Gary Robbins hardly trains

Look at time instead of distance. And realize that not everyone is a nerd like you and needs to post 100% of their training on Strava just to prove theirs training.

strava police wrote:

Look at time instead of distance. And realize that not everyone is a nerd like you and needs to post 100% of their training on Strava just to prove theirs training.

Yes, look at time. What a brilliant way to offer a counterpoint to the claim of ultra hiking/walking training.

I agree that he should be considered a professional hiker/walker versus runner.

strava police wrote:

I agree that he should be considered a professional hiker/walker versus runner.

I don't care if he calls himself a runner, I'm sure he runs a lot, but I like the more general term "endurance athlete". I get that it's hard to call someone moving at 2mph a "runner", but there is no doubt what they do requires physical fitness and a lot of hard work. As an 800 guy my run training looks a lot more similar to the run training of a 5k guy etc., but nothing at all like the training this guy puts in. But, he's still putting in a lot of training. Alternatively, we could all just not worry about labels.

He's getting 30-40,000 ft. of elevation/week and looks to be doing most of it on snow-covered mountain trails. I'm sure the guy's fit.

You do realize that he is training for TIME and vert right? That's what causes people to fail in Barkley. I've watched his training videos he goes out for 12 hours and just spam runs up and down mountains in his area.

BroWTf wrote:

You do realize that he is training for TIME and vert right?

I'll start with saying it's stupid that anyone feels the need to validate or "discredit" him, just because some people are having a fit over the Barkley finish.

That said, from what I've seen, his average activity is 5-10 miles where the first half is walked at 15-17 minute pace at ~250-500' climbing per mile, with a jog back down to the bottom at 9-11 minute pace. Four or five of these a week. I'm a hobby jogger with no endurance background and do the same thing. It keeps me fit and is a fun hobby, but I'm certainly not any type of serious athlete.

BroWTf wrote:

You do realize that he is training for TIME and vert right? That's what causes people to fail in Barkley. I've watched his training videos he goes out for 12 hours and just spam runs up and down mountains in his area.

To sum up the responses so far, basically you really do need to just be an intense hiker to do well in Barkley?

You just need to hike for 10 hours a week and that's enough to be a pro ultra runner?

Yes, and also to know the basics of orientation.

If it's enough to somehow make a living, then yes you're considered a "pro".

The newer the sport/event and less prize money, the less athletic abilities you need. Not saying it's easy, but theirs a way larger pool of people that could do well at it if they had the desire to.

He was training for a very specific goal - completing the Barkley Marathons, so his training has been very tailored to that goal. Sorry not everyone peaked in high school and thinks their local 10k is the best thing that ever happened.

He's multiple-time winner of the HURT 100 in Hawaii and course record holder.

This chart is exactly why road runners can't wrap their heads around the effort and intensity of trail ultras:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c4/6d/11/c46d117c902d88c3c703d5c37887ae29.jpg

strava police wrote:

Look at time instead of distance. And realize that not everyone is a nerd like you and needs to post 100% of their training on Strava just to prove theirs training.

One of his pro sponsorships is a GPS watch company. You think it's a good idea to NOT link to Strava?

If this is true, then Gary was logging junk miles. I could produce those results the first year I tried trail running.

Sampson wrote:

BroWTf wrote:

You do realize that he is training for TIME and vert right?

I'll start with saying it's stupid that anyone feels the need to validate or "discredit" him, just because some people are having a fit over the Barkley finish.

That said, from what I've seen, his average activity is 5-10 miles where the first half is walked at 15-17 minute pace at ~250-500' climbing per mile, with a jog back down to the bottom at 9-11 minute pace. Four or five of these a week. I'm a hobby jogger with no endurance background and do the same thing. It keeps me fit and is a fun hobby, but I'm certainly not any type of serious athlete.

Not saying this is the case for Gary, but in general you can't just go on Strava and assume that's all the training their doing.

And being sponsored by a GPS company might only mean he's getting a free watch.

Go ahead and log over 100k elevation in a month and post a link to your Strava data. I'll wait...

Don't Be Such a Roadie wrote:

He was training for a very specific goal - completing the Barkley Marathons, so his training has been very tailored to that goal. Sorry not everyone peaked in high school and thinks their local 10k is the best thing that ever happened.

He's multiple-time winner of the HURT 100 in Hawaii and course record holder.

This chart is exactly why road runners can't wrap their heads around the effort and intensity of trail ultras:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c4/6d/11/c46d117c902d88c3c703d5c37887ae29.jpg

This.

End of thread.

Don't Be Such a Roadie wrote:

Go ahead and log over 100k elevation in a month and post a link to your Strava data. I'll wait...

What is that, averaging two thousand feet a day? The easiest way to do that would be one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening.

if I do that will I get a free watch and be worthy to be called a pro athlete on strava? Who are you and why would you wait for me? What's your vested interest?

I'll wait because you're a LRC forums all star worth waiting for...get moving and then post, we'll be here.

junk food wrote:

Don't Be Such a Roadie wrote:

Go ahead and log over 100k elevation in a month and post a link to your Strava data. I'll wait...

What is that, averaging two thousand feet a day? The easiest way to do that would be one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening.

if I do that will I get a free watch and be worthy to be called a pro athlete on strava? Who are you and why would you wait for me? What's your vested interest?

LRCforums_waiter wrote:

I'll wait because you're a LRC forums all star worth waiting for...get moving and then post, we'll be here.

junk food wrote:

What is that, averaging two thousand feet a day? The easiest way to do that would be one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening.

if I do that will I get a free watch and be worthy to be called a pro athlete on strava? Who are you and why would you wait for me? What's your vested interest?

I love walking up hills! A good way to do this, for anyone wants to try and doesn't know how, is to live by a small mountain where you can walk two miles at around 30% grade (2 miles that goes up about 3,200 ft). So just walk those two miles every day and that gets you to about 100,000 a month.

LRCforums_waiter wrote:

I'll wait because you're a LRC forums all star worth waiting for...get moving and then post, we'll be here.

Have you ever seen American Ninja Warrior? I love that show. What those people do is hard, and people train hard specifically for that event. They come from all sorts of different backgrounds, including rock climbing. There are certain events in it that cross over well for rock climbers.

Now, imagine you went onto a rock climbing forum and started talking about your training for American Ninja Warrior - it's not like the training for American Ninja Warrior wouldn't be impressive, it's just that it would only be kinda related to training for rock climbing. You are on a running forum, and while I'm sure the bm100 is brutally difficult, it's really not running. The proof of that is in looking at the training the Gary did for it, which wasn't running, but long hours of hiking. Nobody needs to get their nose out of joint, I have no doubt that Gary is better at hiking up mountains than most people on here, but he couldn't keep up to a lot of guys on here on a straight foot race. I don't know why any of that could be very controversial.

I say this as someone who was impressed and was routing for Gary to win. Staying awake for 60 hours of any type of exercise alone impresses the hell out of me. I hope he enjoys a lot of success from his result.