Ultra Discussion Thread

10 minutes would be hugely benificial. You could easily get another 6 or 8 hours out of it. But eventually the cumulative lack of sleep will be terminal to one's race in this format.

An adventure racing team at the AR world champs tried to go non-stop one time many years ago. They were leading until the last section about 5 days IIRC, and then just completely blew. Their minds were gone completely, and they were overtaken by a team known for taking longer sleeps than most other teams. So that's an illustration of what is possible.

Could it be a case you go in for that 10 minute nap and just can’t be woken for whatever reason

My last LOS I did was without a crew, sleeping through the alarm was definitely my biggest fear. You never properly relax on the down time.

Harvey, arguable, has the most experience in Backyards in the world but I was still surprised he won. Looked out of it on a good few yards and managed to get back into it. He's such an impressive runner. Normally when you start getting so close to being timed out it ends fairly abruptly.

Jivee had an amazing run and a pretty big pb. He'll crack the 100 no doubt.

Keith will be back wiser again and now with the experience of bigs course and the weather he'll nail the 100 plus aswell I'd say. His pace was pretty spicy but in more Irish conditions I'd say he'd have kept going for alot longer.

In terms of training approach, I wouldn't regard an 80K race as being notably different to a marathon/50k. Just a slower race pace on the day is the main thing.

The week of dot watching that is the Spine race is here again, very best of luck to Enduro!

Well done @Enduro, how'd you find it this year?

What do you all recommend for headlamps that last at least all night? I had the Silva Ultra Trail Free, was great, is broken, need a new one!

I'm currently writing my race report for my blog... will get there! The course was the fastest ever in winter. The weather was almost perfect, except when it wasn't and became dangerously horrendous for a few hours. An interesting mix! I was my least competitive (older and much slower), but had a lot of fun out there with so many great people.

There are lots of headtorches that will last all night. There are a few other factors you need to consider requirements for. Amount of light (All night at high power will need a bigger battery capacity, as well as a more powerful lamp). And whether it needs to be fully waterproof is another one. Some people like to be able to switch batteries rather than having to recharge as well. So no single answer.

Having said that, I have a great Silva torch that lasts all night, and has interchangeable batteries. They have a good range. I probably use my MH10 more than any other torch. Simple but effective. Enough power for me on its middle setting, and interchangeable batteries. More showerproof than waterproof though. I have a few smaller petzls for backup. Again, good enough. Black Diamond torches are very good bang for buck. Tend to be well-rated for waterproofness too. If money is no object then Lupine is the best I've ever come across. That's my #1 torch. Bought to find hidden books in forests at night. I can program it to suit my own specs using an App on my phone. Top quality piece of kit. There's also tons of Chinese brand torches with interesting specs. Haven't tried those, but hear good things about some of them.

Reminds me, must update my wiki entry...

https://runningmagazine.ca/the-scene/u-s-ultrarunner-camille-herron-involved-in-wikipedia-controversy/

Oh, it's true alright. Conor has emailed Letsrun :

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=13052953

This has been building for quite a while. There are a lot of runners who have been targeted, and in much more significant ways than Wikipedia editing (efforts to ensure that world records would not be validated being the most significant).

Camille is an amazing athlete. As far as fixed distance/time ultras are concerned she is a strong contender to be considered the GOAT, given the range at which she has won world championships and set world records. I've met her and Conor (Who is from Dublin, BTW) in real life, and really enjoyed their company and conversation.

But I have also met and know a few of the people who have said that they have been targeted. They are also great athletes, and I have found them to be great people too. So this is one crappy situation. There's not going to be any winners from all this. And as many have pointed out, it's so very out of character for the normal ultra-running atmosphere. Ultrarunners in general are hugely supportive of each other at every level, and look out for each other.

It's been an amazing year for fixed-time ultrarunning, with so many outstanding performances and records, and the sport growing and building. It's a shame that this episode is contaminating all that.

(For full disclosure, I'm on the GOMU committee, but as far as this particular episode is concerned I'm just reading the same information on the internet as everyone else)

@Enduro I know this is a very nuanced and subjective question, like asking what people eat, but am curious as to what your 'go to' shoes were for the Northern Traverse? I generally use Hoka Speedgoats which are lovely to run in but shockingly **** on grass and mud and Inov8's "X-Talon Ultra 260" which seem ideal for the wet boggy mountains, though they're on the last legs now. I recently bought, on an impulse, Inov8's "Oroc Ultra 290" but I think I hate them, not sure yet. I had been planning to get new X-Talon's to have for the first part of NT but they're not on sale anymore 🤷🏻

That's very interesting, thank you. You find you can run in them too? Are you back this year?

Awesome, thanks. Was looking for you on the spine dot tracker alright, can't wait for NT