Badwater Ultramarathon - Page 2

racedoll · 08-04-2010, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoJoYZF

Thats insane. People like that always amazed me. My cross country coach in high school used to compete in ironman triathlons (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and then a marathon-26.2 mile run), he was psychotic but holy shit was he in shape. I doubt I'll ever even run a marthon in my life, so these people are pretty impressive.

I'm pretty sure she has done an ironman as well. I don't think there is anything she hasn't done.

Some of the things she said she did for training was crazy, like running around town with her car windows up and no air just to get used to the heat. The A/C in the house broke, she never fixed it... etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by the chi

Look at the folks who have no cars or bikes, they run and walk everywhere and often with less injuries than our celebrity athletes...I get irritated everytime I hear about some pro athlete who twisted his ankle, or tweaked his wrist. Blah. Grow a pair and deal.

Amen sister!!!

lauralynne · 08-04-2010, 03:15 PM

I'm doing a half ironman next summer - but any distance beyond that? I don't have the time or the inclination to train for something that brutal!

Smittie61984 · 08-04-2010, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the chi

I get all that, but what Im wondering is, if you are conditioned to that all the time

COPD patients are conditioned to oxygen levels that would cause medics and doctors to shit a brick if they were in you and me. Infact giving a COPD patient oxygen can actually cause them to stop breathing completely. People can be conditioned to a lot of things but becuase they are conditioned to it, it doesn't mean they are healthy.

Not to mention that these ultra athletes are, and yes they have to be to do what they do, doped up and constantly messing with their body's functions. Sure they are fine now, but when they stop steroids, erythropoietin, blood doping, etc, their bodies are going to deteriorate due to being dependent on itself vs artificial means.

But that doesn't take away from what they have achieved. No amount of doping is going to let me ever reach what Lance Armstrong and many Olympic athletes have done. They are truly incredible individuals

gavilan · 08-04-2010, 08:04 PM

After I crewed for my friend's Ultra (the Western States), I was in such shock about this feat that I was doing some reading about it.

What follows is a series of quotes that I found on different sites.
It's long, so save for when you're bored.

"BTW, I still think the WS trail is one of the most beautiful places that I have vomited."
- Mary Gorski, 1999 WS attemptee and 2001 finisher

"If you run hard, there's the pain -- and you've got to work your way through the pain ... You know, lately it seems all you hear is 'Don't overdo it' and 'Don't push yourself.' Well, I think that's a lot of bull. If you push the human body, it will respond."
-Bob Clarke, NHL Hall of Famer

"The thing I don't like about Western States is that you show up at the starting line in the best shape of your life and a day later you are in Auburn in the worst shape of your life."
- Andy Black, on Western States

"You're not puking and nothing's broken so get going."
- Vivian McQueeney to her husband, Scott, in the middle of the climb to Whitney Portal during Badwater 2000

"I gazed in envy at ultra runners whose quadriceps had the kind of definition that tells you Secretariat is somewhere in their family tree."
- Liz Zelandais, writing about the Dam 50k Run/Relay

"I swear, I'll never do this again."
- Unknown

"I was starting to hurt, but then I burped and took a crap and am feeling much better"
- Unknown, heard during the 1997 AR 50

"My doctor told me that jogging could add years to my life. I think he was right. I feel ten years older already."
- Milton Berle

"You're better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can!"
- Ken Chlouber at Leadville

"We'll tell you when to start and we'll tell you when to stop. In between, don't think, just keep running."
- Ken Chlouber at Leadville

"If you under-train, you may not finish, but if you over-train, you may not start."
- Tom DuBos credits Stan Jensen with this one

"I love running cross-country ... You come up a hill and see two deer going: 'What the hell is he doing?' On a track, I feel like a hamster."
- Robin Williams, film star/comic/runner

"When you are 99 miles into a 100-mile running race, your brain is not the same brain you started with".
- Paul Huddle

"Nobody should ever run a race where they are lapped by the sun."
- friend of Alex Swenson, referring to 100 mile races

"Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon."
- Alan Cabelly

"... so as we walked along the river toward Rucky Chucky, I said the words that most men say to a pretty woman as they walk along the river under a starry night on their first date: "If you were a real hardass, you'd stick your finger down your throat and clear your stomach and if you won't do it, I will."
- Stan Jensen, pacing Sarah Lowell at WS'97

"Ultra-runners don't compromise ... they cope."
- Bob Sharpley

"Exercise is for people who can't handle drugs and alcohol."
- Lily Tomlin

"As long as you keep making RFM (Relentless Forward Motion), you will finish."
- Stacey Page

"Find your limits and exceed them."
- Lynn Strickland

"Road sucks!"
- Skip & Tracey

"Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic."
- Tim Noakes

"Beware of the chair!"
- Unknown

"I never knew I could DNF and still have so much fun."
- Gregg Heinrichs

"No doubt a brain and some shoes are essential for marathon success, although if it comes down to a choice, pick the shoes. More people finish marathons with no brains than with no shoes."
- Don Kardong

"In ultrarunning, the pain is inevitable, but the suffering is optional."
- Al Bogenhuber

"How many days does it take to run a hundred miles?"
- Skip Eastman

"A race is just a race, but a friend who paces you is a friend for life."
- Joseph Franko

"The 10-K is a race. The marathon is an experience. The ultra is an adventure."
- Bryan Hacker

"Drink, drink, drink! Pee, pee, pee!"
- Ed Hart

"The more of us that do it, the harder it is for them to dismiss us as just a bunch of really weird people. Especially when we otherwise appear so normal."
- Dan Hawthorne

"There's a lot to be said for LSD -- long, slow distance in this case."
- Joe Henderson

"Because I can." (when asked "Why do you run 100 mile races?")
- Tom Johnson

"All the disruptive arguments among my friends as to whether or not I was sane when I took up marathon running have been entirely resolved since I ran my first 50-miler."
- John Kendall

"Enjoy your pain, you earned it!"
- Pauli Kiriu

"You run an ultra largely on concentration ... not letting your form drag and continuing to run. Your body quits and the mind takes over. It's not like a marathon where you think, maybe I can gut it out."
- Georgs Kolesnikovs

"You hear about how runnin' ultras is all mental; well, I sure wish it'd hurry up and get mental, 'cause it's feelin' awfully physical right now."
- Ken Loveless

"I never met a carbohydrate I didn't like."
- David Lygre

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"
- Peter Maher

"No matter what hurts at the beginning, by the end of the race something else will hurt worse."
- Bob O'Connor

"Pain is good. Extreme Pain is Extremely Good ..."
- Navy Seals

"Never judge a day by the weather."
- Dave Nelson

"That which does not destroy me makes me stronger"
- Nietzsche

"Never look back, someone might be gaining on you"
- Satchel Paige

"Each time you run you will receive lessons. You have enrolled in the school of ultrarunning. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid. What you think makes no difference; the lessons will be presented until they are learned."
- Keith Pippin

"When you run there are no mistakes, only lessons. The art and science of ultrarunning is a process of trial, error and experimentation. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the combination that ultimately works."
- Keith Pippin

"Self-conquest is the greatest of victories."
- Plato

"You will get through the tired times, don't give up. There is lots of time. Walk and in a while you will be running again."
- Rolly Portelance

"The mind learns the body can go at least a bit farther even though it feels increasingly uncomfortable."
- Pritikin

"Sometimes you should overcome the tiredness and speed up when you'd normally slow down. Great source of strength and power."
- Pritikin

"If the bone's not showin', just keep goin'!"
- Joan Risse at Angeles Crest, 9/95

"Happy trails to you, until we meet again"
- Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

"Ultra runners are daffy about practical matters."
- Shapiro

"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit."
- George Sheehan

"Some think guts is sprinting at the end of a race. But guts is what got you there to begin with. Guts start back in the hills with 6 miles to go and you're thinking of how you can get out of this race without anyone noticing. Guts begin when you still have forty minutes of torture left and you're already hurting more than you ever remember."
- George Sheehan

"ARRRGH -- what in God's name ever possessed me to think this would be a
good thing to do?"
- Charles N. Steele

