Geoff Roes: Ultrarunning is Dead (Read 852 times)


Latent Runner

    The Skechers GoRun 2 is a REALLY bad shoe for technical, rocky, rooted trails. I re-confirmed this on Saturday.

     

    I'm running a set of ASICS GEL-Trail Sensor 4s and a set of ASICS Gel-Scouts, and they are both very robust trail shoes.

    Fat old man PRs:

    • 1-mile (point to point, gravity assist): 5:50
    • 2-mile: 13:49
    • 5K (gravity assist last mile): 21:31
    • 5-Mile: 37:24
    • 10K (first 10K of my Half Marathon): 48:16
    • 10-Mile (first 10 miles of my Half Marathon): 1:17:40
    • Half Marathon: 1:42:13

      OK - I have to say "Much respect to you!" 

       

      Me, too.

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


      Latent Runner

        Thanks y'all, were it not for my leg issues, I'd probably still be running on the roads and would never have discovered the joys of trail running.  That said, there are a few downsides of trail running as well, bugs, bugs, and more bugs, sore ankles from being regularly twisted, and availability.

         

        Funny story; back in 2003 I was doing a lot of trail running to due to the pain from my first broken leg/ankle (back in 1974), and was preparing to take a several week business trip to Taipei.  Up until 5 days prior to the trip I my biggest worry was, "Where will I find a trail to run on?"  Then that infamous day hit, I slipped on the ice while picking my kids up from day care, broke the lower leg and detatched the foot at the ankle.

         

        While I was in recovery my surgeon told me, A) not to go to Taiwan because I'd suffer a pulmonary hematoma on the airplane and die, and B) I'd never run again.  Suddenly finding a trail to run on in Taipei wasn't such a big issue.  Smile  In the end, I went to Taiwan anyway, I didn't die, and I wasn't able to successfully start running again for six more years (until I found a replacement trail as my 2003 trail got paved over while I was in a cast).

        Fat old man PRs:

        • 1-mile (point to point, gravity assist): 5:50
        • 2-mile: 13:49
        • 5K (gravity assist last mile): 21:31
        • 5-Mile: 37:24
        • 10K (first 10K of my Half Marathon): 48:16
        • 10-Mile (first 10 miles of my Half Marathon): 1:17:40
        • Half Marathon: 1:42:13
        degregorius


          The Skechers GoRun 2 is a REALLY bad shoe for technical, rocky, rooted trails. I re-confirmed this on Saturday.

           

          No argument here.  I end up picking out gobs of mud and/or stones from the soles when I have occasionally run on a dirt trail in Horner Park. (I wonder what would happen if I ran the trail in my adidas samba indoor soccer shoes.  The soles don't  look like they'd pick up anything.)

           

          My question is is do Skechers GoBionic trail shoes work any better?

            I stumbled on this article which profiles some really fast road racers, and their transition to trail racing.   Click.

             

            Really fast track guys, too. Click

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

            AmoresPerros


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              Really fast track guys, too. Click

               

              Oh, c'mon. That just says "Olympian". Did he even medal? Just going to the Olympics isn't much of an achievement these days, now that a high school girl can do that.

              It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.


              Feeling the growl again

                 

                Oh, c'mon. That just says "Olympian". Did he even medal? Just going to the Olympics isn't much of an achievement these days, now that a high school girl can do that.

                 

                Cain made the World Championships, not the Olympics....

                "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

                 

                AmoresPerros


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                  Dang it; I wasn't paying attention, obviously. Felix too, I assume, in 2003 - but that was probably the summer after her Felix' graduation.

                  It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.

                  NYCNorma


                    I actually planned to be an ultrarunner from the beginning. The first time I ran one mile without stopping I set a goal to run 100 miles, although I didn't know at the time that there was such a thing as an ultramarathon.  Smile  I've been working toward the 100-mile distance ever since; I'm attempting my first 50-miler this year.

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

                        And a good post race interview with Jason Schlarb at RRR.  -Read the part about only taking in 1500 calories in 17 hours.

                          I mostly agree with Geoff's article from about a year ago.

                           

                          My initial runs were on asphalt. First race was a winter tri on snow and ice-covered roads, but that's probably not what you meant by road racing. Other than that, my races have all been trail or hybrid races, ranging in distance from 2.2 mi to 50mi. My races this year range from 2.2mi to 26.2 mi and 10hrs. They all have hills in them - some rolling courses, some uphill mountain trails. The challenge and beauty of trails, esp. in the mountains, makes me not want to consider flat road races.

                           

                          Historically, I come from a hiking and outdoors background, so I enjoy being on the trails for hours. I also volunteer on trails (either construction like today or paperwork, like later tonight). It keeps me physically and mentally active in retirement.

                           

                           I enjoy physical labor and, after many hours of toil, I come to think there is not much difference in the pleasure I find running or digging trenches. In a lot of ways, both activities share similarities: hard physical work, contact with the land, a release, and provider of energy. Digging also has the benefit of being directly meaningful to others, something I often struggle to reconcile with my running.

                           

                          A Different Kind of Race

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

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

                            TripleBock


                              To bad Goeff ran too many hard effort races too close together and fried his endocrin system.

                              I am fuller bodied than Dopplebock

                              Joann Y


                                To bad Goeff ran too many hard effort races too close together and fried his endocrin system.

                                 

                                Been really hard to see his struggles. A recent article he had on irunfar was definitely more hopeful

                                http://www.irunfar.com/2014/01/gratitude.html