Ultra Discussion Thread

ultrawoman

Entries opened today for Energia 24 Hour 2018:

https://www.facebook.com/belfast24/

https://endurancecui.active.com/

Whos' in?

Ultrababy

ultrawoman wrote: »

Stopped at 12 hours 38 mins at 92 miles and got the 12 hour world record. She must have been in trouble seeing as she didn't go for the 100 mile record.
That'll learn her not to go out too fast next time

Anyone see what happened or did she give a reason for pulling out?

Heat got to her apparently.
google The ginger runner for an interview.
GRL #192 on you tube.

Anti Ka

Hi I'm planning to run my 1st Ultra in Connemara in April. Is it necessary to run all b2b long runs ?

Can find a decent training plan online. Would I use a marathon plan and add in longer runs during the week ?

I've run a few marathons,DCM was the last one in October.

Can anyone shed some light please ?

Ultrababy

Anti Ka wrote: »

Hi I'm planning to run my 1st Ultra in Connemara in April. Is it necessary to run all b2b long runs ?

Can find a decent training plan online. Would I use a marathon plan and add in longer runs during the week ?

I've run a few marathons,DCM was the last one in October.

Can anyone shed some light please ?

Its not necessary to do back to backs but it might prepare you better. Maybe get a few 25 mile long runs with a 10 or a 15 mile the following day.
keep the rest of the week similar to marathon training.
Find some rolling hills to train on and try and cover 300-600 metre on the long run.

Enduro

Anti Ka wrote: »

Hi I'm planning to run my 1st Ultra in Connemara in April. Is it necessary to run all b2b long runs ?

Can find a decent training plan online. Would I use a marathon plan and add in longer runs during the week ?

I've run a few marathons,DCM was the last one in October.

Can anyone shed some light please ?

There are pretty much as many ultra running training plans as there are ultra runners. I've chatted with many good ultra runners about this sort of thing, and the variety of approaches which are used succesfully is very interesting indeed.

Any training plan you read in a book or online is either gerenic or specific to the author. The key point is it is unlikely to be the absolute perfect plan for you. So there is no definite requirement to be doing B2B long runs, although that's not to say that it might not be very benificial to do a few.

The key thing about all the good ultrarunners I've read about and talked to (and very very much my own experience) is that they mostly work out for themselves what works best for themselves. Ultrarunning by its nature has to break a lot of the recieved wisdom from shorter distances. Rules of thumb on things like recovery time from race distances, for example, would lead to ridiculkous results over long endurance ultra efforts.

Jakey Rolling

Is this the first running of this event? The FB page seems to say it was scheduled to run last year, but I don't see any results posted anywhere.

Giving it consideration as part of my prep for Belfast. Timing suits, weather shouldn't be hot, course profile is generally flat. I'm assuming the surface is mostly good enough for road shoes. It would seem like a good half-way step between the looped courses of Portumna and Donadea, vs off road trail ultras. (I would ultimately like to have a go at the Kerry Way and need to practice some self sufficiency)

Anyone else signed up or thinking about it?

Ultraman100

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

Is this the first running of this event? The FB page seems to say it was scheduled to run last year, but I don't see any results posted anywhere.

Giving it consideration as part of my prep for Belfast. Timing suits, weather shouldn't be hot, course profile is generally flat. I'm assuming the surface is mostly good enough for road shoes. It would seem like a good half-way step between the looped courses of Portumna and Donadea, vs off road trail ultras. (I would ultimately like to have a go at the Kerry Way and need to practice some self sufficiency)

Anyone else signed up or thinking about it?

what event are u talkin about

Jakey Rolling

Ultraman100 wrote: »

what event are u talkin about

Hmmm. It's in big bold letters at the top of my post when I view the thread...

Spartans Way 100k 1st April 2018.
Or is it an April's Fool?

Ultraman100

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

Hmmm. It's in big bold letters at the top of my post when I view the thread...

Spartans Way 100k 1st April 2018.
Or is it an April's Fool?

dosent say it there...its first year of it,the organiser is a bit of a prick but has a little bit of experience in organising events

Jakey Rolling

Ultraman100 wrote: »

dosent say it there...its first year of it,the organiser is a bit of a prick but has a little bit of experience in organising events

Great, you've sold me.

Easter Sunday though.
I need to come up with some alibi so my wife doesn't know where I've gone for the day. Telling her I'm having an affair may be more acceptable, and would help explain my exhaustion when I crawl back in the door...

Ultraman100

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

Great, you've sold me.

Easter Sunday though.
I need to come up with some alibi so my wife doesn't know where I've gone for the day. Telling her I'm having an affair may be more acceptable, and would help explain my exhaustion when I crawl back in the door...

u have the b/h monday to finish

Jakey Rolling

Not sure if this merits its own thread?

