I was on a date recently and the guy was talking about how he goes snowboarding, skiing, etc. He mentioned that it was harder in Aspen and he struggled with the altitude. I mentioned that I had trained at altitude in Colorado north of Boulder and it took some time to get used to. He said he couldn't imagine altitude training being anything but good for you even if you have to slow down.
I then tried to explain how exactly it affected me. I was running 70 mpw at sea level and dropped down to 50-60 mpw before I could build back up, and even then had to cut back on harder interval workouts. Having mostly talked to runners (I am now out in the real world) this type of jargon is natural to me but I noticed that his attitude seemed to change and it felt like he almost felt intimidated that I was running this type of mileage at altitude. Now this guy doesn't look like he is in bad shape and seems to work out regularly but just is not very good at cardio like I am since that's all I train for (I'm sure he is much better at skiing, snowboarding, etc. than I am).
Anyway it got me thinking. After now having been out on more dates in "the real world", I find that some guys, even ones who seem to work out/are in shape, find it intimidating that I run a lot. Maybe not the guys of Letsrun, since most of you guys train competitively and are fast, but the average guy in the general population. I would think runners aren't that intimidating... I mean I am not very muscular at all.