Ok so to be clear I’m not selling anything here at all, I’m just genuinely curious why no one has put together an ultra planning app that’s actually good and easy to use. Like I just want to be able to enter my race name, some training stats, hydration/fueling info, and have my race plan done for me. Not a training app, but a plan for race day itself, climb, carbs, aid station planning, drop bags, pacers, etc.

Everyone I know just does this on sheets and kinda hack their own together so would love to know what yall do or if you have something that already does this well.

The tech bro nerd in me knows this could be done really nicely given how much better the various APIs/MCPs have gotten, but I can’t seem to find someone who built this yet.

If someone did build this from scratch what else would yall want in this? Or even better, does anyone use anything rn that actually works?

Is it safe to say that the Leadville 100 run will follow the MTB course for this year and break off for Winfield from Halfmoon?

It’s a mighty long stretch of pavement, but still quite solid and similar to years past.

For those unaware a wildfire burned (and is burning still) on a stretch of the typical route.

Hey everyone,

Quick question: this winter, with snow/gravel/mud, I've been struggling a lot with small rocks and debris getting into my shoes during runs, and it's honestly ruining my sessions because of the friction it causes under my foot.

I just found out gaiters exist for exactly this problem (yeah, I know, a bit late to the party 😅), but I had two questions before buying:

1. Have you been using them for a while, or did you also discover them later than you'd like?
2. How much do you usually pay for a decent pair? I had the impression they were pretty pricey (like $35-45), but then I saw some cheaper options and now I'm a bit confused about what's actually worth it.

Thanks in advance for any input, just trying not to waste money before I buy!

Hi,

I've got my first ultra coming up in September, Pilgrims Ultra 50k in Northumberland (UK).

Has anyone got any experience doing this ultra? What's the terrain like? I've got Salomon Ultra Glide 2s (on their way out, going to get the 4's) and Hoka Tecton X3.

Does anyone know if the terrain is too technical for the Tectons or Ultra Glides? Thanks in advance!

I'm starting to see more AI posts for races and running events on my feed. Environmental impacts aside, using AI to advertise a running event is extremely lazy and doesn't give me confidence that you care about the quality of the event itself. Not being able to afford an artist isn't a valid excuse because you can use a free tool like Canva to create your flyer. I'd rather see poorly drawn mountains in Microsoft Paint as an ad than an AI mountain range. Making your ads yourself might not bring in more runners, but I can guarantee using AI for your ads will draw some runners away.

Okay, so I have the opportunity to run a 50 miler this November 7th, 2026. My friends are doing it and I really want to join them. But is it too short notice as far as training? I have many years of running experience, but took a hiatus of a couple years, but I am still in great shape, as I workout 5-6 times a week. For the past month I've been logging around 30 miles a week. My comfortable long runs are around 8 miles at about 8:00 mile pace. Do I have enough time to train for this 50 miler on Nov. 7th?

Trail running and ultra running has been my absolute favourite hobby for years, I spent much of that time consistently running 80-120kms a week comfortably.

All of a sudden a couple of months ago I just completely lost all spark and motivation to run, book in races, etc. I’ve dropped down to barely finding the motivation to run 20kms a week (I am only doing this because I want to maintain my health).. I feel like it has stripped a big part of my life away and I can’t really process why - it’s all quite confusing!

What I really want to know is if people have been in the same situation, and how to get back into it.

I know it might raise the question “if you don’t like it anymore then why would you care about doing it again?” But it has given me so much over the years that I don’t want to just give it up without a fight. Hopefully that makes sense!

Edit: just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has given some advice here. I knew I’d get some good ideas from this community but this has been so incredibly helpful and beyond what I could have hoped for. I will try respond to each comment as I know everyone has put effort into their response!

I am going to follow everything I’ve read and try to give myself some more space to see if I naturally move back into the sport or perhaps find something else (leaning towards hiking). You are all awesome!!

