Training at 11,600 feet

September 25, 2011

My name is Francisco and I am from La Paz, Bolivia.

I run already seven marathons and thought the next step would be a 50K trail run so I signed up for the North Face Pine Mountain trail run next October 15. I started training in June since earlier this year I had a minor intervention on my legs. For my training, last Sunday I went to a beautiful place called the Moon Valley here in La Paz (picture).

There I run for four hours and thirty minutes.

Although I am from La Paz, it is not easy to train at this altitude, around 11,600 feet above sea level, which is why I thought my story might be interesting. Today, I was scheduled to run 5 hours before starting my three week tapering time but my right leg started to hurt a little so I decided to rest instead of run and, therefore, don’t have a story for today, which was my original intention.

From now on I will take it very easy until the race.

I am so excited about it. Hopefully I will meet many of you in Pine Mountain and have a beautiful trail run.

Until then, Francisco

Comments (4)

  • Carlos says:

    Francisco, best of luck! Just one question: Training at that altitud will be an advantage To run the NFPMM? On one hand the Air is thiner and thus less resistance but on the other less oxigen!

    • Francisco says:

      Carlos, I believe that training at high altitude has pros and cons. The most important pro is red blood cells. Having said that you start to loose them after the fifth day of leaving the high altitude which is indirectly the same as dehydrating which is why I plan to be in Atlanta two days before the race

  • thefightandflightresponse says:

    I spent about a month in Bolivia back in 2006 (gorgeous country!) and remember Moon Valley. Shame that I only got back into running after I got back – would've been a fun place to run! Good luck – hope your leg feels better!

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