Official 2019 Western States 100 Live Discussion Thread

I largely agree, but, there are too many individual stories / stats that vary. To pick but one example, true Krar ran a 2:25 marathon but that was a late entry to the Boston Marathon for a race he hadn't trained well for. If looking for some of his racing history to indicate his talent level for focused training for a distance he's well-suited for, his 1:51 800m and 3:44 for 1500m are better indications of what his talent and leg speed were / are. King never seemed to be wholly committed to racing 100 miles, had concern he'd lose speed over shorter distances, etc. We do know (or should) that success at this race demands full commitment.

Anton K. did beat Max King. Anton just didn't have it at UTMB. Neither did Jimbo.

SteelTownRunner wrote:

In some ways real speed is new to ultras, and in others, it's been there for a while. Walmsley & Co are showing what proper speed with proper training can do at races like WS (though he also showed back in April how good the 50 mi and 100km WRs are and why they lasted so long).

Walmsley & Co are only showing that it pays off to specialize for just one race and specifically train for just that. And wait for the right weather too, which happened to be this year.

Walmsley will continue to struggle on any other course or different conditions. He won't be the guy how will win UMTB, the 100k World Championships or a sub 6 hour 100k race. Walmsley is a WS100 specialist. That's all.

Old Western States horse wrote:

SteelTownRunner wrote:

In some ways real speed is new to ultras, and in others, it's been there for a while. Walmsley & Co are showing what proper speed with proper training can do at races like WS (though he also showed back in April how good the 50 mi and 100km WRs are and why they lasted so long).

Walmsley & Co are only showing that it pays off to specialize for just one race and specifically train for just that. And wait for the right weather too, which happened to be this year.

Walmsley will continue to struggle on any other course or different conditions. He won't be the guy how will win UMTB, the 100k World Championships or a sub 6 hour 100k race. Walmsley is a WS100 specialist. That's all.

Look up who has the course records for the following:

JFK 50

Lake Sonoma 50

Bandera 100K

Tarawera Ultramarathon

Goucher Needles wrote:

I think Western should change from having the top ten automatically return, to the top three. The current policy discourages racing IMHO. You shouldn’t get to automatically return by finishing two hours behind the winner.

That makes no sense. Of course the top 10 should be invited back each year.

I disagree. Guys race for 10th and finish two hours back. It’s clear that many guys who are called of more just hunt the carnage of fast guys with guts who race. Their only goal is to sneak into the top ten, barely ahead of the lead women. I’d rather see guys running for third otherwise they need to requalify. I think this would improve quality of the race. I think the number of golden ticket races should be doubled or tripled.

Western is OK, but on Saturday, the freakin hottest day of the year in DC so far, Michael Wardian ran all 89 miles oh the beltway loop around DC. Amazing that he finished at all.

Wardian is always trying to keep himself relevant to feed his ego.

DC Wonk wrote:

Western is OK, but on Saturday, the freakin hottest day of the year in DC so far, Michael Wardian ran all 89 miles oh the beltway loop around DC. Amazing that he finished at all.

Sounds like an easy training run for Badwater.

DC Wonk wrote:

Western is OK, but on Saturday, the freakin hottest day of the year in DC so far, Michael Wardian ran all 89 miles oh the beltway loop around DC. Amazing that he finished at all.

89 miles?All the way around 495 is 89 miles? I would have guessed way less.

Why in the hell did he do that?

Mike Wardian is another clown. I forgot about him. The clown and his circus.

Mike Wardian still vegetarian? No wonder.

rojo wrote:

DC Wonk wrote:

Western is OK, but on Saturday, the freakin hottest day of the year in DC so far, Michael Wardian ran all 89 miles oh the beltway loop around DC. Amazing that he finished at all.

89 miles?All the way around 495 is 89 miles? I would have guessed way less.

Why in the hell did he do that?

Probably has gone mad.

The real game changer came in August 2005 when Matt Carpenter set the Leadville 100 course record. Matt ran the whole way. That hasn't been done again. Matt in his prime would have gone sub 14 at WS.

Mike Wardian is worse than Dean K! Seriously, he so called world records are worthy of a cheap circus.

Old Western States horse wrote:

Walmsley will continue to struggle on any other course or different conditions. He won't be the guy how will win UMTB, the 100k World Championships or a sub 6 hour 100k race. Walmsley is a WS100 specialist. That's all.

So I guess way back when you must have been all over scott jurek for being a western states specialist who won it like seven times or something and not a real ultra runner. And people like Krupicka, Tim Olson, Geoff Roes for being one trick ultra ponies who can't even win UTMB. Or is your beef really with reality setting that its just another level of ultra running today that's significantly better than let's wait for other people to blow up so I can win style of traditional ultra running.

taco vegan tuesday in the springs at 6035 wrote:

The real game changer came in August 2005 when Matt Carpenter set the Leadville 100 course record. Matt ran the whole way. That hasn't been done again. Matt in his prime would have gone sub 14 at WS.

Oh yeah, carpenter I got mad respect for even though he comes from the traditional period. He is legit with the pikes peak times and such and leadville. Him and then kilian jornet on the even longer stuff.

Let's not forget Mike Morton! Mike in his prime would fair well in today's ultra scene. The issue is that he was way ahead of everyone and had no one to push him.

then that...happened... wrote:

Let's not forget Mike Morton! Mike in his prime would fair well in today's ultra scene. The issue is that he was way ahead of everyone and had no one to push him.

I don't know about that, Walmsley has been pretty much running by himself way out in front since he started ultras and he still finds reason to push. But he's not the first, nearly all of the faster road guys that took over ultras before walmsley had the same mindset. That's the difference between traditional and the new hotness.

The PED affect of veganism and vegetarianism (for guys like Yannos, Jurek, Wardian, probably Walmsley to a larger extent) is likely due to the hypothyroid metabolic effects of the diet. This aids catabolism, minimizes muscle mass, while aiding heat tolerance. Probably applies also to the East African marathoners who live on sugar, but suck in colder, wetter weather. Meanwhile Yuki, the Meat Man, thrives in cold conditions.

These veggie guys would be terrible polar explorers, TDF riders or Himalayan mountaineers, but for 5-10 years they have a leg up in the hotter ultras. Eventually the intrinsic malnutrition of the diet kicks in, and they are cooked, possibly ending in heart attacks in their 50s (Maxwell, Sayre and True).