Galen Rupp lives in an altitude house set to 10,000 feet- thoughts?!

article is here: https://www.letsrun.com/news/2020/03/mike-smith-qa-part-i-on-galen-rupps-commitment-restructuring-his-training-that-24x400-workout/

He has always been a cheater. Altitude tents should be banned. Only silver lining in the Covid-19 thing is that cheaters won't bring home more Olympic hardware.

What?

Rupp doesn't live in altitude. He has a house which is simulating altitude?

That must be ridiculous expensive.

Even before COVID-19, this would be absurd. How is depressurizing an entire abode not the same as cheating? Also, are we to respect someone who spends 18 hours in their home every day? How is this supposed to be anything other than idiotic?

'Pro' marathoning. Barf.

If he spends most of his 6 hours training, that would leave little time to take his children anywhere. I would knock it down to at least 15 to spend time outside the house with the kids. Probably not an issue right now.

I read an article somewhere once where Alberto talked about it. Basically, you get a machine called a Colorado Altitude Room or something to that extent, but have it installed in the entire house. It works by having a ventillation system that goes to every room in the house, but in the vents the machine removes oxygen from the air to simulate living at whatever altitude the owner sets it to.

When Galen bought his house he made sure that it had vents in every room and a ventillation system that goes through the entire house so that he could have it configured in this manner. I remember reading that it cost $20,000-25,000 to have installed. It's not cheap. Also, not to mention that Galen has the Hydroworx underwater treadmill in his backyard. I think he might own an AlterG treadmill as well.

Here is the system:

http://altitudetraining.com/main/sports/testimonials/endurance/NikeAltitudeHouse

So all his kids have been at altitude all their lives. Rupp is going to have one heck of cross country team.

So it's a circus act, with all these crazy props and meds. Not a fan.

This is the best thread in a while. What a bad ass.

BigBrain wrote:

So it's a circus act, with all these crazy props and meds. Not a fan.

I agree.

It's not that difficult to do if you're willing to invest some money and your house isn't enormous.

Back in 2007 I converted my bedroom by sealing everything off. If I left the hypoxic generator on for about 5 hours before going to bed the room would be at about 7000'. If I left it on for about 24 hours the room would max at around 12,500'. Our room was about 12' x 13' x 8'. So roughly 150 square feet with an 8' ceiling at 10,000' needs one generator running about 16 hours a day.

Keep in mind that's 10,000' above wherever you are. If you start off in Flagstaff you could keep an entire house around 16-17,000' with enough generators.

You get used to the darth-vader-breathing sound of the air being pumped into the room, but at first it's kinda creepy.

Galen Rupp = the greatest science experiment in the history of American distance running.

jd333 wrote:

So all his kids have been at altitude all their lives. Rupp is going to have one heck of cross country team.

Yeah, his wife and kids is the only thing that raises eyebrows for me. I would be curious to know if there are any health ramifications to kids growing up their entire lives in an artificial altitude environment. I imagine nobody really knows. Its probably no big deal but its still very strange for kids be raised in that environment.

Yeah, his wife and kids is the only thing that raises eyebrows for me. I would be curious to know if there are any health ramifications to kids growing up their entire lives in an artificial altitude environment. I imagine nobody really knows. Its probably no big deal but its still very strange for kids be raised in that environment.

No different than any of the thousands/millions of kids who grow up in Nepal or Bolivia at altitude. Well, if you want to be picky, it's not exactly the same as their air is at normal pressure, but depleted in oxygen.

So we know that Floyd Landis, a very reluctantly admitted doper who now lives in Leadville, used this technique (actually, he just slept in a simulator). Also others.

Altitude increases adrenaline & other stress hormones. The natural response tends to make PEDs more effective, with fewer side effects. It’s well known that powerful drugs are handed out like candy (no written instructions provided) in Nepal pharmacies for Everest climbers.

Downside is the lack of effectiveness at non-altitude race venues. Performing at max levels also increases adrenaline, but the mechanism is different.

Of course long-term safety is a question mark. We know many cyclists who’ve died young, or had near-fatal heath issues. Good luck!

This makes me think he’s not using PEDs. Why would you go to all this effort when you’re also taking epo. There’s no point. The net effect of both is to boost your red blood cell production but taking a daily dose of epo is a lot easier than subjecting your entire family to an altitude house.

Most people are in there mom's basement for over 18 hours a day

Interesting. Before Landis was outed, they said that exact thing, “What dedication! Sleeping every night for years in that coffin-like device!”