Joshua Cheptegei Is Going For The 5000 WR In Monaco – Can He Break It?

Taking the time limit off for an absolute finish of the Circumpolar Race Around the World does not relieve you of the time pressure….

Because all treks are not equal, there is still a target to shoot for:

The Fernando Magellan Buckle ( known as the Fernão de Magalhães Buckle in Portugal). If you complete your Circumpolar trip running (on team or teams) in less than 12 months, you will be eligible to get the Gold Buckle. If you can beat the 16 month mark, you can get a Silver Buckle. Over 16 months is only the Medal.

The corresponding marks for multisport are 8 months and 12 months…..

Your clock starts the first day your first team logs miles. That is the day you get your first passport stamp to enter Mexico. And it is the same day that time starts ticking.

Are these hard targets? Yes. Not everyone will be able to wear a Gold Buckle…. or a Silver one. I don’t think anyone will be hanging their heads in shame over a medal. But, if it was easy, what would be the point?

Lazarus Lake‎ 

I am a big believer in getting rid of a pecking order on a team (whether it’s a HS XC team or a pro team like @NAZ_Elite). EX: This summer @HotPaquettes, @kellyn_taylor and @Steph_Rothstein have raced three times with a different order of finish each time. Every day is a new day!

@BenRosario1

To me, being an optimist doesn’t mean you deny reality and see everything as cheerful and positive. It means you see and acknowledge reality. You see the adversity, the bad times, the struggle but you assume they are temporary and/or fixable.

@stevemagness

Salt has a serious PR problem. Salt has been linked with a rise in cases of hypertension, or high blood pressure, in the population at large. Because hypertension is a huge risk factor in all manner of nasty cardiovascular diseases, salt has, by association, taken a great deal of flak for its alleged contribution to this growing issue.

When taken at face value, there’s an appealingly simple reason why this association between salt intake and hypertension has been drawn. It boils down to the fact that as you consume more and more salt, your body tends to retain more and more fluid in the blood to maintain acceptable blood sodium concentrations. This has the effect of expanding total blood volume and therefore acutely increasing blood pressure, i.e. elevating BP in the short term.

As an aside, this is precisely why we recommend using a saltier drink in the immediate build-up to hot or long races—so that you start with increased blood volume before a period of heavy sweating.

If we can accept that consuming too little sodium is as problematic as consuming too much for health and blood pressure, the conversation around necessary salt intake for athletes starts to get quite interesting.

The bottom line on sodium intake for athletes (or anyone who sweats a lot during the course of their day) is that you should strive to be roughly in-line with your individual sodium losses as a minimum. To use an analogy from the field of Game Theory, sodium consumption should ideally be a zero-sum gain. Intake should essentially cancel out output and therefore, in theory, the effect on overall sodium balance (and as a result, blood pressure and other homeostatic measurements) should be net-zero

ANDY BLOW

• Posted @withregram • @harveylewisultrarunner Post by Tracey Outlaw

Mt Whitney.
14,505ft.
146 miles from Badwater Basin at -282ft.

It APPEARS Harvey Lewis has set a new Badwater 146 FKT. (Unofficial). He is safely making his way back down to the portals now.

The previous record- a stout one- was held by Marshall Ulrich set in 1991 in 33 hours, 54 minutes. It’s held for 29 years!

Harvey was in great shape through Lone Pine at 122 miles. He made it up to the portals at mile 135 in about 4 hours. This left him with less than 7 hours to traverse the final 11 miles.

It was going to be close.

At the portals, Harvey’s crew gave him two pieces of information that I think significantly helped:

1) We overdelivered his goal to raise $2,500 for the City Gospel Mission. $7,001 (at last check). In addition to the FKT, this was one of two goals Harvey had set. 👍 (huge thank you!)

2) Marshall had texted me and INSISTED Harvey call him. I think he knew Harvey needed a boost. They talked. 💙

Harvey and Michael Jiminez proceeded on toward the summit.

Harvey has two “pings” from his tracker (each ~10 minutes apart)- 33 hrs, 39 minutes and 33 hours, 53 minutes. The first appears closer on the map to the pinned summit, the second ping is higher at 14,504ft.

FOLLOW Harvey as he safely makes his way back down to then portals. Tracker in BIO.

From the onset Harveys never considered this is solo effort. All of his friends and family played a key role in helping him make it to the summit. Michael Jiminez ran with him at key places including the summit. His crew of Dave Oakley, Randy Kreill and Jeremy Scheffler also did an amazing job throughout. And of course all your likes, shares and comments are amazing!

If the baton is to be passed, this will mean the world to Harvey. He has the upmost respect for Marshall Ulrich. He appreciated the effort by Al Arnold, the first to do the 146 in 1977. He loves this place and it’s people like Ben Jones. The Badwater race has always been a favorite (right there with the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon). Harvey has covered the route from Badwater to the Whitney portal 9 times and on 5 occasions climbed to the summit following.

Dear runners,

It is with a heavy heart that we write to you today. We have exhausted every possible avenue for holding the Tahoe 200mi/100km/25km races including a potential location change. After speaking with the USFS today I am sorry to inform you that they have decided not to allow our event this year. Full Post

• Harvey is now near Trail Junction. The junction between John Muir Trail and Mt. Whitney Trail. About 1.7 miles to Whitney Summit! He has 1 hour and 53 minutes to finish the 1.7ish miles. Although at higher elevation, this final section is a bit easier than previous section. Harvey is going to break Marhall Ulrich’s 29 year old Badwater 146 FKT!!