"I never met a hill I couldn't walk."
- Larry Stice

"I have to find another port-a-tree."
- Ellie Thayer

"If you start to feel good during an Ultra, don't worry - you'll get over it."
- Gene Thibeault

"It's the quitting that really is hard."
- Gene Thibeault

"People think ultra is some kind of spaghetti eating contest for people with no talent to do anything else. But there's a lot going on. I break it down into the physical, the mental and endurance. Physical is the only gender-specific area; men have more muscle mass, the strongest man is always going to be stronger than the strongest woman. But I think physical is only a small percentage of ultra. The mental part includes preparation, strategizing, problem solving. How do you deal with 22 miles through snow, then overheating? How do you avoid allowing someone to lure you into running their race? You have to learn how to run over rocks downhill without trashing your quads; it's like skiing or dancing. And then endurance. An ultra is not about pain - I think a marathon is about pain, about intensity - but it's about hanging in through tiredness and about staying nutritionally fueled. There is some evidence that women may use fat more efficiently. And you have to want it, you have to have the passion, you have to be willing to take the risks. You can never be sure you'll finish."
- Ann Trason

"There's no tangible reward in anything I do, certainly not in running Western States. It's just an interesting challenge."
- Tim Twietmeyer

"26 miles 385 yards is where racing ends and ludicrous extremes begin."
- from "Runner's World"

"The pain is temporary, The pride lasts forever."
- Unknown

"Stick a fork in me, I'm done."
- Unknown

"It used to freak me out when I threw up, now I don't even slow down."
- Unknown

"Your biggest challenge isn't someone else. It's the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the voice inside you that yells 'CAN'T", but you don't listen. You just push harder. And then you hear the voice whisper 'can'. And you discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the one you really are."
- Unknown

"The second 50 is done with the mind."
- Unknown

"Well, dear, I hope you know what you're doing."
- Unknown

"I run distance because I want to be in good shape when I die."
- Unknown

"Look honey, here comes one that's still running!"
- Unknown

"Everywhere is within running distance ... if you have the time."
- Unknown

"The finish line is just ahead."
"The aid station is just ahead."
"Trust me ... this is the last hill."
"You're almost there."
"The trail is well marked."
- Unknown

"In an ultra you should eat like a horse, drink like a fish, and run like a turtle."
- Unknown

"Lead, follow or GET OUTA the way!"
- Unknown

"I can't go on, I'll go on."
- Samuel Beckett

RFP - relentless forward progress - RFP
- dave covey, ultra runner

"eat, eat, eat, eat, drink, drink, drink, drink, pee, pee, pee, pee, run, run, run, run"
- simon mtuy, tanzanian ultra runner

"do or do not, there is no try"
- yoda

training to run 100 miles is like training to get hit by a truck"
- luis Escobar

"things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse"
- lily tomlin

racedoll · 08-04-2010, 08:14 PM

Yep, Connie did Western States too in prep for Badwater due to the more extreme elevation changes out there versus Ohio.

08-04-2010, 03:15 PM	#12
lauralynne 667:Neighbor of the Beast Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Everett WA Moto: VTR1000, SV650, FZR400, CRF150 Posts: 1,403	I'm doing a half ironman next summer - but any distance beyond that? I don't have the time or the inclination to train for something that brutal! __________________ WMRRA's slowest Expert! triathalete, mom, racer, rider, friend, sister, wife - all in one tidy package! Married my best friend 8/30/09

