Ultra Discussion Thread

DogSlySmile wrote: »

Were you due to take part yourself? I see you ran last year and in 2010.

I was targetting it alright (I think I've been to 5 24 hour WCs). But quite a few of our good runners have been building their season towards it, so its a real smack in the face for them.

DogSlySmile wrote: »

On the plan I've 30m and 14m for this weekend. I'm thinking thats far too much two weeks out from the race. But dont know what to drop it back to. I'll probably do 27-28ish miles mon-fri.

30/14 seems a bit excessive 2 weeks before a race, alright. Then again, I do know a couple of lunatics ultra runners who wouldn't bat an eyelid over a 30/14 weekend at any time.

However, the answer to how much you should do is the same as always, namely: it depends.

It depends on how quickly you usually recover, how you're feeling, how much else is going on in your life, and so on.

I tend to take it very conservatively the last couple of weeks before a big race. Two weeks out from Belfast I only did 8/12+ miles on the weekend, though the Sunday run was mostly on a mountain trail with plenty of climbing.

My personal view is that with 2 weeks left the training is done and dusted.

As Thomas says, it really is an individual thing (And I'd definitely be one of the lunatics that he refers to ). There are nearly as many theories on ultra training as there are ultra runners.

With two weeks to go to what is presumably your target race for the season your training is done. Time to switch focus onto being as well prepared for the race as possible. The main thing I would say is do whatever you're going to be happiest with, and don't sweat the small details. Mental attitude and preparation is just as important as physical, so don't let minor details about training plans worry you. (I would say burn the training plan myself!).

My own advice would be do the milage, but keep it comfortable. A nice easy jog around to keep the feet and legs used to covering milage (and keep the fat burning system well tuned!), but without putting in any effort or strain to tire yourself. Just do it on feel without worrying about the numbers.

I see Dan is now in 6th with Enduro in 19th...closing in on 18th.

Just back in Ireland after the Tor Des Geants trip. I think I can safely say that was the best running race I've ever had the pleasure to participate in.... Wow! It really is an incredible event. It's only going to get more and more popular as its reputation grows. The course is truely awesome. We managed to luck out completely with the weather. Even more luckily we had a full moon on the first night, so every night there was incredible views across the alps bathed in moonlight (with regular thunderstorms in the distance illuminating the landscape even more spectacularly).

In the end Dan finished 6th (A world class performance), and I managed to haul my way through the field after some early difficulties to finish 15th. For a non-alpine country Ireland is getting some great results here. I'll definitely have to write a wee report on this one!

Good old read on the Tor Des Geants

Ankers is leading with 8Hr40 on the clock.

65 miles at 10 hours
76.5 miles at 12.5 hours
93 miles at 18 (oh dear!)
99 miles at 20



Well done for keeping going, but I say he'll be gutted

Hard luck for the lads. It's a tough event which can give anyone a bad day when things are less than optimal.

Best of luck in Greece Ultraman!

Great previews. Some very interesting runners in both races. It'll defeinitely be interesting to see how Steve Way does in the mens's race. His little excursions into the marathon might have him running even faster... we shall see.

Best of luck to our own athletes at this one. Great to see the Irish record holder Keith Whyte back out representing Ireland again. Some recovery from what looked like a potential career ending injury.

Coverage of the 100k World championships: http://www.irunfar.com/2014/11/2014-iau-100k-world-championships-live-coverage.html

Starts at 3pm if I'm not mistaken.