Insane schedule leads triathlete to near American Record 100 miler. If I do half of his mileage, can I run his 100 pace for 50?

possibly

Don't ignore his prior training history. Triathlon training is high volume, even though the running mileage would be considered low by most. But you factor in all the cycling and swimming he had a nice base before he did that ultra training.

shorter the shorts faster the runner wrote:

Don't ignore his prior training history. Triathlon training is high volume, even though the running mileage would be considered low by most. But you factor in all the cycling and swimming he had a nice base before he did that ultra training.

Exactly this.

He seems to be a very good Triathlete. This is the main reason why he can run lower weekly mileages. His overall fitness comes from swimming, biking, running and weight training and not just from running.

So unless you are a triathlete yourself, you should not compare yourself with him.

Sure, I don't see why not. That only works out to ~7:20 mile pace, so good mileage with plenty of long runs should get you there for a 50. If you care about keeping some speed, it'd be smart to throw in some strides and intervals here and there.

Part of your thought process is based on the fact that you have a better 5k and marathon PR than him. But as you pointed out, he ran those times on triathlon training with not a lot of running. Not to dismiss the benefits of the hours of cycling he was doing, but my point is, he may actually be more talented than you, since I assume your PRs were the result of years of dedicated running training, while his weren't.

Also, talent in the marathon doesn't necessarily translate directly to ultras. It's like assuming you'll be a better 10k runner than somebody because you have a better 800m pr. Sometimes that correlation holds, sometimes it doesn't.

He ran 12:19 at Tunnel Hill. Unless he’s winning and beating top trailrunners he’s not marketable.

not fast enough. wrote:

He ran 12:19 at Tunnel Hill. Unless he’s winning and beating top trailrunners he’s not marketable.

He will beat Walms at WS100 by an hour.

holterskolter2 wrote:

he may actually be more talented than you, since I assume your PRs were the result of years of dedicated running training, while his weren't.

Also, talent in the marathon doesn't necessarily translate directly to ultras. It's like assuming you'll be a better 10k runner than somebody because you have a better 800m pr. Sometimes that correlation holds, sometimes it doesn't.

Agree 100% with all of this and I do not necessarily assume I am more talented. I just think the argument could be made based on the little data known about Taggart.

Anyways, great point about marathon >> ultra not always translating. I *think* I will take to the longer stuff because my 15:LO/1:10:HI/2:25:LO PR line indicates that I am best at longer stuff. Who knows though; I understand it’s not a given.

I will be trying this schedule. I will continually update if there seems to be any interest. I am running a marathon in April and will shoot for a 50 soon thereafter. If it goes well, I will probably try JFK in November.

Tri Tra Trullala wrote:

not fast enough. wrote:

He ran 12:19 at Tunnel Hill. Unless he’s winning and beating top trailrunners he’s not marketable.

He will beat Walms at WS100 by an hour.

Hundred miler at tunnel hill is as flat and runnable of a trail 100 miler as you'll get. So to assume that he'll beat Jim Walsmey by a hour at Western States is hard to assume based off this. For comparison Zach Bitter has ran a few minutes faster at tunnel hill 100 and I don't think he has cracked top 5 at Western states. This could be that Zach Bitter is more of a flat time trial and doesn't run over mountainous terrain as well. So unless you can post results or even training indicating he is even better over mountainous trail, I highly doubt that claim.

MathCoach wrote:

I will be trying this schedule. I will continually update if there seems to be any interest. I am running a marathon in April and will shoot for a 50 soon thereafter. If it goes well, I will probably try JFK in November.

Worth a shot! Good luck.