Walmsley Speaks -- “I think I was overreaching. I had a great training block, but clearly I wasn’t back yet.”

22twos wrote:

I used to think the track boards were bad, but you guys put them to shame. Ya'll are toxic....

Dude..these boards are gross. I highly doubt these are all ultra guys talking smack though. I'd venture to say more sub, sub elite road runners who only know Walmsley's name because of the Western coverage the last few years. I honestly read these comments and wonder, "what the hell happened to you in life to resort to this anonymous behavior?"

It has to be insanely hard to be a pro athlete in this era with social media, message boards, and beta trolls. Instead of getting inspired by an athlete for reaching over the moon, and blowing up while pursuing greatness, soo many of these trolls resort to LRC like 12 year olds. Pretty pathetic showing for the RUNNING community as a whole.

1.5 cents wrote:

22twos wrote:

I used to think the track boards were bad, but you guys put them to shame. Ya'll are toxic....

Dude..these boards are gross. I highly doubt these are all ultra guys talking smack though. I'd venture to say more sub, sub elite road runners who only know Walmsley's name because of the Western coverage the last few years. I honestly read these comments and wonder, "what the hell happened to you in life to resort to this anonymous behavior?"

It has to be insanely hard to be a pro athlete in this era with social media, message boards, and beta trolls. Instead of getting inspired by an athlete for reaching over the moon, and blowing up while pursuing greatness, soo many of these trolls resort to LRC like 12 year olds. Pretty pathetic showing for the RUNNING community as a whole.

You don't have to be on this board.

In the era of social media you have to live with the good and the bad. Jim Walmsley is a pro athlete and gets payed by companies to get more brand awareness. It's his job to live with bad comments on social media. That's just part of the deal being famous.

cracked egg wrote:

The problem isn’t just the training. He wins small American races. He mentally cracks when he faces competition.

Yep, it's all mental in ultrarunning.

idiot alert. wrote:

2015 100k world champs- choked

2016 Western States- choked at 93 miles, sits down and sulks after a wrong turn, takes 4 hours to go 7 miles

2017 Western States- choked, DNF

2017 UTMB- choked at 100k, the one and only time he kinda rallied for 5th

2017 Grand Raid Reunion- choked, DNF

2018 Western States- his 1 major win out of 7, not as competitive as people think

2018 UTMB- choked, DNF

You seeing a trend? He wins small American races but chokes at international competition. He's a choker.

One big difference here with WS 2017 was serious stomach issues, I remember seeing something where he said he was throwing up for like 12 hours after he dropped. He did DNF, but that's kind of a different animal than dropping due to mental whatever your point is.

AND regardless of how competitive you think Western States is, you left out that the 2nd place finisher was last years UTMB champ, and that he set a new course record. Also, 5th at UTMB isn't choking exactly...

cowboy training camp

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

If I was Jim I would do whatever it takes to train with Yuki next year when he goes pro.

idiot alert. wrote:

The difference is Jim is no Pre, Ryan Hall, or Rupp. Those guys could or can face competition and actually win or do well. He gets mentally psyched out. Keep jerking off to his training logs.

agreed.

Walmsley is not a world-class runner facing people running world records in Olympic level meets.

He's a very good, talented ultra-runner, but it's not an even comparison to Rupp or Pre or Hall or anyone running in WC's, olympics, or even on the Diamond League circuit.. I'm guessing he would readily admit this himself since he never even won an NCAA title.

how this guy became famous?

What get's me is how these threads get highlight in the "On the Boards" sidebar.

It's like we have a thread on race walking getting popular.

Do any actual good runners care about 100 mile races? I sure don't. I have no idea who Jim is and I don't care to (just as I don't care who won the 20k or 30k race walk at the last [or any] Olympic Games).

Next thing you know people will create thread on dance-a-thons.

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

Pre: Idolized by 98% of letsrun message boarders (and high school runners) for taking it out fast and running balls to the wall from the gun and not being afraid to push the pace.

Walmsley: Chastised by 98% of letsrun message boarders for taking it out fast and running balls to the wall from the gun and not being afraid to push the pace.

