Ultramarathon Daily News, Tue, July 21

Watch this: The whole PCT split into one-second increments.

Raw and emotional video from (near?) the end of Colorado 200 miler. If you’ve really pushed yourself, you can understand some of what he’s feeling.

Another place many of us have been: Screwing up the alarm clock and getting to the start late. Yeah, but Andy still did alright…

Ian does a good job covering the use of PEDs in ultramarathons. My issue is with the TUEs, and my stance is severe: If you can’t compete without drugs, you shouldn’t (edit: be eligible for prizes and records.) ~~compete~~. Asthma, cancer, thyroid issues? Sorry, this is the wrong sport for you.

Where running and philosophy collide…one of my favorite bloggers/writers pens a piece on “Running as art: Tolerance, Temperament, and the Ineffable.” Let your brain kick in before reading it…there’s a lot there.

To those who go all in and all out. To those who risk failure and those who fall hard. To the blerch-killing, ass-kicking, norm-defying men and women who embrace their wounds and allow their vulnerabilities to shine. To the bold. To those who scare themselves on a regular basis, but don’t forget to laugh at themselves in the mirror. To the lone wolves and the outliers. To those who climb high into the clouds without knowing the path back down. To those who lack ‘balance’. There’s a whole lot of trail out there to discover, so keep doing what you’re doing. Run, live, fall, and wear your battle scars proudly. You’re in good company.

—Embracing the battle scars with Stephanie. Yes! Yes! Yes!

Meet the ladies who’ll be representing the US at the Spartathlon this year. Solid group!

And 14 year old Colby will be there too, right after he finishes his 6 day in Florida.

Whatever you feel about the Jurek AT issue, read this compelling piece in Outside. Some good points, some silly points.

Here’s a list of some other outdoor-related podcasts. What do you listen to?

It’s silly to call any Hardrocker “normal”, but here’s a quick interview with normal dude Brian Ricketts after his six-years-in-the-making finish.

Ghelfi gives us a rundown of the mixed bag of speedsters who’ll be lining up at this weekend’s SOB 50k in Ashland, Oregon.

Well this just got uncomfortable. LetsRun offers “Angry Letter to School/Marathon Dad” Mike Rossi $100k if he can match his reported time at Boston.

NUC, but I’m guessing most of us eat a lot of fruit: Here’s how to tell what’s fresh.

Is the slight decline in road races due to increased trail races? Where’s the data?

19 Responses to "Ultramarathon Daily News, Tue, July 21"

uncomfortable or real? says:

July 21, 2015 at 6:23 am

I’m glad someone finally had the balls to call this guy out for what he is, a Grade F cheat. Word has it he was going to try and use his “BQ” to double dip into next years race as well, classy.Reference

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Andy says:

July 21, 2015 at 6:54 am

I had this happen on a 50K night race last year. Got there 15 minutes late but still won the 50K distance.Reference

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Andy says:

July 21, 2015 at 6:56 am

None of those but URP.Reference

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mike hinterberg says:

July 21, 2015 at 8:14 am

Ian’s article is great because it is nuanced, complex, and honest.

Did you describe your honest opinion (“If you can’t compete without drugs”), or is it a bit tongue-in-cheek?Reference

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eric schranz says:

July 21, 2015 at 8:31 am

That’s how I feel. If there’s a tiny bit of room for exceptions, it’ll be exploited.
Remember the PGA guy who tried to drive a golf cart, rather than walk?Reference

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1. mike hinterberg says:
  
  July 21, 2015 at 9:23 am
  
  Slippery slope fallacy.
  
  We already allow caffeine and painkillers. And sometimes trekking poles! It’s tough, but we have to take the issues as they come on their own merit.
  
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mike johnson says:

July 21, 2015 at 8:37 am

so if you have diabetes and take insulin, you should not be able to compete in an ultra? severe is the wrong word for your stance…Reference

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1. eric schranz says:
  
  July 21, 2015 at 9:03 am
  
  I should clarify: Of course competing is fine, but eligibility for prize $ and records is an entirely different subject.
  
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  1. mike hinterberg says:
    
    July 21, 2015 at 9:20 am
    
    PED vs. TUE is hard to define, and we’ll continue to revisit with increased medical knowledge, as well as exploited loopholes.
    It is attractive, especially among the left-brained ultrarunning crowd (the one that argues about which side of the creek somebody was on in the Tennessee woods, or if someone has to register for a trademarked series name of four races to have the record), to avoid dealing with complexity by coming up with a rigid rubric that is devoid of reasonable sense with respect to ethics, public and personal health sense. At least billion-dollar professional sports are able to deal reasonably with a complicated issue.
    
    We can’t define ‘compete’ because we don’t know who will show up, or how deep awards go, or which places are important. Or even when and if we should care about every FKT or non-competitive ultra-long races of attrition. We can’t define ‘use’ because the effects are lingering and measurable out of competition as well.
    In the face of an obesity epidemic, a teenager who needed an inhaler to stay out of the hospital and then wins a race a few days later is much more inspiring to me than the latest Peter Pan on some contrived exploit.
    
    Reply
    1. eric schranz says:
      
      July 21, 2015 at 9:32 am
      
      And in the same breath, I agree with pretty much everything you said.
      Still, ensuring that this sport stays as clean as possible will require a severe stance, and clearly, we have a lot figuring out to do.
      
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      1. mike hinterberg says:
        
        July 21, 2015 at 9:55 am
        
        Sorry for being so ranty! It’s a personal topic…
        Grew up with childhood asthma and had to deal with many misconceptions…luckily, outgrew it, and now do everything I can not to use drugs. Able to go years without needing anything, and then get walloped with allergies (cats and cigarette smoke) that I’ve used one to avoid going to the hospital. But my sympathies still lie with those that suffer with it, including increasing number of kids having to deal with air pollution in cities.
        As a kid, we (kids with asthma) would hear about athletes with asthma — Jackie Joyner-Kersee, in the day — and it was an awesome change from past attitudes about keeping asthmatic kids from sports.
        
