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The cult of distance
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Haha. They should try one of those 24 hour track races.
i could never manage a track marathon..... closest i get is the enduroman run course./......laps are 1.1 miles........
but at least its all off road and up and down.......so you have to keep alert as there are tree branches/ mud etc to get you..
I'd love to run loops of Hong Kong. Not boring at all.
Despite training the equivalent of 20 miles running plus per day, I actually clue in on what my non running neighbours make of it all. To me it matters. I don't want to be regarded as some crank.
So three things the general public can relate to.
1. The marathon is the longest distance that impresses them. Any further is considered 'nuts'.
2. Training in pain and on injuries. 'Nuts'.
3. Training while ill. 'Nuts'.
Agreeing or illustrating that 1,2,& 3 are 'nuts' which is why you don't do these things keeps you in with normal people.
It draws support, not contempt.
🙂
my neighbours have no idea if i run 5k or 5 miles or 50 miles........to me I'm someone who runs......
they do not know if i train when injured or ill.....
becauase unless you tell them.how on earth can they tell.
Also kiprotich commented on it being boring, but if there was enough money up for grabs he would have had a go as there were most likely no world class runners there.
I live in Scotland, so I think the idea of an ultra is to run through really beautiful scenic countryside and then win loads of single malt. I would see this as a physical rather than a mental challenge.* Laps of a street in HK probably wouldn't quite do that for me.
*except in the sense evoked by Ric, above.
The longest distance that any elite athlete has ever been able the run where the miles run have been almost 4 minute splits is the Marathon distance.
The four minute mile is considered the pinnacle of speed, stamina and endurance and if you can almost run 26 of them well that speaks for its self.
I cannot run 4.41 splits but I can try to get as close as I can to that just like an elite runner tries to get as close as he or she can.
Its just a case of degrees. I cannot run a 2:03 marathon but I can try to get as close as i can even if close means 3 hours, 4 or 5.
Chucking in loads of extra miles therefore putting endurance way ahead of stamina and speed, the latter two being especially hard to maintain, is just moving the goal posts because the goal is hard to shoot at.
stephen........ that argument could be used for comparing 400 m and the marathon. each distance brings a different challenge...... some people run 100 miles at a faster pace than I can run 10k in.....
each distance is a case of trying to run it as fast as possible really... and having the skill to pace yourself so you can last the whole distance
Beautiful countryside and winning whiskey is cool, but an ultra is still just a case of moving the goalposts to rope in a different type of running crowd.
I am talking about long distance not middle.
Some may be able to run 100 miles at a faster pace than you can run 10k but no one can run 100 miles at 4:41 pace.
The upper limits of long distance are best governed by the shortest times possible for the mile not by the shortest times possible for the 400m. In the same way that the upper limits of middle distance running are governed by what times are possible for 400 m not 100 m.
When running becomes just a case of "can you endure" then sorry its just one long yawn fest. Much in the same way that for me 100m is boring because it just anaerobic power. The best running is a gentle balance of speed stamina and endurance. Ideally its the 800m distance but try finding a local 800 race......
I am very old school.
Just enough not to much not too little
Don't forget that some people race to win as well - many ultras are non-standard distances so world records etc. are irrelevant, but that means you can treat them as pure races and make sure you beat the next person.
Are you from the same school of maths as that political who reckoned they could build 500,000 houses for £2.7 billion?
But where did he pick a figure like 4:41 from .. I am confused... i read iot like you cannot keep elite marathon pace up for any longer than a marathon. so its not really worth doing as its not really a race...
If someone can ac tually ttry and explain the figures used and why they they think these are the bench marks and where they come from i might understand
When you say "almost 4 minute splits", do you mean "start with a 4"?
just to add to the melting pot
Most ultras have cut off times (that they are too generous is another debate) most marathons do not (again with the ones that do, that they are too generous is another debate) Which makes completing an Ultra a challenge in a way that completing a marathon is not.
and a 17min 5k is much harder to achieve than a 3hr marathon.