Interesting color.
As I live at sea level and (TRY TO) come out as often as I can to both the Sierras and Colorado to hike and climb,
I am always seeking ways to minimize the effects of altitude and maximize performance without using diamox.
I've only been to about 17,000ft, so don't know thoughts about this higher up.
It certainly seems there is some randomness at work here...but based on my own experience also,
acclimatization is important, but I think the most important is having a general solid level of
base aerobic fitness and not overtraining.
I've been active my whole life, and always did some sort of activity but never did a whole lot of pure aerobic work.
In many early hikes and climbs I never had a problem, even starting from sea level, flying in sleeping 4 hours and going to
11,000 or 13,000ft the next morning. I also never worried about it since inborance was bliss back then...something else we
cannot discount in how we perform up high. (the mind can do wonders)...
Years ago while starting to train more for climbing, I made the mistake of thinking this meant maxing out my
workouts, going anaerobic too often without first developing a solid base. I would do cardio exercises intensely, typically going
way above my truly aerobic zone and basically having an anaerobic workout for an hour or more. I'd be drenched and I'd always
try to train right under my lactate threshold, something from which I thought I'd benefit from a Vo2 max perspective .
The more I focused on this "cardio" the more burned out I'd feel and always felt one workout away from an injury.
After crashing on a few peaks and just feeling inexplicably miserable, I really focused on this as to why since at the time,
I thought I was in the best shape I've ever been in.
Spending time at altitude is important for your body to adjust, but I don't think
any acclimatization is actually happening for the night or two we spend at a trailhead.
However, in my own experience I do feel better doing this or at least being at 5,000ft.
While its hard to quantify at this point, I found when I dialed back my workouts significantly, to lower HR zones
and in some cases, avoided going anaerobic for 4 months, I dramatically improved my performance and never felt tired.
Living in NY, I don't get to any meaningful altitude too often, so that's not an option.