        My buddy Alex runs 100s with an insulin pump — and has done well in some races.
        
        The year I ran WS (2012? the ‘cold’ year), a top female runner was turning blue — completely unable to breathe — out on the course, until another female runner came by and lent an inhaler. (A third said she had an inhaler at the aid station, but not with her — so 3 competing for <F10 that had asthma). I'd hate to ever consider or pause about whether or not to use drugs like that.
        So there, I see a difference between chronic, life-threatening diseases, vs. management of more lifestyle inconveniences…but still not enough to make any blanket statements.
        
        It's complex!
  2. HeatherW says:
    
    July 21, 2015 at 9:55 am
    
    I think the idea that someone could declare themselves “ineligible for awards” is a good one.
    
    Nobody wants to race against Lance, but I think we’d all love to see Dave Mackey back even if he’s on “PED”s.
    
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    1. Mike Hinterberg says:
      
      July 22, 2015 at 9:07 am
      
      Sounds attractive at first, when we think of a bias of most healthy people not needing drugs most of the time. It is convenient when healthy to be biased against those who are not.
      
      But I suggest our prime directive must lie with public health, and the complexities of the issue preclude simple, rigid solutions.
      Telling a child with asthma that they’ll never be able to compete at an elite level (in ultrarunning, apparently; since there’s no significant talk in professional sports) takes more away from society than it gives — and further stigmatizes illness outside of a person’s control.
      Ethically, we don’t want to be in a position to force someone to risk their health by not taking a drug because of an arbitrary rule.
      Biologically, there’s no clear difference between of ‘in-competition’ vs. ‘out.’ The effects in competition and training from PED use are both lingering and permanent. This is true in various degrees and scope for both chronic and acute illnesses and injuries.
      
      Abuses from individual competitors and physicians should be dealt with specifically.
      If a verifiable medical condition exists, and convincing metrics exist that suggest a person’s treatment does not give them a significant competitive advantage (the difference between driving a golf cart/racing a wheelchair downhill vs. treating asthma or recovering from cancer), that person should not be excluded from competition.
      
      Are we going to strip-search every airline passenger because of a few terrorists, or are we willing to make the appropriate and sensible tradeoffs?
      
      Reply
Francois says:

July 21, 2015 at 11:11 am

TUE’s is such a tricky topic. I am in no way an expert so don’t take my word on this, and I’d be happily corrected on this, but I heard once on the radio or TV that asthma was naturally more common on athletes than on couch potatoes because of the volume of air we breathe while training being n times higher than “non-active” people. Since allergies and asthma work on trigger thresholds, we were more prone to hit those thresholds and therefore have chronic asthma even if “normally allergic”. I’m fortunate enough to not fall into that category, although at the end of canyons 100k breathing was hard and remained a bit painful for a couple of days afterwards. Doc said most probably some kind of asthma due to the heat, dust and much expected exertion I was voluntarily putting my body through.
These things can more or less be managed naturally (asthma through PT and respiratory therapy if I’m not mistaken), but I don’t think that’s the case for every condition (sever asthma, diabetes, etc – I don’t know anything about these).
Having said that, it’s most definitely fine by my standards to use an inhaler if you’re turning blue at WS100. That also probably means (again, not an expert) that your race is over anyway, so you shouldn’t be going on with the race (can you?).
To me it’s a bit like an argument I often hear about mandatory kit at UTMB, and some people saying they don’t want to be racing in pants: the pants are in the kit for when you cannot race anymore and you’re stuck on a high pass, not so you can run with hypothermia! So is the inhaler in your drop bag if drop bags are allowed. If you use it, I’m with Eric on this: you’re out (not the pants, the inhaler – you can still feel cold and want to be comfy hiking up a pass).
the trick with TUE is the obvious abuse of prescription. If I’m right here above assuming that a larger % of athletes are subject to chronic asthma, then naturally the TUEs will be less subject to questioning, so should they? How about independent physicians confirming the prescription, rather than (sometimes possibly as this has happened in cycling) team-staff-complacent-physicians?Reference

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Steve says:

July 21, 2015 at 12:00 pm

He has to match the time he ran at the Lehigh Valley Marathon (3:11:45) to qualify for Boston—not his time at Boston—in order to get the $100k.Reference

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Nathan says:

July 21, 2015 at 12:32 pm

Dang.. that is a quick, youthful field at the SOB50k this wknd.. looks like my Ultrasignup is DOOMED…

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Mark says:

July 21, 2015 at 2:34 pm

Actually tried them all, except Gear Fix. But I’ve only stuck with URP, TRN and Dirtbag Diaries. I really like those. I’d add to the list IRunFar and RunIowa.Reference

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Scott says:

July 21, 2015 at 4:05 pm

Not to state the obvious, if there is money involved there will be PED and “cheating”.
It’s clear there is a substantial amount of money and influence making it’s way into this sport from large and powerful companies. So called “pros” want to get paid, sponsors want wins and name recognigtion. RDs want crowds and sold out events. This entire trend runs counter to the idea of trail running and getting away from the crowds, big names, big events..etc. I am really hoping this trend takes a serious turn. Smaller events that put proceeds back into local community running clubs and local school cross country teams is magnitudes more valuable than the profit margins of shoe and gear manufactures that are driven by profits only. Money = PEDs and Cheating… end of story.

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Mitch Walma says:

July 21, 2015 at 7:48 pm

Yeah, it was pretty impressive the way he fricken blew by me 3 miles in.Reference

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