For the umteenth time, you can run all the gassers you want, you can’t train for altitude unless you train in lower oxygen environments. And not all react identically to reduced oxygen intake. We were involved in swimming in Reno, and you’d see fear in the eyes of Olympic level swimmers who were coming up from San Diego or the Bay Area to compete, and that was after just warming up.
In the first half when things were clicking, it was like everything we were doing was running downhill, and success makes pushing through physical challenges a lot easier. In the second half, when we were flat, and execution wasn’t as sharp, that changed to running on level ground, and pushing through gets tougher, especially when your opponent isn’t dealing with the same feeling. As the game got tighter, and we lost our mojo, the flat ground turned into uphill, and the buffalo jumped on our backs. They saw we were struggling, and it gave them even greater motivation to push us harder.
It’s real, it’s very real, and it’s a reason I’m also disappointed we didn’t focus more on trying to bury them early, and keep the intensity higher. If an altitude team can hang with you, they will have the advantage late. Just ask Purdue how much they liked the last 15 minutes of their game in Reno.