After moving up to the mountains last July I pretty much gave up road running in favor the more exciting mountain trail running. This change made me realize that using my GPS to track my pace and mileage really did not provide a lot of value. When running the mountains I really only care about the amount of time running and the elevation gain. For example, over the last 6 months I have spent 77 hours in the mountains with a total vertical gain 38,485 feet.
With this new mindset I decided to throw out my Garmin forerunner and switch to using the Highgear Alti-XTss watch/altimeter. It has a barometric altimeter which calculates altitude based on barometric pressure, not GPS, which is a more accurate type of tool for tracking vertical gain.
So my plan now is to just post a weekly log of my elevation low, high, and total gain.
01/21/2014
Tue-PM: 0:40, Elevation Low: 377′ High: 400′, Total Gain: 23′ ~ Irving, TX
Short out and back near hotel. Not a very hospitable place to run, but found a short grass path along the canal under all the freeway over passes.
01/22/2014
Wed-AM: 1:05, Elevation Low: 427′ High: 451, Total Gain: 24′ ~ Arlington, TX
Fun morning run with co-workers from Portland and Madison at River Legacy Park.
01/26/2014
Sun-AM: 1:08, Elevation Low: 6308′ High: 7102, Total Gain: 794′ ~ Prescott, AZ
Back from Texas and loving being back in the mountains. Broke away from Sunday birthday activities for a mid morning run up Mount Francis. Very warm morning, felt tired at start, but gained my strength around 35min into climb.
Hours: 2h53
Vert: 851
Had to travel this week to DFW for work so did not get in much running. Will be spending the next few days getting in some longer runs then plan to tapper off Thursday to rest up for the Sedona Marathon on Feb 1st.
Carlos Gabaldon 