Running

I've been in Colorado all week, and have been using running as a proxy for the effect of altitude.

I went out and ran a 5k on the first night I was here (which meant it was around 4am UK time at that point) and ran ~23.30.

The next day I went out twice, once for a short trot round the block (twice) then a longer run in the evening, these both felt much harder work - fatigue can't be discounted here I would think.

I ran only the once the next day- a slow 5k after work (28 mins), which was starting to feel more like it - but as I mentioned before I'm a consistent 10 bpm above where I think I should be for the PE.

Thursday I knocked off early and ran down to the local lake - which turned out to be uphill. This confused me.

There and back was 12 miles, for the vast majority of which I was a very unwilling participant if I'm honest. I got home in 1:49, which just beat the sunset - useful here with no streetlights outside the little suburb I'm staying in.

My conclusions are (on running) that my cardiovascular system is having to work harder, which is fine for steady state around tempo, but if I have to push through that (climbing say) then I'm asking a question my lungs can't answer, and the recovery time is a lot longer than I'd expect.

Yesterday I went out and rode the edge of the Rockies, 55 miles around and just over a mile of ascent - checked my SpO2% just before bed (yes, I am that much of a nerd) and I'm still at 92%, where I've been all week since I got here, which is annoying, I'd hoped that I'd have adapted over the course of the week, if not totally then at least a bit.

More running next week, I'll try to get a fast 5k done after work tomorrow - see if I can sustain a proper threshold effort.

I am doubtful, as I'd need to average 185-190 bpm based on my "10 above normal" observations of the week so far.

All of that aside, I'm buggered if I'm not going sub-20 on the Parkrun when I get home.