running at sea level, racing elsewhere...

[Kristin Smith]

Hey...I am trying to qualify for the Boston marathon.  I currently live in Charleston, SC, also known as the "low" (and FLAT) country.  I live at sea level. I am very interested in the Utah Valley Marathon in June - it looks like the race begins around 6000ft and drops to 4500 - how will this affect my running? Also, if anyone has any tips on how to knock a 3:59 marathon (Kona, HI '09) to sub 3:40 I would appreciate it!

Kristin

[Jon Allen]

I'm not sure coming to a downhill, high-altitude race will help you much when you train on flat at sea level.  They pretty much cancel each other out, and the downhill can wreck your quads if you don't train on downhills.  Not saying it won't help, just that it's not a sure thing.

As for how to knock time off- consistently run as many miles as you can.  6 days a week.  Sasha has posted lots of other advice like this.  Take a look at many posts here:
http://fastrunningblog.com/forum/index.php/board,3.0.html

Good luck!

[Paul Petersen]

Agree that you probably won't get much performance boost by doing UVM. Downhill running can be hard if you're not used it, and the elevation could slow you down quite a bit as well. You may be better off finding a very flat course close to home.

[Michael Laputka]

Based on the Utah Race Time Predictor on this site if you ran the Ogden Marathon (5400 feet to 4300 feet) in 3:59, you would be able to run a flat sea level marathon in 3:51:20.  I'm guessing the Utah Valley Marathon is not part of the predictor tool because it a new marathon.  Using the Ogden Marathon data should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

Runners out here in Utah usually flock to flat sea level courses to pick up a few minutes.  If you're thinking a down hill marathon will help you pick up a better time you might be in for a big surprise.  If the downhill doesn't beat you into submission, the altitude will finish you off, assuming you're not conditioned for either.

Please come out and enjoy the beautiful Utah landscape, but it's far from a marathon PR mecca, except for St. George.  Maybe that's the one you should be checking out?