I wouldn't do that if I were you...

This post shares my thoughts on our obsession with ultra endurance events and why I don't think that's a good thing for most people.

I want to argue that most people shouldn't make the jump to ultra(iron) distance and what's more, they shouldn't want to. I want to argue that racing, really racing and not just finishing, a shorter race is more enjoyable, healthier, and more challenging than finishing an ultra distance for nearly everyone.

It's not just triathlon that has become infected by the ultra-endurance bug. Marathons have been the king of road racing for a long time and the niche race of ultra trail runs of 50k, 50 miles and even 100 miles have seen a huge increase in popularity recently. And there's plenty of ultra enthusiasts among open water swimmers, mountain bikers and RAAM participants.

I think it's fair to argue that the growth and interest in these events is due to the extreme difficulty they present. When the existence of these events is brought to the attention of normal people, aka non-athletes, aka muggles, their reaction is a predictable “that's crazy” or “why would you ever want to do that?” Mostly though, they are grudgingly respectable of and sometimes openly admiring of people who finish these events. They know that it is a testament of a person's will power to get to the finish line for one of these “crazy” races.

As an aside, there is an unfortunate mentality among some athletes that they're better than muggles because they exercise and eat healthy and they will brag about the 2 hour workout they got up at 4:30am for to finish before work. If you brag about these things with your co-workers you should stop, immediately. It's akin to when that vegetarian¹ blathers on about how they're saving the planet by not eating meat, and about as enjoyable for them as when that coworker shows you pictures of their cat that they dressed up in costume over the weekend.

¹ Don't call a crusade on me angry vegetarians, for I am one of you. But let's be honest, vegetarianism, like religion, is something that should be encouraged through example, not frequent, self righteous lectures.

Challenge

Back to the point, ultras are a challenge, a proving grounds where you can step out of the hum-drum of ordinary routine and attempt something courageous. And ultimately, ultra events actually are just that, a challenge. But, marketing and social hype have taken this challenge and made it the ultimate challenge, the toughest event and so on. Finishing an ultra is made out to be the end all and be all for the endurance athlete, and that continues to drive the obsession to sign up for the longest possible race your sport offers.

But consider this: In order to finish that ultra you'll have to put in a lot of miles. A lot a lot of miles. Finishing is absolutely possible. I talk to people every week who put in one year of really hard work and just barely finished one, but they did it. So if you have a functional foundation to work on, it will just mean an exhausting number of hours of aerobic work. If you don't have the foundation, it will probably mean injury. Most people's lives are already plenty time crunched without trying to squeeze in 10 to 15 hours of training per week. Do you really want to get up at 4:30 every morning so you can ride the trainer for 2 hours before work?

A shorter race means less time spent logging miles. You could use that time to get some more sleep, or tackle a project you've been putting off for a month. If you really want to improve your health the time difference is a great opportunity to work on range of motion and overall strength. It won't necessarily make you faster, but it will help put an end to injuries, and who doesn't want to put an end to injuries?

So would you rather be a lithe cheetah or a rickety Energizer Bunny with kinesio tape covering you from head to toe?

Of course even though it means you'll have more time and feel better and not have to spend every season nursing your tight achilles, you may still be mesmerized by the challenge of completing an ultra. Here's where I will be a bit unorthodox. If you want a real challenge, something that is truly difficult and so tough that you may never be able to accomplish it, race an olympic distance tri and finish in under 2:15. (Sorry girls, I'm not good at estimating an equivalent time, maybe 2:40?)

I have a feeling a lot of people will respond like this: That's unreasonable, you think that's reasonable because you race fast, but that's so much faster than I've ever gone, I could never go that fast, that's impossible.

Yes, it is very very fast, and yes you would have to drastically improve to do that and some people no matter how fit they get may not be able to achieve that time, but that's the why it's more challenging, harder, more courageous than finishing an ultra. In order to be that fast you'll have to work for years balancing strength, speed and endurance, smartly avoiding injury and you will have to get very lean. It will take intelligence and commitment and long term planning. But if you achieve that goal you'll feel every bit as on top of the world as crossing that ultra finish line.

So here's my question to you: Are you up for a real challenge?