Daily News, Thurs, Jan 23

Good stuff: How to run your own race when you’re not running.

Really good non-expert advice on ultra nutrition.

Road race news: So it seems the Competitor Group has reversed their earlier decision, and will be supporting an elite program. Good on them.

A lot of really good advice on staying injury free. First step: Forget most of what you know.

If you’re out for a run and you think you may have been shot but aren’t entirely sure, refer to this flow chart.

If you know a pregnant endurance runner, direct them over to our Facebook discussion from yesterday. There’s a ton of good information from coaches, docs, elites, and moms who have been through it. My brilliant nugget of wisdom: “You’re going to pee a lot.”

Well this is getting interesting. Kenyan runners threaten to boycott Olympics unless their country reverses its decision on taxing foreign earnings.

308 kilometer ultramarathon, geen bedreiging voor het hart?

I’m intrigued, but have no idea what that says.

Ultrarunners may hold clues to limits of human capabilities.

Great piece by Andrew Titus in iRunFar about the power we have to create amazing things.

I often take it for granted that in the greater Bay Area, MUT (Mountain-Ultra-Trail) races are as common as your weekend 5k, while apparently in Chicago, the sport is still in its infancy. Is this article accurate?

Brooks just signed two more top T&F stars after landing Nick Symonds last week. Will they build a MUT team as well? With this news, is sure seems they could afford it.

This 11 year old just ran a 1:23 at the Houston Half. Should there be an age limit? At which distance? What age?

I may have to cobble together some snow gear and head up to Tahoe for this. Snowshoeing and snow biking extravaganza!

12 Responses to "Daily News, Thurs, Jan 23"

Wim Schelfaut says:

January 23, 2014 at 5:55 am

It says:’ 308 km ultramarathon, not a threat to your heart.’
It’s an article about a research that says that an ultramarathon doesn’t do irrevocable damage to your heart.

Reply
MJ says:

January 23, 2014 at 8:13 am

I think the New Leaf folks in Chicago would be happy to talk with you – I get their free monthly e-pub, it’s quite nice. I know there is a March 50k and Oct 50k/50M (or the other way around) doing out and backs on the lakefront path – I was thinking of one of those as my first ultra since Chicago is my hometown (live in NoVa now) but may do ATY instead. Out in the burbs is where you find more trails – not sure if there aren’t as many trails to run, trail runners or if it’s weather dependent. But I think it’s picking up. Suggest you contact New Leaf – might be interesting for you to do some posts or podcast on ultras in areas other than NorCal! I just found Operation:Ultra which looks to be focused on southern US and of course there are folks like Level Renner and DFLUltrarunning (TARC runners) in NE – you could do a panel podcast of “ultra running around the US….”.

http://www.newleafultra.com
http://www.operationultra.com
http://www.levelrenner.com
http://www.trailanimals.com
http://dflultrarunning.com

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Jeff says:

January 23, 2014 at 9:03 am

I’m part of New Leaf and yes, the article is accurate. A lot of us travel all throughout the Midwest and even to the coasts to get our fill of MUT races, but the closest local trail ultra for the Chicago area is Ice Age in Wisconsin. We have our Spring and Fall 50k/50m Lakefront Path races and you’d be surprised how tough they are when the 30mph winds are whipping off Lake Michigan in frigid temps. The ultra cat is definitely out of the bag though. The group is growing more and more every day. A lot of us listen to your show too. Keep up the great work!

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James says:

January 23, 2014 at 9:36 am

I live about 60 miles west of Chicago. I this the article is very accurate. The ultra scene is growing. But it is very hard in this area to get into MUT when you have little to no access. The closest trail to my house with a slight incline is 45 minutes away. The closest “hilly” ultra to my house is over an hour away. I ran Lakefront last year and I love the road ultra. But that is only because of the lack of good trails in my area. Jeff is correct, growing sport but it takes us in this area alot of time and dedication to get to a trail.

BUT. . .The Midwest runners listen to your podcast man! You keep us going! Keep up the good work! Hearing people talk about ultra running gets me out the door every morning.

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Jeroen says:

January 23, 2014 at 11:01 am

The Dutch / Flemish headline: running an 308km ultra, no threat for the heart?

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Jeroen says:

January 23, 2014 at 11:04 am

A study seems to indicate that running ultracdistances doesn’t cause permanent danage to the heart if you are properly trained.

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Mark says:

January 23, 2014 at 11:47 am

Has Competitor really changed course about support for elites? Without a careful read and interpretation of the original message and the new message, I’m not sure about the details. I remember that several experts in the running industry were up in arms about the original message. What do they have to say now?

Reply
1. Jeff says:
  
  January 23, 2014 at 1:56 pm
  
  The original statement doesn’t have them removing prize money, just appearance fees. But the new statement only touts the prize money, plus a “chasing the dream” program which has travel assistance for those shooting for a US Olympic qualifier. So I’m not sure that it’s truly a “reversal” of the decision, maybe just backing off a little?
  
  Reply
Dave C says:

January 23, 2014 at 4:03 pm

I don’t understand why people think that trail running and racing are nonexistent in Chicago. I live on the SW side of the city and I run twisty, hilly single track three or four times a week. There’s great trail racing several times per year in central Illinois, not to mention what’s available in Wisconsin and Indiana.

The only time I’ve traveled very far to race is for JFK 50. I’ve got a full race calendar and I’m never traveling more than a couple hundred miles to a race.

Chicagoans: please check out the trails at Palos Forest Preserve in Willow Springs, Veteran Acres in Crystal Lake, Deer Grove in Palatine and Saw Wee Kee in Oswego. If you feel like driving a bit for a quality long run, we’re only two hours from the Ice Age Trail with nasty bluffs to run up and down.

Also, Muddy Monk offers fun, shorter-distance trail runs around Chicagoland to sharpen your trail speed.

Reply
1. Jeff says:
  
  January 24, 2014 at 7:36 am
  
  Dave, I think pretty much everyone in New Leaf runs at (or at least knows about) Palos, VA, Deer Grove, etc. The point about that article wasn’t a lack of trail running, but a lack of ultra races. There are now several 50ks popping up outside of the Lakefront (Frozen Gnome 50k in Crystal Lake, Paleozoic 50k at Palos, etc) but if you want a 50 miler+ race you have to go at least a couple hours drive away from the city. New Leaf and Muddy Monks have a good partnership going and several of us run Muddy Monks races, but again, those are all short (21k and below).
  
  Reply
jared says:

January 24, 2014 at 1:15 am

http://youtu.be/dXAi32b82dA
Winter running in Wisconsin….this is what you do when you’re stuck inside because it’s -7 degrees outside.

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Brian says:

April 2, 2014 at 8:15 am

I agree and confirm Jeff’s replies. I was actually one of the individuals interviewed for the article for Chicago ultrarunning (albeit, no idea who else was part of the interview and what the overall intent was going to be before it was published) and I was referring to races picking up in the area vs trail running happening. Trail running has been happening for quite sometime obviously, but there have not been a ton of trail races up until a few years ago. While there are races that have been going on for quite some time at Kettle and down in central IL (Clinton Lake, McNaughton Park, Farmville, etc) the Chicago scene has not been so lucky with respect to trail races. This is changing, however, for the better, as it’s getting more and more popular.

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