lady wrote:
Confusing wrote:
I guess what’s confusing to me though is what are the American women doing differently in training and racing strategy for success? Is it just that other countries don’t have as strong a showing on the women’s side? I mean look at Courtney. She’s from Minnesota so a flat lander literally just crushed it at this mountain race that is too mountainous for the US men.
Courtney grew up in Minnesota, but now she lives in Colorado and has the entirety of her pro ultrarunning career. She has access to play in the mountains all the time. The American women who have historically done well at this race all live and train in the mountains. Rory Bosio lives in Tahoe. Courtney lives in Golden Colorado. Krissy Moehl lives near the Cascade mountains. I would say it's pretty shocking that Kaci Lickteig came in the top 10 last year given she trains in Nebraska. She was running very well this year until she fell and injured herself mid race.
The women as far as I can tell tend to run more within themselves and pace themselves better at these races. In the US, even our most mountainous ultras are low key affairs. At UTMB, you have crowds, energy, music blasting in towns, before your race you have a million sponsor obligations. I think the issue with the American men is they get too swept up in the energy of the event, which people tell me has a feel that is way more similar to a big city major marathon than a traditional US ultra (even one as famous as Western States).
As far as Tim goes, according to his Strava he picked up a virus and started having symptoms mid race. He had chills, vomiting, and a raging headache. Trying to run 100 miles in the mountains with flu symptoms sounds like a recipe for disaster, so a DNF was smart.
Excellent analysis! From what I can glean of Courtney through her interviews, she seems to be constitutionally immune to outside pressure and stress. I think that UTMB is just another fun adventure for her, and as a result she dominates.