Quick Tips For The Grand Slam Of Ultrarunning

Given the Western States 100 lottery has recently occurred, plenty of people are thanking their lucky stars they got into the race and know it may be the only chance they get in the next few years at the least. That means more people will be searching the websites of the Vermont 100, Leadville Trail 100 and Wasatch Front 100 to contemplate the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning. There isn't much time to decide since the lottery for Wasatch is currently open, then Leadville opens entries on 1/1/14 with Vermont five days later. Both those races will probably sell out on the first day. Entering the official Slam bypasses the lottery at Wasatch (but only in the case of not being lucky in the lottery - you still need to enter in the normal way), but only on the condition of completing the first three races first.

So if you're one of the people thinking of running the Slam, here are some useful tips.

1. Commit

It'll take up a lot of time and money over the summer, plus more training than you might otherwise do for a 100 to make sure you're as fit as possible for the first race. In particular it's well worth considering how much time you'd be able to spend at altitude in advance of Leadville, especially if you live near sea level. That race is mainly above 10,000ft, hitting a high of 12,600ft, so even fit runners can suffer altitude sickness and have to drop as a result. I'd recommend two weeks prior to the race in Colorado to make it a longer vacation, plus hiking up above the highest point of the course. Another option is to use an altitude tent at home but going to a high altitude location is preferable. Also, try to fly in at least two days before each race to get over jetlag.

2. Don't run much between the 100s

You can train hard for the first race at WS100, but after that the priority is recovery. The gaps between each 100 are either three or four weeks so don't be tempted to think you have to train very hard between each race. Instead, walking and hiking are great ways to get the blood flowing to your leg muscles and speed recovery with low impact exercise. Cross training at a low intensity is also good, such as cycling or swimming but an elliptical (or ElliptiGO if you want a view while you exercise) is the most similar to running. You should still choose tough routes to get in plenty of vertical, even if that's just on a treadmill, but hike them hard instead of running too much.

3. Focus on recovery food

Straight after each race you'll have severe muscle damage so getting the right nutrients will help a lot. With advice from Meredith Terranova, a dietician/nutritionist friend of mine, she recommended I use supplements that body builders use for muscle repair (the legal ones!) such as: B6/B12 Complex Vitamins, CoQ10 and Branch Chain Amino Acids. Also try to eat more protein such as from lean meats in the days after the race. It's worth speaking to a specialist to find out what your exact needs are as this can significantly help your body's recovery speed.

4. Massage

Your legs will be wrecked after each race given the distances and large amounts of downhill, therefore it's well worth getting regular sports massages. I got one about three to four days after each race then again a week later, plus I usually get massages every two weeks. The benefits here are that the imbalances and tightness that builds up in each race can get evened out to allow even walking to feel better and this should have some effect on the speed of recovery too. Personally I found it helped the most because it made it a lot more comfortable to train, especially hilly hikes. This was what allowed my legs to heal faster because they were being used in a way that wasn't too hardcore but helped with getting blood flow and healing the leg muscles faster like a standard recovery run.

5. Don't try to race an of the 100s early on 

What I mean here is that the first half of each race needs an even stronger focus than usual on looking after yourself and making sure you feel comfortable. Don't get caught up in splits or time goals and certainly don't race anyone in the early miles - if you're fit enough on the day to beat someone, you can catch them later on if they zoom off at the start. After the first race you'll be feeling the effects of the previous 100s and need to be a little more conservative to stay on top of things that could go wrong and severely slow you down.

Overall

One other thing to bear in mind is that your body will get stronger in some ways through the summer, especially your endurance. However, many people I've spoken to found that the second race at Vermont was much harder than it should have been because the body hasn't enough time to get used to doing 100s that close together and just feels as bad as you'd expect so soon after running Western States. Things do get better after this when you body starts adapting to the crazy concept of doing 100s so close together.

Good luck to anyone who attempts the Slam. It was harder than I ever expected when I ran it this year, but also an immensely satisfying challenge with so many memories. Here's a more vivid description of what it's all like.

Skyrunning etc - a general update

Downhill running fun (although this was last year at Crate Lake)

I've been working hard in recent weeks to bring together the inaugural US Skyrunning Series and am really happy with the races I've been able to join together across the country. This is now up and running at this website although the races themselves don't all have websites with full details and are not necessarily open for registration yet.

In the background I was also training to lower my marathon time after the slower running through the summer. I've always enjoyed all forms of running and come from a background of ball sports so it's only more recently that I stopped sprinting everywhere and started endurance running. Roads, trails, mountains, deserts, jungles - they all appeal to me - and if I stick to just one I miss the others. I'll admit that I have the most fun running when flying down the side of a mountain on technical trails, but it was good to get back into road running again too.

I decided to run the net downhill Tucson Marathon in Arizona, starting at 4,800ft and ending at 3,000ft, hoping I'd be able to cheat my way to a faster time. However, a combination of a lot of travel (including to The Running Event in Austin, TX, for Scott Running which was extremely interesting), some overly hard (but fun) runs and a headwind on the (surprisingly) rolling course meant I was well off my target. In the training I included some hard downhill sessions on Mt Diablo to really hammer my legs and these led to some painful sports massages! I did manage to destroy my 5k, 10k, 10 mile and half marathon bests on Diablo so was optimistic about Tucson. I felt relatively ok doing a 29:40 10k but the 48:51 10-miler was one of the hardest runs I've ever done. I wish I could hit those kind of paces on the flat and have even more respect for the Olympians who cruise at these speeds.

