issue #80: March 27, 2024
All-sporters, Precision Fuel & Hydration has put up my case study from my Big Alta 50K — if you want to know how to improve and what mistakes I made. (Also a mistake: Do not try new shoes on race day. And temper your unwarranted self-confidence when going out too hard.)
The PF&H team also talked me through some logistical options for dealing with only being able to refill with water when you’re on extended ultra-runs. I tested this out on my stupid long run this week — and, I don’t know if other people experience this, but the 250mg sodium capsule stopped the sloshing nauseous feeling in my stomach. Still working on finalizing my big race nutrition plans — which, obviously, includes some messing up along the way here — and you can use their planner to work out your own hydration & fueling plans (and get 15% off).
Before we get down to this week’s incredibly awe-inspiring news, for our paying subscribers:
Q&A: Understanding What’s Happening in College Sports — an in-depth conversation with one of the experts in the field
Book Club: Don’t forget to join us today at noon PT/3 p.m. ET
- Kelly
If a woman runs in a forest, does it makes a sound heard everywhere
Sure, I have mixed feelings about the Barkley Marathons. Ten years ago, it was a crazy wacky thing no one had heard of. Now, at this point, it just feels a little too much like putting a ‘Stay Out’ sign on your treehouse so you can keep telling yourself how cool your club is. (Yes, I felt even more this way about The Speed Project.)
But, still. The fact that I think the organizer is kinda bleh doesn’t mean the feats of endurance, themselves, aren’t absolutely wild and worthy of admiration.
And, holy shit, were those feats something this year.
If you somehow missed it (!?), the leading contender for athletic accomplishment of the year happened this past weekend when Jasmin Paris became the first woman to ever finish the bizarre 100-mile, 60,000-feet of climbing, self-orienteering race just 99 seconds under the 60-hour time limit.
Friday afternoon, as #SmallEuropeanWoman trended across the US & the UK — because the only updates from the race tend to come via one guy on Twitter & runners are typically named only by generic identifiers until after they make it through the first few laps — it was hard not to keep pressing refresh, looking for every update, and praying she’d make it in time.
Go ahead, try not to cry!
And if you want all the details: This recap of everything that went into it, every reason it seemed like she wouldn’t make it in the moment, every bit it took from her, will make you tear up again.
Yes, the weather played a role in more people finishing this year than ever. (Five finishers — two of whom have finished before, making it 20 people ever to do it.) But, I think, also there’s something to be said for more athletes spending years learning the course, more knowledge out there, and more working together. Yes, I loved the moment when Jared waited and let Jasmin pick which direction she wanted on the last lap, after they’d all worked together as long as they could. And also, yes, I think next year the rules and route will somehow change to be even more difficult, no way they won’t.
I was watching this and then watching some of March Madness (men’s & women’s). And there’s an odd thing that happens a lot in women’s sports right now where there isn’t always the infrastructure or media or systems surrounding these women — but, lord, is there an appetite for their stories. The outcome, then, is that so many of these things happen off on their own somewhere, with few spectators out on the Queen K or in a small basketball stadium or in the Tennessee wilderness, or they’re made in the hours and the qualifiers and the tiny races no one sees, or you think it’s just you alone in the woods doing a thing you thought was impossible. You’re so used to all of this existing as striving without fanfare — and, then, all of a sudden you do the thing & you’re on the BBC, and topping the CBS Sunday evening news, and in the New York Times, and everywhere. And I don’t know that any of these women always anticipate or expect that; I think they’re just trying to do these things for themselves.
But then it turns out it isn’t just for them; it’s for all of us. It turns out it wasn’t just you running alone in the woods somewhere. It turns out when a tree falls it makes all the sound in the world.
BTW: Here’s a podcast interview with Jasmin from two years ago
Results from the weekend
XTERRA World Cup - Taiwan: The first stop of the World Cup tour was won by the French favorites, Felix Forissier and Solenne Billouin — and, at least while I was watching the broadcast, there was only one broken bone! (Which, actually, happened in the days leading up to the race.)
I’d also like to point out that they managed live broadcast coverage on technical trails, with follow cams of the athletes. Other broadcasts: Take note.
World Triathlon World Cup - Hong Kong: Super important because there are only a couple of World Cups in the points battle leading to the next WTCS (and Olympic qualifying) event. Katie Zaferes had a big second place behind Sian Rainsley (who has to feel like being #6 on Team GB is a tough spot). And Alberto Gonzalez’s kick was something between amazing and hilarious, for the men’s win.
There’s also a lot of drama about a swim buoy, that was simply placed too soon in the course with too many athletes, causing chaos.
World Triathlon European Cup - Quarteira: Oddly under-the-radar & tough race list. Lisa Tertsch topped Georgia Taylor-Brown (who is in her own qualification battle) & Cassandre Beaugrand (who still needs to “show form”).
Geelong 70.3: Sam Osborne won his first 70.3 (he’s usually in XTERRA) & Ellie Salthouse won her 16th 70.3 (+ a number of other half distances) before she heads to the T100 Singapore as a wildcard.