• Post by Tracey Outlaw

In preparing for the 146 FKT, Harvey reached out to the current 146 mile record-holder, Marshall Ulrich for advice and protocol. Marshall has been very supportive and was kind enough to share the photos from THE BADWATER Ben Jones and answer a few questions. As Harvey makes his way up Mt Whitney, enjoy the history!!

MARSHALL ULRICH has completed +124 ultra marathons averaging over 100 miles each, has climbed the tallest summit on each continent (all on first attempts), a feat known as the seven summits, and has finished 12 expedition-length races in adventure racing. Last week we asked him a few questions:

Q1.) WHAT DO YOU REALLY THINK ABOUT HARVEY GOING FOR YOUR RECORD? 🙂
ULRICH: “Actually Harvey is one of my favorite people as he is chocked full of ethics, morals and appreciates the history of the prior crossings. If anyone is to top my record, it could very well be Harvey!”

Q2.) WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMNT?
ULRICH: “I consider this record to the top of Whitney from the Badwater Basin my finest achievement, the 4 (Badwater) wins are secondary. There were 15 starters in 1991, 8 continued to the top or over 50% (including Ben Jones). Entry was $30.00 for the race in 1991, permits were not required to go up Mt. Whitney and I won $1000.00 for winning the race as well as a $1000.00 for breaking the 135 mile course record (the next year I did the same breaking my own record again).

Q3) HOW DID YOU TRAIN FOR THE 1991 RACE?
ULRICH: “I trained harder doing more races to prep for the 146 miler including 100 mile races such as Western States. I would run in a 210 degree F sauna every other day for 6 weeks by jogging in place as well as doing between 110 and 115 miles per week training.”

Q4.) ANY LAST MINUTE ADVICE TO HARVEY?
ULRICH:”Stay the course, keep focused keeping your eye on the ball by running fast (but not fast enough to blow up) with disregard as to reaching the top. So to be clear, first concentrate on reaching the portals as quickly as you can and then collect yourself, refocus and enjoy the sprint to the top (that’s the icing on the cake)! Look at your accomplishment as your crowning achievement, after all this record has stood the test of other champions, such as Scott Jurek and Pam Reed trying to break this record for over 29 years!”
———————————————————–
Ulrich’s 2011 memoir, Running on Empty, gives more of the backstory of his transcontinental run (San Francisco to New York in 52.5 days. Ulrich succeeded in setting new Masters and Grand Masters records and recorded the third fastest crossing of the United States on foot). The book also tells of his other extreme endurance adventures, and reveals his psychological drivers. https://www.amazon.com/Running-Empty-Ultramara…/…/1583334904

• Posted @withregram • @kernriverparkway We can’t wait! Users of the Kern River Parkway Trail will soon be able to add an additional 14 miles to their travels! County crews will begin working in the next few weeks to extend the west end of the trail all the way out to Buena Vista Lake. The extension will add 7 miles to the existing trail, bringing the total to about 40 miles from end to end.
• On August 8th, 1983, The Chameleons (Mark Burgess, Reg Smithies, Dave Fielding, and John Lever) released their debut LP Script of the Bridge, featuring the singles “Up the Down Escalator”, “As High as You Can Go” and “A Person Isn’t Safe Anywhere These Days”, and “Don’t fall”.

• hansonsrun@hansonsrun·10hI‘m a Coach and a business owner. This means that I want all sports to resume at 100% & I want all businesses back open to full capacity & I want Colleges & Schools to have in class teaching. HERE IS THE PROBLEM My individual wants should not be part of the solution. SAFETY FIRST
• Harvey appears to be at Whitney Summit. New Badwater 146 FKT!! Huge Congratulations!!! That was CLOSE!! For 29 years Marshall Ulrich’s record stood at 33 hours and 54 minutes. Am guessing he finished at approximately 3:35ish am PDT setting the new Badwater 146 FKT at approximately 33 hours and 35ish minutes. This is of course only my speculation and totally unofficial. Wishing Harvey and Michael a safe return off of the mountain..
• Over the weekend, @diabetessportsproject Champion, Ben Bosch, accomplished Rae Lakes 41-mile loop with his girlfriend under their goal time of 14 hours! It is incredibly inspiring to see what others are doing to challenge themselves without races on the calendar!

•  It’s not uncommon for coaches to have to reel their athletes in rather than push them to perform, so the question remains, when should you prioritize recovery over training?
• Two of the best indicators for readiness to train are mood and motivation. 
• Before embarking on a new season, or a large block of training, be sure your athlete’s mood and motivation are stable and in a ready-state.
• Creating a positive, goal-orientated environment for the athlete can help their physical and emotional status throughout an injury.
• Most importantly, allow the athlete’s pain to guide your flexible recovery plan.
• Quite possibly the most important barometer in knowing whether the athlete is ready to train is their environment. 
• But it’s essential for us to notice when the bucket is full of other things: work, family, social events etc. Let’s take the holidays for example. 
•  When the bucket begins to overflow, we must pull back. If not, the athlete will become overwhelmed, exhausted and lose motivation. 
• I like to call in the ‘non-negotiables.’ These factors must be healthily attended to before an athlete takes on a heavy training program. These include nutrition, sleep, stress and movement. These play a role not only in the individual’s life but also in their readiness to train. 
• Our diet helps the body repair damaged tissue and balance energy throughout the day. If the athlete does not have a positive relationship with food or a balanced diet, many factors associated with readiness to train will be impaired. 
• Sleep is the best recovery modality as it releases hormones that help the body adapt to the previous day’s training stimulus.
• Stress = stress, regardless of whether it is served up in training or from a personal source.
• Lastly is movement. We have to ensure the individual is ready to train. We can most easily do this by discussing current and previous injuries, taking them through a basic movement assessment and by evaluating their response to training.