I’ve been training in Lake Tahoe recently – it’s is a lake in the US that is situated at almost 2000 meters of altitude. The western shore is in the state of California and the eastern shore is in Nevada. It’s surrounded by big mountains and it is really a paradise for winter sports. In the summer there are also many activities that you can do if you visit Tahoe, for example hiking, mountain biking or surfing.

When I chose to prepare for Philadelphia and the Tour de Suisse here in Tahoe, I thought that the weather was heading into the famous California summers. In fact, in the last days it has snowed more here than the entire winter back home in Switzerland!

In any case, the location is perfect for relaxing and concentrating on your training. When the weather is uncertain, I can descend into Reno or Auburn and train there since the lower altitude has fair temperatures. The nature around the lake is fantastic, with the big mountains and the giant forests of pines. I would suggest this place to anyone interested in discovering the mountains and their beauties.

The training at altitude here is very important because it helps the body to adapt to a situation where it is more difficult to breathe and oxygenate the muscles. When you go back to normal altitude racing or training you can feel the difference and will notice the advantage of having trained at a higher elevation.

It is also true that at altitude you cannot train like you normally would do at home. It is easy to overtrain, so you have to go with caution on the climbs or when doing specific workouts. For the first days a medium level should be taken as your threshold level. Then you can work on the progressions, but it’s very important to listen to your body. The key is to feel good after you have a period of training at altitude.

I really hope that this period of training here will help me in Philly and back home in Switzerland.

Thank you for reading,
Rubens