I'm Committing to a Victory at Western States. "Quest for WS"

find yourself a good physical therapist and a good health insurance policy#ruinyourlegsearly

mitchellmac2 wrote:

Alright so I just finished my final year of High School track, and I'm now turning my focus toward competitive ultramarathon, with the plan of focusing my training toward the long-term goal of winning the Western States 100. I recently read an article about how social media has significantly helped the careers of certain ultramarathon runners, specifically Sage Canaday and Sally McRae when it comes to getting sponsored (Which I am a very long way away from), but I decided to start an ultra (pun intended) ambitious "Quest For WS" youtube channel at this link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzusjRpZaXQ

Please excuse the spotty filming and cheesy music.

Will do buddy!

dumbest thing of the day wrote:

find yourself a good physical therapist and a good health insurance policy

#ruinyourlegsearly

mitchellmac2 wrote:

Alright so I just finished my final year of High School track, and I'm now turning my focus toward competitive ultramarathon, with the plan of focusing my training toward the long-term goal of winning the Western States 100. I recently read an article about how social media has significantly helped the careers of certain ultramarathon runners, specifically Sage Canaday and Sally McRae when it comes to getting sponsored (Which I am a very long way away from), but I decided to start an ultra (pun intended) ambitious "Quest For WS" youtube channel at this link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzusjRpZaXQ

Please excuse the spotty filming and cheesy music.

Why so negative?

I don't care about ultras much, but good for him for setting a goal and going after it.

I say get after at, kid! Seriously. Find your passion, set your goal and go for it. You are young, but I think you will learn a lot about yourself, life and what really matters out there on the trails.

Stop posting now and go run!

I have very little respect for ultras as competition, compared to what I consider the "standard" distances of marathon and shorter. I find the self promoting that is rampant in the ultra crowd to be obnoxious.

But, I do think it is great that you are going to continue running after high school. If training for ultra events is what gets you out the door and running, that is fantastic and don't let people like me who don't respect ultras as competition keep you from doing what you enjoy.

Actually, that is kind of a good lesson for any 18 year old: if you enjoy doing something that is a positive thing, f&(* anybody who doesn't get it, whether that is running ultras, competitive sailing, solving complex math problems, making fancy leather goods, or anything else that you have a passion for, as long as it isn't harmful to others.

First off, good luck. Go for it and work your ass off.

I am a semi-competitive trail runner, currently in my first 2 years of the sport so I want to offer you 2 main pieces of advice. Take it or leave it.

1. Train for shorter mountain and trail races first. This will build a foundation for you to slowly work towards the longer stuff. The strengths and skills you build here will allow you to handle the higher volumes of training.

2. DO NOT neglect speed and strength. Those who have reached the highest level on the trail are still decent on the roads. Many are sub-2:20 marathoners. Shuffling for hours a day will only assure you a finish, not a victory.

Thanks for all the words of support, and GennyCream, Thanks. I will take it.

mitchellmac2 wrote:

Alright so I just finished my final year of High School track, and I'm now turning my focus toward competitive ultramarathon, with the plan of focusing my training toward the long-term goal of winning the Western States 100. I recently read an article about how social media has significantly helped the careers of certain ultramarathon runners, specifically Sage Canaday and Sally McRae when it comes to getting sponsored (Which I am a very long way away from), but I decided to start an ultra (pun intended) ambitious "Quest For WS" youtube channel at this link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzusjRpZaXQ

Please excuse the spotty filming and cheesy music.

Make sure you do the following, or you can't be taken seriously as an ultra runner:

Grow your hair long

Grow a beard

Start a self-indulgent blog

Become vegan

Live off a trust fund

1. What is your 3200 PR?

2. Pics please

3. Kiss any social life hopes goodbye. Your only chance for a mate is some crazy ultra chick like Jaguar (she occasionally posts here)

Jaguar1 is the most rational person on here. But she isn't a trail runner either.

Crete runner wrote:

Your only chance for a mate is some crazy ultra chick like Jaguar (she occasionally posts here)

Do it!

I just graduated HS and have four 50 milers and one 100 miler under my belt

Nice!!

And 3200 PR is 10:42

mitchellmac2 wrote:

Nice!!

And 3200 PR is 10:42

Get faster. Much, much faster before you even hope to compete at the upper level ultras like WS100. The leaders run 11:30 for 2 miles at 60 miles into the race.

Good luck, kid. As others have said... get faster, and get prepared to be humbled. You're going to be able to win some local 50ks, trail runs, etc, cause they're full of middle aged people who are there for "the experience" and "just cause I love being in the mountains, dude". But the top ultra runners: Kilian, Krar, Hernando, Max King... These dudes are crazy fast, crazy strong, and crazy talented. They also know how to train, which is something that hurts someone like Sage. Sage is an idiot when it comes to training and is all over the place, so he may shine at one race then completely flunk at the next. He can't see more than a month down the road.

This is something I'm aware of and have come to terms with. Seems like you can't win a major ultra anymore by being some crazy dude with a high pain threshold. Those guys are very fit and very fast. Although I haven't run one before, I would expect to run around 3:00-3:05 if I were to do a road marathon right now, so I'm going to work on that also. I figure to be competitive on the ultra scene I'm going to have to be running AT LEAST below the 2:30 mark.

"competitive ultramarathon"

LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

Ok bud, have fun wasting your time.

Says lazy fatman macfarting

Yeah, I agree instead of wasting your time on an ultra you could do something more constructive, like take a ballpeen hammer and spend the afternoon smashing it into your shin bone.