Racing at Elevation

[Lybi]

I am preparing to run the Striders Half Marathon in Ogden in April.  I have a certain time in mind that I would like to beat; just wondering how much the elevation with impact my performance.  Is anyone aware of a chart like the tinman temperature chart for adjusting pace at altitude?  I train somewhere around 1250 ft. above sea level, and Ogden is around 5,000.   It might be higher where the actual race is run, not sure.  ANY input would be appreciated!

[Paul Petersen]

You might check Noakes' "Lore of Running" book for altitude charts. Better yet, try the runworks.com calculator.

Off the top of my head, you might see a performance hit of close to 1:30 for going from 1000' up to 5000'. However, you will get a performance gain by racing in cool weather. I would expect start-line temps to be around 45 degrees or so for the Striders Half. By late March/early April, what kind of weather do you run in out in PHX? 80 degrees or so? I think the elevation vs. the temp may offset.

Personal experience: I lived in Mesa for a summer while doing an internship in Tempe. I was also training about 80 miles/week for my senior year of XC that summer. Since I was in college, I was too lazy to get up early and run, so I'd run after work in 105-110 degree heat every day. After a couple months I adapted to it, and got to the point I would run 11-12 miles without needing water. Occasionally I'd go up to Flagstaff or Prescott for field work, and would run there. What a treat! Despite going up nearly 6000' in elevation, my runs felt easier up in Flag...because I got such a performance increase from running in 60-degree evening temps rather than 100-degree.

Kind of long-winded, but the point is that I don't think you should worry about the elevation much. You will definitely not feel it on the first half of the race, which is downhill. You will probably feel it the last half, but I do not think it will inhibit your goal time much.

[Maria Imas]

Lybi, I had only one personal experience running at elevation, and it was in Flagstaff where I attended Greg McMillan's running camp. I have to say that elevation affected me a LOT. It basically kicked my butt - big time. The first day we went for an easy 4-miler in the Buffalo park, which is flat as a pancake, and I was huffing and puffing and running 9:00-9:15 pace, whereas at home (100 ft.) I was easily doing 8:30. I also had headaches for the first 3 days. It got better after 2-3 days as I acclimated somewhat, but then we decided to run a x-country 5K race at 5000 ft. - what a joke that was! It was very appropriately called "Gaspin' in the Aspen". The terrain was ridiculously hilly, and with elevation, it became a race for survival, not the time. I finished in something like 31 min - my slowest 5K by far! It would be interesting to hear Bonnie's thoughts as she was there as well (I just don't remember if she ran this crazy race).

That said, reaction to elevation gain is individual and you may feel it less than I did. My advice is 1)to arrive as early as possible so you can acclimate, and 2) forget about your time goal and run by EFFORT, not any pre-determined pace.

[Bonnie]

First off, Buffalo Park is not flat ;-), secondly, I did not run the "gaspn' in the aspen" - mainly because I have more sense than "some people".  It was at the xc ski park - at 8,000ft I think.  Maria is a studette ... that is all I can say about that!  I know that she went on to run a 5k after getting back to Jersey and even in the heat had a pretty good race.  And, like a sage, she gives great advise on how to approach the race!

If you can acclimate for at least 5 days before the race it will be easier, but still hard.  I found that it took me almost two months to get used to running here in Salt Lake City (and it is only 4300 ft) comfortably.  That said, you feel the altitude more going uphill, so depending on how hilly the 1/2 is (I think it is pretty downhill) it won't be quite as bad.  There are tables that give adjustments for NCAA atheletes to qualify for national meets when they race at altitude.  For a 10K in Ogden the divison III women (who still run faster than us but get a bigger break than Division I athletes) get a 65 second adjustment.  For those of us that run slower than these college speedsters the penalty will be even greater.  Personally, I would give yourself at least 15 secs/mile for the first part of the race and if you are feeling good at halfway speed it up a bit (maybe a 3 min window for the altitude based on what you would expect to run on a nice flat sea level course).

The thing about altitude is that it affects different people differently, and it has nothing to do with what kind of shape you are in it just is that some people adapt easier than others.  Maybe you will not even feel it!!

Bonnie