Ultramarathon Daily News, Tue, Feb 2

Ultramarathon News From Around the World

Good read: Phoebe writes about focusing on the main things, while it’s the little things that can screw us up. Is it magnetized for?

This should be a good series: Watching Meb (at 40!) prepare for the Olympic Trials. Looks like lots of altitude and trails.

Too geeky for me, but here Ian teaches us how to break down our splits and dietary needs for our next ultramarathon.

There does seem to be a greater variety of women-specific running gear than there was just a few years ago.

It’s Tuesday, which means Guillaume sent me an awesome trail video from some exotic locale. This week, a lovely balcony trail above Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Italian Dolomites.

Busy this Saturday? I’m running an aid station at Ordinance 100k in Salinas. It’ll be nice weather, we’ll have great beer, and a few special former URP guests are running the race. I”ll be camping there Fri night and hope to get some sort of run in that day. Let me know if you can join me! Volunteers earn free race entries, ya know…

Use these and take it easy on yourself: Four judgement-free workouts that’ll make you faster on the trails.

There’s a new gel on the market. Anyone tried it? Good for marathons or ultramarathons?

Quick catch-up with Samantha Gash as she prepares for another monster run.

Trail running on Easter Island means wearing a loincloth, strapping 20 pounds of bananas to your back, and performing for the “Festival Queen.” Sign me up.

Science: How exercise helps our memory. I’m the anomaly I guess, as I’ve got the worst memory in the world.

This short post on getting credit for winning strikes a nerve. A few years ago I won my first ten miler. Small, farm town race on dirt roads, but dangit, I broke the tape and it was awesome. As I was heading back to my car, the RD and another competitor approached me and told me that this other runner had started ten minutes late, but that his chip time bested mine. I told him that was bulls#it and kept walking to the car with my trophy. Still bugs me to this day.

Tuesday funny: Health Dept urging Americans to do something, anything at all for Christ’s sake, for just 30 minutes a day.

Sure it’d be fun to have, but that’s a lot of money for not much beer.

Going back for round two of Graston and ART today.

Neil says:

February 2, 2016 at 6:19 am

I never have to worry about winning unless there’s only one person in the race. But I’m thankful that all the races I run in go by the gun time to determine the winner. So you may have a faster chip time, but if you don’t cross the finish line first, you don’t win. Seems fair to me.

eric schranz says:

February 2, 2016 at 6:53 am

I generally don’t care, but the feeling of breaking the tape was pretty emotional for me. Where’s the trophy now? I have no idea.

1. Dustin says:
  
  February 2, 2016 at 12:14 pm
  
  Plus you may have found an extra gear if you were actually racing the person. If the person can’t show up when the race stars, then tough shit.
  
Daivd says:

February 2, 2016 at 8:31 am

I agree with Neil. I’ll never even come close to winning a race, but it seems logical that a race should go by the gun and tape. Wouldn’t it be a time trial if they’re handing out awards by chip time? I think part of race strategy is showing up early enough to stand near the front if you plan on going for the win. Seems crazy to let someone stay right behind the leaders the whole race and win because they crossed the start line a few seconds later. But hey, not my problem.

Maybe I can make the case that the aid station cutoffs should be by chip time instead of…..

Philip says:

February 2, 2016 at 8:43 am

What Neil said.

If you want to give it to the fastest course time, just check the strava results. A race is a competition to see who can finish first. Usually, that goes to the fastest runner, but if you start ten minutes later I’d call that a poor race strategy. I mean, there is some strategy involved with winning, right?

ScottS says:

February 2, 2016 at 8:54 am

I normally choose to line up towards the middle/back in the beginning, which makes my chip time 10+ seconds behind the front guys, and one time that differential got me up to 2nd knocking down a couple guys in front of me in the placings.
In my situation we were all racing at the end together. However, starting ten minutes late completely throws off your race since you have no idea it’s coming down to the wire.
Maybe they’re more similar than I give them credit for, though.

John says:

February 2, 2016 at 10:59 am

I don’t get it…For my own homebrewing set up, it cost roughly a quarter of that…And that’s with a 5 gallon keg. Do people actually fall for this silliness? If you can make mac and cheese out of the box, you can brew beer…Sure it takes a lot of time to get really good at it (like anything), but most of that time is sitting around staring at a pot and drinking beer.

Tomek says:

February 2, 2016 at 12:37 pm

“Going back for round two of Graston and ART today.”

How did the first round go for you? Are you feeling any better? If not yet, hope you will soon—best greetings!

eric schranz says:

February 3, 2016 at 6:44 am

I’ve had two sessions now. Still a bit sore from yesterday’s, but I’ll likely go on a run today. Overall, feeling better.

Ultramarathon News From Around the World

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