Summer 2013 Pentathlon - and sea level experiments

Last Friday was the longest day of the year. That means time for the 2013 Summer Solstice Pentathlon!
This time we were visiting my mom in Grayland, WA. Elevation about 1 foot. Down significantly from our home in the Mile High City.

We arrived on Saturday the 15th. For Father's Day, the next morning we went for a run on the beach. The plan was for an endurance run until one of us quit. But my son and I are stubborn, so even though I had a cramp in my hamstring and he stressed a tendon in his foot, we ran until we came to a jetty and had to stop. It was just about exactly 6 miles and took just about exactly an hour.

I was able to work my cramp out halfway through the run, but Kellan injured his foot pretty good and limped around for several days. This made for a long 6 mile walk back.

Fast forward one week and we've found a school track to do our quarterly Pentathlon. We're hoping for impressive numbers due to the elevation drop and although Kellan's foot isn't 100%, he decides to push forward.

Below are our numbers. As always, participant's age is next to their name, change from last quarter in black and overall from the beginning in red.

Wade (39):
Push-ups - 58 (-2) (+9)
Sit-up - 60 (0) (+20)
Broad Jump - 80" (-4.125") (-1")
Sit & Reach - 1" (+1") (-.375")
Mile - 6:50 (-:46) (-1:40)

Kellan (13):
Push-ups - 50 (-9) (-5)
Sit-up - 71 (+6) (+23)
Broad Jump - 60" (-4.75") (+9.75")
Sit & Reach - .25" (0") (-1.25")
Mile - 7:03 (-:11) (-2:27)

Thoughts:

Our experiment in elevation blood doping seemed to work well right away. The 6 mile jog was pretty easy and neither of us felt too winded. Bodies gave out well before lungs, and if Kellan hadn't tweaked his foot we would have ran a good part of (if not all) the way back. But after a week of acclimatizing (and partying, staying up late, etc. Hey, we were on vacation!), the mile run for time felt pretty rough.
Consequently, my workout today back at the gym at 5280' elevation seemed particularly rough.

That said, I still cut a good chunk off my mile time and Kellan would have done better, I'm certain, with a foot that was 100%. More surprising was our severe drop in the broad jump. Although it's never been my best event, the fact that we both lost over 4" is interesting. Fatigue? Sea level weight gain? Who knows.