sigma grindset wrote:
It's almost as if running over smooth pavement with only few meters of elevation gained over a race is way different than racing up and down mountains. Imagine my surprise. As someone who has messed around with mountainous trails, my first time gave me a new respect for the sport. In my younger years when I lived in a state with almost no real trails and only a few short hills to run. I dismissed the winners of western states, Leadville, hard rock etc as at the time I thought they're jogging slower than I do for a recovery run. But until you run up a mountain, let alone racing over them for 50k, 50 miles and beyond. People who only run on city street have no idea the difference.
Well put - and my insights exactly.
To be fair, I did attempt to prepare - upped my hill workouts and did a fair amount of trail runs and some lesser mountain hikes over the past 8 weeks. Still, that was nowhere near enough.
Similarly, I have developed a profound respect for mountain trail runners that are seeing large amounts of vertical gain and loss, especially on technical terrain. A 10-12 minute pace on some of these courses is respectable, so I can see why those with only track and road experience turn their noses up at mountain/WSER/UTMB runners and call them names - they have no idea.
Anyway, shameless and unattached plug for mountain trail racing - for all you hobby road runners out there who think you're such hot sh*t, try one of these and get back to me about how Western States is a joke.
Have a good week, all.
-Mountain Hobbyjogger