From Shonna Litton Brown (Visit her Instagram!)

“Big thanks to Boost Oxygen and glad to have it now to use, even for normal training, for racing at sea level! Also a shout out to the shop I ride for West Coast Paddle Sports in San Diego for providing a great shop with fun people and all the necessary gear. Also, big thanks to the owners at King’s Paddle Sports Dave and Rhonda Daum who provide top of the line custom boards for racing and surfing.”

Shonna’s Story:  Shonna is a competitive stand up paddle board racer from California. She traveled from her home at sea level in San Diego to Lake Tahoe race this past summer. Being from sea level there was some concern about racing 5+ miles at-altitude, on a stand up raceboard, as she had raced at lower altitudes before and felt the effects. Studies show that at least 20% of visitors to an altitude over 5,500 feet will experience some form of altitude sickness and scientifically it would take 3 weeks for the body to fully acclimate. With Tahoe being at 6,225 feet above sea level Shonna definitely did not want to fly all that way to race and not perform well! She spent some time researching a few things that could help with the adjustment to higher altitude and fend off any high altitude effects like headaches, nausea and low athletic performance. After researching it looked like Boost Oxygen would be the best tool to employ along with drinking lots of water and trying to arrive early to acclimate.

It seemed that if professional football players can be seen using oxygen on the side lines then it must have health and athletic benefits. After landing by airplane Shonna went directly to the nearest sporting goods store to pick up a few cans since they cannot fly commercially with you. Once the cans were in hand she started using them right away anytime a feeling of breathlessness or dizziness doing normal things at altitude started to come on and before/after short training runs and paddles. It was very beneficial right away and did put a stop to the altitude headaches that started to creep up.

After the race, she periodically used Boost just to make sure no effects of altitude crept up after such a hard race and to aid in recovery.

Being from sea level thinking much about oxygen is not common, but she has continued using Boost before and after workouts and races even at sea level and does feel a quicker recovery, less fatigue, better concentration and increased athletic performance.

Thank you for sharing your story Shonna! We are very proud to know that we support your passion, performance and results!