S. Canaday wrote:
They did the "bad weather route" this year for GlenCoe...radically different course but more actual mountain climbing stuff. Glencoe Skyline was way less competitive than Ring of Steall this year as well. Still amazed Kilian came back and raced. I can barely walk today.
I've done 7 marathon races this year...some road and some trail/mountain (and including the Speedgoat 50km). Granted I haven't won any of them and I bounce around a lot. I'd say the recovery really depends on the nature of the course (i.e. racing something like 50-miles on a dirt/grass trail with 10,000' of climbing tends to beat one up similarly to a road marathon). I get pretty beat up after any marathon (trail or road) and the 100-milers definitely take a really long time to recover from. You put your body in a state of sleep deprivation, dehydration, glycogen depletion and pound the legs for hours on end....it doesn't feel good when one pushes hard. The margin for error in a top level road marathon is tighter though...you really can't "fake it." In less competitive trail-ultra-running events one can win with less than 100% effort easy.
I greatly respect top road marathon performances and racing super hard and fast for a fast road marathon time only 1-2 times a year. I don't know how Kilian or Yuki do what they do. But realize they are in very different sports....
You will not find Kilian racing a road marathon ever probably.
The trails in Scotland are basically a night and day difference from racing on the track/roads and any US xc race course. Heck even the "US mountain running champ courses" are usually not even close to what it is like mountain-running in Europe. In general when you race in Europe you are going to deal with steeper trails, more switchback cutting, and almost always more technical running. There is probably also more doping but that is a whole other can of worms.
At the world mountain champs (10km-12km) you get some really great teams from Africa...Uganda and Eritrea are very good and have legit guys traditionally. I'm sure Kenya and Ethiopia could field some really good teams too. One year the South African Olympic Marathon champ only got 6th in The Mountain Running Champs. There are a lot of barriers to entry in the sport though.
Again, guys who speculate about "MUT Running" events on here need to realize the diversity in the sport. It is really hard to even try to compare or extrapolate performances between events/courses because they are so vastly different.
Is there no competition or speed? wrote:
Yes, this. The time to race and finish a marathon is much much less (now just over two hours), these guys are racing for wat over 3 hours. Because of the need to recover top marathon runners only do a couple of marathons a year. Kilian can race and win much longer efforts week after week? It’s either a hell of a lot easier to race and win these trail races or if it is as hard (or harder) than racing a marathon, how can he recover so much faster than elite marathon runners? Trail races have to be a joke or pleas explain what’s going on.
What's up Sage, just ran my first road marathon, and I surely learned first hand what the marathon bonk is all about. Up to 17 miles, my efficiency and overall effort was solid, all I could muster the last 9 miles or so was a shuffle for a minute or 2 max before my quads and calves began cramping badly. I did finish, but ended up pretty dehydrated from the humidity. The course was brutal, just shy of 2,000 ft of climbing, for a road marathon, I'd imagine that's up there as one of the tougher course profiles. With all that being said, did you find the transition to trail 50k to be "easier" on the body than a road marathon? I've raced half dozen road halfs and a road 30k, the marathon for a first timer was just another world, and I am an experienced runner. I definetly want to run another marathon next year, but the trails just seem more enticing past the HM distance, 26.2 miles on pavement is TOUGH.