Tucson started with a fast downhill mile with the wind in 5:11 but then turned into the wind and things just got worse from there, holding on to a 2:37:03 with a poor positive split of 1:17/1:20. I usually consider anything over 1 minute slow down to be a race that was screwed up. However, it was my fastest marathon of the year and gives me confidence that the Grand Slam didn't break me!

So onwards to next year with just the Walnut Creek Half Marathon this weekend on my doorstep before some snowy running in Oregon over Christmas. I'm planning on including a couple of articles about Grand Slam and Leadville training before the end of the year so will post them when I get around to it.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas or whatever festivities you're celebrating. 2013 was very memorable for me and I can't believe how much happening in the sport in general. It's an exciting time to be an ultrarunner.

Back-To-Back Long Runs

Road marathoning helps with all forms of running.

One of the staples of ultra training are back-to-back long runs. However, I don't favor the long, slow run except for beginners who need to gradually increase mileage. For runners who can comfortably run a 20-miler and have run several races of marathon distance or beyond, keeping some elements of speed in the long runs makes sense. That's even true for back-to-back long sessions.

Renato Canova trains many of the top Kenyans and his athletes run long runs close to marathon effort. If they want to run a marathon at 4:45/mile there's little benefit in training the body to run much slower than that. For them a comfortable long, slow run might be 6:00/mile pace but that won't help them much.

I use the same principle when coaching ultrarunners and for my own training, which is why I like to include double or triple marathon weekends. A great option for this is the scenic Tahoe Triple with three marathons over three days around beautiful Lake Tahoe in California. There aren't many opportunities to fit in a marathon on Sat and Sun for double marathon weekends so this year I decided to include the Santa Barbara and Malibu Marathons as a good training weekend since both are in Southern California and are close together.

Even for trail running I find road marathons are very effective at working on speed and improving the ability to judge and maintain pacing. So for road training these are even more effective and I'd strongly recommend a back-to-back weekend like this for those aiming to improve their road marathon time. However, don't just jog the runs at an easy pace - the aim is to get the muscles used to running close to marathon pace.

I acted as an official pacer at Santa Barbara for the sub 3-hr group, knowing that a pace 30 mins off (roughly 1 min/mile) my marathon target time should leave me fresh enough for to run the next day harder. Keeping the mile splits even was a key element here since there's less benefit in going off faster then slowing - it's not a good thing to practice as it's an inefficient (and unenjoyable) way to train and race. Also, it wouldn't be much use for the runners I'm helping to go sub-3. Then the following day I pushed things more at Malibu, still focusing on even splits throughout. Strava files for each race are here for Santa Barbara and Malibu. Both are excellent races that I'd recommend.

There are few training sessions that are more satisfying than this and it can really improve the ability to judge pace and effort in an ultra (or marathon) because of the fact it involves running when tired. Even ultrarunners need marathon speed.

Living In The Moment

Christmas ad for Target?

One of the things ultras allow all of us to do is to focus on the moment, but when it's over our day-to-day lives can seem less exciting, leading to craving for more adventure and success. So it made me think about how easily I move on from one race to the next and don't take in the experience afterwards, wanting the next 'hit' and challenge. After pretty much achieving my goals through the summer at the Grand Slam, I've felt a little empty and drained partly because of this factor (I don't like sitting around doing little exercise).

In our modern lives we're constantly measured and forced to come up with goals - just think of your last appraisal meeting at work. However, this has become second nature to do this with all aspects of our lives. I know I certainly do, whether it's a time goal in a marathon, a placing in an ultra or business goals for my coaching, we're typically very goal-oriented creatures, especially 'type A' runners. This is the way we humans drive ourselves on to improve, but it can also mean that we don't appreciate our successes because we immediately look to the next target. It can also affect our happiness because this mentality can lead to never being satisfied and always wanting more. It's why a generally rich country like the US is filled with affluent people who live beyond their means and rack up massive credit card debits. We always want more and there's nothing wrong with that as long as we also enjoy the ride along the way to our objectives.

It's worth stepping back and bearing this in mind, especially around the end of the year after the bulk of the running season is over. Whether your goals this year were to finish races under the cut-offs, earn a buckle of a certain color or something nearer the front of the field, take in the positives from your races this year and don't be in too much of a rush to think about the next one. There's plenty of time to build that passion for the next focus event, but it's only worthwhile if you can enjoy each of your achievements as they happen.

The Other 10% Rule

Fast uphill running. Photo: Ian Sharman

Before I start, this isn't a post about how men or women are 'better' than each other. This is just a simple and high level look at stats and comparisons between the sexes. I've met women who are made of granite as well as men whose wills could slice through diamond. Pretty much anyone who undertakes an ultra is unusually strong-willed.

We already have age-grading that allows a degree of comparison between the sexes and ages. But it assumes that the records (especially age-group records) are equally as impressive for men and women, plus that the record is equivalent to the fastest non-masters runner. If either the men's or women's record is relatively more competitive then it skews the results of that sex. More on this in the conclusion.

What is the other 10% rule?

