For Whom the Dogs Bark

Woke up early in SLC this morning and did 6.0 treadmill miles at about a 10 minute pace.  Then went to my son-in-law's graduation and broke away in the afternoon for a drive down to Provo to run.  I hooked up with my brother and we ran 7.1 in Provo Canyon at 8:53 per mile, slightly slower than marathon pace.  We started about a mile and a half above Vivian Park on the South Fork Road where we parked a car, ran down to the main road then down the paved trail to the parking lot at the mouth of the canyon, driving back up to retrieve the car. 

The object today was to get some familiarity with the course and get in some running at altitude, but more importantly to see how big of an impediment the altitude is going to be for me.  It is a big impediment.  I can write it off to a few factors that wouldn't be present on race day:  running in the afternoon, second run of the day, rusty legs from not running outside all week, not wearing racing flats, no taper, etc.  Some of that might mitigate, but the fact is I struggled to maintain pace at this altitude.  I could have run it harder, but it wasn't easy enough and I am skeptical about being able to do it for the whole distance.  I assumed that low temperatures and downhill would compensate for altitude, but that did not happen today.  At sea level, I ran better in the heat on flat terrain as recently as a week ago.  I realized the obvious, which is that altitude is a limiting factor rather than an adjustment factor.  You might get better at running in altitude, but you will always be faster at sea level.

So not sure whether to go ahead and do this race.  I have heard they are flexible about deferring entry fees and I haven't bought a plane ticket yet, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal financially.  But I hate to change plans.

Anyway, my wife and I had a wonderful time in Utah.  My son-in-law graduated from medical school at the U, wearing his red gown with unusual pride for a BYU grad.  He said he requested blue and was politely refused -- maybe not so politely.  Also got to see both brothers who live in the area, running with one, as well as visit my uncle and aunt, my son and his wife, and my wife's brother and his wife who are both running UVM.  We ate at a great restaurant on 13th East called Market Street Grill.  I look forward to more visits so I can work my way through their extensive seafood menu.  Today I started by ordering steak.