How hard are ultras really? 57-year old woman breaks storied Courtney Dauwalter ultra record

Just run one and find out.

These Backyard runs are not really "record worthy". They are just fun events.

Ultras are easy, just get a Golden ticket OP and tell us how easy it was.

That's f*cking awesome! Jennifer is a BEAST!

Backyard events are a test of a couple things. First, how much do you want to go another yard? Second, How much does the second place person want to go another yard? One person can't break the record alone. There has to be a competitor, or the race is over. So, really... any discussion of who won without acknowledging who got the assist is nonsense.

Anyhow, it's hard to run nearly 500K. Try it and find out.

I’ve said this whenever anyone brings up the Barkleys, and I’ll say it again. “Ultras” encompass an extremely broad range of activities, some of which have very little to do with running ability, and more to do with how your body and mind respond to being under fueled and sleep deprived. A backyard only requires a little over 4 miles in an hour, which is not that much faster than a brisk walk (though this leaves no time for fueling and recovery). Things like vO2max and lactate threshold are not a limiting factor, and so age or sex become much less relevant.

And please don’t interpret my post as disparaging it. It’s incredibly hard, it’s just not “running” in the same way the WSER or UTMB are.

Obviously ultras as well as mountain racing and trails races are uncompetitive compared to track and road. There is little money to win and it is not very popular (though popularity is increasing).

But that does not mean it's easy.

There is Sri Chimnoy one in my area where they run probably thousands of loops around a perimeter of a high school. The whole loop is less than 1/2 mile. Okay I understand it goes on for a month and it takes big toll on your body to run I think like over 50 miles everyday. Jesus. They were just so slow. At some point what is the point? And these are the people going for the win. There is one short stumpy one who walked into the refrigerator in the camp area and snacked and sat on the couch to get up and walk again. And now you know why some of them are fat.

It is not an athletics contest. It really is an endeavor for the borderline insane.

If your takeaway from hearing that a 57 year old ran nearly 500k is that ultras suck, that says more about you than it does about ultras.

It says a lot in many ways. One thing it says is that somebody confuses “hard” with “requiring speed and/or power.” I’m not sure, but I thought even younger ultra athletes have talked a great deal about how enormous a role mental fortitude and overall pain tolerance play in their sport. And this woman has spent 57 years dealing with people like OP.

Oh please. Spare us the dramatics. It’s not a sport attracting the highest level of athletes.

And any “sport” where a 57 year old sets a record makes that clear. Nothing more and nothing less.

More power to the folks that do them but they aren’t world class athletes. Sorry.

Huh. Thought I was kicked out of Juilliard specifically because I lacked flair for the dramatic. Had no idea my posting read like an episode of Real Housewives of Laz’s Backyard.

Well if 57 yr old kipchoge keeps breaking mara records you gotta ask yourself how hard are marathons really...

This type of event is only a couple years old. The “record” is still relatively soft. As noted above the event ends when everyone else quits. So you need two people willing to run for days on end. Combine that with this style event is treated as a fun run by most and you have a “record” that isn’t really a “record”.

Saying ultras aren't competitive because a 57yo woman set a record at a backyard ultra is like saying the 5km isn't competitive because your math teacher set a parkrun record with a 15:30

This.

I think finishing one and running one competitively are two very different things. For the average runner, it probably isn't massively difficult to be able to finish an ultra. I guess we are including 50k in this! But to run a longer ultra in a competitive manner, yes, I would imagine that is difficult. Aside from anything else, the whole logistics side. The mental side of it, being able to eat or sleep for the longer events.

No one is saying that they aren’t difficult (I think). Just saying that the participants are not world class athletes. And that isn’t to disparage anyone, just making an observation.