last night, at 5:30 pm mountain time i headed out for my 'long run'. because my goal race is not for another few months and i'm just coming back from a layoff, my long run is only 1:45. it is done on Sunday, after a swim and bike. this also means that it is done in during the hottest, and right now, most humid time of day. it was over 100 degrees when i began my run and it had barely cooled by the time i was home chugging chocolate milk.
no matter how i pushed, i just couldn't pick up the pace. i felt like i was breathing through a straw.
turns out, i was (figuratively of course).
today, at work, an old army pilot brought me an interesting chart. it's called a "Density Altitude Chart". basically, it states that as the air temp goes up, the oxygen concentration in the air goes down - in essence, your subjective 'altitude' - even if you're at sea level.
Here's a link to the chart:
http://www.igot.net/fly/cfi/files/crosscountry/densaltchrt.pdf
quite interesting.
i live (and usually run) at 3000 ft. last night, i was actually running at 6000. when we bike up the mountain on an equally hot day, we are spending a good 2 hours at over 8000ft.
from now on i'm gonna' try and soak up the sun and reap the benefits of a little altitude training!!
