Winning at high altitudes

Posted by Rachel

I visited Denver once a few summers ago for a wedding. I had intended to do a single, 7 mile run when I was there but recall almost keeling over from lack of oxygen at mile 2.8 and quitting immediately. Fast forward to this week, when I had to leave for a conference in Denver mid-day Tuesday. I packed three hard workouts (one in a each tri sport) into the span of 27 hours (Mon-Tue) precisely to avoid having to exercise at all in Denver. To summarize what I mean by "not exercising at all" in Denver, I did one stationary bike ride, one solid but easy run, and one miserable run (mimicking my past Denver experience). Now that I have done 4 workouts total in Denver and am clearly an expert, I will provide you with the keys to victory over your workout at high altitudes:

1.) Run when it's 40 degrees, not 75 degrees
2.) Run before you start drinking, not the morning after (true at all altitudes, but exaggerated at higher ones)
3.) Bike instead of run (especially in the gym, and especially if you can watch Full House and Fresh Prince while you're riding)

For those of you that have never visited Denver, it's not a bad place to run besides the lack of oxygen. Here is a picture of one section of their extensive trail system. It goes under all the city intersections so you never have to stop running (which could be either a curse or a blessing). You can even run to a Broncos game or a game of whatever sport team plays at the Pepsi Center, since both stadiums connect on this trail.

Denver running/biking trail 

 

When I wasn't exercising (which was most of the time), I was doing only one of two things- attending the conference or drinking (or both). Science conferences can actually be pretty fun. "Biomaterials Bash" may sound nerdy, but picture 3 hours of a full open bar and unlimited food with this view:

The "Grand Hyatt" was appropriately named. Note: mountains are actually larger than they appear in the background of this picture.

Not too bad. My only disappointment of the night was that I was being so social that I forgot to hit the dessert buffet. Can you imagine? (If you know me, you probably can't.) And since this is a training blog, I will also mention that I may have successfully convinced someone at this conference to do the Ironman with us (another win. Background- I already knew this person and even exercised with them in the past through a mutual friend. I did not start randomly harassing scientists to see which ones would do an IM). And to wrap up with my final win of the week, I was able to get this in the airport (disclaimer- this is only exciting for an East-coaster-turned-deprived-Californian):

Yessssssssss

Finally, BEST OF LUCK to the Boston Marathoners!!