We've all heard about the 10% rule for increasing mileage week-on-week to avoid getting injured, but there's a more precise relationship I've noticed throughout watching the Olympics all my life. The two events that most captured my imagination, the 100m and the marathon, had a relationship between the best men's and best women's record times. Doing simple calcs in my head I could see it was about a 10% gap - women's times were around this much slower than men's times. It seemed to roughly apply across a lot of track and field events, so I thought I'd see how exact that figure is and what it says about ultras.

I've heard people state that at longer distances women have an advantage and I know that scientists predicted the female marathoners would catch the men's times within a short period of time. Unfortunately they based that off simple extrapolation from women's times improving faster than men's in the past when the women's field became more competitive, while the men's already were.

Is there an advantage for women in ultras? Are they more efficient and physically superior for these types of endurance events? Or perhaps they're mentally stronger, able to withstand more pain or are more determined? If so then we'd expect to see that showing through in results at the most competitive ultras and the fastest times by the best athletes.

The stats

Below are the world bests on any surface for various running distances and events for men and women. I've split these into four categories, with the first three being Olympic or at least fully professional and competitive distances - Sprints, Middle Distance and Long Distance. Then I've separated ultra distances below because these don't tend to have the same deep level of full-time pro athletes as the distances up to the marathon. The professional distances are where I'd expect to see enough competition to make the records be a good representation of the best athletes in the world ever at their respective events.

TABLE 1: Olympic/Professional Distances

Distance (All Surfaces)	Men	Women	Percentage Difference	Notes
100m	9.58	10.49	9.50%	Women's record by Florence Griffith Joyner (USA) record has some doping questions, never proved
200m	19.19	21.34	11.20%	Also a Flo Jo record yet relatively less impressive, doping or not
400m	43.18	47.6	10.24%	Women's record by Marita Koch (East Germany) during period of known doping by Eastern Bloc
Avg for sprints			10.31%
800m	01:40.910	01:53.280	9.50%	Women's record by Jarmila Kratochvílová (Czechoslovakia) during period of known doping by Eastern Bloc
1500m	03:26.000	03:50.460	11.87%
1 mile	03:43.130	04:12.560	13.19%
Avg for middle distance			11.52%
5000m	12:37.350	14:11.150	12.39%
10000m	26:17.530	29:31.780	12.31%
Half	0:58:23	1:05:40	12.48%
Marathon	2:03:23	2:15:25	9.75%	No woman other than Paula Radcliffe has broken 2:18, showing just how special her record is
Avg for long distance (pro)			11.73%

Source: IAAF 

What this shows is that it's rare for female world bests to be within 10% of the men's time. In fact, the two distances that made me think about this relationship are two of the toughest and most impressive female records. Both Flo Jo (100m) and Paula Radcliffe (marathon) have run records that have barely been approached - Paula's marathon time is a decade old and is so good it's almost a 3-minute gap to the next best female time, while the men's marathon record has numerous other runners within 1 minute, plus it's only 1 month old at the time of writing. Flo Jo's record is even older.

What seems most notable to me for these Olympic distances is that getting within 10% of the men's performance is the sign of a mind-blowing record. And that's for the most fiercely fought events in world running!

How does the 10% rule relate to ultras?

Already it can be seen that most women's professional distance records are more than 10% slower than men's records. So what about the increasingly competitive world of ultrarunning? I'd argue that the only ultra races that have a long history and truly deep fields on both the men's and women's sides are the South African road ultras - Comrades and Two Oceans.

TABLE 2: Ultra Distances

Distance (All Surfaces)	Men	Women	Percentage Difference	Notes
50k	2:43:38	3:08:39	15.29%
Two Oceans (34.8 miles)	3:03:44	3:30:36	14.62%	The 50k records were the same runs as these records, as a 50k split
Comrades Down Run (55.5 miles)	5:20:49	5:54:43	10.57%	Better representation of 50 mile comparisons as 50 mile distance wasn't raced at the top level by women outside of Comrades
100k (Ann Trason)	6:10:20	7:00:47	13.62%	Second best female 100k time by Ann Trason (USA) - see below for reason
100 miles	11:28:03	13:47:41	20.29%	Not raced by women at the same deeper competitive level as by men in 1980s-2000 when male record set
24 hrs (m)	303,506	254,425	19.29%
UTMB (trail)	20:34:57	22:37:56	9.96%	Records set same year so weather not a differential
WS100 (trail)	14:46:44	16:47:19	13.60%	Records set same year so weather not a differential
Avg for long distance (ultra/semi-pro) without Tomoe Abe			14.66%
Avg for long distance (ultra/semi-pro) with Tomoe Abe			13.72%	More info about the Tomoe Abe record here
Other Results of Note:
50 miles	4:50:51	5:40:18	17.00%	Top women ran much faster for 50 miles at Comrades, so that's a better comparison
100k	6:10:20	6:33:11	6.17%	Record by Tomoe Abe (JPN) who was a professional marathoner

Sources: IAU, race websites

The 10% rule almost applies to Comrades, the larger, older and more competitive of these two races with a longer history - a 10.57% difference. But not so much for Two Oceans, despite the record holder for women being the same person as at Comrades, Frith van der Merwe.

