Marathoning the clouds.Running a marathon is an accomplishment under the most benign of circumstances--26.2 miles is no small thing. Add to the challenge 7,815 feet of vertical ascent (starting at 6,295 feet) and subtract a substantial amount of air, and you are left with one of the most grueling competitions in the athletic world Athletic World (known as Family Trainer: Athletic World in Japan is a video game developed and published by Bandai for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986. The game required the use of the Power Pad and simulated 5 different Olympic-style challenges. , the Pike's Peak Marathon, run by 800 hearty souls every August. Imagine the steepest hill you've ever encountered, tilt the grade even a bit more; then imagine it not leveling off-ever. Then you must turn around and deal with it in reverse, pounding the devil out of your already exhausted, oxygen-starved body. How can you possibly train for a course that gains one and a half vertical miles over 13.32 miles of ascent? Here are tips the Pike's Peak organizers suggest: train on a treadmill set at maximum incline, run trails with steep terrain, and do step-ups on a truck bumper after your longest, toughest runs. The effect of altitude is another mountainous challenge to confront, and it's a bit unpredictable. Although the percentage of oxygen in the air is the same as lower altitudes, the lower air pressure prevents it from getting to your blood and muscles. It takes nearly two weeks for your body even to begin to make adjustments to high altitude Conventionally, an altitude above 10,000 meters (33,000 feet). See also altitude. conditions and most runners don't have the luxury of arriving with enough time to adjust before the race. Altitude sickness altitude sickness: see decompression sickness. altitude sickness or mountain sickness Acute reaction to a change from low altitudes to altitudes above 8,000 ft (2,400 m). is characterized by fluid accumulating in the lungs, known as high altitude pulmonary edema High altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) is a life-threatening form of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema that occurs in otherwise healthy mountaineers at altitudes above m ( ft). , and around the brain or cerebral edema cerebral edema n. Brain swelling due to increased volume of the extravascular compartment from the uptake of water in the gray and white matter. Cerebral edema Fluid collecting in the brain, causing tissue to swell. . Victims may be lethargic and disoriented dis·o·ri·ent tr.v. dis·o·ri·ent·ed, dis·o·ri·ent·ing, dis·o·ri·ents To cause (a person, for example) to experience disorientation. Adj. 1. , have trouble walking, have headaches and nausea, and may cough up blood. New research shows that pulmonary edema Pulmonary Edema Definition Pulmonary edema is a condition in which fluid accumulates in the lungs, usually because the heart's left ventricle does not pump adequately. is the result of an increase in pressure in the capillaries of the lungs. Several studies have shown that exercise worsens the effects of altitude. Other studies have shown that exercise interferes with adaptation to altitude. Put it all together and you have to hand it to those runners who make it, and accolades to those who set course records (just over two hours for men and just over two and a half for women--just to complete the ascent). For the rest of us (abuse) for The Rest Of Us - (From the Macintosh slogan "The computer for the rest of us") 1. Used to describe a spiffy product whose affordability shames other comparable products, or (more often) used sarcastically to describe spiffy but very overpriced products. 2. mortals, it seems an impossible feat. For more information on the Pike's Peak Marathon visit www.pikespeakmarathon.org. (Journ of Applied Physiology, 2000, Vol. 88, No. 2, PP. 581-585; Circulation, 2001, Vol. 103, No. 16, pp. 2078; Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise, 1999, Vol. 31, No. 5, pp. 723-728) |
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