German marathoner believes he's better than pro trail runners, runs one & ends up 43rd in race!!

pfizinger wrote:

Kilian lives in Chamonix in the alps.

Living in the alps means that you will ski tour all winter or xc ski. It is way to cold to run at 2000 meters from Nov to April/May.

Almost all trail courses are ski courses during winter either downhill or xc or tour.

Trail running developed as summer training for ski touring / xc ski and training for mountaineering.

Trail is different as it favours quad power/strenght and raw endurance over speed endurance that counts on the road.

Looking at the crowd at Sierre Zinal I think trail racing will get much more competitive next few years, lots of 18-20 year olds. Before it was just a few locals and old marathoners moving to even longer distances.

Btw some of the best mountain runners probably never raced, they did mountaineering instead.

Messner (First on all 8000 with no oxygen), was known to climb 1000m in less then 30 minutes.

pfizinger wrote:

Kilian lives in Chamonix in the alps.

Living in the alps means that you will ski tour all winter or xc ski. It is way to cold to run at 2000 meters from Nov to April/May.

Almost all trail courses are ski courses during winter either downhill or xc or tour.

Trail running developed as summer training for ski touring / xc ski and training for mountaineering.

Trail is different as it favours quad power/strenght and raw endurance over speed endurance that counts on the road.

Looking at the crowd at Sierre Zinal I think trail racing will get much more competitive next few years, lots of 18-20 year olds. Before it was just a few locals and old marathoners moving to even longer distances.

Btw some of the best mountain runners probably never raced, they did mountaineering instead.

Messner (First on all 8000 with no oxygen), was known to climb 1000m in less then 30 minutes.

pfizinger wrote:

Kilian lives in Chamonix in the alps.

Living in the alps means that you will ski tour all winter or xc ski. It is way to cold to run at 2000 meters from Nov to April/May.

Almost all trail courses are ski courses during winter either downhill or xc or tour.

Trail running developed as summer training for ski touring / xc ski and training for mountaineering.

Trail is different as it favours quad power/strenght and raw endurance over speed endurance that counts on the road.

Looking at the crowd at Sierre Zinal I think trail racing will get much more competitive next few years, lots of 18-20 year olds. Before it was just a few locals and old marathoners moving to even longer distances.

Btw some of the best mountain runners probably never raced, they did mountaineering instead.

Messner (First on all 8000 with no oxygen), was known to climb 1000m in less then 30 minutes.

LarsL11 wrote:

pfizinger wrote:

Kilian lives in Chamonix in the alps.

Living in the alps means that you will ski tour all winter or xc ski. It is way to cold to run at 2000 meters from Nov to April/May.

Almost all trail courses are ski courses during winter either downhill or xc or tour.

Trail running developed as summer training for ski touring / xc ski and training for mountaineering.

Trail is different as it favours quad power/strenght and raw endurance over speed endurance that counts on the road.

Looking at the crowd at Sierre Zinal I think trail racing will get much more competitive next few years, lots of 18-20 year olds. Before it was just a few locals and old marathoners moving to even longer distances.

Btw some of the best mountain runners probably never raced, they did mountaineering instead.

Messner (First on all 8000 with no oxygen), was known to climb 1000m in less then 30 minutes.

Um. Kilian lives at sea level outside Åndalsnes, Romsdalen, Norway. To be frank it is called norwegays Chamonix, but it isn't Chamonix.

this and this wrote:

pfizinger wrote:

Kilian lives in Chamonix in the alps.

Living in the alps means that you will ski tour all winter or xc ski. It is way to cold to run at 2000 meters from Nov to April/May.

Almost all trail courses are ski courses during winter either downhill or xc or tour.

Trail running developed as summer training for ski touring / xc ski and training for mountaineering.

Trail is different as it favours quad power/strenght and raw endurance over speed endurance that counts on the road.

Looking at the crowd at Sierre Zinal I think trail racing will get much more competitive next few years, lots of 18-20 year olds. Before it was just a few locals and old marathoners moving to even longer distances.

Btw some of the best mountain runners probably never raced, they did mountaineering instead.

Messner (First on all 8000 with no oxygen), was known to climb 1000m in less then 30 minutes.

So many inaccurate statements in the post quoted above.

Journet lives in Norway now, although he has lived in the Alps before and grew up in the Pyrenees.

You do not have to ski tour all winter if you live in the Alps. You can run on packed snow or plowed roads, snowshoe, downhill ski, snowboard, fatbike, etc. There are some running tracks that are frequently shoveled/plowed free of snow in the winter. It is not too cold to run above 2000 meter elevation. There are people who live, run, ski, etc. above 3000 meters and in colder arctic climates.

Most trail courses are not ski courses during the winter, as there are many trails in the world that receive no snow in the winter. Many trails are too rocky and narrow to permit winter skiing.

Trail running developed independently of skiing. As stated, there are many trails worldwide that are in areas without any snow or skiing. It is likely ancient humans first ran on trails before skis, roads, tracks etc. ever existed/were developed.

Trail running and mountaineering are very different. Just because a person is good at one doesn't mean they are good at the other.