It certainly doesn't hold up for most of the events in the table, possibly due to lower female participation but also because Yiannis Kouros spear-headed huge improvements in men's ultra road and track running. In fact, his dominance is so great that his 24-hour record is a half marathon ahead of his next closest challenger!

Most trail ultras are either too new or have fields that are only a few elite runners deep. So I included the two that have the longest and deepest history of competitiveness, especially since their records for men and women were set in the same editions (2012 for Western States 100 and 2013 for UTMB), removing differences in trail conditions, distances or weather. What stands out is that Rory Bosio's record at UTMB is a truly competitive record relative to a very impressive men's record.

The 10% rule doesn't seem to apply to ultras as much, probably due to it being a male-dominated sport with deeper men's fields to push the men's limits closer to a theoretical maximum than for the women. But women like Frith and Rory show that women's records at the top level can hit around 10% off the men's bests.

Women's records at some ultra races are indeed within 10% and sometimes women win outright, but I'd argue that those results reflect more on the lead women being closer to the best of the best than the lead men in those cases. That's why I've only included the most competitive races that are directly comparable. A separate question is whether women below the very top level race better than equivalent men, since women's finish rates are often higher than those of the their male counterparts. However, that's a different angle and is where I'd expect to see sensible tactics and a lack of testosterone-fueled over-exuberance giving women a relative edge on average...but not enough to overcome the physical attributes that lead to the 10% advantage at the upper limit of what's possible.

The one clear outlier is Tomoe Abe's 100k world best for women, which is so fast it's 27 minutes better than the next result and this is the only ultra result I can find from her. She was a professional road marathoner with a 2:26 PR, roughly equivalent to many of the fastest male 100k runners. So I've excluded her because she was a pro marathon runner while the top men weren't (making her closer to the female 'potential' than the men may have been to the male 'potential'). Her 100k time is around what would be expected from a male runner with an equivalent marathon time and very good aptitude for road ultras.

Predictions

Although the 10% rule doesn't hold up perfectly throughout, it looks like it roughly applies when both the men's and women's records are equally close to the best possible results a human can achieve. This doesn't seem to be the case in most truly top level ultra events yet, but if we use it as a benchmark, what kind of times might we see at ultra events by women as the fields get deeper and more astounding women push each other to their limits?

Note that the predictions below have an obvious caveat - the weather and conditions need to be equivalent to compare results year-on-year. So Timmy Olson's Western States 100 record was run in near perfect conditions for the course and no man or woman is likely to get an equivalent performance without equally good weather. If they manage it it tougher conditions, it's not equivalent - it's better.

TABLE 3: Predictions For Women's Times For Selected Fast Men's Global Records

Distance (All Surfaces)	Men's Actual Record	Women's Predicted Record	Women's Actual Record	Notes
Two Oceans (34.8 miles)	3:03:44	3:22:06	3:30:36
Comrades Down Run (55.5 miles)	5:20:49	5:52:54	5:54:43
100 Miles	11:28:03	12:36:51	13:47:41
24 hrs (m)	303,506	275,915	254,425	That's 171.5 miles - 1 mile short of the US men's 24 hr record!
UTMB (trail)	20:34:57	22:38:27	22:37:56
WS100 (trail)	14:46:44	16:15:24	16:47:19
Rocky Raccoon 100 (trail)	12:44:33	14:01:00	14:57:18
Leadville 100 (trail)	15:42:59	17:17:17	18:06:24
Grand Slam (trail)	69:49:38	76:48:36	79:23:21
Hardrock 100 (trail)	23:23:30	25:43:51	27:18:24
Spartathlon 153 (road/trail)	20:25:00	22:27:30	27:02:17
Rim2Rim2Rim (Grand Canyon)	6:21:47	6:59:58	8:15:51
JFK50 (trail)	5:34:58	6:08:28	6:11:59
TNF100 Australia (trail)	9:16:12	10:11:49	11:01:08
Speedgoat 50k (trail)	5:08:07	5:38:56	6:17:02
Vertical K (trail)	0:30:26	0:33:29	0:36:48	Included this one for fun, despite not being an ultra as it's very competitive

Sources: IAU, race websites

Conclusion

I think the 10% rule stands up as a way of measuring potential. It only applies when the men's best times are truly at the top end of what's physically possible, but even allowing for that it can compare when women have out-done the men on a given course, allowing for differences in weather etc. Distance running women in that list include Paula Radcliffe, Frith van der Merwe, Tomoe Abe and Rory Bosio with several other women around that level.

So I'd argue that men have been 'virtually chicked' ('chicking' refers to a woman passing a man in a race) if a woman runs 10% slower than them...look out all those guys that thought they could beat Rory or Ellie Greenwood currently! This would also allow for a ranking at a race based on times adjusted for the sex of the runner.

Age gradings could also be altered to allow for when the record for one sex is relatively less impressive than that of the other sex by making the gap in theoretical fastest times be 10% (ie whichever record is relatively slower gets improved to retain the 10% gap). That is likely to apply when the female field is a lot smaller than the male field, but makes the amazing masters' records of people like Meghan Arbogast even more impressive.

Apologies if I offended anyone with this article, but I found it fascinating to look at the results and comparisons for all types of running. The data is as objective as I could make it, but I'm sure many would disagree with even the sentiment of what I was comparing.

