Ian Sharman runs 100 miles on a hilly trail course at 7:38/mile pace, destroys Anton Krupicka

Trail courses are not certified, so it can't really be compared to anything but itself. The course was changed in 2009, so there are only 3 years worth of times. Still, a stellar run against great competition.

1. Break through for Sharman. Although he did run Comrades in 6:01 with a 5:20-ish 50-mi. split, beating Wardian in the process, he got beat by 2 hours at his first 100, the WS100 last summer. He raised the bar today.

2.Ultras, and particularly 100 milers and beyond, are different. Sharman translates his speed UP very well. Very, very few 2:30 marathoners can do what he did today.

3. Krupicka and Roes would have an advantage over Sharman is a mountain 100 like Hardrock or even WS100.

4. It should be fun to see all of the big dogs get after it at WS100 in June and UTMB in August.

5. There are a bunch of bada** ultra guys out there right now.

6. Can't wait to see Max King tackle a 100 and take these guys on.

Yeah, I agree with most of those points. Definitely a breakthrough for Sharman, although if you actually look at his splits for WS100, he was barely top 100 for the first 30 / 40 miles. He played it super casual, had no racing intentions, and just picked everyone off at the end. I agree that Tony and Geoff have a huge advantage on a mountain course. The other difference is that Sharman was probably peaking for Rocky Raccoon, while Tony had less than a month buildup and was specifically not peaking. I think my money's still on Tony and Geoff at WS100 (unless Kilian gets his $hit together in the heat with hydration and stuff). Max King will run a phenomenal 100. I want to see him do one on a flat fast course. A dude like that could go after Yiannis caliber times. His 2:15 at Baltimore was the fastest time ever by an American on that course. I've run it 3 times and it's a slow course; I bet he could run 2:12 at Chicago or something similar.

I think Sharman's 6H01' at Comrades was his breakthrough.

Sharman didn't peak for Rocky Raccoon. His training was quite focused on the marathon with his training peaking out at one 90 mile week with most well below that. He didn't do the long runs and other specific training he'd log while focusing on 100 miler. We'll have a full interview with Ian up on iRunFar.com by tomorrow.

BTW, he'd agree that Roes and Krupicka would have a huge advantage on a mountainous 100 course.

Hey Bryon, nice to see you here. I guess marathon PR shape usually makes you in good shape for an ultra. The major difference from super long long runs is probably more mental than physical. In any case, though, that makes it even more impressive.

iRunFar wrote:

Sharman didn't peak for Rocky Raccoon. His training was quite focused on the marathon with his training peaking out at one 90 mile week with most well below that. He didn't do the long runs and other specific training he'd log while focusing on 100 miler. We'll have a full interview with Ian up on iRunFar.com by tomorrow.

BTW, he'd agree that Roes and Krupicka would have a huge advantage on a mountainous 100 course.

Awesome. Please post the link when you have it.

I am not Bryon, but here is the link...

http://www.irunfar.com/2011/02/ian-sharman-post-2011-rocky-raccoon-100-interview.html

Awesome job, Bryon. Keep up the great work.