Team Geared Up

Olympian Jeff Galloway, from www.RunInjuryFree.com, writes an article about how longer runs translate into faster times, especially in shorter distances. His point, based on surveys and self-experience I guess, is that increasing the length of your training runs will improve and extend your endurance and that, on its turn, helps improving racing time in shorter runs.

Runner’s World has put together a list of some of this season’s new running sunglasses models (not necessarily ultra-runners only, of course). The list includes Adidas Adistar, Julbo Trail, Nike Impel Swift , Rudy Project Sportmask SX, Zeal Optics Lift and Under Armour Draft, with a price range of $110 to $160. For other good lists of running –trail or road – sunglasses, check out iRunFar’s recent post on the topic (links are pointed out at the end of that post).

What It Feels Like… To Win an Ultramarathon. Scott Jurek writes about his victory on the 2005 Badwater Ultramarathon, describing the way he run and felt on each part of the race:

0 miles / -282 feet elevation / 10:00 A.M. It starts at Badwater, California, the lowest point in North America. You see the shimmering heat waves going across the horizon. The pavement is really the only sign of civilization. I don’t get nervous, but the idea that I’m running 135 miles today — there’s that not knowing what lies ahead. I’m wearing all white and, believe it or not, pants. They’re a lightweight microfiber. I also wear an ice bandanna — I’ve got ice on my hat. It was about 100 degrees.

And don’t miss the other side of the story: What It Feels Like… To Come in Second Place (Twice), by Ferg Hawke.

What Exactly Does It Feel Like to Run 100 Kilometres in One Day?. An excellent story on the on-line version of The Guardian about a life-changing experience of an ultramarathon. The text is an extract from ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’, a soon to be published book written by the Japanese author and marathon runner Haruki Murakami, where he tells his experience with his first and only ultra marathon through the notes he wrote right after the race, ten years ago. A race definitely left a trace in his life. The story starts like this:

June 23rd, 1996, Lake Saroma, Hokkaido, Japan. This 100km ultramarathon takes place every year at Lake Saroma, in June. The rest of Japan is in the rainy season then, but Hokkaido is too far north. Early summer in Hokkaido is a very pleasant time of year, though in its northernmost part, where Lake Saroma is, summer warmth is still a way off. In the early morning, when the race starts, it’s still freezing, and you have to wear heavy clothes. As the sun gets higher in the sky, you gradually warm up, and the runners, like bugs going through metamorphosis, shed one layer of clothes after another. By the end of the race, though I kept my gloves on, I’d stripped down to a tank top, which left me feeling chilly. If it rained, I’d really have frozen, but fortunately, despite the lingering cloud cover, we didn’t get a drop of rain.

The Story of Leadville Trail 100. The LT100 is an 100 miles ultra trail race held annually in Leadville, Colorado amidst the Rocky Mountains. Known for its difficulty (usually only half of the starters complete the race) with a 50 mile out-and-back course that takes the participants to elevations up to 12,600 feet. But what may be not so well know is its story.
The race first run in 1983 when Kenneth Chlouber – with the help of Carl Miller – created the race to find the town a way out of a serious economic downturn after the mine company where more than 3,000 Leadville residents worked shut down the business. On its first year 50 runners lined up and only 10 finished, but that was enough to repeat a second year and eventually help the town’s economy survive.
Of course, he was absolutely successful with the race, but he was seen as a completely crazy man when he came up with the idea. At one point, when he told the local hospital administrator about his idea he was told, “You’re crazy! You’ll kill someone!” Chlouber responded, “Well, then we will be famous, won’t we?”

-Ed-
More about ultra running at trailrunningsoul.com

Image credit - journeyfilm.com