I’ve long believed that there are just a few small things that seperate elite ultrarunners from near-elite ones. I don’t have perfect definitions for “elite” or “near-elite” but, I’ll use some local Seattle ultra-runners as examples:
Elite = Scott Jurek, Uli Steidl
Near Elite = Brian Morrison, Greg Crowther, Adam Lint, etc.
I’m hopeful that my designations/classifications don’t create hard feelings. These are just my own subjective calls and anybody who reads this blog knows that I’m not the brightest bulb. The point I want to make is that there are often subtle differences that seperate these two classes of runners.
One great example of these differences if rest/down-time. My perception is that the elite runners are, in general, better at scheduling/taking down time than the near elites. Obviously, I’m making broad, sweeping categorizations here, which is never fair and never accurate. But, I do come across many near-elite runners who — in their effort to become elite — fail to realize the importance of rest/down-time. Instead, they race ultras several times/month…12 months a year….years in a row.
It should be noted that rest/down-time can mean different things for diferent people. Scott Jurek has a nice post up about his concept of “Hibernation” which he borrows from the Kenya distance runners. Scott has just takend 6 full weeks off of running.
Others, such as Uli, don’t seem to stop running for weeks on end, but are definitely either in the process of building up for a big race or recovering from a big race. Check out Uli’s training logs, and you’ll see what I mean. There are lots of 120+ mile weeks, but also a fair amount of 40-50 mile weeks.
Most of us who don’t fall into the elite OR the near-elite category (including myself) has the opposite problem…we likely take far too much rest in any given week, month, year.
What do you do for rest? Does my hypothesis that elite runners take more rest seem correct…or totally whacked? How much rest is enough? Too much?
Feel free to add comments below…
