What would the running equivalent of the Tour de France be?

I feel like the closest thing we have is high school cross country season meets. They race weekly, get scored as a team and as individuals, and by the end of the season we know who is good and the best teams and individuals get to compete for championships. It's just spread out over months instead of days.

I'd say the NCAA XC season, except they hardly ever race.

In the interest of recovery I'd much rather see something like:

20k or half marathon, then three days rest

5k, then two days rest

10k, then three days rest,

1500, then two days rest

marathon

Any more than that and they just can't recover enough to put up decent times. This isn't like cycling -- running has impact.

Here is a great account by Kenny Moore about an 18-day running stage race that he competed in in Hawaii:

http://www.si.com/vault/1982/12/27/626081/to-the-limit-and-beyond

I won't say too much about it because I don't want to spoil the drama, but it is eminently on topic, and you should definitely read it.

Anyone remember this?

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.888740317806008&type=1

In keeping with the Tour de France, Eddie H was also a doper.

Awesome

No direct analogs to the TDF.

A decathlon is close. Decathlon training is a full time job. You have to be competitive in every event in the competition (except possibly the 1500 if you can afford it). There's a 30 minute break between events--no more, no less. There's a constant balance of managing fatigue with maintaining concentration while giving your best effort.

If the Trans-rockies run was competitive, then that would be close. It seems to be advertised now as a supported trail running tour.

Western States is close with the level of competition and the variability of who's leading at different points of the race. But you can't do that on back-to-back days. If you had TDF riders on mountain bike trails for ~24 hours, then maybe it would be a closer comparison.

Of course two sports are always different, but here is the closest physiological equivalent. Cycling distance is listed first, followed by the running equivalent.

1 Individual time trial Saturday, July 4th Utrecht / Utrecht 13.8 km - 2.0 km

2 On-line Sunday, July 5th Utrecht / Zélande 166 km - 24.2 km

3 On-line Monday, July 6th Anvers / Huy 159.5 km - 23.3 km

4 Hilly Tuesday, July 7th Seraing / Cambrai 223.5 km - 32.6 km

5 On-line Wednesday, July 8th Arras Communauté Urbaine / Amiens Métropole 189.5 km - 27.6 km

6 On-line Thursday, July 9th Abbeville / Le Havre 191.5 km - 27.9 km

7 On-line Friday, July 10th Livarot / Fougères 190.5 km - 27.8 km

8 On-line Saturday, July 11th Rennes / Mûr-de-Bretagne 181.5 km - 26.5 km

9 Team time trial Sunday, July 12th Vannes / Plumelec 28 km - 4.1 km

- Rest day Monday, July 13th Pau

10 Mountain Tuesday, July 14th Tarbes / La Pierre-Saint-Martin 167 km - 24.4 km

11 Mountain Wednesday, July 15th Pau / Cauterets - Vallée de Saint-Savin 188 km - 27.4 km

12 Mountain Thursday, July 16th Lannemezan / Plateau de Beille 195 km - 28.5 km

13 Hilly Friday, July 17th Muret / Rodez 198.5 km - 29.0 km

14 Hilly Saturday, July 18th Rodez / Mende 178.5 km - 26.0 km

15 Hilly Sunday, July 19th Mende / Valence 183 km - 26.7 km

16 Hilly Monday, July 20th Bourg-de-Péage / Gap 201 km - 29.3 km

- Rest day Tuesday, July 21st Gap

17 Mountain Wednesday, July 22nd Digne-les-Bains / Pra Loup 161 km - 23.5 km

18 Mountain Thursday, July 23rd Gap / Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne 186.5 km - 27.2 km

19 Mountain Friday, July 24th Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne / La Toussuire - Les Sybelles 138 km - 20.1 km

20 Mountain Saturday, July 25th Modane Valfréjus / Alpe d’Huez 110.5 km - 16.1 km

21 On-line Sunday, July 26th Sèvres - Grand Paris Seine Ouest / Paris Champs-Élysées 109.5 km - 16.0 km

Total Miles/Km Cycling = 2088/3360 - Running = 305/490

It averages out to racing about 100 miles per week.

