Ultramarathon Daily News | Wed, Nov 7

An excellent piece in the BBC about the pshychology and physiology of ultramarathon distance runners.

Happy Diwali everyone! Two years I was in New Delhi during the celebrations and have still never seen anything like it. May your lives be as vibrant, colorful, and magical as the lights of Diwali.

Some ideas on increasing female participation, acceptance, and coverage, in trail and ultramarathon events. What do you think?

The Bear has been floating around in my head for years as a 100 I’d like to run, but the elevation scares me away. (I live at 37′ above sea level…anything over 6k’ hurts.) Here’s a good report from this year’s race.(link fixed)

We’ve talked on the podcast about the lack of females in MUT media–specifically behind the lens or behind the mic–so it’s great to see a new podcast available with a female perspective. Check it out right here…Candice Burt chats with Courtney Dauwalter about her run at Big’s and more.

Derek from Marathon Investigation addresses Runner’s World’s recent article on banding races.

The water stations with so many cups on the ground and so many people crossing from one side to the other for last second decisions. Or just stop in the middle of the road. Nonetheless I had fun time. Also, the funny posters people had out on the course. Took time to laugh!!! https://t.co/UR316cdy00

— meb keflezighi (@runmeb) November 6, 2018

Another thing that binds us together as runners: Crying at races. Why do we do it?

Women’s field for the North Face Endurance Championship from Bryon at IRF and I think I agree with nearly all of it. Ida, YiOu, Clare, Keely, Camille all make sense for the top five. I’d also add Addie Bracy and a proxy vote for Ladia from Sunny. Also hoping Risper’s visa comes through so we can see what impact she’ll have on this already incredible field.

Big cheers to urban forests. My favorites (West Coast) would be either Chico’s Bidwell Park or San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park or Angel Island.

Any other youth (K-6) coaches out there? I’d love to hear more ideas about making and keeping track/xc workouts fun and exciting. I learned yesterday that if something is timed (anything!), they love it. Thanks for the help.

Or I know something else. Don’t discontinue shoes that people want.

I’ve always wondered what happens to all the clothes discarded during a marathon. Turns out Goodwill collected 91k pounds of clothes at this year’s race.

14 Responses to "Ultramarathon Daily News | Wed, Nov 7"

JChris says:

November 7, 2018 at 7:28 am

Wrong link for The Bear report. Please correct. Thanks.

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1. eric schranz says:
  
  November 7, 2018 at 7:38 am
  
  Fixed. Thanks.
  
  Reply
danny says:

November 7, 2018 at 7:35 am

hey Eric, a heads up:

The Bear has been floating around in my head for years as a 100 I’d like to run, but the elevation scares me away. (I live at 37′ above sea level…anything over 6k’ hurts.) Here’s a good report from this year’s race.

this link is also going to “where are all the women at” article.

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danny says:

November 7, 2018 at 7:53 am

[Women’s field for the North Face Endurance Championship]

i feel like Camille is going to have a race, but to pick someone to root for I pick Sally McRae!!

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Dave Witko says:

November 7, 2018 at 9:01 am

[K-6 workouts]

Kids LOVE relays. Team them up mixing faster and slower kids so that each team has similar overall speed. Do a 4×200 or 4×400 or lengths of the playground, etc. Winning team gets to lead warm ups at next practice, or some little recognition like that.

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1. eric schranz says:
  
  November 7, 2018 at 3:01 pm
  
  Yep, learned that too. They did relays yesterday and almost ran themselves to death. Our track is .2 miles (don’t ask), so it was perfect. What age do you coach? Thanks for any tips or advice you’ve got.
  
  Reply
  1. Dave Witko says:
    
    November 9, 2018 at 7:12 am
    
    I coach HS but I think many things we do to make practice fun and interesting can be transported to K-6 with some modification. I think kids of any age love competition in workouts, but the trick is how to do that without just making every run a “race” where the same fast kid is going to “win” every day and the same slow kid is going to be last. Some ideas that might work for K-6 …
    
    Time Prediction Run. Set up a distance, maybe a mile or so, and have each kid predict their time and see who comes closest. You could even group it up in teams. Do it based on percent of actual vs prediction and have the kids calculate it themselves (their regular teacher will love you).
    