Ryan Hall: Idolized by 98% of letsrun message boarders for taking it out fast from the gun and not being afraid to push the pace.

Rupp: Critized by 98% of letsrun message boarders for never taking it out hard and essentially sitting and kicking.

Got it.

My bet is it is one guy who hates Walms posting 98% of the posts . Same writing style, same complaints. Guy has a screw loose but has a platform here . It’s another example of why articles about the Letsrun forums always call it “ infamous”, “notorious” or such.

You can't lose , you can only win or learn. Why do people think this doesn't apply to JW?

Humanity wrote:

You can't lose , you can only win or learn. Why do people think this doesn't apply to JW?

Because he hasn't learned much yet about ultrarunning.

Look up his IAAF athlete profile for legit track and road times although his 1:08 half mary PB doesn't line up with the shorter distance performances. What is interesting was how bad he was at ultras in 2014-2015 including the IAAF World 100km Road Championships. 5:56-5:47 at JFK50 and 6:41 at Lake Sonoma 50 isn't exactly flying.

blatter wrote:

What get's me is how these threads get highlight in the "On the Boards" sidebar.

It's like we have a thread on race walking getting popular.

Do any actual good runners care about 100 mile races? I sure don't. I have no idea who Jim is and I don't care to (just as I don't care who won the 20k or 30k race walk at the last [or any] Olympic Games).

Next thing you know people will create thread on dance-a-thons.

Liam. wrote:

how this guy became famous?

He got famous because he announced he would bring speed to ultrarunning.

Almost as tragic as Prefontaine, who most famous for his 4th place in the Olympics.

FYIi wrote:

Look up his IAAF athlete profile for legit track and road times although his 1:08 half mary PB doesn't line up with the shorter distance performances.

What is interesting was how bad he was at ultras in 2014-2015 including the IAAF World 100km Road Championships. 5:56-5:47 at JFK50 and 6:41 at Lake Sonoma 50 isn't exactly flying.

blatter wrote:

What get's me is how these threads get highlight in the "On the Boards" sidebar.

It's like we have a thread on race walking getting popular.

Do any actual good runners care about 100 mile races? I sure don't. I have no idea who Jim is and I don't care to (just as I don't care who won the 20k or 30k race walk at the last [or any] Olympic Games).

Next thing you know people will create thread on dance-a-thons.

So he's a sub-elite who took up ultra. Again, why should I care?

blatter wrote:

FYIi wrote:

Look up his IAAF athlete profile for legit track and road times although his 1:08 half mary PB doesn't line up with the shorter distance performances.

What is interesting was how bad he was at ultras in 2014-2015 including the IAAF World 100km Road Championships. 5:56-5:47 at JFK50 and 6:41 at Lake Sonoma 50 isn't exactly flying.

So he's a sub-elite who took up ultra. Again, why should I care?

He was a decent runner at the Air Force Academy. He had an impressive victory/finish in the second heat of a 5,000 in one of the Stanford meets in his senior year. He then immediately went into the Air Force where he got a crappy assignment and was not training/running competitively but started trail running in his spare time (this last part might not be accurate). He got kicked out of the Air Force. He started running ultras and (arguably) became the best American non-road ultra runner ever. He told NAZ Elite Coach Ben Rosario in a podcast that he considers himself a 2:11 Marathoner and may run the 2020 OTs. (I believe he has gone on runs with the Naz Elite Team.) America does not have a lot of 2:11 Marathoners. He is an aggressive front runner or a headcase or both. His incredible stride and unrealized potential as a track runner make him an interesting story.

blatter wrote:

What get's me is how these threads get highlight in the "On the Boards" sidebar.

ns.

But a thread about an actual race like utmb will get hundreds of commments over a few hours and never be "hot on the boards".

This garbage gets a few posts by one "guy" (which is probably rojo) and goes right to the top!!

Mizuno fanboy wrote:

well,, wrote:

[quote]Matey wrote:

Why are we talking about jogging again?

Because it´s much more interesting than seeing a bunch of anonymous Africans running laps around a track.

Really? Knowing that some guys are out in the woods jogging/walking is more interesting than track running? I. Don't. Think. So.

Ackley wrote:

His incredible stride

lol...what? where?