There is a group of upperclass Canadian collegiate athletes looking to train at altitude for 1 or 2 months before our final XC season next year.
Where is the best place to go taking into consideration:
Cost
Altitude
Training environment
Available facilities
Etc.
Thanks
JDS wrote:
There is a group of upperclass Canadian collegiate athletes looking to train at altitude for 1 or 2 months before our final XC season next year.
Where is the best place to go taking into consideration:
Cost
Altitude
Training environment
Available facilities
Etc.
Thanks
Where are you coming from? What is your expectation re: rent? What do you mean by training environment?...other people to run with? Established training groups to join? Scenery? Trails?
Flagstaff or Park City. Nowhere else really compares.
nothing comes close to colorado springs, their are dozens upon dozens of local races all through the year all filled with Olympic trial qualifiers and other top notch pros who show up just to get some miles in at a competitive level, in addition to being at altitude, much higher altitide is within 10 miles, when i was training for pikes this august i saw tons of pros up top of pikes that would be up their jogging for the extra red blood cell boost or just hanging out leisurely having coffee soaking in 14k feet. This kind of stimulus can't be paralleled anywhere else in the country.
My favorite place to train high is Grand Lake, CO. You have access to RMNP, so you are surrounded by trails. You can either run hills going up into the park or hit flats along the shores of Shadow Mountain, Granby or Monarch Lakes. Elevation 8400'. Lodging is a little pricey, but you can probably find a decent couple of month rental that wouldn't be too crazy. The advantage of being on the West Side of the Divide rather than the east (Colorado Springs or Boulder side) is the trails are less crowded, less eroded, less polluted and tend to be a more gradual slope (a lot of the trails outside of Springs and Boulder are pretty steep and rocky).
joedirt wrote:
My favorite place to train high is Grand Lake, CO. You have access to RMNP, so you are surrounded by trails. You can either run hills going up into the park or hit flats along the shores of Shadow Mountain, Granby or Monarch Lakes. Elevation 8400'. Lodging is a little pricey, but you can probably find a decent couple of month rental that wouldn't be too crazy. The advantage of being on the West Side of the Divide rather than the east (Colorado Springs or Boulder side) is the trails are less crowded, less eroded, less polluted and tend to be a more gradual slope (a lot of the trails outside of Springs and Boulder are pretty steep and rocky).
I do like Grand Lake, but during the summer it's a bit of a zoo and the Park is pretty busy.
My vote for a realistic and cheap place to train would be Salida (7000ft) or Buena Vista (8000ft) CO. Both are nice, small towns. Touristy, but not as much as Grand Lake or any of the resort towns in CO (I live in Vail).
Both have immediate access to 10-14,000ft elevations, tons of trails, and hot springs. A few breweries and restaurants between them. You can drive up to Leadville (10,500ft w/ a track) or over to Gunnison/Crested Butte for something different.
Santa Fe - 7200 feet. Higher than Boulder and much less pesky snow than Flagstaff and Mammoth.
Tahoe is moderately cheap. You can rent a house for a month or two at a reasonable cost if you shop around a bit. Every year there are a couple of groups of college kids from California doing their summer at altitude up there.
Trail elevations range from 7000 feet to 12000 feet. There are lots of choices for hilly runs and a few choices for moderately flat runs. Almost no choice of asphalt running, pretty much all dirt or decomposed granite trails.
Multiple grocery stores in town, some good bars, obviously the lake is fantastic, and it is all not too crowded in the summer, since the main tourist season is winter. Also no meth problem like there is in Flagstaff.
To drop out of elevation a little for track work, Reno isn't too far or Sacramento is a little farther if you want to get all the way down from elevation.
Truckee is similar but usually a little cheaper and the bars will be a little divier and the lake is a little warmer and not as clear. Still nice though.
Oh and incredible stream fishing all around both towns.
Alamosa CO, home of Adams State. You'll get in great shape because there is nothing to do there except run, eat, and sleep.
Colorado Springs is solid but not as good as Flagstaff or Santa Fe.
Flagstaff has amazing trails, NAU indoor track, ability to quickly get to Sedona, Camp Verde or north Phoenix for low altitude work and warmer weather.