My girlfriend is totally immersed in the trail running and ultra world and I have been tagging along and enjoying it. The culture is for the most part very friendly, supportive, welcoming and accepting. It reminds me a lot of the 1980's triathlon world. I have crewed and paced Leadville 100, Kodiak 100 and Javelina Jundred (miles) and crewed Angeles Crest 100 and San Diego 100. They are all fantastic events!

I have completed two 50 milers and six 50k's and a bunch of shorter trail races. I am not a good runner but I have really enjoyed the training and racing. I have continued with swimming and biking but reduced the volume of those two sports in order to focus more on running. I think that the cross training is beneficial as I am almost 60 and can not handle huge running volume. If any of you have any interest in giving an ultra a try I say go for it. The North Face Endurance Challenge races are a great place to start if there is one in your area. Very well organized and challenging courses ranging from 50 miles, 50k, marathon, 1/2 marathon, 10k and 5k all in one weekend.

The GF is trying to get in to Western States, UTMB and Hardrock this year but her odds are very low. We will be doing North Face San Francisco next month but we have not planned out next year yet. The big races sell out quickly, some of them a year in advance (sound familiar) but out here in Calif there plenty of great smaller races that are not too hard to get in to.

I believe that training for the race conditions that you will face is very helpful, so for example, if you are going to do Leadville try to get some elevation and hill training in. However, we have friends that live in the flatlands that have done very well in races that they could not train specifically for. Train your hiking muscles, train with your race hydration system, practice running downhill, get a great headlamp (Petzl Nao) forget about pace and enjoy yourself.

I'm up for WS100 rejection again this year. Already on the calendar for '17 is 3 Days of Syllamo, a run across Big Bend National Park, and Trans Zion run.

If anyone is in Texas or wants to come down, I'm the RD for a february race that is 95%+ unique trail (clover leaf course design) for all distances. 100K, marathon, half marathon, and 10K. More than happy to give discount codes to anyone interested. Saddle Blazer Trail Run 2.25.17

http://www.spectrumtrailracing.com

Looking to do my first ultra fall 2017. Plan on doing the North Face marathon at bear mountain in may (did the half last year). one or two other trail races over the summer, and then looking for a trail race in the fall in the northeast. 50k-50 miles, open to suggestions. plan on getting weekly mileage up to 60-70 miles a week with around 5k feet of climbing. should this be sufficient?

I'm considering embarking up on the "Gary the Vale Ultramarathon Training Program" with the idea of doing the FIFTH Annual Rocky Run 50K next December

http://www.phillymag.com/...3/28/rocky-50k-date/

The Plan goes like this: Every week, you add ONE mile to your long run; ideally, by going 1/2 a mile further on an out-n-back route, so you can look down the road and say to yourself "Self. We're going down to there next week. Just a little further, that's not so bad, right?"

Now, be warned ... to my knowledge, no one has actually started at zero [or 1, as the case may be] and stuck with it for an ENTIRE year, culminating in a 52-mile run [people tend to do silly things like sign up for races along the way, messing up the progression]

We'll see how this goes

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

There's no way I could run Hennepin. 100 on paved path, flat and not very scenic sounds horrible. GOOD LUCK!

Thanks for your words of encouragement. They are everything I've come to expect from this forum.

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

It has been a while since we saw this thread, but I was wondering if anyone else is running the Bighorn next week.

It's November now, so how did everyone's ultra go?

I completed my 39.3 mile road ultra-marathon in 5:24, missing my 5-hour target by a good distance but I was reasonably happy on and since the day.

My big takeaways were that I'd neglected speed work in the build up, which took it's toll on some of the bigger climbs and not to risk any last minute changes to nutrition strategy. The latter really threw me off as I had an hour in which I couldn't get any fuel on board.

Any other insights from others' racing seasons?

Just now saw this...yep I attempted Bighorn but ran into some GI issues and had to take a break at the mile 40 aid station. If I had known how bad the mud would be in the next 10 mile climb to the turn-around I wouldn't have taken the break at 40. I missed the 4 a.m. cutoff by about 30 minutes and didn't get the chance to attempt to finish. I heard it took some guys 2 hours longer coming down that muddy 10 miles than it took going up due to constantly falling down in the mud. I wish I had poles for that climb.

Finished two races. The first was a 6 Hour and I ran 28 miles. The second was a 28 miler and I ran 5:57.

Can I still call myself an ultra runner? ;-)

Waitlisted for a 50 miler next February. I haven't run a 50 since August 2015.

Absolutely! Anything over 26.2 counts.

I did the Bighorn 32M for the second time. It was a cold, rainy mess, but those are my favorite conditions. While other people were falling in the mud or whining about the sleet, I was having fun. I live in an area with a lot of rain, so I have the shoes and other gear for it.

I did miss my time goal though. I think it had mainly to do with my legs just getting too tired on the long downhill stretches, especially going through the canyon. The big insight from the race is that if I tell my coach twice that I don't think I am training on enough hills and need to work on running downhill for a race with that much elevation change and he doesn't adjust my training, I should fire him instead of trusting that he knows what he is doing.

