Ultramarathon Daily News, Tue, Oct 4

“The Tor (Des Geants) does not treat expectations kindly.” How’s that for a great intro to a report from one of the toughest ultramarathon events in the world? Read this report before you think about signing up.

I can’t tell if #4 and #5 are serious in this list about places you shouldn’t carry your phone. That’s a joke, right?

Kung Fu nuns in India riding their bikes across the Himalayas to stop human trafficking. Bummer that I’ll miss seeing them!

Speaking of the Himalayas, this issue of GoTrail magazine covers the Himalayan100 well. I’m getting pretty nervous/psyched, and realizing that not running because I’m afraid of getting hurt is a really stupid training plan.

How driving across the country (well, part of it) is exactly like running an ultramarathon.

Got a few minutes, listen to this NPR piece about Sam’s magic fountain on the Dipsea Trail.

Mario’s Morning Shakeout covers the importance of rest, new vs old media (RW online’s new wall of death?), why it’s a bad idea to steal from a XC team, and Mario takes me to task on the Heron/Holt issue from last week. I shouldn’t have painted the whole road scene with the same brush and that was a mistake, but to me (and I figured to others as well), the road scene is a lot more comfortable with chest beating and boasting than we are in the happy little world of ultrarunning. What do you think?

and this author assumes that ultramarathon runners are “wiry, spandex-clad self punishers” which isn’t always the case either. Regardless, a pretty good bio of an unassuming woman who runs Sri Chimney 3100 miler each year.

How to set yourself up for a bad stomach in an ultramarathon. What do you think of the recommendations and claims?

Megan Hicks’ Nolan’s 14 report.

Nordic camping looks awesome, and I love the freedom and ethos of the culture. Has anyone done it? Are hinders and campers respectful, or is this just a nice ideal?

Some time this morning, Jim Walmsley will take off on an attempt to beat Rob Krar’s Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim FKT. Though Rob’s run was incredible, it wouldn’t be a wise use of money to bet against Jim right now.

Short news day today. Prepping for a new interview this morning. What’s it like to train for a hundred miler, travel for a hundred miler, and expect a hundred miler, then be told that the race is actually only a 50k? We’ll hear from Dylan Bowman about his run at Ultra Trail Mt Fuji last month and how he adapted and overcame the situation.

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Alex says:

October 4, 2016 at 6:17 am

Honestly, that hasn’t been my experience at all. I’ve met some jerks at road and trail races both–though not many at either. But I do think it’s funny, some in the “road scene” assume trail/ultra runners to be self-aggrandizing chest-beaters, more intent on posting big training weeks online and looking good on Instagram than actually getting the work done and running fast. They see more slavish devotion to the clock as far more humble, because it’s objective in a way chasing “epic” is not. But that’s the danger in commenting on a scene you aren’t embedded in. Truthfully, it’s also the danger in assuming there is any such thing as a uniform road or trail scene, or that the two are remotely distinct anymore.Reference

eric schranz says:

October 4, 2016 at 6:32 am

Totally fair points. To clarify, I’ve been running road races for 25 years, and still run plenty each year. I have known plenty of elite road racers and from my personal experience see a difference in mentality and…I hate to use the word…vibe. But your point is spot on, each “scene” makes assumptions and has pre-supposed images and ideas about what the other group is like, and commenting or assuming any uniformity is dangerous.

joseph says:

October 4, 2016 at 9:17 am

Although I wouldn’t say driving across the country is exactly like an ultra, I can say that I drove from Minneapolis to Seattle and back a few weeks ago and I ended up not allowing my wife to drive. Somewhere in North Dakota I decided I wanted to see if I could complete the whole thing.

Mike M says:

October 4, 2016 at 10:19 am

Very curious to see what people think of the claims concerning hydration/nutrition in the TAUR write-up. I use a glucose/sucrose/electrolyte drink (Tailwind) and haven’t had any issues. For Gels I use Maltodextrin based Hammer gels, and have been ok for the most part. Curious how people incorporate the 8:1 soy protein into their nutrition plan.

Dan P says:

October 4, 2016 at 10:50 am

I bought a 50lb bag of malto from amazon for around $50 a couple years ago after reading another guys blog (pbrunner i think) that did the same. I also checked the ingredients in perpetuem and then did a cost analyses. Using a scoop or two of straight malto and a nuun pill has worked great so far. I did take a few S caps mid day when it was warmer. My wife and I both used the same strategy this year in our 100’s. Neither of us had any stomach issues at all. Very rare for her, she’s a puker every time with gels. I usually don’t have major issues but my body does revolt against gels after about ten hours and then I eat a lot of aid station food. This year I stuck with the drink mix the entire way and just added a few bites from aid stations and a couple espresso shots. I initially did it just out of being frugal but it’s worked out great during runs. Everyone is different but this worked well for our stomachs and wallets. It will be interesting to see if it works over the course of a few more years. I should also note that neither of us have done a ton of 100s so we don’t have a large data set.

Travis Higdon says:

October 4, 2016 at 12:06 pm

Walmsley got it done in 5:55:20!

Ultramarathon Daily News, Tue, Oct 4

Ultramarathon Daily News, Tue, Oct 4

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