Extreme marathon running

[Tazio]

I just spotted on Facebook that one of my mates has just finished the West Highland Way race.

23hours 28 minutes!!

Pretty hardcore stuff, when we were in Australia recently he went for a run in the afternoon, over a few pints that night I asked him if he's been out long, he replied that he did 30 miles.

He laughs in the face of marathons.

 

[Tazio]

And amazingly the record for the 95 mile race is less than 16 hours.

Difficult to explain how big a challenge this is to people who haven't been in that part of Scotland.

http://www.westhighlandwayrace.org/info.htm

 

[cyfa2809]

Oh trail running? I have seen a program on that. Feck that for a laugh!

Now im not sure why marathons are so overhyped when there are plenty of people doing what your friend does.


Sure a marathon is long - to your average (generally non runner) person, but to someone who competes in running surely its only mediocre?

Now i may be plucking stuff out of the air but i reckon if i was a runner, half marathons and full ones would be training? I guess it is for the sort of stuff your mate does?

Fitness - its mostly in the head.

 

[JamesM]

http://www.championrun.org.uk/

I often see this guy at some of the trail runs I do!!!

 

[1duck]

Extreme marathons are amazing, apparently the mexicans wanted it as an event in the olympics in the early 1900s but were turned down. I think it would be interesting to see how the ethiopians would hold up in a an ultra marathon.

There are some that are thousands of miles over a period of days it's insane...

 

[JamesM]

Sure a marathon is long - to your average (generally non runner) person, but to someone who competes in running surely its only mediocre?

Depends on how fast you run. Any distance is hard, if it isn't its because you didn't do your best.

A 10k can be really tough beacuse its flat out all the way. After the first mile if you don't want to stop and sit down your not going quick enough, you are breathing as hard as you can and your body is screaming at you to stop. You then have to endure that feeling for a further 5.2 miles (which in my case is about 35 minutes).

A marathon is all about managing hydration and energy levels etc. Rather than being in cardiovascular distress the whole way like a 10k it's all about managing your pace so when you cross the line after 26.2 miles you feel like you've given everything you had. Early on though you feel like your running pretty slowly and the temptation is to go faster.

 

[hippo]

Done it twice. Fastest time was 25hrs in 2006. Its a very pretty run on some good trails. Ultra running is a bit like retrobikes really - if you have to explain it to someone they won't get it.

I'm up to 94 ultras now, and got into them really when I started getting too old/slow for 10k's etc. The endurance is still there but the speed has gone.

Interestingly (well, for ultra runners anyway) the Greeks tried to get the original ultra (the Spartathlon - 152m from Athens-Sparta) included in the 2004 Athens games but the Olympic Committee didn't want anyone thinking that people ran further/harder than their flagship marathon distance.

 

[kaiser]

Respect due I harbour a wee desire to do an Ultra one day and would love to do the WHW race.

 

[hippo]

Hi, its a good one to do.

Strangely (considering the amount of great trails elsewhere in Scotland) the WHW route itself is inundated with Ultras.

As well as the 95m WHW race itself there is also the separate Highland Fling race http://www.zen31010.zen.co.uk/highlandf ... /about.htm
which covers the 1st 53m of the WHW from Milngavie to Tyndrum

and then also the Devil o' the Highlands race http://www.devilothehighlandsfootrace.co.uk/
which covers the later 43m from Tyndrum to Fort William - they may be more useful as a 1st Ultra over a similar course and a taster for the main event!

Personally i've never seen the point of only running half way but if you are just getting into ultras or they are local to you (and you don't have to do the distance to get there like I do) then they might be a good start.

There's also the 54m Caledonian Challenge too

 

[EarlofBarnet]

Utmost respect for people that have the mental (and physical) capability over these distances. I've been watching some of James Cracknell's stuff recently and I'm utterly amazed by it.