Exploring The Limits Of The Body

I started the Javelina Jundred 100-miler yesterday, but didn't finish. Normally that would feel like abject failure but this year I feel I've been getting a better idea of when I can push and when to cut my losses.

After the Grand Slam through the summer, I was able to push myself harder than I'd previously thought possible, largely thanks to having Nick Clark to race against. To me ultrarunning is about finding out more about myself and not getting constrained by what I think should be possible. My instinct told me that four 100-milers in a 10-week period would lead to gradual deterioration of my body (and mind), yet some aspects of my fitness actually improved. At the end of each race I was completely spent, but more so after the final 100, the hardest and slowest course at Wasatch.

Since I seemed to still be in one piece after the summer I made a late season decision to run Javelina since it's a faster course and the organizers, the Coury brothers, put on such excellent events. Each of the Slam races was either three or four weeks apart so I thought a seven week gap might be ok. If I didn't try I know I'd wonder for the future whether the summer had made me reach a new level of fitness or worn me out.

So I started at Javelina and felt surprisingly good on lap one of 6.5. It was so much fun running and chatting around sunrise to Hal Koerner, Joe Grant and my Scott team-mate, Jeremy Humphries. Even better when we went through the first loop in course record pace, all feeling good. Things stayed together for most of the second loop too and we all hit the end of loop two within a minute of each other, in 3:54 for 30.6 miles.

By that point I was starting to feel a little tired, but wasn't worried as 30 miles is a long way and the pace was good. However, in the next few miles my legs felt dead with nothing left in the tank. I tried hiking to kick-start things but after a couple of miles of switching between walking and running I found I could barely run. I kept walking for the rest of that loop but even 50ft of running felt like too much, so I opted to just walk in to the end of the loop, worried that pushing more might dig me into a deep hole for the next few months.

Although it was hot, there was a light breeze that meant it felt fine as long as I kept dousing myself in water. The walk back was genuinely pleasant as the desert looked beautiful plus the number of runners in Halloween costumes certainly adds to the experience - it's amazing they do that in the desert heat.

I wasn't feeling down about things not working out since 2013 has been a great year for me. Instead I was glad I took a chance to try one more ultra this year and that I picked an event as fun as Javelina. If I never fail, success seems hollow as it means I'm staying within my comfort zone.

The initial lead back broke up over laps three and four, leaving Hal in front and he won in 14:56 with Catlow Shipcek second and Joe in third. Jeremy got progressively more injured throughout and had to drop at mile 70 with a suspected broken foot, so hopefully it won't turn out to be that bad. Nice work by all the runners and this is a race I'd highly recommend and will return to.

Full results here when available.

Back To Running

I felt a little uneasy not running for two weeks after Wasatch 100 since I already had so much time off running in-between each 100 miler this summer. It may sound weird, but I felt like I really took things easy for most of the past few months - I just had four major days of running dawn 'til dusk.

So it's been surprisingly liberating to try to run fast again in the past week after a lot of plodding and hiking. To kick things off I entered the Coastal Trails Diablo half marathon as it's just down the road and I wanted an excuse to push hard on Mt Diablo as it's my favorite place to run in the Bay Area. A few weeks ago the mountain was on fire (apt, given the name) but luckily the majority of trails were basically ok. It uses the most direct route to the summit from Mitchell Canyon Trailhead, a 6.7-mile, 3,400ft climb up fire-roads and single-track then back again at full speed.

One thing that appeals is that I want to chase the Fastest Known Time (FKT) for the climb and descent and the quickest that I can find evidence for is the 1:49:20 CR from this race in 2012. I think a Sage or Max King could run low 1:30s, so as long as they stay away I think I've got a shot and will give it a few attempts through the winter.

In this race I got to chase Jonas Oppedal but was five to six mins back by the summit (1:12 was my split), before hammering after him in a fun chase that even didn't get me within sight. He ran a tantalizing 13 seconds over the course record and I was 81 seconds behind him in 1:50:54. Strava info here.

Another great event from Coastal Trail Runs, one of the best reasons to live in the Bay Area.

Also, UltraSportsLive.tv made a video of the race showing some of the great trails and views on Diablo:

Are We In A Trail Ultrarunning Golden Age?

Timmy Olson's 2012 Western States Record. Photo: irunfar

Selected World Records/Bests (All Surfaces)

50k:
Men - Thomson Magawana (RSA) 2h43m38s (1988)
Women - Frith Van Der Merwe (RSA) 3h08m39s (1989)

100k:
Men - Don Ritchie (GBR) 6h10m20s (1978)
Women - Tomoe Abe (JPN) 6h33m11s (2000) [I believe there were issues with a lack of drug testing making this potentially unofficial]

100 miles:
Men - Oleg Kharitonov (RUS) 11h28m03s (2002)
Women - Ann Trason (USA) 13h47m41s (1991)

24 Hours:
Men - Yiannis Kouros (GRE) 188.63 miles (1997)
Women - Mami Kudo (JPN) 158.11 miles (2009)

Arguably the end of the last century was the golden age for road ultras since most of the current road and track world records were set then (see above for a selection, sourced from the IAU here) but in recent years the focus has switched to trails.

As trail and mountain running has increased in popularity thanks to stars like Kilian Jornet, deeper fields of faster runners have been taking down records on a weekly basis. Some of these are mind-blowing and the old records were described by some as untouchable, like Ann Trason's Western States 100 record that Ellie Greenwood destroyed in 2012 by 50 minutes.