    Super Soaker Repeats. We break the team up into two groups and run 400m repeats on the track with each group running in opposite direction (lane 1 and lane 3) ARMED WITH SUPER-SOAKERS which they bring their own from home. Basically as the teams pass head on you blast the hell out of the other team. Rest between intervals is water reloading time. It’s the only workout where the kids beg to run MORE repeats.
    
    Walking Race. We will do some “races” in practice where you can only WALK, not run. It’s tougher than you would think. Obviously in Ultras we all know the value of being a fast hiker or walker, and doubtful any kid would have to walk in a XC race, but I do think doing these speed walking sessions helps overall fitness. And the kids actually love doing it.
    
    Bowling Run. Doubt you could do this with K-6 group, but once a season we do a Bowling Run. It’s 4 miles to the local bowling alley so we do an out and back with a game of bowling at the turnaround. We negotiated a great deal with the bowling alley ($2) which the kids pay themselves. Basically the bowling alley isn’t doing any business at 3pm on a weekday anyway, so for them it’s good money (plus the kids probably buy soda and snacks, against my advice).
    
    Reply
Chris says:

November 7, 2018 at 9:33 am

The lingering and understandable upset around that RW article has me wondering who at the magazine green-lighted it and why. I can’t find where Jeff Dengate or anyone has stepped up to defend it, though I’m likely missing something. Letting my subscription lapse was a depressingly easy move before that piece; borderline prescient after.

Reply
1. eric schranz says:
  
  November 7, 2018 at 3:04 pm
  
  https://twitter.com/kevincleary/status/1058352669285330945?s=20
  
  Reply
  1. Chris says:
    
    November 8, 2018 at 7:04 am
    
    Ugh. Jeff’s reply wasn’t terribly satisfying. Thanks for pointing it out.
    
    Reply
Patrick M. Callahan says:

November 7, 2018 at 9:43 am

How can Sophie pretend to know what is in every runners head? I have been passed by men, women, children, runners 20 years my senior, … I have never hated being passed by anyone. I am just trying to do my best out there on the roads, trails, wherever my running takes me. All of my running friends who engage in competition want the best for themselves and everyone else out there .

Reply
1. eric schranz says:
  
  November 7, 2018 at 3:00 pm
  
  I agree completely Patrick. It goes along with the narrative that MUT running is a bastion of harassment, discrimination and fear, which is something I’ve never found to be true. Most of us either want to run our own race entirely or race anyone of any age and/or sex. Sure, there are weirdos out there, but they’re the exception, not the rule.
  
  Reply
Stephanie says:

November 7, 2018 at 8:21 pm

I’m honestly pretty tired of reading articles about the struggles and barriers women face in running. I work in a field dominated by men (>90%). Am I intimidated? No. Because I choose not to be. Am I brave? No. Because everyone has life struggles they must overcome and challenges to rise up to. In a first world country, I find it ridiculous to say it is brave of me to show up at a start line even if all the other competitors were men (I doubt I’d even notice). And I find it ironic that a commentator in the article suggest longer cutoff times for women to encourage their participation – isn’t that demeaning to women? Life is tough… for everyone. But I refuse to play the victim. Ok rant over. Happy running!

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Andrea DiMaria Griffith says:

November 8, 2018 at 6:21 am

I’m not a coach, but ran track and cross country from age 10 onwards. If it wasn’t a relay game (what is it about a baton that makes running so exciting), my next favorite thing was when we got to run barefoot. This usually took place for a cool down run and there was nothing better than the feeling of that grass underfoot. If you want to add a little flare to that, have the kids pile their shoes in two or three piles (since you have so many kids) divide into teams, and have them race, relay style, down to find and put on their shoes.

Another fun activity is to have a scavenger hunt with clues on index cards sending them to different areas of the school/track grounds. Again this is done as teams, and they have to collect a ribbon or something to prove that they went to each spot. This is more work for you, and perhaps not feasible for a large group, but tons of fun.

Consequently, for many of the years I did track and cross country my dad was my coach and I absolutely loved sharing that time with him. He still comes to watch me run sometimes, though he thinks ultra runs are a bit nuts.

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