Ultramarathon Daily News, Wed, July 21Y

James’ race report from Vol State, full of British witticisms and commentaries about this ridiculous sport of ours.

Check out Richard’s RASH: He is doing a full circumnavigation AND ascent of 4 major volcanoes, all within a week. He just finished his trek up and down Rainier, and is now going to start the Wonderland Circumnavigation. He’ll then take on Adams, St. Helens, and finish with Mt. Hood.

Interesting commentary and change in the Tour de France “unwritten” rules prompted by increased media coverage. What “unwritten rules” do we have in MUT, if any?

“When asked why he is doing such a crazy thing, he said “When I heard about this race I didn’t think much of it, but being told that no one from Lardinia had done it before I thought ‘wooaahh, low-hanging kudos!’ If I can add ‘first Lardinian to do yada yada’ to my Twitter handle I’d cream in at least 30,000 more followers, and then companies will be beating down my door to get me to hashtag the buggery out of their socks.”

–Runner aims for first historic ultramarathon challenge. (Your Thursday’s Funny submission.)

Science-y article on fat adaptation.

Looming questions going into Rio, especially with Dibaba still entered in the 1500.

I sent in my official withdrawal for Tahoe200. Life balance is getting a bit out of whack, and combined with the impossibility of me being anywhere near ready for that race prompts the DNS. Focusing my efforts on Himalayan 100 this year.

Interesting article in Outside about what it takes to “make” a National Park.

6 Responses to "Ultramarathon Daily News, Wed, July 21Y"

Brad D says:

July 21, 2016 at 6:25 am

Rich is a super awesome dude!!!! He’s going to rock the RASH!!!!Reference

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1. Luke Distelhorst says:
  
  July 21, 2016 at 8:21 am
  
  YUP 🙂
  
  Reply
Travis H Fitzgerald says:

July 21, 2016 at 5:00 pm

Wow. That’s a lot of volcanic running.

Sorry to hear you wont be at the Tahoe 200, I was going to volunteer for a bit. Will you still be there with the horn? You know…if Candice hasn’t read the withdrawal yet, I would be happy to run in your stead. .. 😉

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Allen Lucas says:

July 21, 2016 at 8:46 pm

That was a really long read, but it was fascinating. That race is both horrifying and tempting – any screwed runners that finish are truly remarkable. Wow!Reference

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Michel (Mike) Bonnell says:

July 21, 2016 at 10:29 pm

Regarding the Ketogenic (fat adaptation) approach:
I tend to agree with / accept that this type of diet may truly be beneficial for a “group of ultrarunners”. What I mean, is that it might be beneficial in helping them be better able to run ( at moderate speeds**) long distances and not have to fuel up as much. Obviously, doing so would also help avoid the GI issues that plague so many ultrarunners.

MY BIG FRUSTRATION, lies in the fact that whenever people sell this diet in blogs/podcasts, they do the vast majority of ultrarunners (and others) a gross disservice. You might think I’m contradicting myself…hear me out. Fat adaptive diets might be useful for “a group of ultrarunners” … meaning, elite runners. You know, those runners that sacrifice a lot to be at the top – including their health. What you NEVER hear from people flouting this diet is the possible negative long term health effects that eating like this has on humans. Yes, it might be useful to win some races, but at what long term cost? Yes, you will trim your gut fat too – just as starvation diets can (as used in the modelling industry)… and we can all agree that these are not healthy ways of living.

I wish bloggers/podcast hosts (nudge nudge, wink wink) would press this issue more, when entertaining guests that advocate eating high fats. E.g. “Yes, but is it a healthy way to eat for life?” Instead, what we are usually left with, is the notion that eating this way is healthy. It isn’t. Eating this way is beneficial to a very narrow aim – but not as a way of life. It worries me that some people are not understanding this distinction.

Long distance running may be counter productive relative to longevity….but I don’t care, as I gain a lot from running in the ‘now’. But, as a non-elite ultrarunner, I don’t think I should compound this by adopting an unhealthy diet for the sole purpose of cutting a few minutes from my middle-of-the-pack time. I’m kinda sad that elites will make that sacrifice … but I understand why they would, and judge them not.

Thoughts?

** many studies show that if you need explosive speed … i.e. to be very quick, that Ketogenic adaptation is actually detrimental….you need carbs. Something that is sometimes not mentioned by some of the fat-adaptive proponents.

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Jan says:

July 22, 2016 at 6:24 pm

Finding balance is so important. I was planning my first hundred at Mark Twain (MO) this year, but my husband developed cancer and my (80 year old) mom had open heart surgery. They have both recovered well, now; but just as I was about to register (knowing full well how under trained I was), I broke my van window while mowing the lawn. There went the entry and travel money. Now I see this is time for me to have fun and focus on my 13 year olds cross country season. I’m greatful for this chance to watch here this year! I can always put together my own event when I’m ready, I my own terms.

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