Altitude and acclimating

I am coming back to this region in July 2011 with a running group. As a young adult, I used to work at the Tschieve Hutte for a summer.
I will be coming back to run the Swiss Alpine Marathon with my running group and thought a day trip to the mountains would be a great addition to our trip.
My question is concerning altitute acclimation. We are planning to arrive on a Wednesday and would like to do a day hike up on the following day, Thursday to have lunch at the Tschierva hutte from Pontresina or Take the gondola up to Murtel Station and walk down to Pontresina via a stop at Hotel Roseg for lunch. Will either of these hikes have a negative effect on us and our performance, considering we will be racing on the Sunday?

Regards,

Peter

Hello Peter,

I know the hike from Murtel to Pontresina and have done it myself. If you are in good shape, and I suppose you are because of the Marathon plans, my guess would be that this hike will do no harm at all and will even help you with the altitude acclimation.

More information about this hike can be found here.

I hope this helps. Have a nice trip and a good run!