elevation change for marathon

I'm training for my first marathon. I found one that is perfect for the time of year it is in relation to my training (it's this fall)and also I have family in that area, so it's a perfect one to target. The only thing that I'm a little hesitant about is the elevation. The race starts at 5500' and eventually ends at 4500' (yes, it's downhill which is a plus). Since I'm doing all my training at 200' I need to find out if that elevation increase would effect me too much. I know when I run in Tahoe I get tired a lot quicker, but that's about 6200'. I was talking to a friend of mine who runs and he said, in his opinion, that 6000' is much harder than 5000'.

I live close to the foothills, so I can easily do at least one training run a week at about 2000' if that would make any difference.

Any input on the elevation factor is appreciated.

Jim Peplow

5500 feet will probably hinder you some but this is an individual response. with the marathon having a 1000 foot drop, that might offset any damage the altitude would do. 2000 feet will probably not help you any. Most reports state that loss of performance begins as low as 3000 feet (again individuals will vary on where this threshold is).

6500 feet will reduce VO2max by about 12% but performance in endurance events by only about 6% (the less dense air makes moving through it easier so it is not a 1:1 ratio).

Dear friend,

Speaking purely from experience, I found the elevation difference at 1 mile up appreciable. A 26.2 mile run would not be the challenge I'd want to try at elevation! I wouldn't want to go into such a thing uninformed. Can you drive to some nearby equivalent elevation and do a 10-15 mile run? I don't think your 2200 ft. elevation would do to learn what happens at 5500 ft. If your test run at 5500 ft. goes well, then why not? If it goes poorly, then I'd look elsewhere for the zillions of Autumn marathons out there.

Best of luck.