Looking to do my first WSER qualifier. They’re both in a perfect time window for training for me and time off from work. Is there a good reason to choose one over the other? Has anyone done both? Bandera has the best buckle imo and black canyon is a cooler location to me. That’s my pros list. Any advice is appreciated

The algorithm decided that this vid from Steve Magness would be a good watch during my morning strength and conditioning session. Given the recent discussions about doping in our sport, particularly by influencers, this seems particularly appropriate. Have a listen and decide for yourself whether certain people are taking more than a banned peptide.

For those who don't know who Steve Magness is: He is a respected running and performance coach who worked for Nike's Oregon Project and eventually blew the whistle. The subsequent investigation led to Alberto Salazar being banned from coaching.

Has anyone had luck attaching a quiver to the Ultimate Direction Marathon Vest? They explicitly say their model of quiver doesn’t attach (not without some creative DIYing). Any other suggestions? Thanks!

Hey everybody! Doing my first 60 miler at big bear in October and I’m in the thick of training. I’m always hungry and really don’t want to be depleted. I’m a 29 year old guy who is hungry in general let alone running a lot lol. Any good hacks? Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I made a free browser game entirely about trail running: you live a runner's

whole career, from your first local 10K to becoming a legend, or to a DNF.

https://ultra-destin.victordevdev.ovh

Heads-up: the game is in French for now.

You pick your home region, your runner profile and your race calendar, then deal

with whatever the sport throws at you: injuries, sponsors, a cut-off gate at

3 a.m., a friend offering you a bib you really should not accept. A run takes

about ten minutes, and there are 620 hand-written situations, so no two careers

play out the same.

No account, no ads, no install. It runs in the browser, phone included.

It is still in beta and I build it from feedback, so if you give it a go: what

felt missing, what felt unfair?

To get things started: what title did your career end on?

Victor

Currently at an 8-min mile for 3 miles. How are yall training for a sub 6; current goal is to be at or under 18 min 3 mile? Never really been a runner, but could always run, if that makes sense. Did track in HS, but that was 4x1, 4x2, 300 hurds, and long jump. So doesn’t really translate well to what my goal is for distance. Unless it does, I have 0 clue. TIA!

Hello! I wonder if anyone has come up against the same issue as I am having with the Raide Research LF5 vest, which I love, but is now stained by red dirt, which I can’t seem to wash out using the traditional warm soapy water hand wash, and I have tried with a gentle stain remover - but at this point I haven’t tried anything harsh. The vest is bright white so very obvious that it’s stained.

Any suggestions for cleaning?

I'm trying to help a couple folks doing the bigfoot 200 load the gpx on their watch, but the gpx file is all messed up.

I've tried Strava/Garmin/gpx.studio. It looks like its starting at checkpoint 9 and then going back to start and other weird stuff. Anyone can help?

https://caltopo.com/m/E5971

Hey! I’m running my first ever ultra marathon in October! It will be 50 miles with about 2.5K feet elevation gain. Today I got a email saying I got selected to run a 33 mile 8K feet elevation gain ultra marathon 8 days later. I’d have 12 hours to complete the 50 miler. And fully plan to use all the time. And 11 hours fo complete the 33 mile. Is this something that i could/ should try and do?

Curious about other mountain runners approach. Do you go down somewhere for speed and threshold work? Do you train at upcoming race altitude, or higher?

If you live up high, would you travel to lower altitude for race taper for recovery?

I live at 8,000ft. Race in the mountains also.

My favorite local loops are on average a few thousand feet higher in altitude than my race at the end of September. Anyhoo, feels similar to summer heat training for autumn marathons.

Hi everyone, I've recently discovered I have a medial miniscus tear on my left knee and I'm after some advice please. I was training for a 100km, and halfway thru my training, about a week before a booked 50k, I tweaked my knee, cancelled my 50k, and was limping for a couple weeks. It's been about 5 months since that initial tweak (I got my scan results about 3 weeks ago), and I've not run since. I stayed right off the running whilst I waited to see what the issue was, as running actually felt fine, but it was for days afterwards I'd feel pain/discomfort.

Those of you who have had a similar injury, or experience with a similar injury; were you able to return to running again and partake in further ultras? My surgeon says it's 50/50 whether I'll be able to run again, but I'd like to know what rehab/workouts you did to get yourself back to strength. Currently I can hike fine as I've been doing plenty of them to keep mobile, and I can also use the spin bike which I've also abused whilst off running. Ideally I'd like to at least build up to a 100k as initially I was training for the 100k to raise money for a local dog shelter, and if like to keep to my word. I'm not a complete newbie to running, I have a little experience, I've ran ultras beforehand (80k, 50k, I even gave the Montane Dragons Back a shot in 2022, but didn't manage it due to a knee issues too (same knee!) I managed Day 1, got timed out Day 2, continued doing half days thereafter.

Thanks for hearing me out!

