Ultramarathon Daily News, Tue, Apr 25

Trail and Ultramarathon Running in the Post-Krupicka Climate. Thoughts on this essay?

I never understood the Newton model (or the shoe’s popularity), but despite having a tough few years, the Boulder shoe company is vowing to return to its roots.

Want to live vicariously through a full-time adventurer’s social media postings? Here’s a good place to start.

Fun and fast race report from Adam Hewey’s Diaz Vista 50k. Here’s our interview with Adam from 2014.

This guy goes off the deep end as he writes code that will predict which member of the Ultra Running Community message board wrote each post. Not being a tech guy, I lost attention half way through. Anyone fill me in on the outcome?

Running up a mountain makes it feel smaller. Totally agree.

How to crew a trail ultra like a pro.

Mario’s Morning Shakeout: I couldn’t agree more with his assessment of the Lananna/Siegel saga at USATF. Most people expected Lananna to bring some needed scrutiny to the Federation when he was elected last year, but this recent statement has him facing the other way with fingers in his ears.

Alright, just find a local trail race for each of these places, and I’m ready for an epic road trip.

Science: Beer and peanuts advised for post-marathon nutrition/recovery.

Ben checks out the new Naked Running Band ~~college rock band~~ waist pack right here and gives it two huge and enthusiastic thumbs up, but warns of some serious quality issues in this first version.

The Angry Jogger is on a roll right now! Here he writes about the indignities of being a runner in the modern world.

Who’ll be up at The Canyons this weekend? I’m camping Friday night at the start/finish, brining some beer and lawn darts and getting ready for a full day of ultra-announcing for the big race. Who else is camping?

You following me on Instagram? It’s a new medium to me and I can’t figure out the right work/family balance. There’s your warning.

25 Responses to "Ultramarathon Daily News, Tue, Apr 25"

Andrew S. says:

April 25, 2017 at 6:34 am

I don’t understand why running in the mountains is considered more “pure” than other types of running, as if one is tainted by a road or track background if they decide to try their hand at trailrunning. I say this as someone who didn’t have much of a running background prior to trailrunning on the most technical trails I could find. Additionally, I believe Tony ran in college…

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nicklaus combs says:

April 25, 2017 at 6:39 am

this article makes me feel weird. does this kind of thing keep this guy up at night?Reference

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1. Andrew S. says:
  
  April 25, 2017 at 6:41 am
  
  Totally agreed Nicklaus. My initial reaction is, “why does this matter?”
  
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Guy C. says:

April 25, 2017 at 6:48 am

A bit confused. Killian’s not a “pure mountain runner?” Based on what? The fact that he doesn’t (usually) run shirtless and wears colorful mandex? Tony is still an interesting character (who writes well) that one can draw inspiration from should one be so inclined. He still blogs a bit about his bike/run/climb adventures. As for the competitive MUT world, lots of exciting stuff happening in the mountains: check the UTMB list for this year. Pretty excited to see what Walmsley, Sage, and the all the rest will do in the mountains. Remember, Krupicka “reinvented” himself as a mountain runner (early results include a fast Rocky Racoon, he made his name at Leadvill and Western States and he ran in college)…just like everyone else, except maybe Killian who apparently was born on a scree field?Reference

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Brian says:

April 25, 2017 at 6:50 am

Well, I guess every sport has arguments like this. But once again, ours is different because we can feel a personal connection to these folks since we can actually run in a race with them. The author obviously feels a personal connection to Anton. More power to him. But don’t knock everyone else because of it. On a personal level, I played football, powerlifted, and threw discus in high school and spent college drinking beer and eating cheeseburgers. But my stocky little legs can soak up elevation. I can’t believe I’ve been able to do what I have and that’s enough for me. I’m not going to begrudge my track and XC friends for discovering they can have fun and do well in a sport like ultra running, too. It’s great we have a sport that can absorb so many folks into it. If the author wants to honor Anton, quit arguing over useless crap and run.

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Jamie says:

April 25, 2017 at 6:58 am

Including this one, I’ve read three essays on that website, and so far it’s three for three: all wack.Reference

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1. Jeremy says:
  
  April 25, 2017 at 7:57 am
  
  +1
  
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2. Chris says:
  
  April 25, 2017 at 8:02 am
  
  Can’t believe I fell for that site’s clickbait crap again.
  
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Alex says:

April 25, 2017 at 6:59 am

The Anton essay: I have a lot of disjointed, mostly critical thoughts. I’ll keep myself to just a few, though.

You won’t find a more competitive amateur “love of the game” scene than the roads during the 70s. The idea that mountains=purity is based on some impossible aesthetic ideal–we can’t all live in Boulder.

And even then, people ran mountains before Anton, and are still running them. And it ain’t like that’s all he ever did: States, Miwok, American River, Rocky Raccoon, etc. Hell, his monster training weeks were largely RAN around Colorado Springs. The peak tagging has evolved from his backing off competitive running.

Which, fine. I kinda feel bad for Anton, honestly. People admire him because he just did–and does–his thing; and in so doing, they commit to the kind of idol worship that has to be really uncomfortable. What’s more, they miss the point. “Being like Anton” isn’t about growing a beard and running shirtless. It’s not a costume, it’s about throwing yourself on the crucible of VOLUME and rejecting the supposedly mediocre limits of your talent. This, again, has more in common with road running from a few decades ago than someone fetishizing mountain couture.

While we’re at it, I’ve no interest in casting Sage, Walmsley, or any other “road/track” guy as villains, ruining the sport. They train like hell, mostly in the mountains. What’s the problem?

