Triathlon Training at Altitude: Boulder, CO

No wonder some of the best athletes come out of Colorado, it's hard to breathe there!!  I've been lucky enough to travel to Boulder, CO several times and get in some of the hardest training of my life.  Boulder is about 5500ft above sea level and has approximately 12% less oxygen than I normally breathe in Atlanta.   This obviously makes workouts more challenging.

My most recent trip I went straight from the airport to a Masters swim workout with swim coach Wolfgang Dittrich, who was a member of the German National Triathlon Team, swam in the 1984 Olympic Trials, and has a 3rd place finish at the Ironman World Championships - as some of his many accomplishments in the sport.  An hour of swim intervals with 12% less oxygen makes you feel like you're drowning.  Your lungs are burning, you get that metallic taste in your mouth, and you're working much harder to swim the same times that you do at sea level.  I never could catch my breath during the short rest periods. 

With running, I found myself falling apart in the middle of my 8 mile tempo run, slowing down and struggling to hold pace.  My heart rate was about 10 beats per minute higher than it would normally be at the same pace in Atlanta. As for cycling, I'm not a very good climber yet anyway, but I struggled on the hills and could barely catch my breath.  It's incredibly different from training in Atlanta, but I know I am only stronger for it.

(With coach, Steve Pyle, at the top of a climb during a 3 hour ride in Boulder)

Pushing my limits and challenging my body in this way is what I need to get ready for the World Championships since the athletes who train here are the caliber of athletes I will compete against in Beijing.