However, I'm not sure why the quality of runners in the flatter ultras plateaued in general, especially in the US and UK. Yes, road races at marathon distances have got bigger prize money now but it's not generally Americans (and certainly not Brits) that are at the front of these African-dominated races. There are less road runners around the top level (like sub 2:20 male marathoners) than there used to be in western countries, something I'd ascribe partly to increased wages with longer work hours making a tough life of training more difficult and less appealing, relatively.

Anyway, back to my original point that trail running talent is on the rise. Course records and Fastest Known Times ("FKTs") keep falling to give a good indication of what some runners are capable of, but the more impressive thing is how deep fields are becoming, especially on the men's side. Several times a year a race gets described as 'the most competitive ultra of the year' and I personally love the fact there are so many events where runners can race against a good selection of the best runners around. Times that would have been guaranteed to win races in the past now end up off the podium so everyone has to raise their game and it makes us all better runners. Ann Trason dominated women's fields for years and basically raced the men rather than other women, but who wouldn't have wanted to see her in her prime against the likes of Ellie Greenwood and others?

I wonder how much better runners can get. Cam Clayton suggested he could run a 14hr Western States and it'll be fantastic to see continuing mind-blowing performances. The addition of fast road runners who also specialize in mountains has made a difference. However, many of the top runners have never and will never race on roads - think of Kilian's disdain for the 12 miles of roads at UROC100k!

Some marks I hope can be reached over the next few years in a few of the classic trail ultras are below. I think they're possible with the help of perfect running weather and several fast runners pushing each other.

UTMB: sub 20hrs for men, sub 22hrs for women
Western States 100: sub 14h30m for men, sub 16h15m for women
Leadville 100: sub 15h40m for men, sub 17h30m for women
Any trail 100: sub 12h30m for men, sub 14hrs for women
Grand Slam: sub 68hrs for men, sub 75hrs for women
JFK 50: sub 5h20m for men, sub 6hrs for women

Some of these are likely to be more feasible than others and I think the UTMB and WS records are most likely to fall due to the higher level of competition at those races year in, year out.

Grand Slam Stats

Some facts and figures I found interesting from the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning, involving running the Western States 100, Vermont 100, Leadville Trail 100 and Wasatch Front 100 in the same summer.

Average age of finishers: 44.77
Official finishers prior to 2013: 266
Official finishers including 2013: 288

Number of those 288 who broke 100 hours in total: 54 (plus Nick Clark)
Number of women who broke 100 hours: 6 (including Krissy Moehl, Darcy Africa and Ann Trason...plus Abby McQueeney Penamonte in 2013)

Most finishes by one person: 8 (Dan Brendan - missed only two years from 2004 to 2013)
Most starters in one year: 36 (1998)
Most finishers in one year: 22 (plus Nick Clark for 23) (2013)
State or country with most finishers since 1986: California (51)

Total ascent according to run100s.com: 74,732ft
Total descent according to run100s.com: 78,861ft
Total ascent according to my Garmin: 74,116ft (including several hours of using a less accurate 305 model at Wasatch that tends to underestimate)

Most stats above taken from run100s.com, the rest from Strava/Garmin.

Wasatch Front 100 - The Finale of the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning

The end of 400 miles. Photo: irunfar

Just 20 days after Leadville the remaining 23 Grand Slammers turned up in Utah to crown the summer's efforts. Much as Nick and I wanted to do well in the race itself, it was now all down to whether he could beat me by over 69 minutes, which was my lead from the other races. As he said in post-Leadville interviews, it was 'game on.' See my race reports from the other three races (Western States, Vermont and Leadville).

A canceled flight the day before the race didn't help my stress levels but I eventually got to the race briefing late, direct from the airport. There was a lot of uncertainty in the air for me despite the fact everyone I spoke to seemed to think I had the Slam record in the bag. I didn't think that, but at least I was uninjured and as well rested as possible.

The race itself started with almost two hours of dark and the first few miles were on gently rolling trails, an easy introduction into the 26,500ft of ascent and almost that much descent (it's a point-to-point course). This race is by far the hardest of the Grand Slam events and wasn't helped by it being one of, if not the, hottest year in the race's history.

Nick and I went to the front from about mile three onwards then the first huge climb started and Nick disappeared into the darkness. By the top of the climb, a 4,000ft net gain, I could just see him about three minutes ahead and I was just ahead of the chase pack. I felt that was a good start and that my legs were cooperating. Some of the early miles were beautiful and I was able to enjoy it before feeling the fatigue and soreness that would inevitably follow. Rod Bien and I ran together for many miles and I considered him the biggest threat for the win after Nick since I used to live in Bend, OR, where Rod lives and I'd seen his strength on the climbs. Rod eventually got a comfortable margin for third, but all I cared about was how far ahead Nick was.

Nick led from start to finish and I was in second almost the whole day as well, but he had me worried when he started increasing his lead through the day. It didn't help that I missed a turn before half-way and added 15 minutes, meaning he had a 38-minute lead at mile 52. The heat took it's toll in the first half too and therefore many people dropped fairly early on, plus all the runners were slowed by the lack of shade for long sections. Even though Western States was far hotter this year than Wasatch, I had about as many issues dealing with dizziness and difficulty eating at both. The additional altitude of Wasatch certainly added to this, with much of the course above 9,000ft.

