Geoff Roes: Ultrarunning is Dead (Read 852 times)

    Though I don't compete in ultramarathons (I'm not even sure the marathon is for me).  I have a passing interest in ultrarunning and trail racing, for whatever reason.  In a recent article, Geoff Roes wrote,   

     

    There may be a few reasons for [the growth of ultrarunning], but I think the most likely is that a few of the key reasons why people like to run trails (less impact, more variety, to get to remote places) go hand in hand with running really far. In short, I think you have a symbiotic relationship in which the less impact and more variety allow you to run much farther, and the farther you run, the more remote places you can get to. Therefore, as trail running has exploded in popularity, it has fueled an even more rapid growth in ultrarunning, not because people are specifically wanting to run really far, but because trail running and running really far go so well together.

     

    Just for discussion/fun, have you switched from road to trail racing, from sub-26.2 to longer?  Reasons?  How has it worked out?

    "If you have the fire, run..." -John Climacus


    sugnim

      I have switched from road to trails, but not so much to longer distances.  My longest run is still 15 miles, and my longest race is still the HM.  I prefer trails because they are more isolated.  I'd rather encounter wildlife than traffic.  Plus, you can't beat the easy access to restrooms, or um, dense thickets of brush.

      tom1961


      Old , Ugly and slow

        In the last year I have run most of my miles on trails.

        If I ever run a 50k or longer it would be on a trail.

        first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007

         

        2019  goals   1000  miles  , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes

        Julia1971



          Just for discussion/fun, have you switched from road to trail racing, from sub-26.2 to longer?  Reasons?  How has it worked out?

           

          I hate trail running.  I'm accident prone and am constantly worrying about hurting myself when I'm not on a sidewalk or asphalt slab. So, I don't see myself switching to trail racing.

           

          After reading Scott Jurek's book, I don't think I'd ever race an ultra.  Seemed like a lot of feeling like you're dying.  Then again, I also said I'd never run a marathon...  Wink


          No more marathons

             

            I hate trail running.  I'm accident prone and am constantly worrying about hurting myself when I'm not on a sidewalk or asphalt slab. So, I don't see myself switching to trail racing.

             

            This ^  - and yet I find my self strangely attraced to trail races - do two or three each year and swear I'll never do another.  Did a 30K in May that was as hard as most marathons I've done.  I've taken to wearing a pair of bike gloves anytime I run trails because I know I'm going to fall.

            Boston 2014 - a 33 year journey

            Lordy,  I hope there are tapes. 

            He's a leaker!


            Feeling the growl again

              Met up recently with an old HS adversary/college teammate.  Fast guy, 4:20 miler - 31:30 10K runner.   But he was never able to really put together a fast marathon.

               

              Someone convinced him to do a trail ultra....now he says he hasn't seen a 17min 5K in several years and doubts he will ever run a road marathon again.  Apparently running 100 miles through the Black Hills is more interesting than looping around Chicago.

              "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

               

              I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

               

              TeaOlive


              old woman w/hobby

                Trail or road I am in it for the miles rather than an opportunity to play in the wilds.

                 

                I couldn't care less about running in the woods, fields or mountains.  Not that it isn't pleasant,

                it's just not important to me.

                 

                Also, I very much hate falling on my face.  So, given a choice, I would take a road ultra over a trail

                if the trail was a very technical one.

                steph  

                 

                 

                  Met up recently with an old HS adversary/college teammate.  Fast guy, 4:20 miler - 31:30 10K runner.   But he was never able to really put together a fast marathon.

                   

                  Someone convinced him to do a trail ultra....now he says he hasn't seen a 17min 5K in several years and doubts he will ever run a road marathon again.  Apparently running 100 miles through the Black Hills is more interesting than looping around Chicago.

                   

                  I thought your story was going to end with his regretting the irretrievable loss of speed.

                  "If you have the fire, run..." -John Climacus

                    Julia and TO, I have had my share of spills, too.  But even A. Krupicka was out for a while after taking a nasty spill. It seems like part of the game, an unattractive one, at that.

                    "If you have the fire, run..." -John Climacus


                    Feeling the growl again

                       

                      I thought your story was going to end with his regretting the irretrievable loss of speed.

                       

                      Apparently not.  He moved to MN and is still getting faster at nordic skiing.  Once you have been to the level he was in running it's very, very difficult to maintain as you hit your mid 30s, work full time, start having kids, etc.  I think he's realistic about that.

                      "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                       

                      I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                       


                      Resident Historian

                        After pacing and crewing a friend through a 100-miler, I have no desire ever to go beyond 26.21875. If 100's inflict that sort of suffering, ultras aren't for me!  I do like running on trails, if they're not too technical, but I'll keep almost all my racing on the roads.

                         

                        Still, something about the ultras fascinates me.  I'm going to crew at Leadville 100 next month; I couldn't turn down that experience.  And I may try pacing another friend for part of a 12-hour race.

                        Neil

                        --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        “Some people will tell you that slow is good – but I'm here to tell you that fast is better. I've always believed this, in spite of the trouble it's caused me. - Hunter S. Thompson

                        GC100k


                          I've always done all my running on trails.  I think that quote is not far off.  I love trail running and an ultra would just be more of it.  I've never done an official ultra, but I've run more than 26 miles on my own on trails a couple times just for fun.  I've been running on trails for 25 years at between 240 and 310 lbs and have never been injured yet most road runners I know have been injured, so I wonder if the injury fear for trails is valid.  The first time my wife ran with me on my regular trail, she fell three times, but now she runs it regularly and never falls.  You get used to it.

                           

                          A guy I know ran a 2:40 road marathon a few weeks after running a rocky trail 100 miler, so you can do both.

                          Julia1971


                            Julia and TO, I have had my share of spills, too.  But even A. Krupicka was out for a while after taking a nasty spill. It seems like part of the game, an unattractive one, at that.

                             

                            I wonder if bumps and bruises are badges or honor for trail runners...

                             

                            I feel trails are harder on my joints, too.  I ran with a running group when I was training for my first marathon.  A couple of times, we ran on trails and I remember my ankles becoming very sore.  I started looking up the courses ahead of time and running on my own when they were doing trails.

                             

                            Plus, I'm not into nature.  The dirt and the bugs...  Not for me.  Smile

                            wcrunner2


                            Are we there, yet?

                              While I love running on trails and did a lot in my 20s when they were more easily accessible when I lived in CT, I gave up running on trails about 15 years ago unless they're well groomed. I've had too many falls and other accidents. I ran long on trails before I ever considered running a marathon. Distance was never a factor in the choice.

                               2024 Races:

                                    03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles

                                    05/11 - D3 50K
                                    05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour

                                    06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.

                               

                               

                                   


                              Rusk Runner

                                I am making the jump for a 50 mile run in 2014.  It is a goal I wanted to accomplish the year I turn 50.  That said, I only recently ran on a trail and have done so twice.  I really enjoyed it.  It lit up muscles that I havent felt in some time and the concentration level is on another plain.  I know I am going to need to get alot more trail running done to prep for the 50, but at this point I think it will only make training more enjoyable.  I dont know that I would be making any other attempts at ultrarunning after the 50 (provided I actually finish).

                                PRs...5K - 20:36, 4mile - 26:15, 13.1 - 1:32, 26.2 - 3:42

                                Just Run!!!