if lower altitude means faster times, why are all world records not strategically set in death valley??

Edward Teach wrote:

Today Death Valley will be between 32 and 60 degrees. In fact it won't be over 80 all week. Can some letsrunner in California go there and time trial a mile and tell us how it compares to his mile times at sea level?

Pretty funny this topic came up... I am traveling to LA in March for a concert and am planning a side trip to Death Valley because I've always wanted to run there, and I was planning on doing a time trial to see if there was a difference. Kind of sounds perfect. Now to find a track.

Metric Miler wrote:

Maybe if you reinvented the sport so that the fastest times of the year were more important then you may have a point.

No he wouldn't.

This, exactly. Rieti in Italy is roughly +400 meters. Several WR set there at distances between 800 and 3000 meters. Komen's 7:20.67 was at Rieti.

HardLoper wrote:

Lower altitude is SLOWER because the air is more sense, and you're not able to process that extra oxygen anyway. Lack of oxygen doesn't play a factor until nearly 2500' of altitude. Ideal altitude for distance events would probably be 1500'+ above sea level and even higher for the 800m where many fast times have been run at 5000' or more.

peonlittlepeople wrote:

This, exactly. Rieti in Italy is roughly +400 meters. Several WR set there at distances between 800 and 3000 meters. Komen's 7:20.67 was at Rieti.

HardLoper wrote:

Lower altitude is SLOWER because the air is more sense, and you're not able to process that extra oxygen anyway. Lack of oxygen doesn't play a factor until nearly 2500' of altitude. Ideal altitude for distance events would probably be 1500'+ above sea level and even higher for the 800m where many fast times have been run at 5000' or more.

Zurich is at a higher elevation than Rieti. A few world records have been set there too.

I know, I don't think low altitude will necessarily be faster at all. I meant that even if Death Valley was the fastest pace to run due to altitude, he may only have a point if the racing season was restructured (moved to winter) to allow fast races to be attempted in a place that is normally very hot.

I was just destroying his reasons for advocating Death Valley as a good place to run. That was probably not even necessary as most people on this thread, including yourself, recognise it is a terrible idea and that 'Death Valley not even being that hot' is BS.

by definition, McAllen Texas and Laredo Texas are the hottest cities year around, and have the most days over 90 degrees.

zodd wrote:

Pretty funny this topic came up... I am traveling to LA in March for a concert and am planning a side trip to Death Valley because I've always wanted to run there, and I was planning on doing a time trial to see if there was a difference. Kind of sounds perfect. Now to find a track.

Stay at the Furnace Creek Ranch...if money isn't a huge object go with the Furnace Creek Resort. Beautiful settings. Ranch has a nice steakhouse/restaurant (great breakfast too)...this is the one with the kinda cool General Store and Golf Course on premises (along with pool, basketball courts, tennis courts, etc) Resort is visually stunning and has some great views. Make a trip to the Borax Museum, it's kinda cool for a quick 30 minute or so trip and is right next to the hotel.

Death Valley is awesome. March is a great time to go. Hopefully some of the wildflowers are blooming, as they are spectacular. Make sure to stop at the parking lot on top of Father Crowley..it's another cool view.

Your definition of hottest must vary from mine, which is fair.

Somewhere in Ethiopia has the highest average high temperature annually, Death Valley is close behind.

Death Valley boasts highest air and highest ground temps ever recorded.

On average, 190 days a year are over 90F.

I haven't found mention of Texas in any of the lists I have been looking at.

Actually all of you are wrong. El Azizya Lybia has the hottest temperature ever recorded, and also averages much hotter than death valley during all summer months. As far as whose hottest in on earth in august, its probably somewhere in Webb County Texas. Many days in august are well over 150 degrees in Roma Texas (webb county) when you include the humidity factor, which deserts like death valley don't have. I spent my entire life in Phoenix Az, never had any problems with the heat there. Spent 1 fall in McAllen Tx and 1 spring in Webb county Tx, and I was absolutely dying to get back to phoenix. You haven't felt real heat until you have been to Texas west of the rio grande valley

Pecos Texas in may is the hottest place in America.

