Dear Jim Walmsley....please taper

Goucher Needles wrote:

We will have to wait to see if Jim is a genius for doing 90 miles in three days the week before the most competitive trail ultra in history---or if he was an undisciplined kid who ruined his race.

I'm hoping for the former.

He's not going to get any physiological benefit from training done 10 days before the race. It may help with his confidence. But it won't necessarily hurt him either: at his fitness level, it was a fairly conservative pace (I'm looking at his km splits and he took the uphills really gently). People often overstimate the impact of vert in the body of a runner who's used to climb every day. The amount of mileage over three days seems pretty higher than his usual training week, but I can't figure any sound training principle behind it beyond boosting his confidence.

Btw, he was discharged through a general discharge under honorable conditions, not honorably discharged.

Goucher Needles wrote:

Walmsley is a solid pressure performer. I'd point to his Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim record run as an example of what he's made of. It's very tough to call your shot and put that much attention onto yourself and them come through on your public promise.

You just proved my point. No pressure time trialist. 50K is too short for grit and perseverence.

UTMB is a big stage. We'll have to wait and see. Jim has been unusually quiet in the build up to this race.

Wildhorse wrote:

He's not going to get any physiological benefit from training done 10 days before the race.

The last 10 days are the most important.

Are you trolling? If not, care to elaborate?

Stay up every night, get drunk all the time, eat crappy food, don't do any training at all because the last 10 days don't matter at all, and see how that works for you.

I see some of you trolls can't write for $hit, but I can see your reading comprehension isn't very good either.

8 miles easy on hard terrain for Walmsley today. No notes on how he's feeling. Interestingly, a lot of the other Americans are doing easy 10-12 in pairs or groups. From what I can tell, Jim is going solo. I think that's a great sign of his focus.

Doesn't make a difference. 8 or 10 miles. Seriously? Look at the vertical climbing. JW put in over 37,000' of climbing on 110+ miles so far this week alone.What is Tim T. doing? not over 20,000' of climbing very often even in peak training and certainly not the week before the race. What is interesting with Jim is he doesn't have the road marathon pedigree or experience that a lot of the other top American guys have. Tim, Sage, Laney all are 2:16-2:18 marathoners. JW stepped up from a 29:10 or so 10km in college. Very good, but not stellar and certainly not a predictor or 100-mile mountain success. In 2014 to 2015 he was a very, very mediocre ultra runner. Just look at the past results.

Goucher Needles wrote:

8 miles easy on hard terrain for Walmsley today. No notes on how he's feeling. Interestingly, a lot of the other Americans are doing easy 10-12 in pairs or groups. From what I can tell, Jim is going solo. I think that's a great sign of his focus.

My point was that Jim's 8 miler was a nice step back from consecutive days of 30 miles. There's no difference between his 8 and their 10, except that the other guys didn't do 90 Miles's with massive very in three days just a week out from the Super Bowl.

kljV wrote:

He knows what he's doing. He's a damn pro that absolutely crushed Western States before heading the wrong way. UTMB is so much better marked than WS100. This is the pro of the pro race on the planet.

Love me some Walmsley!

You must have been drinking with JIm the night before states if you don't know that he went the wrong way in 2016 not this year.

2017, as bad ass as it seemed, he ran really stupid and the course handed him his ass.

Oh and this is coming from a Jim fanboy.

Fbun, the problem is Tollefson sucks compared to Walmsley. Walmsley's a good 5-8 min faster over Lake Sonoma. This ain't marathon running, so who cares what Sage or Tim run for 26.2? What's Kilian's PR? 2:40?

We're a few days away now from one of the biggest line ups, possibly ever at a major race..I'll be flying overseas ironically while this is well underway..I have some reserved feelings for the hype that went into Walmsley at Western this year but we all have to acknowledge his clearly demonstarted elite speed, now how he translates that to the 100 remains to be seen..I won't discount Browning for his insane knowledge of the 100, Tollefson bc he's riding some huge momentum the last two years, Zach Miller bc, well Z is a bad a dude, Sage is a wild card, probably too analytical of his own running sometimes based on his videos but I'd love to see him crack the top 10, Laney is a serious contender too..ahhhh...here we go!

Goucher Needles wrote:

My point was that Jim's 8 miler was a nice step back from consecutive days of 30 miles. There's no difference between his 8 and their 10, except that the other guys didn't do 90 Miles's with massive very in three days just a week out from the Super Bowl.

Your posts are monotonous.

Jim finished up this past week with 120 miles and over 40,000' of climbing on mostly mountain trails. The race is this Friday...

Amazingly quick recovery for a shorter distance specialist in college!

PBs:

4:03ish mile?

13:52 5km

29:08 10km

1:08 half

Bad weather forecast for the race so far, rainshowers and thunderstorms are likely. In such harsh conditions the already minimal winning chances for JW are zeroed so don't mind his taper.

Stra wrote:

Bad weather forecast for the race so far, rainshowers and thunderstorms are likely. In such harsh conditions the already minimal winning chances for JW are zeroed so don't mind his taper.

lol!

Tpatch wrote:

Jim finished up this past week with 120 miles and over 40,000' of climbing on mostly mountain trails. The race is this Friday...

Amazingly quick recovery for a shorter distance specialist in college!

PBs:

4:03ish mile?

13:52 5km

29:08 10km

1:08 half

Those college times are more or less in line with each other. I certainly wouldn't call him a shorter distance specialist based on them. And wasn't the half post-college when he was getting back into running? Anyone who can run a 29 minute 10k can run well under 1:08, "shorter distance specialist" or not.

Jim said on the Ginger Runner before Western that he was going to try and take a run at an OT for the half..the standard was lowered to 64 minutes..I'd love to see him get it..would be some serious range..I am pretty intrigued to see how Mocko and Hayden Hawks evolve the next few years coming from road/track background..Mocko doesn't quite have elite road speed, but he's damn close. Hawks was a 28:40 something 10k which is damn near All American at the collegiate level.