Hypoxic Tent

Having entered the Himalayan 100 Mile Stage Race (a race held in the Indian Himalayas covering 100 miles over 5 consecutive stages, at an average altitude of 11,500ft and with daily ascents of 6000ft.) my biggest worry was how I was going to cope with the altitude. Possessing a fairly large build for an ultra runner (not good at altitude), unable to fit in any altitude training and not happy about having to resort to diamox I started to look for an alternative.

Seeing an advert for edge4 ltd. I looked on their website for more information. Coming from a sports science background I was familiar with the “sleep high, train low” theory and had read numerous studies backing it up. I began to wonder if a Hypoxic (low oxygen) system may be able to help me in my preparation for this race.

Contacting edge4 they proposed I borrow one of their Home Systems. This consists of a single man tent and a compressor unit. The compressor feeds hypoxic air into the tent mimicking the effects of altitude. With the standard unit a height of 9000ft can be attained. By sleeping in the tent you are effectively sleeping at this height.

I received the tent 6 weeks prior to my departure to the Himalayas and immediately began sleeping at 9000ft. My first night in the tent was fairly uncomfortable as I woke a couple of times feeling short of breath. Also, as I was obviously gasping in my sleep the tent became very damp due to condensation. However, as the week went on, the waking and the condensation stopped completely and I was sleeping incredibly deeply. Within a few weeks I began to notice improvements in my fitness and, on one bike ride in particular, felt as if I was flying up a hill that has often beaten me in the past. Not a thorough study I know, but I now have no doubt about the validity of “sleep high, train low” for sea level cardio-vascular fitness

In the Himalayas I completed the race and finished 17th in a field of 45 runners. I won’t pretend I felt like a mountain goat and sailed up the hills, in fact much of the time I felt like I was breathing into a plastic bag and moving at a snails pace. But, I didn’t have any problems sleeping, no headaches and suffered no loss of appetite all of which were experienced by other competitors. This was my first time at altitude so obviously I have nothing to compare it to but I’m convinced my time in the tent did improve my enjoyment of, if not my performance in, this race.

In conclusion although I was not as well acclimatised as some competitors who had spent several weeks trekking up to heights of 16,500ft I do feel the unit helped me. I did only use the unit for 6 as opposed to the recommended 8 and was only able to manage 5 out of 7 nights a week in it (my wife’s insistence). Also, a high altitude adaptor is available for the unit, which may increase the unit’s suitability for high altitude acclimatisation.

Available from....

Information about edge4 ltd can be found by e-mailing them at edge4ltd@aol.com . They are looking into the possibility of hiring units out.