Impact of altitude

General discussion on Training. How to get better on your erg, how to use your erg to get better at another sport, or anything else about improving your abilities.
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H2O
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Impact of altitude

Post by H2O » October 3rd, 2024, 4:01 pm

I recently moved to a new country and now live at an altitude of 2000 feet above sea level. Should I expect any impact at all or is this not high enough?

JaapvanE
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Re: Impact of altitude

Post by JaapvanE » October 3rd, 2024, 4:34 pm

Olympic teams train at 2300 meters altitude to trigger altitude acclimitisation (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N2vJu-GqxA), so you should expect some changes...

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Citroen
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Re: Impact of altitude

Post by Citroen » October 3rd, 2024, 6:29 pm

Your rower's drag factor will be different relative to the damper lever position. You will need to check it and increase where the lever sits.

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stevegaspars
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Re: Impact of altitude

Post by stevegaspars » October 4th, 2024, 2:56 am

I tend to perform better on the erg near water (rowing club) as opposed to at home. It does make a difference.

jcross485
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Re: Impact of altitude

Post by jcross485 » October 4th, 2024, 3:45 am

There is certainly a difference but I personally find temperature and dew point to have more of an impact, especially as distance goes up.

Make sure you adjust the damper to get the drag factor where you like it as someone noted - there are so many factors that change drag factor that I make sure to check it each time I get on the machine before starting a session.
M, '85; 5'10" (1.78m), 175lbs (79kg)

Tsnor
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Re: Impact of altitude

Post by Tsnor » October 5th, 2024, 2:27 pm

Image

2000 feet hits your steady state wattage rowing about 2-3%. Watts to split converter will give you expected split difference. Example, at 2:00 split add about 1 second going from sea level to 2000 feet.

Pure anerobic (100 meters or less) no impact.

(picture borrowed from another post, ignore red circle)

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