If Flagstaff is oversaturated, could Laramie (alt. ~7200 feet) be an alternative for high altitude training?

Have you visited Laramie? The local economy, outside of the campus, is utter crap. No specialist physios, either. And then there's the wind and cold all winter. It's better than Alamosa and Gunnison, certainly. Laramie is undiscovered/overlooked for many, many good reasons.

When and how did Flag become "oversaturated"??

I guess first it has to get saturated.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Altitude does not help enough to make up the negative impacts of how harsh the winter is there.

Ridiculous to suggest this place.

Do NOT live in Laramie.

See above

Flagstaff is expensive for a reason.

It's a great location and the town is decent.

Laramie is cheap for the same reasons.

It's in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming and the town is probably lame ( I don't think I have come through there yet.)

The only good thing is that your presidential election vote has a lot more say then the same vote in California.

Altitude is overrated wrote:

Flagstaff is expensive for a reason.

It's a great location and the town is decent.

Laramie is cheap for the same reasons.

It's in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming and the town is probably lame ( I don't think I have come through there yet.)

The only good thing is that your presidential election vote has a lot more say then the same vote in California.

Laramie is actually seemed like a cool little town when I stopped by in the summer. I'm not going to speak for the winter though. It does seem rather Trumpy for a college town, and very Trumpy once you get outside of town.....but I could see spending a few months there in the summer.

It all comes down to if you can get laid. Trumpy university women? Why not....

Boulder bro, better investment in case running don’t work out

As long as all your runs head East and someone picks you up at the end it would be great.

Ghost of Jason Rexing's Trainers wrote:

When and how did Flag become "oversaturated"??

As soon as they started serving overstuffed sandwiches

For all the posters scared of the wind, you've obviously not lived at >= 7000 feet for any good length of time. if you did, you'd know it gets windy at these elevations (even at Flagstaff). There's no free lunch at higher altitudes at these latitudes.

Earl of Sandwich wrote:

Ghost of Jason Rexing's Trainers wrote:

When and how did Flag become "oversaturated"??

As soon as they started serving overstuffed sandwiches

You have obviously never eaten in a diner in Laramie ... oversized helpings are standard, and expected by the residents.

higheraltitudes wrote:

For all the posters scared of the wind, you've obviously not lived at >= 7000 feet for any good length of time. if you did, you'd know it gets windy at these elevations (even at Flagstaff). There's no free lunch at higher altitudes at these latitudes.

Bullshit.

There was not more wind where I lived6500-10,000ft than anywhere else.

It's not like you are on Everest.

Flagstaff doesn't the intensity or the frequency of winds that Laramie gets. Not even close.

Despite it being snowier, Flagstaff is a year round running paradise. Laramie is... well, not. But feel free to assemble a pro running team there and let me know how it goes.

higheraltitudes wrote:

For all the posters scared of the wind, you've obviously not lived at >= 7000 feet for any good length of time. if you did, you'd know it gets windy at these elevations (even at Flagstaff). There's no free lunch at higher altitudes at these latitudes.

This is not true at all. Geography is way more important than altitude.

Forever wind wrote:

As long as all your runs head East and someone picks you up at the end it would be great.

Exactly this. If you're all about overspeed training relative to aerobic output, then this place is great. Running west can prepare you for long sustained hills even though you're on flat ground. Trump might not like the wind, but runners can use it to their advantage.

Flagstaff is growing FAST. In ten years it went from 58k to 71k. It now stands at just shy of 74k. It was the 9th fastest-growing city in the United States at the time. Flagstaff has also grown by 25% between 2000 and 2010. I don't think living in a hyper growth city is good for running. Cost of living sky rockets, traffic, pollution, lots of construction, hippies, and all kinds of other bad things.

Hence, Laramie is the new opportunity. This is not for people looking for a job outside of running but if you are already sponsored/funded but looking for a base with low cost of living, less hype, and nonsense. Laramie is also more centrally located than Flagstaff (take Denver airport to fly places).