Best cities to train in?

East Cleveland, Ohio /

Yeah, it's especially good for speed work.

Asuza

Anchorage

Cedar City, UT

picking up on the international theme......

English south coast is a good suggestion - especially Poole

India, especially New Delhi is not so good.

Definitely not Paris

I would guess the answer is either one of the Colorado cities, Flagstaff, or Mammouth Lakes, but since I've only been to one (Boulder) briefly, I will throw a in vote for Dubuque, Iowa.

Eh? Didn't think anyone would support a small Iowa town, huh? Lots of...LOTS of hills and some good wooded trails to the north of town with a 26 mile limestone trail that runs south of town. And it's quiet despite the 60k people.

dirty qwerty wrote:

Cedar City, UT

This is probably a pretty good answer. Good altitude, lots of dirt road/trails options. Winter weather doesn't get too bad.

I'm really surprised that nobody has mentioned anything on the San Francisco Peninsula apart from SF itself (which really isn't that great of a training city unless you live near GG park or the pacific coast side of the city. I would think that someone would have said Palo Alto. My personal choice for city in the region would go to Los Gatos or Cupertino. Both cities have great weather and have access to countless miles of trails with only a couple of miles tops of any residence in the city. The entire peninsula is filled with dirt roads and trails running all through the mountains of the region and they more or less all connect to each other. Cost of living is an issue here, unfortunately.

This thread is not "which city do you live in?"

shsgfd wrote:

This thread is not "which city do you live in?"

Nice try. I don't live in any of those 3 cities. I lived in Logan, Ut. for a couple of years and liked training there, but the winters were too cold for year round training. I grew up in the south bay and have experience running most of the trails on the lower peninsula.

I stand by my assertions that all 3 cities would be fantastic training locales.

I would also like to mention the very active running scene in the bay area, which includes a couple of very competitive all comers meet series. Plus, the Pacific Association of USATF is quite active, with a number of good cross country races in the late summer into the fall

I'd definitely have to put College Park, GA up there.

Sorry Coach B, wasn't directly responding to you, just the majority of posters.

Flagstaff is a great place to train from June until November-December but sucks ass from January-through April.

bigapple wrote:

Fizzy O'Logic wrote:

Manhattan, KS

manhattan kansas? are you joking? the only kind of person who considers manhattan kansas a great place to train is someone who's never lived anywhere else.

Lots of gravel roads with little traffic. Weather isn't too bad. Smaller town. No air quality problems. Country roads are on square mile grids so you can get good splits. I don't see a problem.

Los Angeles

I have been travelled around the US fairly extensively and run any where I travel. These are my top 10 in order:

TIE for 10th

10. West Los Angeles/Santa Monica, CA-Perfect weather, ocean view runs, road races galore, and some great trails and a history of running greatness puts West LA into the picture.

10.Indianapolis, IN-Road races every weekend, easy access to trails, greenbelt by the canal, great track meets, good track facilities, cold in the winter.

9.Palos Verdes, CA-Fantastic weather, beatiful scenery and miles and miles of soft surface trails.

8.Eugene, OR-Decent variety and moderate weather along with the atmosphere puts Eugene in my top 10.

7.Missoula, MT-Beautiful trails, perfect weather in the summer and fall. Winters are tough.

6.Bloomington, IN-Great trails from IU, hundreds of miles of single track trails on rolling hills within 20 miles. Winter can get cold and a little snowy.

5.Spokane, WA-Would be higher if the winter's were not so ferocious. Great trail system, big races (Bloomsday)and scenery make Spokane a great place to train.

4.Mammoth Lakes, CA-Great trails, can run high or low within 30 minute drive. Untrainable winters and expensive resort style town is only down sides.

3.Boulder, CO-Awesome trails, altitude, running community makes Boulder one of the best

2.Flagstaff, AZ-More raw than Boulder, great trails, parks, running community. Can live high and train low. Nice indoor training facility if you can gain access to it.

1.Boise, ID-The best place I have ever trained. Hundreds of miles of trails in the foothills, greenbelt by the river, a multitude of parks and mild winters makes Boise number 1.

Note: I have heard great things about Belllingham WA, Colorado Springs CO and Salt Lake City UT, but have not spent enough time in those locations to check it out for myself.

This guy above me has a good list. I do think he has Boise a little overrated but it is a great place to train.

I think Bend (Oregon) is as good as any town on this list as well. There is a ridiculous amount of great running in Bend.

flaminghipster wrote:

Not Pittsburgh, Pa

______________________

Well, that is partly true.

First, why do you say this?

The "downtown" section, yes, is horrible for running.

The outlying areas, like most cities, can be very good.

Take for instance North Park , South Park or any of the numerous rail-to-trail section within the outer Pittsburgh areas ( by this, I mean within 10 miles) of the triangle itself.

I recently ran on the rail-to-trail by the airport. It had every 1/4 mile marked. I ran on a conder packed trail, went through stone built original train tunnels that went through hillsides. I thought it was very cool!

The area can be depressing, with many rundown homes, and older cars. Not many people in the area can boast making 100k I'm sure.

But, you can buy a house for 40k.

Redondo Beach (Los Angeles)

i think traveling runner has had the most educational post by far. i think in determining "best cities to train", we should make a criteria that you have to have atleast lived in more than three places NOT in the same state, because it seems as though everyone on here is just stating the city they live in.

detroit - no way.

anywhere in kansas - sorry, no way.

LA - no way.

houston - no way.

i think about 99% of the midwest i'd say "no way" to. crappy winters + no running community = no way.

if you think you really have a running community, you need to visit Flagstaff or Boulder, then re-analyze. i can assure you no place in the US can beat either of these two.