Isn't west of the Rio Grande Valley in Mexico?

peonlittlepeople wrote:

Isn't west of the Rio Grande Valley in Mexico?

West of the valley would be Laredo or trans-pecos (big bend) region.

I have been to all 50 national parks, and there are NONE of them that are worth spending an entire 5 days at.

the only one that's even remotely worth spending 1 ENTIRE day at is big bend national park in texas. grand canyon may be worth a couple of hours, but BIG Bend in texas is the only one worth sending an entire day at.

of course, I also believe texas is also the only state worth living in full time. big bend is also the only national park you can visit year around and its not freezing Antarctic weather. next to big bend national park is big bend state park, which is about 20x more impressive than any national or global park that ive ever been to. the terrain is absolutely unbelievable and remarkable.

DO NOT GO TO THIS PART OF THE COUNTRY WITHOUT AN ELABORATE MAP, LOTS OF SUPPLIES, AND A PERSON WHO IS FAMILIAR WITH THE AREA. IT IS THE MOST REMOTE, YET BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON EARTH. THIS AREA IS WHAT THE AMERICAN WEST IS ALL ABOUT. ITS THE STUFF DREAMS ARE MADE OF. DO YOU KNOW WHAT MONUMENT VALLEY IS? AFTER GOING TO BIG BEND, YOU WILL FINALLY UNDERSTAND WHY ALL THESE WESTERN MOVIES SAY THAT MONUMENT VALLEY IS IN TEXAS. THERE ARE GLOBS AND GLOBS AND GLOBS OF MONUMENT-VALLEY LOOKING THINGS IN THIS AREA. BIG BEND IS A FANTASY LAND. ITS THE STUFF DREAMS ARE MADE OF. AFTER GOING HERE, YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHY TEXAS IS MORE ASSOCIATED WITH THE OLD WEST THAN ANY OTHER STATE. THIS LAND WILL MAKE YOU FEEL AS IF YOU ARE ON A MARS OR JUPITER OR SOME FOREIGN PLANET, BECAUSE THE SHAPES AND LANDFORMS THAT EXIST THERE DONT EXIST ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD.

big bend makes all of utahs parks combined looked like a small little non-impressive garbage dump.

The Libyan measurement is disputed and was declared invalid by the World Meteorological Organization. Death Valley has the highest recorded and verified air and ground temperatures ever (56.7C and 93.9 C).

The average temperatures across the summer months are very similar. Both are an average of ~39C in July. Libya is slightly hotter on average by 0.3C, you are right there.

Why don't we build a track 2 miles underground in a mine shaft?

Death Valley in May averages 98F for the highest temperature each day.

Pecos, 91F.

http://www.m.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php?s=62137&cityname=Pecos-Texas-United-States-of-America

http://www.m.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php?s=746191&cityname=Death-Valley-California-United-States-of-America

steve sanders wrote:

Pecos Texas in may is the hottest place in America.

That may be vert well so, but the hottest place that is an actual city is McAllen.

go to Wikipedia and pull the date for both phoenix and McAllen. McAllen annual daily high is 5 degrees hotter than phoenix. so by definition, no other American city has a higher daily average than McAllen.

Traveled a lot in the West and South. Hard to imagine a place hotter than Laredo. It has the hottest all time temperature recorded in Texas, 129.6 degrees.

geo professor wrote:

Dreams to Reality wrote:

Because its 100-120 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley. Find a place below sea level with no win, zero humidity, and temps around 60 degrees.

only in the summer.

from October thru april, death valley is one of the coldest places in north America.

haven't ever taken a basic geography class, have you?

The better question is, have YOU?

Death Valley is certainly NOT even close to being one of the coldest places in North America in any month.

I'm calling BS on your being a geo prof.

How low can u go wrote:

Why don't we build a track 2 miles underground in a mine shaft?

It would be too hot and humid. The cost of air con would be too high.

There probably are races in mines far underground. Worth a google at least?