Altitude Running

Normally, I'm all about packing my shoes and running gear on trips away from home. Most of the trips are centered around races to knock off another destination on our list anyway, so it's usually not something in question. However, my most recent trip has landed me in The Mile High City. I thought about tossing my shoes in my bag for a few days before the trip, until I put some more thought into it.

I'm currently residing in Fort Worth, Texas, elevation: avg. 670 ft., and spending the weekend in Denver, elevation: 1 mile or 5280 ft. For those who are math challenged and have trouble calculating in your head, much like myself, that's a difference of more than 4600 ft (depending on what 'hill' you stand on in Texas). Not exactly a cake walk for a casual run if you aren't used to the altitude. So, 4600 ft. later and higher, here I am sitting on the computer in my hotel room on Saturday morning, glad I made the choice not to run as I have felt dehydrated since stepping off the plane and have had a few spurts of dizziness...I think it was a wise decision to suck it up and take it easy for three days. I'll be back to it Monday morning in hot and humid Texas. Until then, here are some things to keep in mind if you get ambitious and decide to run at high altitudes when your body hasn't acclimated.

Some things to keep in mind when make a drastic elevation change and still training:

• Hydrate: Dehydration will happen much faster at higher elevations.
• Keep it Simple: Don't go running a half marathon right after you reach your destination. Start with smaller distances as your body gets used to the change.
• Pack these essentials: Sunscreen, the air is thinner and your closer to the sun, and lip balm.

One a side note: We made a similar trip to Denver in October 2010 to run the Rock N Roll Half Marathon (I know, brilliant right, let's train at low elevation then run 13 miles after one day of acclimating at 7 times the elevation). This wasn't the horror story it could have been, even with the short time to get used to the lower oxygen levels, but we did hydrate and take it easy the days leading up to the race. The elevation did hurt our performance by adding an extra 20 minutes to our time. With that said, if you're feeling ambitious, just make sure you take care of yourself and listen to what your body needs, or you could be in a bigger mess than not running for a few days.