Last week, West Virginia coach Bill Stewart wasn't all that worried about the change in altitude for this weeks game between the Mountaineers and Colorado."I just don't think that's a big problem. I think it's kind of comical,'' Stewart said Tuesday. "I lived out there for four years at the Air Force Academy and we were at 6,800 feet. Now, when we went on our retreat with Coach [Fisher] DeBerry, we went up to almost 10,000 feet. Now that's a problem. I jogged up there. But [at Air Force] I ran 100 miles a week, 50 weeks a year for four years.''
From what I've read this week, Stewart's opinion hasn't changed. I left West Virginia Sunday to attend the game, and have been staying at 8,000 feet above sea level in Conifer, CO (20 minutes from Red Rocks Amphitheater). And I can tell you that the change in altitude has a lot more effect on a persons body than just their ability to exert themselves physically. Given, Boulder is just 5,400 feet above sea level it might not have the same effect as where I am, but still you can't discount the effect it has. I've been plagued by horrible migraines and sinus problems since I arrived. The cure for this is keeping your body hydrated and a good supply of Ibuprofen. Even at that, it is still easy to get winded up here. Seriously, that's the last time I offer to take out the trash!
West Virginia has been experimenting with a piece of equipment, called a Hypoxico Chamber that simulates altitude changes. It's a piece of equipment purchased while Rich Rodriguez and former strength and conditioning coach Mike
Barwis were still at West Virginia. Thus far, it is proving to be as valuable to West Virginia as the former coach. Which is to say, not at all. In order for the chamber to be of any value to an athlete, they would need to train in it extensively for days in a row to prepare for a game at higher altitude. And give that football teams have 85 players on scholarship, it's impossible to get everyone in for some training.
West Virginia traveled to Colorado yesterday to get and extra day to acclimate to the altitude. But if my own personal experiences are any indication, that wasn't long enough. I was out here in the spring and it took every bit of a week for my body to adjust. For West Virginia's sake, I hope I'm a rare exception.