08-04-2010, 08:04 PM	#14
gavilan Street Stunter Join Date: May 2010 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 71	After I crewed for my friend's Ultra (the Western States), I was in such shock about this feat that I was doing some reading about it. What follows is a series of quotes that I found on different sites. It's long, so save for when you're bored. "BTW, I still think the WS trail is one of the most beautiful places that I have vomited." - Mary Gorski, 1999 WS attemptee and 2001 finisher "If you run hard, there's the pain -- and you've got to work your way through the pain ... You know, lately it seems all you hear is 'Don't overdo it' and 'Don't push yourself.' Well, I think that's a lot of bull. If you push the human body, it will respond." -Bob Clarke, NHL Hall of Famer "The thing I don't like about Western States is that you show up at the starting line in the best shape of your life and a day later you are in Auburn in the worst shape of your life." - Andy Black, on Western States "You're not puking and nothing's broken so get going." - Vivian McQueeney to her husband, Scott, in the middle of the climb to Whitney Portal during Badwater 2000 "I gazed in envy at ultra runners whose quadriceps had the kind of definition that tells you Secretariat is somewhere in their family tree." - Liz Zelandais, writing about the Dam 50k Run/Relay "I swear, I'll never do this again." - Unknown "I was starting to hurt, but then I burped and took a crap and am feeling much better" - Unknown, heard during the 1997 AR 50 "My doctor told me that jogging could add years to my life. I think he was right. I feel ten years older already." - Milton Berle "You're better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can!" - Ken Chlouber at Leadville "We'll tell you when to start and we'll tell you when to stop. In between, don't think, just keep running." - Ken Chlouber at Leadville "If you under-train, you may not finish, but if you over-train, you may not start." - Tom DuBos credits Stan Jensen with this one "I love running cross-country ... You come up a hill and see two deer going: 'What the hell is he doing?' On a track, I feel like a hamster." - Robin Williams, film star/comic/runner "When you are 99 miles into a 100-mile running race, your brain is not the same brain you started with". - Paul Huddle "Nobody should ever run a race where they are lapped by the sun." - friend of Alex Swenson, referring to 100 mile races "Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon." - Alan Cabelly "... so as we walked along the river toward Rucky Chucky, I said the words that most men say to a pretty woman as they walk along the river under a starry night on their first date: "If you were a real hardass, you'd stick your finger down your throat and clear your stomach and if you won't do it, I will." - Stan Jensen, pacing Sarah Lowell at WS'97 "Ultra-runners don't compromise ... they cope." - Bob Sharpley "Exercise is for people who can't handle drugs and alcohol." - Lily Tomlin "As long as you keep making RFM (Relentless Forward Motion), you will finish." - Stacey Page "Find your limits and exceed them." - Lynn Strickland "Road sucks!" - Skip & Tracey "Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic." - Tim Noakes "Beware of the chair!" - Unknown "I never knew I could DNF and still have so much fun." - Gregg Heinrichs "No doubt a brain and some shoes are essential for marathon success, although if it comes down to a choice, pick the shoes. More people finish marathons with no brains than with no shoes." - Don Kardong "In ultrarunning, the pain is inevitable, but the suffering is optional." - Al Bogenhuber "How many days does it take to run a hundred miles?" - Skip Eastman "A race is just a race, but a friend who paces you is a friend for life." - Joseph Franko "The 10-K is a race. The marathon is an experience. The ultra is an adventure." - Bryan Hacker "Drink, drink, drink! Pee, pee, pee!" - Ed Hart "The more of us that do it, the harder it is for them to dismiss us as just a bunch of really weird people. Especially when we otherwise appear so normal." - Dan Hawthorne "There's a lot to be said for LSD -- long, slow distance in this case." - Joe Henderson "Because I can." (when asked "Why do you run 100 mile races?") - Tom Johnson "All the disruptive arguments among my friends as to whether or not I was sane when I took up marathon running have been entirely resolved since I ran my first 50-miler." - John Kendall "Enjoy your pain, you earned it!" - Pauli Kiriu "You run an ultra largely on concentration ... not letting your form drag and continuing to run. Your body quits and the mind takes over. It's not like a marathon where you think, maybe I can gut it out." - Georgs Kolesnikovs "You hear about how runnin' ultras is all mental; well, I sure wish it'd hurry up and get mental, 'cause it's feelin' awfully physical right now." - Ken Loveless "I never met a carbohydrate I didn't like." - David Lygre "Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'" - Peter Maher "No matter what hurts at the beginning, by the end of the race something else will hurt worse." - Bob O'Connor "Pain is good. Extreme Pain is Extremely Good ..." - Navy Seals "Never judge a day by the weather." - Dave Nelson "That which does not destroy me makes me stronger" - Nietzsche "Never look back, someone might be gaining on you" - Satchel Paige "Each time you run you will receive lessons. You have enrolled in the school of ultrarunning. