Daily News, Mon, Mar 17

Did you know there’s an all-women, night time ultra marathon in the Philippines that’s got an aid station with a makeup table? Neither did I.

Despite the cyclone (and a wasp sting for Sage), the Tarawera Ultra in New Zealand went off, with Sage Canaday taking first (again), and newcomer Jo Johannsen leading for the ladies. Full report here.

….speaking of the Kiwis, this sounds like a great event.

Meanwhile stateside, Max King and Ellie Greenwood (yay!), took top honors at the competitive Chuckanut 50k in Washington. Full report here. So two big wins for Montrail, with Nike going 2,3,4 for the fellas.

Good to know: The three thresholds of a tempo run.

Candice on why pain is good.

Former European Steeplechase champ busted for drug trafficking (steroids.)

Great read: The running bum as sad and admirable.

Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim: Superhero Edition.

Zach Bitter blazed to a new American Record on a South Carolina track with a 16:22 200k, over a half hour faster than the old record held by Rae Clark. (that’s 7:54 pace for 122 miles)

What are your thoughts on whether losing weight will make you run faster?

In personal news, I ran my first (post calf injury) race on Saturday. Just a 5k, but I felt fine, despite having lost a fair amount of fitness. The road to recovery is a long one!

Micah Ward says:

March 17, 2014 at 6:35 am

Congratulations on the 5K! We’ve all been on that injury comeback trail at one time or another.

Trevor Murphy-Mannix says:

March 17, 2014 at 7:20 am

I thought the article about the running bum was literally going to be about a homeless person who constantly runs. My home town has a man like this.

Christoph says:

March 17, 2014 at 7:23 am

Jo Johannsen’s story sounds like an interesting topic for a podcast from the quick chat with Bryon Powell on the irunfar website. Just listened to the Kurt Schilling interview this morning on my run and you did great solo. Keep up the good work and good luck with the recovery!

Matt G says:

March 17, 2014 at 8:53 am

From my own experience, weight is a huge factor. I ran the same marathon four consecutive years and my times were 3:52, 3:35, 3:20, and 3:12 and over that period of time I lost ~5 pounds per year. It is worth mentioning that most of the weight was muscle mass and not body fat. I am a former basketball player and spent a lot of time strength training in the weight room in high school and college, but I essentially gave up lifting when I started running marathons. While I certainly became a stronger runner over that period for reasons that can be attributed to many factors, weight was important. I will have more data to test this hypothesis as I will be around 5 pounds lighter when I try to break 3 hours in the marathon this fall.

eric schranz says:

March 17, 2014 at 7:38 pm

I agree Matt. I know that when I’m 162 or below, I’m way faster than I am above that weight. Could some of it be mental? I suppose, but it’s also physics, yo.

Ryan says:

March 17, 2014 at 9:12 am

Nike is definitely making a name for itself in the trail/ultra world quickly. With Chuckanut, and WTC last weekend (1st and 2nd place).

Candice says:

March 17, 2014 at 11:43 am

Thanks for including my write up 🙂 Love your daily news!!

Eric says:

March 17, 2014 at 7:20 pm

I’m not sure how I feel about associating wins with shoe manufacturers. (I’m referring to Eric’s “…two big wins for Montrail, with Nike going 2,3,4 for the fellas” and Ryan’s reference to Nike’s ultra/trail cred based on the performance of their sponsored runners.

I know that car racing does that all the time, but really…would Max and Ellie have finished further back had they been in different shoes?

Jim Bruening says:

March 17, 2014 at 7:49 pm

I feel the same way, Eric. To me, these are individual achievements by outstanding runners. Perhaps a large corporation paid for shoes or in a very rare case travel/accommodations. But I frankly don’t find that interesting or remarkable. To believe that corporations compete with one another is just ridiculous. Who paid for the winning athlete’s shoes? It doesn’t matter to me.

1. eric schranz says:
  
  March 18, 2014 at 7:00 am
  
  My point wasn’t that the shoes are making them faster (heck, we already know that many athletes don’t even wear their sponsor’s shoes), but was that it’s interesting to see how teams develop. Nike is new to the MUT scene (at least this time around), and they’ve chosen quite a stable of runners–without poaching too many from other teams.
  I also like to make it a point to give the corporate sponsors a little love. After all, it’s the sponsors who are supporting the athletes and helping them race and train more than they could on their own.

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