?? gassed while hiking

[luisd]

hello
I want to ask if anyone here knows about the dynamics of altitude changes and the conditioning involved in hiking. I went to hike a mountain with some people I train with, out of which I can say I am the one with the most conditioning and endurance yet in the first part of the hike I was completely out of breath or maybe oxygen while everyone else including some tag along guests who don't train anything just left me behind gassing.
After the first rest stop I felt ok and remained like that for the rest of the hike while everyone else burned out or cramped but the first uphill walk just left me completely gasping I want to know if anyone can help or explain this.

[mobeck]

Altitude shouldn't affect you until you are above about 3,900-4,000 ft.

The partial pressure of oxygen is reduced at higher altitudes, and that causes you to hyperventilate, essentially, when you first start to aclimatize. So I'd say what you described is actually fairly normal, especially if you were at a fairly high altitude.

As for the others not experiencing that, if perhaps they had been at a higher altitude than you recent to your hike, then they would already have been aclimatized...that's really the only thing I can see, other then possibly it having to do with whatever you ate before the hike.

[TGR74]

added to that dehydration in higher altitudes will sap you quickly. It's usually drier and cooler and it's easier to forget to drink. You lose water by panting heavily when breathing as well.

[luisd]

thanks for the replies, I guess at first I got dehydrated and also the altitude of the hike was about 3200 m.

[stewy37]

Were you carrying a pack? That makes a big difference if you aren't used to it. A lot of hiking is controlling your breathing and relaxing.
Your mental state has a lot to do with it. I know when I first put a light pack on in boot camp, I thouhgt it ws heavy as hell, and it kicked my ass. A few years later, I didn't think anything of throwing 100+ lbs on my back and hiking all day with it.

[Technomad]

I had this exact thing happen to me. On a hike, feeling majorly gassed for no reason. It turned out I had gotten mono.

What I failed to realize is that when you're camping out in the woods, you're not sleeping as well, you're not eating your usual diet, and you're not in the usual climate. All this can put stress on your body's immune system, in this weakened state, in close quarters with others, disease in almost any form is more likely to spread. At least, that's what the doc told me, and it sounds legit

My advice then is to go back home, rest up, drink your orange juice, and see a doc if you feel worse.

[Sonny]

This could be just an issue of specificity. You're not used to hiking, you're still in good shape but hiking taxes your body in a way you're unaccustomed to. Some people are affected by this more than others. For example. When I was in training from my Cop test a few years ago, I did a shitload of running at the oval by my house, got in pretty good shape.

One day I decided to meet my buddy for coffee, so I walked. The walk there was all uphill. Inside of 15 minutes I was huffing and puffing near death.