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  • Question: running at altitude. I don't feel like I'm getting enough oxygen in, should I do bigger breaths or smaller breaths? It's not super high here (2500m) but I live at 0m and can definitely feel it when I'm running.

  • If you're finding that you can't breathe how youd breathe at sea level, you need to acclimatise. 2,500m is actually pretty high for exercise if you're not used to it. If you breathe slowly st sea level you should ideally be able to breathe the same at 2.500m with a little training.

    That feeling of shortness of breath should disappear when your body has caught up. It's hard to day how long you would need to feel comfortable but it might only be a day or so for most fit people.

    In terms of numbers, at sea level effective oxygen availability is 20.9%. At 2,500m its about 15.5%. A fair whack to lose if you're not used to it. Nearly 25%.

    If you're short of breath running that high you might notice you can't sleep very well at night. There are loads of resources online on how to acclimate to altitude.

    I've been a keen mountaineer for 15 years or so and remember what it was like to feel out of breath at 2.5k well. Would really help you if you had time to have a night or two sleep at that altitude and do some short runs ecen higher on those days.

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