A little visit to sea level

This week im back in NY for a graduation and family time and its going to be a great opportunity to track the progress of my hard training. I should also add into the mix that im coming off a quad injury (which is proving more of a detriment then the ankle), and gaining my strength back after being on my death bed from food poisoning.

2.05 mi run with a 800m finish on the Gates Chili HS track= 13:06 pace = 6:24 (it was mainly up hill.

Then a time trial 1mile at 6:11 pace

Concluding with a 1.5 mile run home into 30 mph winds. 10:11 pace=6:42

So what are the differences that I've found from the mountains to here? To be honest, not very much. I was recovering quickly in Boulder from hard hills and increased pace. Here I just recover slightly quicker. The 6:30 or better pace here though did seem to be less painful overall, and I was a lot more relaxed. Im not sure if I was relaxed because im familiar with the terrain though.

Feelings aside, I took a look at the numbers from my ontri account. The greatest thing about the sport of running is that the numbers dont lie. Of course times cant be compared from one run to the next unless its all done on a track but my findings have a conclusion. Running at alt. I pace an average of 6:40 to 7:17 for runs under 5 miles and 7:17 to 8:10 on runs longer.

At sea level im running a lifetime average of 5:30 to 6:55 for runs @3miles or less. I dont have any long run comparison because I've never done one before.

So we can conclude that there is a 30 second per mile "conversion."

Since 30 seconds is borderline not that much time, im going to stick to my guns and say that alt training really doesnt help all that much. It puts more stress on the body which can be used to mentally prepare for harder run races, thats about it! The mental aspect and a slew of other factors are involved here, so just go out and bring your A game!