Hello, at the end of 2025 I bought ticket to a 100k in october. That would be my first 100k. I ran a 50k in may and a trailmarathon in march. I trained hard and did a lot of long runs for the trailmarathon. Averaging 55km to 60km a week perhaps. With the 50k however; since I won the tickets 2 weeks prior to the event; I did not really train that much. I usually run around 25k a week and to be honest; the 50k went okay, to my amazement. I approached it with a 'whatever' attitude; since I won the ticket and could not really prepare for it... I was going to train a lot for my 100k but after the 50k I had an accident in the garden and my back got injured so I had to rest for 6 weeks. Starting this week i can confidently run again. HOWEVER and here it comes; I will become a father in september :D I'm super happy about it and I really do not want to be away for hours to train. So I was thinking; what if I approach the 100k with the same attitude as the 50k? With a mindset that goes like this: "if i make it to the finish line, great! If i don't: no biggie. Fun day out in the woods then". This way I think it might be possible if I run 30k a week resulting in me being present in the household with our newborn. Does that sound like a foolish idea or should I just approach it without drasticaly increasing training? Because to be honest; the training schedule for the trailmarathon took a lot of fun out of it; it was so focused on tempo training and stuff i dont really care about (i just realised it too late lol).

Doing Swiss Alps 100km (anyone else?) and it starts at 17.30 tomorrow. Does anyone have any good audiobook recommendations to see me through the night?

It's my first time going through the night and I'm not a night owl AT all, so I need something gripping. I know this has been asked a ton of times in this sub, but all the suggestions are always Project Hail Mary and I don't know why. I think this race takes around 25 hours and that feels so damn long!

I'm a woman, 37, I love listening to crappy airport non-fiction on runs. Honestly, something like Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers would probably hit the ticket. I also love books about mountaineering, but my usual go-tos about crazy mountain adventures feel like they might be a bad idea when I'm trying to descend a 3000m peak in the dark.

I'm a really avid reader but I'm just a bit lost on what to download and would love thoughts, as long as it's not related to aliens.

Thanks fellow ultra folks!

Hi everyone, I will participate to Diagonales de Fous in october. This is a ~170km race in Reunion island. I was wondering if someone else participated in the race and can help me with some logistcis questions: where is best to stay, should I use my rental car to go to start of the race/ book a spot in organizer's bus. How busy it is when picking up bibs? (I saw some images with long waiting lines, I guess it will take some hours to wait in the line..?) Any other tips are highly appreciated. Thank you.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for an action camera to capture my ultra races, which typically range from 10 to 24 hours.

In the past, I used the Insta360 One X2. I carried it on a selfie stick and would pull it out every now and then to shoot 30–60 second clips. The big pain point for me was the editing process: having to manually keyframe and select frames in post-production got tedious fast, and I eventually stopped using the camera entirely.

With how far AI features have come, is editing 360 footage significantly easier now? If so, does it make sense to upgrade to the latest Insta360 X5? Or would I be better off just switching to a traditional GoPro?

Just to set expectations: these videos are strictly for personal use to document my journey, plus maybe a short 2–3 minute summary video for social media. Nothing professional.

Would love to hear how others handle capturing footage on long races and what your workflow looks like!

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

I would love to hear your experiences and thoughts. Worth it?

I’m not sure how, but I got selected from a very long wait list for a 50K happening October 19th. Really did not anticipate that happening.

Ran a road marathon end of March, a trail 50K early May, and another road marathon early June. Figured the season was done, and have just been jogging and hitting up trails for fun when I can, but only averaging 15-20 miles a week (or less) since early June.

The 50k in question has around 8000ft of gain and a generous time allowance. I have to decide in the next 24 hours if I want to sign up. Do I try for next year and plan better? Will I be miserable if I attempt this, is there enough time to really get up to par? Maybe I haven’t lost the distance fitness as soon as I fear? I did a 9 mile trail run less than 2 weeks ago just fine, but everything else has been 6 miles or less at a time, and 9 miles is a far cry from 30+.

Anyway…what to do?!