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid. What you think makes no difference; the lessons will be presented until they are learned." - Keith Pippin "When you run there are no mistakes, only lessons. The art and science of ultrarunning is a process of trial, error and experimentation. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the combination that ultimately works." - Keith Pippin "Self-conquest is the greatest of victories." - Plato "You will get through the tired times, don't give up. There is lots of time. Walk and in a while you will be running again." - Rolly Portelance "The mind learns the body can go at least a bit farther even though it feels increasingly uncomfortable." - Pritikin "Sometimes you should overcome the tiredness and speed up when you'd normally slow down. Great source of strength and power." - Pritikin "If the bone's not showin', just keep goin'!" - Joan Risse at Angeles Crest, 9/95 "Happy trails to you, until we meet again" - Roy Rogers and Dale Evans "Ultra runners are daffy about practical matters." - Shapiro "It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit." - George Sheehan "Some think guts is sprinting at the end of a race. But guts is what got you there to begin with. Guts start back in the hills with 6 miles to go and you're thinking of how you can get out of this race without anyone noticing. Guts begin when you still have forty minutes of torture left and you're already hurting more than you ever remember." - George Sheehan "ARRRGH -- what in God's name ever possessed me to think this would be a good thing to do?" - Charles N. Steele "I never met a hill I couldn't walk." - Larry Stice "I have to find another port-a-tree." - Ellie Thayer "If you start to feel good during an Ultra, don't worry - you'll get over it." - Gene Thibeault "It's the quitting that really is hard." - Gene Thibeault "People think ultra is some kind of spaghetti eating contest for people with no talent to do anything else. But there's a lot going on. I break it down into the physical, the mental and endurance. Physical is the only gender-specific area; men have more muscle mass, the strongest man is always going to be stronger than the strongest woman. But I think physical is only a small percentage of ultra. The mental part includes preparation, strategizing, problem solving. How do you deal with 22 miles through snow, then overheating? How do you avoid allowing someone to lure you into running their race? You have to learn how to run over rocks downhill without trashing your quads; it's like skiing or dancing. And then endurance. An ultra is not about pain - I think a marathon is about pain, about intensity - but it's about hanging in through tiredness and about staying nutritionally fueled. There is some evidence that women may use fat more efficiently. And you have to want it, you have to have the passion, you have to be willing to take the risks. You can never be sure you'll finish." - Ann Trason "There's no tangible reward in anything I do, certainly not in running Western States. It's just an interesting challenge." - Tim Twietmeyer "26 miles 385 yards is where racing ends and ludicrous extremes begin." - from "Runner's World" "The pain is temporary, The pride lasts forever." - Unknown "Stick a fork in me, I'm done." - Unknown "It used to freak me out when I threw up, now I don't even slow down." - Unknown "Your biggest challenge isn't someone else. It's the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the voice inside you that yells 'CAN'T", but you don't listen. You just push harder. And then you hear the voice whisper 'can'. And you discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the one you really are." - Unknown "The second 50 is done with the mind." - Unknown "Well, dear, I hope you know what you're doing." - Unknown "I run distance because I want to be in good shape when I die." - Unknown "Look honey, here comes one that's still running!" - Unknown "Everywhere is within running distance ... if you have the time." - Unknown "The finish line is just ahead." "The aid station is just ahead." "Trust me ... this is the last hill." "You're almost there." "The trail is well marked." - Unknown "In an ultra you should eat like a horse, drink like a fish, and run like a turtle." - Unknown "Lead, follow or GET OUTA the way!" - Unknown "I can't go on, I'll go on." - Samuel Beckett RFP - relentless forward progress - RFP - dave covey, ultra runner "eat, eat, eat, eat, drink, drink, drink, drink, pee, pee, pee, pee, run, run, run, run" - simon mtuy, tanzanian ultra runner "do or do not, there is no try" - yoda training to run 100 miles is like training to get hit by a truck" - luis Escobar "things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse" - lily tomlin

08-04-2010, 08:14 PM	#15
racedoll AMA Supersport Join Date: Nov 2008 Moto: '04 Kawasaki ZX6RR Posts: 3,392	Yep, Connie did Western States too in prep for Badwater due to the more extreme elevation changes out there versus Ohio.