy target, and you're not far off the mark. How many hours/miles per week do you run? At the end of the day, it's entirely up to you, and I know I'm probably not helping, but it just seems a little extreme, to hit a target that's very much within your grasp.

YFlyer

Wonder is that altitude house in Kilmurry Village at University of Limerick campus ready yet?

boost creep

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I've run 2:48 a couple of times over the last 18 months, and both times I was running 10k in around 36:15, so it's not a crazy target, and you're not far off the mark. How many hours/miles per week do you run? At the end of the day, it's entirely up to you, and I know I'm probably not helping, but it just seems a little extreme, to hit a target that's very much within your grasp.

you're helping alright Krusty! it's nice to know that you have done 2:48 a couple of times with a 10k of 36:15 so i am not too far off the mark! i know if i can run consistently and without injury i get do it, and i always maintain that confidence and the ability to back yourself all the way plays a big part in marathon running. i have been doing about 45 miles a week with proper sessions and easy days for recovery. another point i should make is that i think i am more suited to the long distance stuff as feel comfortable running 6:30 per mile pace and can do this all day long, well you know what i mean!

cfitz

emerald007 wrote: »

For a 2.48 target, I'd use the budget on massage on a regular basis since this would have more benefit than any effect of the tent.

This is a bit off-topic, but do you reckon massage makes much difference? I used to get massages regularly, pretty much every 2-4 weeks. But I haven't had more than one massage this year and I seem to be going just as well (still running PBs). I run pretty much every day, 50-60 miles a week, 2 sessions and a progressive run most weeks. Often I feel like I'd like a massage but when it comes down to it I'm not sure whether it just feels nice or if it helps significantly. Anyone got any conflicting anecdotal evidence?