And it's off tomorrow at 08:00

Live tracker here

Preview by Enduro here

Best of luck to the 3 Irish lads and Carol, weather looks perfect for a challenge!

hillsiderunner

You forgot one important "Spine" link, their facebook page has the videos:
https://www.facebook.com/TheSpineRace/

Got myself through the strengthening exercises yesterday by imposing a ban on viewing episode 1 till I had done them. Last years episodes are just incredible.

Best of luck to Enduro and Carol and the others. Seems to be quite a few Irish flags on the Challenger list (already started).

Jakey Rolling

So, about 12 hours in and Enduro in 2nd place about 5k/30 mins behind Jim Mann, closely followed by Pavel.
Early days yet - next checkpoint around 20k ahead.

Carol with about a 15km lead at this point!

Jakey Rolling

Oops, Enduro has gone about 1km off course there at Gargrave (detour from the signposted route must have caused confusion) - he's probably going to have to backtrack, in which case Pavel passes him out, or keep going to meet the route again which would incur a time penalty as it's shortcuts Gargrave. About 4km behind Jim as it stands.

Jakey Rolling

He's backtracking, back on route in 10 mins, probably the best choice.

Jakey Rolling

Enduro into the lead after 24 hours.
Jim Mann reached Hawes in record time (beat the time set by the winner of the Challenge yesterday), but is now taking a sleep while Enduro ploughs on. Tough conditions ahead. Pavel about 3km out from Hawes.

Jakey Rolling

Jim set off about 20 mins after Enduro and caught him within 5k! The man can really fly when he is fresh.
About 10 mins ahead of Enduro now.
Neck and neck stuff at this point.

Itziger

Jaysus, sounds like a great race. 3 of 'em with very little in it. When can we expect them to near the finish, tomorrow morning or so? I find it near impossible to do any maths calculations at those distances, terrains, paces.

Itziger

Itziger wrote: »

Jaysus, sounds like a great race. 3 of 'em with very little in it. When can we expect them to near the finish, tomorrow morning or so? I find it near impossible to do any maths calculations at those distances, terrains, paces.

In Enduro's preview he mentioned somewhere in the region of 4 days so looks like a long way to go still.

Itziger

Exactly wrote: »

In Enduro's preview he mentioned somewhere in the region of 4 days so looks like a long way to go still.

Shoot, didn't realise it was that long! Absolute madness. Especially Enduro's fave tactic of little or no sleep!! 'Twould make ya feel like a right wimp, not wanting to go out for a 5 mile jog in the dark and wet evening. Oh, dear.

Jakey Rolling

Itziger wrote: »

Shoot, didn't realise it was that long! Absolute madness. Especially Enduro's fave tactic of little or no sleep!! 'Twould make ya feel like a right wimp, not wanting to go out for a 5 mile jog in the dark and wet evening. Oh, dear.

Check out the video updates on the FB page - weather is atrocious, it takes some bloody mindedness to set out into the dark in those conditions after 36 hours with little to no sleep!

Anyhow, it's nip and tuck with the leader now taking some Zzzzs at Middleton so Enduro will likely catch him again. It could be decided by who gets by on least rest and they're both experts in that respect. Long way to go yet though.

Jakey Rolling

Enduro still a close second, about 3km behind ( mostly vertical!) as they head onto the highest part of the route Cross Fell. At CP3 overnight Jim took around 3 hours rest, Enduro only 2 hrs and so headed out 25 mins ahead. Jim definitely faster over the ground.

Here's hoping they both stay the course and slug it out to the finish line. Enduro's course record must be under threat at this pace.

summit2summit

Has Jim just gone off course a litte there at Little Dun Fell?

Itziger

The Pavel bloke is flying. If they all keep going it'll be some finish. Carol Morgan still motoring along in the female lead.

Jakey Rolling

Approaching the summit of Cross Fell and Enduro has closed to within 1.5km. There will be plenty snow on the ground , he may be benefiting in part from the leader breaking trail?

Interestingly, from the video of the two leaders chatting at the last checkpoint Jim briefly suggested they tackle one of the sections together, didn't quite catch where exactly. He has detailed local knowledge of the route.

jamule

gap down to 500m now, Enduro flying up the hill!

Djoucer

They seem to be running together now. Remarkable performance from Enduro so far.

I reckon Pavel will catch up by either moving quicker or skipping rest. Then we're in for a three way battle to finish. Both Pavel and Enduro have great experience in racing on little sleep.

Jakey Rolling

Interesting developments.

Enduro just arriving at the CP in Alston.
Jim seems to have stalled about 5km out, dithering a little off route on what should be a simple run in.

Eagerly awaiting updates on the FB page!

summit2summit

Jim has retired!