Altitude v. Humidity

I seem to deal with the humidity better. Sure, my pace slows down a bit, but that's expected. I was in Colorado last summer and did a 1 hour run near Durango (el. about 7,200') and I almost had a heart attack when climbing hills. I was fine on the flats, but the uphills killed me. FWIW, I live at about el. 1,200'.

I have heard that dew points above 75 start to have the same affect as altitude because the water displaces the oxygen you breath. But I have visited Colorado in August after training in gulf coast heat and still felt the altitude, even though temps were wonderful (50-60s in the morning, low humidity). So, I am not sure wheter it is true or not.

this is one of those topics which is great. The NCAA has no problem putting outdoor track championships in places like Austin, Texas, Baton Rouge, LA, Fayetteville, Arkansas where the humidity is brutal dripping off your body if you just sit there. Yet, the NCAA does not want to go back to BYU, a place that held two successful NCAA Championships in the 70's and 80's. Does anyone have any factual information on this topic, or be able to lead us to some research. My friends seem to think that humidity is much worse than altitude, but I'm not sure.

Let's take this another direction all together, instead of Altitude v. Humidity, let's go Altitude + Humidity. Training/living at altitude has been shown to improve performance, and once one becomes used to humidity you gain an advantage over those who haven't. So I think if one could live at altitude and train in humidity one could in effect become better than those who train in one or the other, especially those that train at a wonderful 60 degrees no humidity and then have to come down into the real world and race in real weather. Any thoughts?

I forgot to mention this could be done with an altitude tent or house in an area with high humidity, just thought I'd clear that up before someone said that you can't find a place with altitude and humidity.

training in excessively humid areas blows. while you may have an advantage being a native over someone who is not used to it... it isn't worth it to train there. on hot days in the gulf coast states it is really tough to do any meaningful miles. An hour becomes difficult on some days. I would rather live where I can have good runs and enjoy them on a daily basis.

that means much more when it comes to training every day.

but... wrote:

training in excessively humid areas blows. while you may have an advantage being a native over someone who is not used to it... it isn't worth it to train there. on hot days in the gulf coast states it is really tough to do any meaningful miles. An hour becomes difficult on some days. I would rather live where I can have good runs and enjoy them on a daily basis.

that means much more when it comes to training every day.

This is bullshit. Your body adapts. If you are still struggling after 7-10 days, then you are just training too hard. Or you suck.

I would take the altitude over the humidy. I live in southeast Texas, and while I imagine FL is bad, it can't be any worse than Texas. I recently spent a week and a half in Colorado (Boulder and Colorado Springs). I found it a little difficult to breath deeply the first 10 minutes of my runs, but after that I was fine and didn't even notice it. I could run pretty much the same pace on runs that I ran in Texas, but was nowhere near as exhausted as I am when I run here. My second day in Boulder I ran a 4 mile tempo run and ran significantly faster there than I've been running here. It's a night and day difference and it's much easier to train in Colorado in the summer than in SE Texas. I could run more at the same pace without being as exhausted while I was in Colorado.

o yea a tent in the summer that a f n bitch

your body does adapt, sure. but you can't honestly tell me that you can do the same workouts in hot/humid conditions that you can in places that aren't as hot/humid. you MUST slow it up, or cut it back, etc. even at altitude you can't just adapt and start running the same way you do at sea level. I have experience with these environments... altitude out west, in the south, and in the northeast. you adapt, but not to the point where it is the same.

ability has nothing to do with it. What I am saying is that it is easier to make the adjustments at altitude. you can slow down. in really hot/humid areas you make the same adjustments but it is still miserable when your fluids are gone from your body.

High and Humid wrote:

Let's take this another direction all together, instead of Altitude v. Humidity, let's go Altitude + Humidity. Training/living at altitude has been shown to improve performance, and once one becomes used to humidity you gain an advantage over those who haven't. So I think if one could live at altitude and train in humidity one could in effect become better than those who train in one or the other, especially those that train at a wonderful 60 degrees no humidity and then have to come down into the real world and race in real weather. Any thoughts?

We prepare for the sea level humidity up here by training in layers: long dri-fit, tights or shorts, jacket, gloves, hat (shed the layers for hard days). It works very well.

That does not work well. That's like me running with a mask on my face at sea level to simulate how hard it is to breathe at altitude.

Yes it does work well. Lots of research to back it up (enhances blood plasma, basically the hydration of your blood, growth factors, immune cells). Lots of elites do it up here. Africans, Japanese Ekidens teams. We're all dressed head to toe at high altitude to prepare for the sea level humidity.

Humidity doesnt effect you the same way that altitude does, but it does effect you, as you have observed.

I lived in the southeast and then out west I will take altitude 5500ft+ any day of the week over heat and humidity.

Slow down, drink plenty of water and don't let it bum you out too much.

There's always density altitude to consider. Hotter days obviously have less dense air. This can raise density altitude at sea level from what feels like below sea level to 2000 or more feet. Humidity obviously is also a factor but not calculated into density altitude.

So, running on a winter day in New England can be like running below sea level whereas doing the same run in August can be like running at 2,000+ feet of elevation. Not a huge difference but can't help.

I've lived in the south my entire life, except for a very brief stint in New England. I can't say for certain that training in the humidity is equivalent or superlative/equal to training at altitude, but I can say that my times never suffered when racing at altitude. Whether or not living at/training in the south (North Carolina) helped or not is beyond me. I've never found the altitude to have any adverse effects on my running, except for my tendency to get mesmerized by the surrounding mountains. What's interesting is that a few years back I had a friend of mine visit me for a weekend and decided to go jump in a local road race; he had broken 14:20 on the track about 3 wks before visiting. He ran 15:45, sweating like crazy and gasping deeply for air. Coincidence? I don't know, but that's been my personal experience. The debate continues...

So is it best to sleep/rest/recover in an altitude tent at home then train in layers, hat,gloves in the day to simulate the heat and pain/uncomfort of excessive heat?

Best of both worlds and I can stay home instead of moving to train at altitude or in high humidity/heat area!