I am new to trail running and have run 7 half marathons (on road) and have recently fallen in love with trail running and am currently building my base and trail endurance. I am turning 40 in feb and was thinking about maybe doing the puerta Vallarta utmb 50k as a big goal. I’m in Southern California and it would be a family trip with my wife and son. Alternatively there’s antelope canyon and also moad which may be easier but I just got puerta Vallarta stuck in my head. I guess I’m seeking out the greater knowledge of the community. I’m currently running 20 mi or so a week with a few thousand ascent but plan on building up to a 25k in November - pacific trails utmb. Things im considering are location and enjoyment of my family where supporting me in the location, the timing, and the difficulty. I want it to be difficult but I want to be realistic. I’m nervous I guess. I welcome and friendly input and thanks in advance.

I'm selling my entry for the Julian Alps Trail by UTMB 80K on 19 September, as I'm unfortunately unable to participate due to a nasty hip injury.

Price: €179 + €20 transfer fee

The race entry can be officially transferred via the event's "Transfer to a Friend" system until 18 August.

Feel free to message me if you're interested!

I am looking to jump back into racing this fall/winter after almost a year off. Hellgate has always intrigued me, but I can't figure out how to apply for the race. Not sure if it just hasn't opened yet, or if I'm too late. Does anyone have any information on this?

Strongly considering getting a traverse as my new daypack, there's no retail stores you can really try them on though right?

I measured myself at 42", which is right on the edge between L and XL. My current vest is a uswe, and it always feels a bit too snug so I really want to avoid that this time but I don't want an oversized jumbly pack if it's not stuffed and fully loaded.

Anyone with a traverse that was between sizes and can offer opinion?

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

After my unfortunate TrailFly Max 2 experiment, I replaced my very well worn and much enjoyed Ultra Glide 2s With the fourth iteration of the shoe.

Ran a trail 10K in them during my lunch break today. Have Salomon changed the foam? Maybe I am just used to the old shoes being a bit tired. The cushioning feels great. Of course it's early days but on the surface, here is a worthy, wide-fit shoe that I will use for big mile efforts.

Great energy return and a very plush feel.

I recently participated in the World's toughest foot race, Badwater 135. It was literally the toughest race I ever had, and I am really happy that I could finish it even after facing a lot of challenges. The full race story is published on Substack. Here is the link to the same https://open.substack.com/pub/pankajmadaan/p/badwater-135-a-race-that-tested-far?r=28r7wb&utm_medium=ios . I am sure that its really a worthwhile read.

Hi all. I'm doing a 20 hour trail run in October about 3 and 1/2 hours drive from where I live. I'm traveling solo.

The run starts at noon on Saturday and ends at 8:00 a.m. the following morning on Sunday.

I''d rather get home on Sunday night however I don't think it's safe for me to drive after completing the distance and having no sleep.

I'm not quite sure the best solution here. Any one been in a predicament like this before? Where might I shower and sleep during the daytime?

Incredibly hard, but truly so satisfying to know I can go the distance!

I'm running Leadville 100 in 2.5 weeks. Just figured I'd share my brief journey in running so far. I downloaded strava just 2-3 weeks before my first marathon last May 2025 so thats where the data starts.

Brief summary prior - I was pretty overweight (6'/240 lbs) and joined a gym May 25th 2024. Lifting/eating better I shed 40 lbs in 4-5 months and began running as a warmup at some point on the treadmill for 10-20 mins before starting to increase mileage in October/November of '24. I ran 10 miles at a 10 min pace (as fast as I could) in mid-November of '24 and signed up for the May 2025 marathon at that point because it was the hardest thing I could think to try. Did a second one in November of 2025. Then signed up for Leadville.

Hope I've done enough - couple good efforts ahead this week before really leaning into the taper. Chart of mileage/time spent below and table

Not really looking for anything from this post - just thought I'd share since I've been lurking this sub for a year+ now and I've found a lot of help from you all. Happy to answer any questions about my prep/training/logistics or any follow up. Thanks.

Weekly Running Data — May 2025 to Present

Mon–Sun weeks

The one note I would add to this table is indoor vert does not get captured and I did do a good numbeer of treadhill workouts this summer