I have attempted 3 50ks this year with one more planned for beginning of December. First one had about 5500 ft of gain, and was in cold, rainy and muddy conditions, didn't go as well as planned but was happy to finish with the attrition rate in a little over 6 hours. 2nd race in August was a smaller local race with a little over 4k ft of gain, was out in front and got lost on the first lap cost me about 2 miles, then burned a lot of matches catching back up to the front pack. Ending up winning but my time of 5:15 was over my 5 hour goal. Race a couple of weeks ago, again went out fast and got lost on the first loop, ended up catching everyone again but around the 20 mile mark had some issues processing my nutrition, walked 7 miles back in to the start finish area, and stopped after 28 miles in 4:30. Hoping to put it all together in my next race, its a very runnable course with about 2900 ft of gain and guys have gone under 4 hours in the past, am hoping for around a 4:30 finish.

Good timing for resurrecting this thread - since Hardrock lottery opened today :)

I got 4 ultras in this year so far, I am contemplating a 5th in Dec.

One of the races, I was handed my buckle at the finish, put it down on the truck bumper, and drove off. I was in possession of it for maybe 12 minutes? lol I suck.

Who else is putting in for the WS100 lottery starting this Saturday? Luckily I got my qualifier under my belt early in the year at Bandera 100K, because if I had to rely on Bighorn and Bear 100 milers to use as qualifiers I'd be SOL since I didn't finish either one. I needed Bear as a Hardrock qualifier so I'll have to wait til next year for that lottery. Good luck to everyone putting their names in all the various lotteries.

Did my second Ultra in September, it was the Riverbend 50K. Great locally set up event with a cool charity. It was a super hot and humid Florida day for an Ultra but did win one of the prizes which was a free entry into JW Corbett 50 miler.

I'm on the wait list for Ancient Oaks 100 mile on December 16th. Also not really an Ultra but want to Double Boston 2018. Being from Florida I can't run fast there so might as well run it twice.

There's one for the bucket list!

My goal for 2018 is to get enough I-TRA points to at least enter the lottery for the 2019 CCC.

Hi, I did a 50K in the Coast Range in Oregon in October, called the Elk/Kings. Great experience, 6700 feet of elevation on tight single track with some out and backs that made running in stride or rhythm a bit challenging.

We got lucky with a spectacular day, as you can see below. I held my own with a 6:10, 28th out of 90 and fourth among those over 50 years old. My best mile came on mile 31. Interesting thing is that I averaged 18 miles a week in the months leading up to the race, but with the bonus of training for/and doing two Ironman races in the summer.

So it was kind of an experiment to see whether one can do complete an 50K on lower mileage yet higher fitness than others in the field. Seemingly every person I talked with had run multiple ultras this year. In this case, it worked out just fine. Long bike rides and triathlons perhaps can prepare one for a 50K without needing the extra wear and tear of 40-mile weeks ... perhaps?

Ian Corless talks about the value of cross training on a bike for ultra running performance and some of his podcast guests also talk about how it forms a part of their training, so I definitely think IM training for summer racing and then a transition to autumn and winter ultras works really well (imho).

My next race is in about 9 days, a 3 day stage ultra of 84 miles total (so each day is okay). Looking forward to it. In my taper an plan nice, easy bike ride for this weekend.

How was Bandera? It's currently* on my schedule for my first 100k this January.

*Life may interfere with racing that weekend though (still trying to determine) and if so, I'll do the Rocky 50m instead a few weeks later.

I did Bear 100 this year as my first 100-miler. Wow, did that kick my butt. I wanted to quit at mile 75 (Beaver Lodge) but my crew didn't let me I finished it just barely under the 36 hour cutoff. It was definitely the hardest physical thing I have ever done. Not sure if I want to do another 100-miler again but I love the 50-milers.

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http://dontletitdefeatyou.blogspot.com

I am signed up for my first ever. Small local 50k in January and another in February. Course is pretty flat but is mostly single track in the woods. I am slow and still measuring my ultra trail running success and progress by the number of times I fall / trip per 10k.

I am thinking about entering the WS lottery. We volunteered at an aid station and then helped crew a runner after we finished at the aid station this year at WS. Great race and great experience.
I did the Javelina Jundred last weekend as my first 100 mile race and it destroyed me. It is a relatively easy race course (about 8,000 ft of gain on nice desert trails) but I am not a good runner and I struggled. However, I was able to finish in 25:38 and was very happy with the outcome. To give you all some context, the winner finished in 13:01!
When I finished I told my girlfriend that I was not only done running but I was never going to even exercise again but the amnesia is starting to kick in and with the full knowledge that there is a very low probability of getting in to WS I will probably enter the lottery.

I do think that IM training is good for ultras but you need to practice running slow and hiking if you are going long. The triathletes mindset of being expedient in aid stations and not wasting time on the course is good if you want to race at the front or avoid course cutoff times. My GF has won and podiumed in 100 mile races by being spending less time in aid stations than the other runners. It can really add up over time.

Congrats! I had to drop at 52 miles. Couldn't even keep water down. I'm registered for 2018 Bear 100 and plan on finishing this time.