If you look at this in the way it seems that you are I think you can make the point that the sport in general has been degrading for years at all off track events, not just ultras at least if by degrading you mean the growth in numbers of people who aren't competing at all but are there for the experience. I've talked to people who had run a marathon earlier in the day or on the next day who didn't know their time or place. You can do that with people who ran 5 and 10 km races too. And I think this group has grown enormously.
But I don't blame those people for degrading the sport if that's what you want to call it.. I'm more inclined to blame race directors who have allowed races to become events more than they are competitive events, who only really measure of how successful their event is by how large a field they got.
I fully agree. To be honest and fair and not trolly, I dont think its a bad thing. A larger field means often more and better events. There isnt a lack of races to part take in due to this and there are also smaller events with a more competetive athmosfesr if that is what one likes. With that said, there is a grain of sincerity in when I say the the movement from competition to spectacle degrades the sport. I feel that if the runners/hikers dont attempt to train their best, with a generous time budhet to train with, then they are disrespecting the sport to an extent. I genuinly think this but try to take the feeling rather lightly.
To answer OP:s question: the dicitomy between running and hiking is false. Hiking is just very slow running.
When I graduated college in 1974 I knew that if I wanted to race frequently there were only so many places I could live unless I was willing to travel a long way. Today you can live almost anywhere and find some sort of race within an hour's drive at most.
Thats very good. But the competition in most cases isn't as good as it was decades ago, it's not the focus of whatever media coverage the race gets, and there may well be none of that. There's less variety in racing distances and less prize and appearance money than there usually used to be.
All of that may not matter much or at all to most people in today's races and I'm not saying it should or shouldn't but competitiveness in road racing has degraded.
When joggers and such set their sights on a marathon, or a distance that is totally irrelevant to stretching their capabilities, they miss the real joy of any achievment.
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If you are runner, find a distance that suits your body aand skills, and stretch it. Fatigue is not a measure of challenge.
No, they don't. By your metrics I should focus on the half marathon because that is where I am most competitive at races.
My interests are more in line with trail ultras so that is where I race. Who cares if I'll never know how fast I could have done a half? I've had countless enjoyable moments on the trails that are worth much more to me.
True but still I don't have a problem with it. It's all semantics. Go do whatever sport you want. At least people are outside exercising. Why b**** and moan about it? I don't get it.
True but still I don't have a problem with it. It's all semantics. Go do whatever sport you want. At least people are outside exercising. Why b**** and moan about it? I don't get it.
I don't have a problem with what these casual entrants are doing at all. But I think the sport would be better if there were a wider selection of racing distances commonly available, races on fairly challenging courses, maybe some sort of recognition for better performances that provide incentives for more people to go faster and yes, better compensation for people at the top.
It’s time someone said it. Some of these slower ultramarathon “runners” are shuffling at so egregiously slow of a pace that they may as well be hiking. If you’re carrying walking poles to get you across the terrain while logging 30 minute miles you’re on an endurance hike, not “running an ultramarathon”.
These influencer types are even worse, lugging essentially a ruck sack stocked full of Instagram sponsored gels and electrolyte mixes while walk-jogging 24+ hours to complete a 50 miler. This is a far cry from jogging a race at a steady pace while wearing a hydration vest and an accessory belt for sustenance.
The Bandera 50k has a cutoff time of 24.5 hours. Meaning you could complete this “race” going just over 2km per hour. If you’re going that slow you’re hiking. The term “running” in ultramarathons is stretched to an extreme. Very few outside of the elite upper echelon of ultramarathoners are actually running them. Most are jogging. But this bottom tier of ultra “runners” are slogging through the miles at so slow of a pace that it’s comical to even hear them say they “ran an ultramarathon”. If you’re not moving any faster than the average Stepford wife out pushing the stroller around the subdivision you’re on an endurance hike.
anything over 10k is a hike. all marathons are loser runners. especially the D3 ones who take synthroid and go from 17:30 to 2:20 in the marathon. Bro you were always slow. you aint fast cuz your doc can you steriods and you run slow/fast for 26.2...you were D3 get a job.
bro anyone running slower than 14:20 in the 5k is a ffing hobby jogger. Also running is the one sport that always makes you less attractive.
No woman wants to date skeletor
if you are a man and cant beat the woman pros---you are a hobby jogger---so anything over 2:10 marathon or I guess 14:05 5k or 4:06 mile......is a slow man.
Its just the truth. You a bro in college trying to break 14:10? stop.. theres LITERALLY A GIRL WHO CAN BEAT YOU. please stop embarrassing yourself.
I don't see why people are so triggered by ultra runners. Outside an elite few, no one is racing.
If a bunch of skinny fat old people want to heel strike and walk 100 + k let them get in with it. By all accounts, it is meant to be a supportive community.
This is exactly the attitude why no normal human being likes road or track runners. You are the road cyclists of running. Resentful, winy, little wannabe elites that feel like god if they can beat some people in a low level race no one cares about. While you are in your little bubble of arrogant, low test tryhards you are not even noticing that ypu are the joke in the sports community. Id hang with slow ultra people anytime of the week over you weirdos. I suggest stop putting other poeple down, get a girl and start enjoying life, its too short too hate...
It’s time someone said it. Some of these slower ultramarathon “runners” are shuffling at so egregiously slow of a pace that they may as well be hiking. If you’re carrying walking poles to get you across the terrain while logging 30 minute miles you’re on an endurance hike, not “running an ultramarathon”.
These influencer types are even worse, lugging essentially a ruck sack stocked full of Instagram sponsored gels and electrolyte mixes while walk-jogging 24+ hours to complete a 50 miler. This is a far cry from jogging a race at a steady pace while wearing a hydration vest and an accessory belt for sustenance.
The Bandera 50k has a cutoff time of 24.5 hours. Meaning you could complete this “race” going just over 2km per hour. If you’re going that slow you’re hiking. The term “running” in ultramarathons is stretched to an extreme. Very few outside of the elite upper echelon of ultramarathoners are actually running them. Most are jogging. But this bottom tier of ultra “runners” are slogging through the miles at so slow of a pace that it’s comical to even hear them say they “ran an ultramarathon”. If you’re not moving any faster than the average Stepford wife out pushing the stroller around the subdivision you’re on an endurance hike.
For fun, lets break your post down a little more.
Using influencers of any type as representative of anything is stupid. Road running/shoe influencers are just as dumb as any ultra influencer. Any influencer is there to sell products, earn sponsorships, and make money.
Yes, Bandera has a cutoff time of 24.5 hours. There are only a handful of runners that finished in times over 12 or 13 hours in the last 15 years. The reason Bandera probably has that cutoff time is because the course is open for the 100k runners until then, so it's just easy to say the course is open for 24.5 hours. To have that 24.5 hour window, you have to specifically request a Saturday start time. It would be like road races that allow walkers to start the race early in order that they can finish before the course closes.
In the end, as I've mentioned before, none of this is specific to ultra running. Yes, the pace is slower, but the distance is longer, and in most cases, the terrain is far tougher in ultra races, so it makes sense that people are running and hiking at slower paces.