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David R says:

April 25, 2017 at 7:10 am

Love the article on Krupicka, great writing! I think there is an idealized, romanticized version of Tony K in that article that might not be the whole reality. If you look back at Krupicka’s blog, he knew every split to every tree on the routes he ran in the mountains. What is that but a track workout with rocks and climbs? He was training just as methodically as Sage or anyone else, just with a different focus to suit his strengths and mental approach. My guess is he wasn’t great because he ran with Buddhist philosophy, he was great because he ran purposefully and methodically on difficult terrain.

Anyway, awesome article, thanks for sharing!

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1. Singletrack Guy says:
  
  April 25, 2017 at 7:53 am
  
  Sure Tony liked to scramble up a flat iron mid run and is definitely a cool minimalist guy that likes to run barefoot in a park for the hell of it but if you read his old blog he’s as specialized and anal about his training as anybody else. The “true mountain runner”,as anointed by this random blogger guy, is closer to Killian than anybody else. It’s cool to identify with an athlete and be a fan but whoa
  
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Dan says:

April 25, 2017 at 7:22 am

The Paiute Indian tribe called the Grand Canyon “Kaibab” which means ‘mountain turned upside down’ and JW seems to spend a lot of time there.

http://www.beautifulworld.com/north-america/united-states/grand-canyon/

Zach LIVES on the side of a mountain! so I guess he can go up or down first.

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Chris says:

April 25, 2017 at 7:57 am

I can be a huge fanboy of a specific runner without denigrating the great running being done by lots of other runners. I do not understand why holding one runner in higher regard means one has to denigrate the great running done by others.

Many of the newer runners have just as amazing stories as Anton.Reference

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Andrew K says:

April 25, 2017 at 7:59 am

Interesting read. Not sure how I feel about it.

Could someone explain to me what the author was trying to say with the Blame Rob hats? He feels Krar is the flag bearer of the trail Johnny Come Latelies?Reference

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1. Pete says:
  
  April 25, 2017 at 9:17 am
  
  Krar was the first to come into ultrarunning from a NCAA D1 track background and achieve major success. Max King, Sage Canaday, and Matt Flaherty were also part of that movement too, all coming from D1 cross country or steeplechase programs. Since then, the floodgates have opened and it seems like every USA ultra event is now stacked with sub-2:25 marathoners or 14 minute 5K’ers. The “Blame Rob” camp would have preferred the torch to be passed back then from Geoff Roes to grassroots (pun intended?) trail runners like Tim Olson or Dakota Jones instead of Rob Krar.
  
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  1. Andrew K says:
    
    April 25, 2017 at 9:21 am
    
    Thank you. Figured it was something like that but I didn’t know Rob’s background.
    
    Reply
  2. Nick says:
    
    April 26, 2017 at 4:39 am
    
    perhaps the “Blame Rob” camp should have produced better runners or runners who don’t burn out
    
    Reply
Steve says:

April 25, 2017 at 8:49 am

The TK post is one of the stupidest pieces of writing I’ve read on the topic of ultra running.

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Todd says:

April 25, 2017 at 9:10 am

I like Anton, I like Sage, I like Jim, I like Rob.
So conflicted…think I’ll go for a run
#thighgapequality

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sam bosworth says:

April 25, 2017 at 12:25 pm

The only problem with the direction MUT is headed is soon it will be as dirty as the tour was, and road marathoning now is. I’ve stopped paying attention to the times the kenyans put up because a large number (only the ones that are actually caught) are being stripped of their accomplishments. I can’t blame em. If someone offered me peds said take em and well fly you to europe for the summer to eat pastries and run all day of course I would. And so would most everybody commenting

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David L says:

April 25, 2017 at 1:03 pm

I’ll be there for the 100k! There’s a surprising number of folks at this race meeting again on these trails after the inaugural 2014 Overlook 50M/100K. Hopefully it won’t be 100+ degrees at Rucky Chucky this time!Reference

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David L says:

April 25, 2017 at 1:12 pm

Data crunching? Ultrarunning? This sounds like a job for…John Kelly! (waits expectantly)Reference

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Sean Grove says:

April 25, 2017 at 2:04 pm

I’ll be camping there as well, although I might save the bulk of the beer drinking for Saturday night after the 100K! See you in Foresthill.Reference

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DMax says:

April 25, 2017 at 4:16 pm

“Sage is clean shaven with a stupid hair cut.”

Stopped reading at that point…Reference

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Rudy says:

April 25, 2017 at 6:56 pm

I like the fact that the author of the article had the guts to write it. I get his point, even though his specific examples are a little “meh.”

I started ultrarunning in the midst of the Anton era, and sure I miss it. I poured over ALL of the websites, articles, interviews etc, and now I comparatively barely read any news about ultrarunning. I read this article because “Anton” caught my eye from an instagram story. The new fast track guys just don’t interest me. It seems like they’re into it for the right reasons–“mountains, dude!”–but I think a lot of it has to do with outward validation. Everyone wants to be recognized as good at something, and this new crop is instantly labeled as good because of their past speed. There was very little outward validation (Strava, YouTube, yada yada) when the “Anton-era” started.

Still, it’s a bit sad of an article. We always pine for past moments when we were in love with the sport. Anton stood for a way of ultrarunning that doesn’t exist anymore in the mainstream. That’s fine. It is what it is. To me, Anton’s motivation was simply an obsession with running and mountains, and that was/still is attractive.Reference

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