RISKDR1

Avoiding altitude sickness and actually performing well at altitude are two different issues. going up the day before MAY gird you against high altitude sickness or it may not. Some people are prone to high altitude sickness and some are not. I have seen superb athletes fail to make the peak on 14,500 foot Mnt Whitney due to severe head ache while I was not affected by it at all. In any event acclimatizing by showing up the day before an event will not improve your performance since it won't help your hemoglobin count. You need time at altitude for that and I think that could be a month or more. The problem with training at altitude is the lower aerobic capacity that you have early on makes it difficult to achieve the power level you need in your muscles to get a good training effect for your anaerobic system. That is where the idea of living altitude to get the blood changes but training at altitude to get the intensity comes in. You can't just go up the day before and hope you will be as strong as you are at your home altitude. I have heard that some athletes train and live at high altitude but do some of their training in a compression chamber that mimics sea level and allows them to achieve the power levels they need for thorough training.

Snicklefritz

My point wasn't about altitude sickness, but how much time people need to spend at altitude to get a benefit. When I was riding actively in california and doing endurance events, my coach would often get that kind of question from people. Namely, how many days before an event should people arrive in order to acclimate? He said that people generally won't see a benefit from being at altitude until after a couple of weeks. Going up a few days or a week before doesn't really do anything other than potentially predispose people to altitude sickness. He said it doesn't mean they will get altitude sickness, only that they may be more likely to get it as opposed to going up just the day before. His point was that you have to be at altitude for sometime to start seeing benefits from it.

Carbonfiberboy 

Here's something I've experienced which appears to be at odds with the literature. If I go up from sea level to 10,000' in one day, I'm totally de-energized. I never get altitude sickness, but the slightest exertion makes me breathe hard and is fatiguing. However after spending the night I'm much stronger in the morning. When I spend the next day going higher and then return to 10,000' I feel good as though I were at a much lower altitude. In another couple days, I feel even better. One explanation is that I'm simply learning to pace myself according to the altitude, but it feels odder than that. I've used a pulse oximeter at 10,000'. My normal saturation there is 98% but ordinary exertion knocks it down to 93% which is where the kidneys start making more EPO. Takes a long time for those new RBCs to mature however. Maybe something to do with plasma volume or blood ph? Those could change quickly.

knitmeapie

The only time I can see this being helpful is if you're training for an event that will be a higher altitude that where you live and train.

Other than that, I'd rather not pay for a stupid mask that makes me feel like passing out.

BloomBikeShop

Nailed it.

erig007

I notice the difference while climbing. I sometimes remove the mask when i simply can't breath through it properly while climbing.
It's like having an instantaneous energy boost i suddenly ride faster and i'm less tired. Could be placebo though.

I have the pulse oximeter now i will try using it while riding if i don't forget.

ThermionicScott 

Are we still going on this? Duh, it's going to feel better to take off a breathing restrictor. No one is arguing that.

erig007

If it works. That's what we were arguing about .

ThermionicScott 

No, *our* back and forth was over whether the tiny amount of air retained in the mask interfered with oxygen absorption. Which it doesn't.

The only thing the mask in this thread can do for training is to strengthen the diaphragm through resistance. I suppose if it prevents you from taking full breaths while exercising, that may spur some adaptations.

But you don't need to buy a stupid mask to accomplish that. Taking an extra straw from McDonald's will accomplish the same thing.

erig007

It does. To push a valve it MUST have more pressure on one side in order for the valve to move therefore there is necessarily still some expelled air inside the mask. How much? Mystery.
The pulse oximeter may not be able to tell if it's this phenomenon or the "McDonald's straw effect" that have a bigger impact on blood oxygen level.

ThermionicScott 

No, not a mystery, very little. With such a small volume, it doesn't take much air to overcome the valve.

But whatever. You are determined to misunderstand how this stuff works in order to believe that your magical mask was worth the cost, so I'm not going to bother anymore.

sebo2000

Riding in mask Zone 2 Pulse oximeter shows 92-93% similar when riding Z5 92-93%
After 10-15min in Z2 it is becoming really hard to ride (highest altitude caps on), it takes some serious mental strength to ride for 60min with the mask in Z2.

Carbonfiberboy 

And what does the oximeter read in Z2-Z5 without the mask?

BigAura

I know high-altitude mountain climbers use a similar strategy to build their oxygen capacity. Climb higher one day and then come back down for a bit then climb even higher the next. Two-forward-one-back kind of thing.

Carbonfiberboy 

Absolutely. So I'm very curious about the mechanism because I don't know of one which accounts for the effect.

ZillaG

How about this? VocalistsDirect.com Discounted prices for Jaime Vendera's Students.. It's meant to help improve breathing for singers, but the idea is the same, at a fraction of the cost.

ThermionicScott 

A straw is still way cheaper.

wolfchild

I cover my face often with a balaclava or neoprene mask when I ride on very cold winter days and I hate it. It makes breathing a lot harder but I have no choice and I can't wait to take it off...I fail to understand why anybody would purposely restrict their oxygen intake during exercise.

Carbonfiberboy 

CTS just put out an article about this subject:
Do Altitude Training Masks Work for Endurance Athletes? - CTS

No, they don't work. But Carmichael has an explanation for my question about how I'm able to seemingly acclimatize so quickly: ventilatory response.