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  • 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.

  • This is all really useful info. I probably should have acclimatised - I flew in, went for a coffee, got changed and then went for a 30km run. I've since been up to 3500m and went for a run back at 2500 and I wasn't short of breath as such, just felt like they weren't very good quality breaths, if that makes sense. Sleeping same as ever, if anything better than at home.
    I just arrived in a little Tibetan town (still around 2500) so I'll go for a run when the day has cooled down a bit, and will be especially mindful of coordination.
    Have a good climb!

  • Sounds like you've got things totally under control.

    Cheers, let's see if being slightly less of a fattycakes pays off.

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