Concerned Ultra Runner wrote:
Would love to hear Camille Herron's (Jaguar1) view of the article and her view of the 2 philosophies and which philosophy her training is most similar to. She is after-all the double world champion (50k and 100k) in 2015. I believe her husband coaches her, so would be interesting to see his philosophy compared to Koop and Torrence and hear his/her thoughts on the PED roots of CTS and on drugs in ultras all together, I know she has been somewhat outspoken on this issue in the past.
To be honest, I'm really not aware of how other coach's train their athletes for ultras. It is greatly concerning, though, if there's coaches with a checkered past coaching ultra runners now. I hope these athletes have the common sense to not associate with these people!
I continue to train like a marathoner. I'm going to do more specific/strength training for the trail stuff next year, but otherwise I'm sticking with what works for me (marathon training), maintaining my leg turnover, and racing all distances and surfaces next year. I think it's a mistake to run mega-mileage, do little to no speedwork, and only be logging vert/off-road miles. Having structured training and maintaining basic leg speed are key to running fast, any distance or surface.
Personally, I was the victim of a doper in my first ultra at Two Oceans in 2013, and it really really hurt at the time (ultimately moved up to 10th, but I still missed getting to be on the podium at the race). We knew the odds might be good that someone would get caught doping-- sure enough that's what happened (1st Russian woman tested positive for a steroid).
Upon entering the ultra world, I really hoped it was cleaner and consisted of hard working/blue collar athletes like myself, but as I found out at Two Oceans-- when there's money/more prestige on the line, there's always the possibility that someone is trying to "get an edge". It's a bit bizarre, though, because there really isn't a whole lot of money in ultrarunning-- most of us have jobs (we have to have jobs to support ourselves!) and are simply competing for the love of the sport!
As I mentioned on social media a few weeks ago, I ran the 4th fastest 100K time ever and the fastest non-aided 50 Miles ever. There are no Russians ranked ahead of me on the lists. I compete clean-- you don't need drugs to achieve greatness and be one of the best! I've worked very very hard the past 11 years. There are no short cuts-- you gotta put in the work to make it happen!
All we can do is bring greater awareness of this issue to RDs (directly contact them and spread the word on social media!). I'd be willing to pay into an ~account to cover the cost of more drug testing in ultras-- I've seen other ultrarunners mention they feel the same way. I'd give back part of any prize money to cover drug testing. I'm of the opinion of either permanently banning dopers from the races, or not allowing them to compete for prize money (could still compete). If they were in it for the right reasons, they would compete for the love of the sport.
If anything, I've noticed that ultrarunners seem to feel more strongly and are more vocal about the doping issue, vs. the track athletes. The ultra community appears to be tightknit-- I commend everyone who's speaking out and directly reaching out to RDs to take a stand and increase awareness!