From about 25 miles in I could definitely tell my legs had run several 100s recently, which wasn't how it felt at Leadville. All I could do was to look after myself enough to avoid a melt-down (or a serious one anyway). Yet Nick kept his lead to between 27 and 41 minutes for most of the second half so I had to push.

I've never vomited in a race before so when I got light-headed then started spewing at mile 80, I got very worried. It had been dark for over an hour and the trails in the last 25 miles are sketchy to say the least. Technical, rocky trails are fun, but there were some nasty super-steep descents down v-shaped scree slopes with fist-sized rocks throughout. Combining high altitude, exhaustion, night and those downhills led to a lot of falls, swearing and frustration. I struggled to get into a rhythm with constant ups and downs from mile 85 and was generally feeling sorry for myself. I was sure Nick must have been zooming ahead of me to get close to the 69-minute win he needed, but I wasn't the only one feeling the effects of the day and the previous races.

After a 9.7-mile stretch between aid stations on the hardest terrain of the day I'd somehow pulled back a few minutes, which got me so excited I sped up then had to puke again. With 7.6 miles to go Nick was only about 35 minutes ahead, so even my second bout of stomach issues wasn't enough to worry me.

In contrast to some of the insanely hard night sections before it, the last few miles are gentle and very runnable. There's still a lot of downhill to the finish but it's at more of a pedestrian 12% gradient than the near vertical sections earlier, plus it's all on fire roads finishing with a couple of miles of paved road.

Wasatch is undoubtedly the hardest race I've ever run and makes for a seriously tough finish to the Grand Slam. I look back now and know the only reason I got through it and kept motivated was that nick and I had pushed each other for the whole summer and I was never going to let that hard work go to waste.

Nick won in 20h24m, a slower time than he should have run due to the heat and leg fatigue. I heard him finish as I was running down the side of the mountains about three and a half miles away. Then I came in just under 21 hours after more night running than I've ever dealt with, but couldn't find the route to the finish line when just feet away from it. I was shouted at very angrily by a race volunteer (I assume) who told me to follow the glow-sticks, which just weren't very visible from 100ft away. That little altercation cost me a couple of minutes and I finished in 21h01m. I felt no emotion, not even relief, and was just drained. The day had been full of so many emotions and highs and lows as varied as the course profile, that I think there was just nothing left. It took me about two hours to eat a grilled cheese sandwich as even that was too much effort after the running stopped. Full race results here.

Nick at the finish. Photo: irunfar

Congratulating each other on our wins (everyone's a winner). Photo: irunfar

In summary

So Nick ran the fastest combined time for the four Slam races in 70h21m but 37 minutes later I lowered that again to 69h49m. Just writing that makes me wonder how we both were able to go head-to-head for such a huge amount of time and finish so close. It really came down to the final miles and nothing was certain until we both crossed the line.

Much as the body gets damaged by these consecutive 100-milers, the mind takes a beating too. Forcing myself to give it everything through the last 30-70 miles (depending on which race in the series it was) four times in succession drained me to my core.

I'll have many fond memories of this summer and the main theme will be the friendly, but committed, competition with a good friend and incredible runner. I've nothing but the utmost respect for Nick and we drove each other to perform better and run faster than solo efforts would have allowed. It's rare to see a close rivalry between just two runners in the ultra world and to have us so evenly matched through the summer. I look forward to the next time we face off against each other, probably at the 2014 Western States.

There were 22 finishers in the official Grand Slam plus Nick completed the races without entering the overall series. Their details are here and all went through more than I could have imagined before I attempted it myself.

My full Grand Slam write-up is on irunfar.

Also, here are the Strava GPS files for the four Slam races:

Western States 100

Vermont 100

Leadville Trail 100

Wasatch Front 100

And finally the gear I used, which was basically identical through all four races and worked really well for me:

Scott Kinabalu T2 trail shoes
UltrAspire handhelds, Spry and Alpha vests
Julbo Dust shades
Clif Bar Shot gels and Shot Bloks
Drymax Max Protection Trail socks
Hypoxico Altitude Tent (for Wasatch only)

Thank you to everyone who helped or supported me, whether it was my pacers Sean Meissner and Aaron Keller, my sponsors or my wife who had to put up with me spending half the summer away from home.

Leadville Quick Race Report

Photo: irunfar

Epic summer battling with fellow Brit Nick Clark. Photo: irunfar

Leadville went well, especially since it was race three of the Grand Slam and race two (Vermont 100) was kind of horrible for me. Since my body won't let me sleep I might as well write the race up briefly.

In summary, there were some fast guys aiming to do ridiculous times. Scott Jurek wanted to be the second man to break 16 hours and Ryan Sandes was coming back after a fast win in 2011. irunfar did a great write up of the contenders. So Nick Clark and I were dark horses given the two 100s in our legs from recent weeks and we weren't expected to be around the lead at the end.

It started off with a huge pack zooming off in the pre-dawn dark, which wasn't surprising given it's downhill and there were around 1,000 runners. Most of that pack stayed together to Mayqueen at 13.5 miles but then by the first proper climb around mile 15, former Olympian Mike Aish took off followed by Ryan Sandes, Andrew Catalano, Nick Clark and myself. I was amazed by how flat a lot of the course was, especially the road sections, but I bore this in mind for later so that I could aim to conserve energy to allow me to run those easy bits on the way back (it's 50 miles out and back).

