Mountain Ultra Trail News From Around the World

Mountain Ultra Trail News for Tue, Aug 9

Remember this: The positive side of failure. Especially true in the ultra trail world.

Tuesday funny: Ultrarunner has medal stripped for failing social media protocol.

Trails and Tarmac (Ghelfi and Laney) are trying to get you (or your lazy friend) off the couch. Twenty free spots for the “Start Running” program available right here. (They’re both starting TransRockies today, so no more info available.)

Looking for help/recovery? Be aware: How to become a charlatan in nine easy steps.

And, ahem. How much junk science is going on at the Olympics, anyways?

Good stuff from Olive Oil Joe: Goal setting in ultramarathon training and racing.

I ~~know~~ think a lot of you get tired of hearing about doping in sports. I get it. It’s a huge issue, and one that I struggle with in terms of really nailing down where I stand between allowing a free-for-all and strict adherence to every little rule. In today’s Morning Shakeout, Mario Fraioli does a great job wrapping together what a total mess the sport is, between coaches doping, the complacency of agencies, whistleblowers, Olympics, etc. Check it out.

And while we’re at it, here’s a piece on Avery Collins’ marijuana use. How do you feel about his use of cannabis in training (and possibly in races)?

Ouch. Asics takes a massive hit to its earnings, which the company blames partially on the changing retail market. What do you think that means? More/new brands in the space? Maximalist shoes? The changing retail environment? Asics is often the most-worn shoe at road races, so I’m curious to see how this plays out. (Any financial analysts want to chime in, please do.)

The intrawebz is making us to crazy sports sh!t apparently.

After a running slump, a new job, a lost house, and a busted relationship, Jeremy picked up with the November Project, started getting his fitness back, and is his life is back on track.

In case you missed Matt’s show on Saturday, I plugged my little recorder thingamajig into the mixing board and got a great copy. Check it out here…a mix of originals and covers from Neil Young, Paul Simon, etc. Multi-talented people have always impressed me, and Matt is no exception.

My wife has taken a curious liking to mens synchro diving, and this partially explains why.

Caffeinated hot chocolate. Yes, please. It’s probably inadvertent, but I like how it’s in CAPS.

It seems (and I still hope) that if this were true, it would be reported widely, but I can’t find it anywhere else: The IOC (prepare yourselves for stupid decision announcement…) sends memo to athletes asking them not to call out other athletes for doping.

I need to move to NH and start hanging out with Leslie. She’s got a great training attitude, runs fun races, volunteers, and has a serious hankering for good beer.

Here’s a good story about an Afghan woman running in the Olympic marathon who’s been mentored by ultrarunners Amy Sproston and Stephanie Case.

We’re doomed. How obesity became the new face of disability in America.

Kevin Hart’s “announcement” that he’s running Hood to Coast is hilarious…despite it being tied to Nike.

22 Responses to "Mountain Ultra Trail News From Around the World"

Mike D says:

August 9, 2016 at 7:15 am

It’s on the banned list.

If we are hoping to have a clean sport, using a banned substance out of competition even benefits during competition.

We have to either say, we want our sport to be respectable and abide my doping rules (whether tested or enforced or not) or we don’t care.

Look at the piece the British journalist did on EPO even taking it where he said the benefits lasted after he even stopped.Reference

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1. eric schranz says:
  
  August 9, 2016 at 7:37 am
  
  I’ll agree that a ban on in-competition use of THC is fine (for safety more than performance), but have a problem with banning something like that for out-of-competition use. Here’s why: It doesn’t make sense to me that someone can take ungodly amounts of ibuprofen for swelling and pain while training, daily doses of DHEA for increased hormone production and balance, and any number of Rx psychotropics for psych issues, but eating a plant that grows naturally is not allowed. How is training while high any different than training with all those other chemicals? Won’t the runner benefit the same–even more–from the former? (I’ll do my best to avoid the “legalize it!” diatribe every freshman college student makes in Speech 101, but you get my drift.)
  Basically, the fact that it’s on the banned list doesn’t mean much to me. Think of who we’re dealing with here.
  
  Reply
  1. John says:
    
    August 9, 2016 at 9:57 am
    
    The difference is it can be procured without a prescription legally in a few states and illegally in all of them. You can’t compare use of marijuana with use of a prescription medication. (Rx Psychotropics) You could compare it to the use of ibuprofen. I agree that a discussion should be had on allowing it outside of competition…but in competition? No way.
    
    Reply
  2. Amy says:
    
    August 9, 2016 at 10:19 am
    
    The fact that it is on the banned list during competition means it’s banned during competition. A lot of things that are legal to the general public are banned. That doesn’t mean you can take them and compete clean, per the rules. Other things that are not banned (ibuprofen, vitamin C, etc.) are legal and the argument that they improve performance so it’s not fair that X is banned and Y is not is kind of lame. Having air to breathe and water to drink also improves performance. I would argue that altitude tents should be banned as they are artificially trying to do what EPO does. There are a lot of things that alter performance. However, when drawing lines in the sand, we at least need to respect the ones that are actual lines per the governing bodies if we want any semblance of clean sport. Then, individuals can determine any other lines they don’t want to cross (ex. I will never use an altitude tent–that is an additional line that I’m not willing to cross).
    