A short explanation of where things are at in Olympic qualification
Right now, at this exact moment, the World Triathlon rankings list — which determines who gets to start WTCS and World Cup races — has six or seven American woman who want to be on the start line at WTCS Yokohama in May. Because Yokohama is the last auto-qualifier for the U.S. for the Olympics. (For GB & France & some others, it’s WTCS Cagliari two weeks later.) Every country only gets five athletes to start, though (unless they roll off the waitlist, etc).
Gwen Jorgensen is #5 right now. Katie Zaferes is #6. Gina Sereno is #7. Supertri’s E Tri World Championships have the same amount of points as a World Cup — which is likely why Katie Zaferes is now headed to those. It’s all about the points.
For the French, fyi, there’s also this weird thing where even if they earned their spot last year at the Paris Test Event now they have to “show form,” which may be both a rock & hard place for Pierre Le Corre. You never like to see arbitrary vague discretion in Olympic qualification.
Coming up this weekend: There’s also a crazy World Triathlon Indoor Tri that’s absolutely wild around a track inside — and *also* has World Cup level points available. (CORRECTION: Points are only 87.5% of World Cup level because of the semi-finals/finals format.) Whew. This is sorta what I meant about things happening when no one’s watching that actually matter for later when everyone’s watching.
The -ish
The rest of the news you should know about from our sports this week.
Cape Epic is another one of those super-in-the-weeds, huge-only-in-our-universe kind of things: 8-day mountain bike race across S. Africa’s Cape, raced in duos. Anne Terpstra and Nicole Koller swept all 8 stages for the women’s win. Super cool graphical breakdown (+ the Youtube videos) from PinkBike. (Instagram/PinkBike)
World XC Championships coming up this weekend. (World Athletics)
After we wondered a few weeks ago about who’ll race Roth (in between all the other big pay days), they announced the Challenge Roth start list last week. It looks like they got Magnus Ditlev, Patrick Lange, Rudy von Berg, and Leon Chevalier on the men’s side & Laura Philipp, Lisa Norden, and Laura Siddall on the women’s side. I’m gonna have to assume that the reason they didn’t get as many names as usual or as many on the women’s side is because they didn’t pay to get them. (Triathlonish/Challenge)
A reminder: There are the athletes signed to PTO T100 contracts—but they can do other races, as long as the do the required five T100 races. There are the athletes aiming to do the Ironman Pro Series (and/or target the IM World Champs)—which doesn’t require a contract or commitment, since it’s simply your best five results on the calendar—and that starts in a week-and-a-half at Oceanside 70.3. And then there’s everyone else and all the other races. (Triathlete/Ironman)
Ironman Lake Placid has an option for auction to join celebrity/pro relays. (Ironman Foundation)
Yes, I have heard the rumors that Ironman is switching from Gatorade Endurance on-course to something more bizarre — but, as they say, I think the rumors may be greatly exaggerated. Getting to the bottom of it, stay tuned. (Slowtwitch)
Did you know CIM (the marathon) sent ‘ticket to Boston’ postcards to all the athletes who qualified? I’m telling you this is what keeps a certain demographic coming back to that race. (Triathlonish)
Interesting story from Triathlete about the changes in the professional pathways to winning the Olympics and Ironman. (Triathlete)
Another interesting piece from Mile & Stone about a small popular Basque trail race that’s basically closing up shop because trail running’s gotten *too* popular. (Mile & Stone)
DailyTri has been filling the old Obsessed Triathlete hole with lots of RSS feeds — including a Youtube pro athlete hub, if you just need your regular video hit. (DailyTri)
Just learned the new Lululemon CEO is a triathlete. (Men’s Health)
A bunch of runner outlets are down in Jamaica for “Champs” — the high school Olympics of Jamaica — and Usian Bolt is dropping all kinds of Bolt-like quotes: he knows how Noah Lyles could break his world record but won’t tell & he never ran even a lap on his easy days. (Instagram)
I watched some of the Figure Skating World Championships this weekend — and not sure if you’ve ever thought about what your brain looks like while it’s jumping and spinning on ice. The men’s winner, Ilia Malinin, hit SIX quads (!) and I’ve never been more excited to see a random teenager I’d just heard of win something. But story of the weekend was the 40-year-old Deanna Stellato-Dudek becoming the oldest woman to ever win a skating world championship title and doing it after she’d left the sport for 16 years! (New York Times/Instagram)
For Women’s History Month, I’d like to point out that there have always women doing sports — there just hasn’t always been the support and infrastructure for them (or even the rules to allow them to participate): There was the Women's Challenge cycling stage race that the UCI refused to sanction because of its "excessive number of stages" and "excessive climbing" and "excessive distance.” And there were six-day ultra races all the way back in the late 1800s, with prize purses for the women who won. Just fyi. (CyclingNews/Ultra Running History)
Nevada will pay you $5,000 to hike the PCT. (Backpacker)
This group of women fought off a mountain lion with their hands, after it attacked one of them while they were riding. (Today Show)
OMG. A saddle sore on a training camp turned into a life-threatening infection of flesh-eating bacteria for one cyclist. WTF!? (Velo)
One last thing
Well, that’s not supposed to happen. (Click on the video.)
Don’t forget: You can get 15% off Precision Fuel & Hydration here.