Nick and I spent much of the first half running together or near each other in around fourth and fifth and entered the Twin Lakes aid station at mile 39 together. We'd had plenty of banter all day long but were both running well so headed off towards the 3,000ft+ climb up Hope Pass.

I decided fairly early on that since I live at sea level and the race is almost all above 10,000ft I'd need to keep my perceived effort down to make my legs and energy reserves last the whole way. Plus I'd already run the other 100 milers recently so wanted to be conservative due to that too. So I hiked every step of Hope Pass both directions but I practice that a lot since I'm not a strong uphill runner and it seemed to work well since I got into second by the top (12,600ft) on the way out, although Nick and Ryan were just behind. Ryan dropped at this point with back problems after looking so strong through the first half.

On the return journey I kept focusing on power-hiking anything tougher than about a 5% gradient and was catching Mike Aish gradually as well as pulling away from Nick. Now I was thinking about the possibility of winning but couldn't let myself think about that and instead stuck to my tactics and just hoped they'd pay off. Amazingly I was still feeling good at mile 60 and at around mile 67 I caught Mike as he was walking - he looked destroyed and I just hoped he'd be able to finish after dropping the previous year.

Things kept going well through to the Outward Bound aid station at mile 76 and my crew and pacers, Meredith Terranova and Sean Meissner were looking after me well. Hiking up Powerline in the next few miles I still felt fairly good but by about mile 82 things turned and I felt delerious. On the downhill trail into Mayqueen (86.5 miles) I was dizzy and almost tripping over every rock. Nick managed to close on me during this section although I had no idea. Then after Mayqueen a toilet stop seemed to bring me back to life and I was able to cruise along the rolling lake single track.

About eight miles from the finish I was told at the last time check (Mayqueen) Nick was 10 mins behind me so that lit a fire under me and I suddenly kicked it up a gear and ran really hard. I couldn't eat anything and just hoped I wouldn't bonk and that Nick wouldn't catch me - frankly I was terrified he'd take the win from me in the last couple of miles.

Somehow my body let me run in those final miles fast enough to break two hours for the split for the last 13.5 miles and I gapped Nick by 36 mins in the end, but I only found that out when he crossed the line. I assumed he was still catching me.

So Grand Slammers got 1-2 in the race and now we're around 4h40m (me) and 3h30m (Nick) under the Slam record splits with just Wasatch Front left. I really don't want to think about doing another 100 now but I'm sure that'll change in about a week.

My GPS watch lasted long enough to capture each of the three Slam races so far so here are the data for my runs on Strava:

Western States 100 (6/29): http://app.strava.com/activities/63921494

Vermont 100 (7/20): http://app.strava.com/activities/69091265

Leadville Trail 100 (8/17): http://app.strava.com/activities/75597891

Gear used at Leadville:

Scott Kinabalu T2 trail shoes
UltrAspire handhelds and Spry vest
Julbo Dust shades
Clif Bar Shot gels and Shot Bloks
Drymax Max Protection Trail socks

Also, here's a TV interview I did about the race with Mike Wardian called Gotta Get Running:

Mayqueen on the way out (mile 13.5), briefly leading. Photo: irunfar

Meredith helping a speedy transition around mile 72. Photo: Eric Senseman

Nick and myself at the finish, completely drained. Photo: Meredith Terranova

Top Five Tips for Recovering Between Grand Slam Races

Only photo I have of massage, back at the 2009 Rome Marathon with Roberto 'the Butcher of Pimlico'

One of the biggest challenges of running four 100-milers over the summer for the Grand Slam is recovering in the three to four weeks between each race. So far I've found a few easy tips have helped but the more races I do, the more the body has to deal with so the more important these become.

1. Rest - don't feel the need to run much between races. The main training occurs before the first race so I take at least one week completely off running after each 100. Even after that my mileage is tiny compared to normal, generally not running on consecutive days.

2. Don't race in the rest periods - it's tempting to throw in extra races to fit in long runs to get rid of the 'guilt' of running less than normal. I paced at the Badwater 135 a few days before race number two at Vermont. The speeds involved were gentle enough to not be an issue but the sleep deprivation and overnight flights didn't help.

3. Eat well - the body has so much more muscle damage to deal with than during normal training and the recovery rate needs to be so much quicker. Nutritionist Meredith Terranova gave me some pointers here - lots of protein, branch chain amino acid supplements, CoQ10 supplements and BComplex/B12 vitamins. Generally I try to get my nutrients purely through food, but in this extreme case I can see the benefit of topping things up.

4. Quality sleep - giving sleep a higher priority than usual and aiming to get eight hours or more as often as possible allows the body to heal itself more effectively. Events like the Grand Slam involve a huge amount of time so it's worth including this as part of that commitment.

5. Massage - I generally get a sports massage every two to four weeks even when in normal training, but I find it really helps to get one of these about three to four days after each race (to allow enough time for muscle soreness to subside) and again about a week later (when a deeper massage can be given). It reduces tightness and I certainly find it speeds up recovery, even if that hasn't been proved conclusively in scientific studies.