Anton Krupicka talks about being perma-injured

200 mpw is what gave him a sponsorship and pro athlete life. High mileage works.

gjhgjhgjhgjg wrote:

200 mpw is what gave him a sponsorship and pro athlete life. High mileage works.

A very short pro athlete life.

Still sponsored. Life must be good.

Dollarz wrote:

Still sponsored. Life must be good.

My definition of sucess isn’t renting a single room and living out of a truck. Whatever level of sponsorship he has, it sure appears as though he doesnt get much. Although, I get the impression that on top of being dim witted he’s cheap as hell, so maybe he just saves his money. I sure hope he is saving his money as sooner rather than later he won’t be sponsored and it’s not clear what long term career aspirations he has, but I don’t think being a bum is a wise long term career.

Marshall1 wrote:

my first (of ~15) stress fractures

15 stress fractures? Is it a world record?

I've never run an ultra, but the sport and the personalities are fascinating and inspiring. It's still a sport in it's infant stages with a lot of runners learning on the fly of what works and what doesn't. I read a lot of ignorant posts regarding slow, ultra shuffle pace and all that bs. It's not track and field or a high velocity road race. It's a next level beast that fast road runners that grew up blasting away intervals can't really comprehend. Take some fast road runners for example, Max King and Sage Canaday. 2 absolute beast runners at the ultra level to a certain distance, and their OT leg speed past 50 miles, doesn't always translate to success in a 100k and def not 100 miles. Ultra guys run races with several thousand feet of elevation change, varying terrain, battling nutrition and fatigue on another level. It's redefining what the human mind and body is capable of. Not to take away from the fast road guys, that too is an incredible body of work. Guys like Tony K really pioneered the sport in the last decade or so, but also maybe took some unnecessary steps in training that took years off their career. I wish him the best and hope he finds his niche. Would love to see him put together a comeback, but 200 mile weeks in your early 20s more than likely stunted any potential development for the long haul.

Krupicka a pioneer lol

In track your a pioneer for your times, in ultras it’s bc you look like Jesus just fatter lol

BeardedDude wrote:

Been done since 2009.

This.

End of thread.

Yeah, you're right.. a PR of 15:13 at Western States is a joke of physical ability. I should have looked closer at his 1k split...

and the 3rd fastest time ever at Speedgoat 50k, that he last ran in 2013..5 minutes off Walmsley's CR..

Unfortunately deep down it's not a running related problem, these are easier to fix.

Oh well wrote:

Easy to say what he should have done, but if he wouldn't have run super high mileage, he would have never been able to do the things he did. He would have never become Anton Krupicka, if all he had ever run was 80 mile weeks. He would have been somebody who no one ever heard about. It's a little tragic that he didn't take a step back when he had the chance, (after the first couple of serious injuries) but it would be tough to stop doing the thing that got you there, and then expect to be the best on race day.

You don’t know that at all. One could make an argument that if he would have had a different training system that included lower mileage (lower than 200) and smart recovery he could actually have performed better that what he did. Maybe he got his wins in spite of his overtraining, not because of them.

masterofdisaster wrote:

Unfortunately deep down it's not a running related problem, these are easier to fix.

What is it then?

NotPC wrote:

I guess that is a problem with ultas. If you're doing them it means you were already too slow to run shorter stuff, so when you can't even shuffle along at ultra pace, you are legitimately done. You can't move up, and most folks can't move down.

Guess you can try a through hike of the AT or something like that if you must scratch that itch.

Can you shut up. Not all people who run ultras do so simply because they couldn't run faster at a shorter distance. What a stupid one track minded elitist dumb argument.

I've run into Anton a few times on the Boulder trails. We certainly don't agree on a lot of things and have totally different personalities and perceptions of the sport of distance running....especially when it comes to ultras and mountain running.

However, I will say he ran a really good race at the Speedgoat 50km in 2013....I held him off by 90 seconds but he certainly gave me a scare that day and he did beat Max King head to head there. That race, along with his 2nd at Western States and his race wins at Leadville were probably some of his best performances ever IMO. He is actually quite good at fast, runnable downhills and I have yet to get his round-trip time on Mt. Elbert (FKT).

I also respect those that do super high mileage and train hard to get everything out of their potential (especially people that were "slow" in college on the track/xc like me). However, I learned in college that 150 miles a week doesn't treat me well personally though...

Finally, last I checked the guy is not homeless or living out of his truck (and really never had to because of financial reasons, but chose to). He has/had an apartment just off the Pearl Street Mall in downtown Boulder and is probably saving up quite a bit of money.

Thanks for the knowledgeable analysis.

i know Anton want to be back at the next UTMB

Lives in a truck wrote:

I don’t think being a bum is a wise long term career.

Why not? You can't get fired and get to pick your own hours etc. No rent, no taxes. The list goes on.

I went through a few years of getting injured all the time. I have seen many many other runners do the same over the years. It has nothing to do with ultras but just overtraining or pushing too hard.

Just watch when a runner becomes "hot" and starts running great times. All the sudden they have dropped off the map and you see the story of what injury they have.

Jordan Hasay is a great example. Killed it in a couple marathons and striving to squeeze just a little more time out. Josh McDougal is another that comes to mind. Countless other local runners I have seen get in great shape and then they aren't competing for a year or two. Pretty vicious cycle to get out of.