Altitude Training

I made it out to Arizona last weekend for some family affairs and managed to squeeze in 1 run last Friday, a 4.5 miler at a pretty slow pace (8:13 min/mile). Feeling a bit slow, I tried picking things up a bit today and finished a 3.8 miler at a 7:43 min/mile pace. After a 7:47 mile 1, a did the next 1.5 miles at a 7:00 min/mile pace. I then walked for ~2 minutes (which is included in the overall time) and did the next 1.25 miles up a slow incline at a slightly less than 8 min/mile pace. The run felt good, although I would have preferred to do the 'tempo' at a slightly slower pace (7:10 - 7:20) and keep it up a little longer.

Also of interest is the comparison between Arizona a Connecticut running. From the graphic, it is easy to see that each has it's problems: Arizona is the altitude (1100'), while Connecticut has the hills (110' change). I'm not certain which is harder. I was having a tough time in Arizona, but that could have also been from the cold I was fighting off (thank you Airborne, nothing like 1600 % of the recommended dose of Vitamin C to take out the legs of a cold). I work for Pfizer, and find it hard to believe that companies like ours haven't tried something like this before - I will pay $5.00 everytime I travel, just for a slim chance that the stuff will work - nothing is worse than getting sick on a trip.

The trip home went well. I got, amongst other things, an iPod Shuffle. I already had an MP3 player, but it was getting a bit old, and it's nice to be able to clip it onto your shirt and forget about it. Now I just need to hit the old bbc6 and see what passes for hip nowadays (besides Lily Allen).