Half marathon course cutter Ashley Paulson, who served 6 month contamination suspension, wins coveted Badwater 135.

right! i think it was actually mt charleston which has even more downhill. also interesting that she's the only one in this lead group with a chip time nearly one minute faster than her gun time. why girl.

Ultimately, what we all think doesn't matter, however, what should be taken away from this thread is how serious is the need for drug testing in ultras. People are invested in these races for many different reasons, whether it's social capital/influence or enhanced life meaning, and ensuring a level of trust and validity would go a long way. It could also benefit the legitimacy of the sport itself.

I'm not convinced Ashley didn't cheat, but I'm open to evidence that may come out that demonstrates her unique ability. She's annoying and over-zealous in a self-serving way, but not every great athlete has to have a personality we like--there are plenty of amazing athletes who are selfish assholes. This isn't about her, it's about fairness and the future of a sport a lot of people put a lot of time into.

Now how about that Molly Seidel in the SpeedGoat 28k, eh?

Ashley's run 2:3x in multiple loop/non-net downhill marathons. That implies a half marathon time of more like 1:13. A 1:13:00 would have gotten 2nd place at the US National Championships this year.

Her 2:3x marathons were with a 2,500ft, a 3,500 ft, and a 5,000 ft descent. Unless I'm missing some.

Oh I misread the list. But I will point out a ton of regular marathons just over 2:40. Including a 2:40:06 on a very hilly (+/- 1400' of vertical) course in Atlanta.

Another way to look at it is that Ashley ran a 2:40 on a hilly Olympic Trials course for 44th place in the U.S. — a race that had many of the U.S.’s best marathoners. 44th is exceptional in my opinion, but not nearly amongst the best marathoners in the U.S.

Her pacer had run a 2:53 marathon from 8 years ago, but most are over 3 hours. That Revel half marathon is almost all downhill.

Why can't we talk about Molly Seidel?

Any HR data out there for these? I know marathons will be run at a higher HR but it would interesting to see comparison data.

It seems like drug suspensions are arbitrated on one question. "Do you promise to be more careful in the future?".

Careful not to get caught.

Hello again.

I'm no longer buying that the watch died. I read/watched some detailed reviews about Fenix 6 Pro (without solar) and Fenix 6 Pro Solar (Ashley's). One reviewer described using the Fenix 6 Pro (less battery life than Solar) on a 100-mile trail race that took him 26 hours. Using Maps navigation for his course, GPS+Glonass and wrist HR sensor, the battery life at the end of the race was still 30%. Also her (solar) watch was facing out in the blazing sun in quite a few photos and videos, for whatever that's worth.

Things that make you go hmmm...as discussed pages ago, she stopped a lot before that first 115 mile segment ended on the watch. I wonder if something was up--that had nothing to do with the watch. It's worth noting that the place she stopped is miles and miles out of sight of the last checkpoint, Keeler. By that point, Harvey was 40+ minutes behind her, and Ivan was 18 minutes ahead.

Anything is possible, I suppose. But some Garmin users have been complaining about excessive battery drain for years. Reading the Garmin forums, there seems to be no set amount of battery life for the Fenix 6 & Fenix 6 Pro. Here’s an article from this year:

gadgetsandwearables.com

Garmin looking to issue fix for Fenix 6 battery drain following latest firmware update

Ivan Jovin

Garmin has issued firmware update 21.01 for Fenix 6 and Fenix 6 solar which fixes the battery drain issue following update 21.00.

Open link

I’m glad that the USADA put out this advisory after many athletes (including Ashley Paulson) took a supplement that was contaminated with small amounts of ostarine (not listed on the label). There was even research published on the ostarine contamination cases (with the Paulson case cited as one example). I hope that the USADA sends out the ocassional reminders for athletes not familiar with possible supplement contamination.

I looked at the manual for the Fenix 6S Pro and it looks like when the battery is new, it can provide *up to* 25 hours in GPS mode or 28 hours with solar charging. However, as the battery ages, those “up to” amount are 80% (20hrs/22.4hrs). How old and many battery charging cycles used in her watch, I do not know.

There are many things mentioned on the garmin page that can affect the battery life including activity tracking, wrist-based heart rate monitor and operating the watch outside temperature specifications (i.e., over 113 F).

I just want to pop in here and say to doubler/Derek: Thank you for your work and as always attempts to do the story justice. You get too much criticism here considering the service you do. You were impartial and professional both in this story and with Meza, and in both situations you've had people come out of the woodwork to blindly criticize you for simply asking questions in the fairest way possible. So... Thank you.

Is taking shady supplements some sort of IQ test? No serious pro is going to take that stuff. Triathlon age groupers think they can get away with taking anything, until they happen to get drug tested. Not giving the benefit of the doubt to someone caught cheating in multiple ways.

Thanks for this. I think what raised doubts for me (again) was this particular reviewer saying he'd had the Fenix 6 Pro for more than a year and logged 1400 miles of running (and other activities) on it, yet was able to get it to run for 26 hours straight on a wooded trail course, while using the maps navigation, which is a battery drain. With solar capabilities (in Death Valley!), you'd get even more of a boost, even on a watch that had been kicking around for a year or two. But the software update glitch in May/June could definitely be something. I just wish she had gone on the record with Derek instead of having her people speak for her...

Not able to see this since her account is private. But for her pacer, who is not that much slower than her at half/full/ultra paces: nothing lower than 160-180 (and even going above 185) for a trail 55K and a trail 50M in far less hot conditions. Of course those weren't on a level with Badwater. For a fast downhill half-marathon, HR is around 165-198.