Decathlon could be the worst comparison. It's 10 completely different events. That's like TDF doing a stage race one day, dirt biking the next, running, bmx street biking, motocross, mountain biking, longest wheelie contest... Etc. They bike every day. It would have to be running , not shot, Javelin, high jump, hurdles, etc....

Here ya go...

100m

400m

1500m

Pikes Peak Ascent (Half marathon with nearly 8,000' ascent, I think)

Hood to Coast Leg 1 (5.44 miles with nearly 2,000 descent)

Boston Marathon

The Barkley

fisky wrote:

Here ya go...

100m

400m

1500m

Pikes Peak Ascent (Half marathon with nearly 8,000' ascent, I think)

Hood to Coast Leg 1 (5.44 miles with nearly 2,000 descent)

Boston Marathon

The Barkley

I think you're posting in the wrong thread. The question was, "What would the running equivalent of the Tour de France be?"

Great post. Running 100 miles a week shouldn't be too tough for the world's best marathoners, though racing that distance might be a different story. I guess at that point it would be all about effort management and the majority of the race would probably be run at a tempo sort of pace, with the exception of some of the time trials/shorter stages and of course the sprint to the finish.

Of course, this event would only be for marathoners and possibly some ultra guys. Sprinters wouldn't survive a day, though maybe you could have some 5K guys in the mix to try and win some of the shorter stages. At 100 miles a week, they should be able to finish, even if they're not much of a factor.

There's a number of longish relay races out there. I did the Hoosier 200 one year. That would be the closest comparison because there are stages of varIous dIstances and runners have to get back out there every few hours for their next stage. I remember running 3 times a day and doing a 10 miler in the middle of the night.

Alan

It happened in 1928 and was nicknamed the Bunion Derby. Los Angeles to NYC footrace. Won by a part-Cherokee kid; he averaged, as I recall, 9-10 minute pace for 3,300 miles over 84 days or so.

http://www.amazon.com/Bunion-Derby-Footrace-Across-America/dp/0826343015

Sun Life Great Race was pretty close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdQ_1l6zAA0

ekiden wrote:

Ekiden maybe?

I've always wanted to see something like that in the US anyway.

Are you kidding? Ekiden, maybe? Might be the closest to the Tour? If I could I'd tell you to your face that you are an idiot.

road bike races and running races have very different rhythms. in the early part of a road race it is not uncommon to find yourself sprinting all out to hold the wheel of the guy in front while there is a flurry of attacks to get the breakaway established. then once the break goes the pace is much steadier and the racing is less aggressive. if you are in the peloton you might spend a good amount of time just coasting along in the draft, getting food/water for your team, taking pee-pees, etc. once the finish comes close the pace gets stronger and steadier either in order to catch the break or to discourage another break from going away. then the end of course is an all out race with lots of sketch-ball moves being made in order to get in position for the final sprint.

Rockgip wrote:

Great post. Running 100 miles a week shouldn't be too tough for the world's best marathoners, though racing that distance might be a different story. I guess at that point it would be all about effort management and the majority of the race would probably be run at a tempo sort of pace, with the exception of some of the time trials/shorter stages and of course the sprint to the finish.

Of course, this event would only be for marathoners and possibly some ultra guys. Sprinters wouldn't survive a day, though maybe you could have some 5K guys in the mix to try and win some of the shorter stages. At 100 miles a week, they should be able to finish, even if they're not much of a factor.

The thing is, if this were the biggest running event of the year, where all the money was to be made, you would in fact have guys from the 1500 competing all the way up to the marathon. And whether they were best at the 1500, 5000, 10000, HM, or the marathon, they would all be quite competitive with one another.

You'll notice the longest day out there would be "only" 32K, or about 20 miles. Most days you are averaging a half-marathon. And of course it wouldn't be raced full-on from the gun by everyone every time. It would be more like the championship racing we see in running when there are no rabbits.