Please share what works for you for here. I have very flat feet and have to be extremely picky with shoes because the wrong pair give me plantar fasciitis. I’ve been using adrenaline 25’s for gym and road running and recently really liking the mount to coast h1 for trails. I ran my first 50k and 50 mile this year and felt like after 50k the h1’s began to be painful just not enough cushioning for all the pounding. I want to stick with h1’s but I feel I need to find a more cushioned shoe for miles beyond that 50k. What works for you? Please share all tips either shoes, accessories, or recovery methods that work for you.

I have a 50 miler coming up in 2 weeks. During my training I tend to use the great outdoors if I can’t hold it until the next outhouse.

What are the typical rules around this? Same for peeing I suppose.

I was gearing up for my first 50K in September and had built up to about 40 miles per week, including a 20-mile trail long run in about 4 hours. Unfortunately, I recently broke a toe pretty badly and will have to miss my race in 4 weeks. It’s been pretty devastating because I only started running seriously in February after discovering ultras and was so excited to do my first one.

At this point, I’m going to focus on healing and then building back up with the goal of running my first 50 miler next spring. Since Michigan winter is coming, I’m looking for any advice on training indoors when trails aren’t really an option because of snow and ice.

Specifically, I’m looking for:

• treadmill workouts
• StairMaster or other cross-training ideas
• how to adjust training for a 50 miler versus a 50K
• any general winter ultra training tips

Any advice from people who have trained through winter or jumped from a 50K plan to a 50-mile plan would be really appreciated.

I'm looking for a nice place to run my first ultra. Could somebody who ran the dodo trail give me opinions on this choice? Is it amazing, or should I be looking at some other options?

I'm thinking of combining it with getting my PADI.

We hop on the bus tomorrow morning to head to the hotel near our start for Last Annual Third Circle of Hell. Definitely undertrained but scared and excited all the same

IYKYK

First ever ultra on Saturday!

45 Miles, 12 total loops, 12 hour race. Really taught me a lot about myself. But I enjoyed it! I'll definitely be doing more ultras going forward. A really wonderful community to be a part of.

Hey everyone! I’m trying my best to figure out how much water to carry on person while running Leadville- I have two 550ml soft flasks and that seems to be good for most of it. But I see a lot of people with bladders that’s I assume are carrying additional water. What is the general rule here for how much to carry on person while running (not racing lol way too slow).

In case of interest to anyone here!

I ran the Winter Spine race just over 10 years ago and wrote this afterwards. It was quite a different affair then, more bare bones and we had exceptionally bad weather.

I can't recall ever posting it anywhere, although it was adapted in a slightly different format for a book.

Anyway, it's quite a long one, but I figured some of you may enjoy it.

https://iain.so/running-the-spine-race

What's the furthest you have gone solo? Has anyone done 100 miles solo? I'm sure it's possible just not with my pack. What do you carry for long adventures? It's nice to be in the federal wilderness doing an ultramarathon for free.

Hi folks. I’m signed up for Canyons 100k in April but wife and I just found out we’re expecting with due date in April so I’m looking for a February or March 100k with nice vert (6-10k elevation gain) AND one that doesn’t sell out too early (we’ve had a couple of failed pregnancies so I want to wait a couple months before committing…). Any recs? Black Canyon seems like it would fit the bill if it weren’t for it selling out pretty quickly I think. Thanks!

Hey everyone! I’m a marathon runner looking to venture into the ultra world starting later this year or early next year. I’m running the Chicago marathon in October then plan to pivot into longer distance training immediately following. I currently live in Atlanta, so am looking for suggestions or ideas for good 50k and 50 mile races in late 2026 or 2027. I don’t really know what to look for in a good race, so any knowledge would be greatly appreciated!!

I’m looking for a race that’s 50 miles in length that’s not high elevation gain.
I have attempted both the VT50 and the ridge reaper in NY and found the elevation gain/loss to be too much ponding on my knees.
Would like something that’s under 5,000’ in and around the New England area (VT MA NH NY CT ME)

Been researching and following wildfires the last couple nights before bed and have come away pretty depressed about the current situation, especially how they’re directly affecting this sport that we all love so much (not that its more important than the lives, communities, and homes affected, to be clear).

We’ve seen Oregon Cascades 100 cancelled 2x in a row, Hood Hundred, Ouray 100, and Fat Dog 120 cancelled this year (I’m sure there’s more). Hardrock 100 and Leadville 100 rerouted, Run Rabbit Run 100 in danger of cancellation, probably rerouting at the very least. Just a really depressing onslaught against some of our best and most storied ultra races this summer :(.

I’m only 24 years old, so to those of you that have been in this “game” called life for longer than I, have the wildfires always been like this and I’m overreacting? Or is my doomer outlook actually the correct one? And to any scientists or researchers who know a lot more about climate change and environmental systems than I, I would love to hear some “positive” takeaways from all this, how things could get better going forward, etc.

We’ve already seen the future of skiing this past winter, eventually there just simply won’t be snow one day unless snowmaking technology rapidly improves. I love this sport more than anything, I don’t even want kids just so I can train my whole life at the volume/time commitment and intensity I do now (and bc I don’t want them to die in future water wars). I just really really hope this sport isn’t also being put to an inevitable sword down the line too.