2 teams, 2 paths to playing at altitude
Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, site of Sunday’s game between the Raiders and Patriots, sits about 7,200 feet above sea level. How the two teams are preparing to play at that altitude is a study in contrasting strategies.
The Patriots are practicing all week at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., roughly at the same elevation as Mexico City, ostensibly adjusting their bodies to the conditions. The Raiders are practicing at their facility in Alameda, just above sea level, and flying into Mexico City on Saturday, taking virtually no time to acclimate at all.
“There are two schools of thought,” said Jared Berg, an exercise physiologist at the CU Sports Medicine and Performance Center in Boulder, Colo.
“And they’re both correct.”
Adjusting to high elevations can affect sleeping patterns, appetite and breathing rates given a relative lack of oxygen. The worst thing an athlete can do, Berg said, is arrive two to four days before a competition, giving those effects just enough time to manifest themselves.
The Patriots played Sunday in Denver and will have spent eight nights in Colorado by the time they travel to Mexico City, giving them extra time to get used to the thin air. The Raiders, as they do for games in Denver, are hoping to get in and out before the altitude can affect them.
The change is not as significant as it would be for, say, a marathon runner. Football is composed mostly of anaerobic activity — short bursts powered by processes that don’t use oxygen. At high altitude, though, that kind of activity produces more lactate, which can lower pH levels in the blood and affect performance over the course of four 15-minute quarters, Berg said.
“The low pH will actually interfere with muscle contractions,” Berg said. “So their sprints won’t be as fast, pushes off the line won’t be as big. Everything will start to deter as a game goes on.”
Peter Hackett, an altitude expert who started the Institute for Altitude Medicine in Telluride, Colo., said that while it’s unlikely the Mexico City altitude will affect strength output, players will be breathing harder and have higher heart rates. Air at that elevation is 22 percent less dense than at sea level, Hackett said, meaning there’s 22 percent less oxygen. Both teams will surely have oxygen on their sidelines.
“Probably the No. 1 thing they’re going to notice is they might feel a little more breathless,” Hackett said. “The wide receivers and the cornerbacks and anybody that’s got to do a lot of footwork and run for 10 seconds or so, they’re going to feel the altitude more.”
The Raiders can point to last season as support for their plan. Playing the first regular-season NFL game held in Mexico since 2005, the Raiders flew in the day before and had enough left in the tank to mount two fourthquarter touchdown drives in a 27-20 win over the Houston Texans. Players and coaches said preparation this week has been similar.
“They have us in here on the bikes with like a little mask over our face that’s supposed to kind of simulate how the altitude is,” said cornerback David Amerson. “But to be honest with you, last year, I don’t know if it’s just because you’re so locked into the game or what the case may be, but I didn’t really notice it that bad.”
Other Raiders downplayed the effects of the altitude change. Receiver Amari Cooper said: “It didn’t really bother me at all.” Cornerback T.J. Carrie said that, “Playing in that atmosphere of Denver, you kind of know how to get your body ready. … That may be extra running, or extra things you feel will benefit yourself.”
Head coach Jack Del Rio agreed the conditions at Azteca Stadium last year were “very similar” to away games in Denver, despite a difference of about 2,000 feet.
“Mexico City has a little more elevation and a little more air pollution,” Del Rio said. “Certainly understanding the climate there and the challenges there with the altitude and the pollution — that’s just part of it. All in all, I thought we handled our business well last year, and we’ve got a similar approach this year.”
It counters that of the Patriots, though New England head coach Bill Belichick said of practicing this week in Colorado Springs: “I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”
“The way the schedule worked out, this worked out for us,” Belichick said on a conference call. “We’re here and we’re just doing the best we can to get ready for the game.”
Hackett said the contrasting approaches to the altitude make Sunday’s game “kind of a controlled experiment.”
“But there won’t be any data except the score,” he said, “which doesn’t tell you that much.”