And that is part of the beauty of bike racing. They RACE AGAINST EACH OTHER most of the time. Then when they race against the clock, they have to do so by themselves. In running, we usually see people racing against the clock, but all together at the same time. So they aren't really racing against one another as much.

What a lot of runners might not understand is that yeah, sure, the half-marathon and marathon specialist might win the overall in a "Tour de Rift", but they wouldn't be winning every stage. The 1500 guys would pick their stages to really contest, and then sit in and just get through the harder longer days. Of course, it's not always that predictable, and that's what makes it fun to watch.

With the right course, and proper funding/prize money, something like a Tour de Rift would absolutely be a massive hit. And the fitness these guys would have after recovering from it would be shocking.

I suspect the only sort of way this could be pulled off is with big sponsors like RedBull, then additional smaller sponsors, of course.

200 of the best runners in the world invited to race 21 stages over 23 days. Approximately a $20,000,000 purse distributed as follows:

Each stage

$1,000 - 12 through 200 (or last finisher)

$2,000 - 11th

$3,000 - 10th

$5,000 - 9th

$8,000 - 8th

$13,000 - 7th

$21,000 - 6th

$34,000 - 5th

$55,000 - 4th

$89,000 - 3rd

$144,000 - 2nd

$233,000 - 1st

(16,695,000 for 21 stages)

Overall

$1,000 - 15th through 200 (or last finisher)

$2,000 - 14th

$3,000 - 13th

$5,000 - 12th

$8,000 - 11th

$13,000 - 10th

$21,000 - 9th

$34,000 - 8th

$55,000 - 7th

$89,000 - 6th

$144,000 - 5th

$233,000 - 4th

$377,000 - 3rd

$610,000 - 2nd

$987,000 - 1st

A LOT of professional runners would be willing to roll the dice and race 100 miles per week with that sort of money on the line. And in the grand scheme, 20 Million isn't that hard to come by if there is enough excitement behind it. It all comes down to the TV rights. They couldn't be using these caveman sorts of filming setups we see at so many marathons still. This would be all about drones.

This could absolutely work. And physiologically it's equivalent and possible.

The conversion is phi^4 for cycling miles to running miles. If you doubt this, just look at the longest of the one day classics in cycling. The limit is technically 280km. Divide that by phi^4 and you get just under 41km, or nearly a marathon. Racing 100 miles per week would be grueling, and harder than anything current runners have been subjected to, but they could do it. And those that did, and survived, would be stronger than those who never did them. Just like those who do a grand tour have another gear in their legs that other cyclists simply do not.

Yo Nike, just do it.

Thanks for the numbers - the conversion/equivalency was what I was mostly wondering about. I guessed it would be something like 13-20 miles daily average.

A strong team element to the prize money could add another interesting layer to the racing.

It would be a lot different in running. Way more physical on the legs than cycling. Here's how I think it would play out, because I think it could be awesome.

First, you'd have to not really give a crap about times after the first day or two.

Day 1: 8k road, fastest course possible

Day 2: 10k, hard course like Boulder Boulder

Day 3: 1 mile track time trial

Day 4: Half Marathon flat/intermediate course

Day 5: Half Marathon trail, fairly hard single track course.

Day 6: Rest day

Day 7: 10 miler climb

Day 8: 5k track team trial

Day 9: Downhill mile time trial

Day 10: Marathon, flat course

I think you take the total time for all 10 days of an athelte for the individual winner, but still sore every day XC style. 7 man team, 5 score. And for the track time trial you average the team times.

Not a Cyclist wrote:

Thanks for the numbers - the conversion/equivalency was what I was mostly wondering about. I guessed it would be something like 13-20 miles daily average.

A strong team element to the prize money could add another interesting layer to the racing.

Generally teams pool all the winnings and split them, with the person who actually got the placing/prize getting a slightly higher cut.