Raptured wrote:
I live at almost exactly 4500' in SLC. I haven't raced a hard 2 mile anywhere in a long time, but mile repeats here, for example, are at essentially the exact same pace that they would be at sea level, maybe 1 second slower. Any serious local runner would laugh at you if you tried to spot someone 10-12 seconds for a 2 mile here.
"Serious local runners" might laugh, but only because they have little meaningful information about the issue. Anyone remotely familiar with NCAA or high-level high school track in the west would laugh at you for suggesting that 4500 feet slows a person down by 1 sec/mile.
For example, Zach Perrin, Adam Peterman, Troy Fraley, Makena Morley, Paige Gilchrest and Chris Herrick are good Montana HS runners who all went to Arcadia this year. And all ran lifetime PRs in their one sea-level race of the year, right at the beginning of the season, in times that they have not subsequently come within 15-20 seconds of back in MT (sometimes running lower than 4500 feet).
All of these people have grown up at elevation.
At Montana State University (4800 feet) I have never seen any of the top distance runners run a PR at home, or even come close. They get many, many races at 3000-5000 feet and only 1-2 per year at sea level. Guys who can run 8:50 in the steeple rarely get under 9:15 in Bozeman. Guys who can break 8:40 have never run under 9:00 at home. Low 14 5,000m guys very rarely run faster than 14:45.
This happens year after year after year. If you don't think 4500 feet slows a 3200 down, you simply aren't paying attention.[/quote]
This is dead on.
Except Perrin didn't run a lifetime PR at Arcadia this year. That was at Arcadia last year.[quote]sc42 wrote: