Track and Field Blogs - RunDMC

I ran a 10K here in Mammoth over the weekend and suggested to a friend that the altitude was probably worth about 2 minutes. He had the genius idea of looking it up in the NCAA Altitude Adjustment Table.

The closest approximation is Gunnison, CO (7703 ft). Mammoth races are ~7900. For the 10K, the adjustment is 6.38%. 10K D1 Men gets 114 seconds, however the closest to my time of 38:14 is DIII Women at 38:10 for altitude which is a 142.4 second adjustment. So I think my 2min estimate is reasonable, maybe even conservative especially considering hills. The tables are meant for track races.

My 5:06 in the Mammoth Freedom Mile gets about a 13 second adjustment or ~4.2%. Shorter races require less time in O2 Debt so the adjustment is less.

Now I have some proof, hopefully based on scientific data, that my running times here can be converted to a meaningful sea level time.

Now I need to work on an Attitude Adjustment…