    Reply
2. Chris says:
  
  August 9, 2016 at 1:38 pm
  
  Cannabis is not banned out of competition anymore.
  
  Reply
  1. Ryan Good says:
    
    August 9, 2016 at 1:42 pm
    
    As of when? I just pulled up the WADA list and it’s still listed. Recent change?
    
    Reply
    1. James says:
      
      August 9, 2016 at 3:17 pm
      
      https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2013-05/new-threshold-level-for-cannabis
      
      in competition blood limit threshold raised to 150 ng/ml from 15 ng/ml back in 2013, out of competition not banned…
      
      http://list.wada-ama.org/prohibited-all-times/prohibited-substances/
      
      Reply
Alex says:

August 9, 2016 at 7:17 am

Asics was late to both the minimalist and maximalist party, and has never really seemed to make a dent in the trail market. In each case, it’s hard to make up that ground, once you’ve lost it. That still leaves conventional shoes, but I don’t know that that’s enough. For all that the Adrenaline is Brooks’ best seller, I imagine they’re still happy the Pure series and Cascadia sell. But, Asics and Mizuno are thought of as conservative brands. The models don’t change much, and they adhere to pretty traditional builds. That’s good for consistent fans, but the running market has pretty high churn. That is, you need to sell to new runners, always, not just the die-hard, committed to their next pair of Riders. (I do think both companies are still doing well in Japan, however, and they make great flats.)

Reply
1. eric schranz says:
  
  August 9, 2016 at 7:38 am
  
  That’s what I think too, but the MUT market is still so small, I have a hard time believing the little space we take up affected the company so significantly.
  
  Reply
  1. Alex says:
    
    August 9, 2016 at 8:16 am
    
    I think it’s more that the lack of a MUT presence is symptomatic of a larger issue, not the problem itself. That is, they’re just last to basically every market trend now.
    
    Reply
Ethan says:

August 9, 2016 at 8:10 am

This is great Eric! Thanks for doing that.Reference

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Andy says:

August 9, 2016 at 8:17 am

This is the sad truth. I live in almost the center of the continental US in Kansas. I took to calling the growing collection of powered carts at Wal-Mart “fatmobiles” because that is who they are for now.
When I go through the checkout at that store most of the checkers have to ask me what the different vegetables are so they can ring them up, they have no idea what a cabbage, turnip, etc.. are. So sad.Reference

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Chris T says:

August 9, 2016 at 10:16 am

As the largest (one of, at least) player in the road market segment, I think Asics (and possibly other shoe companies in the same space) are suffering the ill effects of product over-saturation.

Seriously, the major companies have SO many models in the channel now, it would seem that it could dilute the overall profitability of any single shoe company.

Also a possibility is that the sheer number of runners is dropping from its zenith of a couple years ago. While there are still plenty of road races out there, you don’t see as many of the wildly popular 5k gimmicky runs (Color Run, anyone?) targeted to the let’s-go-buy-new-shoes throngs of former couch potatoes out in middle America.

Highly subjective and my own opinion, obviously.Reference

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Chris T says:

August 9, 2016 at 10:18 am

You just need to reach into the closet and pull out your crochet running shorts. I bet you can win back her attention.

As long as you don’t mind the itching.Reference

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Ryan Good says:

August 9, 2016 at 10:49 am

Man, what a heated issue! It’s sad to hear public health professionals declaring that it won’t get any better. I mean, probably true- but still sad.

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Paul UK says:

August 9, 2016 at 12:58 pm

Less contentious than the doping debate… am I the only one to notice that the daily news title has changed to Mountain Ultra Trail News…? Scandalous!

Reply
1. eric schranz says:
  
  August 9, 2016 at 1:51 pm
  
  Good eye, Paul. I mix is up every so often to mess with the SEO-bots.
  
  Reply
Peter Andersson says:

August 10, 2016 at 7:30 am

Well, it seems like athletes in Rio are calling each other dopers more often than Trump calls Hillary crooked – so it’s terribly bad PR for BOTH sides. In a situation like this ask yourself how good/bad the opposite would have sounded, i.e the IOC sending a memo to athletes asking them to do call out every doping suspicion they ever felt in their gut!Reference

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Peter Andersson says:

August 10, 2016 at 7:36 am

Ha-ha-ha! 🙂 Loved it! Gotta bookmark that site (and the name’s obviously a spin on theonion, not the worst inspiration for fake funny news one could have).Reference

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Leslie O'Dell says:

August 10, 2016 at 3:50 pm

Haha. Thanks for including me so often in here. When I see my blog hits in the 100s, it’s always via Ultrarunner Podcast. 🙂

Reply
1. eric schranz says:
  
  August 11, 2016 at 5:49 am
  
  Keep up the writing Leslie. I love your stories.
  
  Reply
Luther Viscia says:

August 28, 2016 at 11:18 am

While testing mechanisms are not yet in place, Ethan analyses the new North Face Endurance Challenge doping policy and gives it a thumbs up.

Reply

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