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He Wouldn't Do That if He Were You...

Thursday, 07 March 2013 00:10

By Dan Hedgecock (hedgecocktri.blogspot.com)

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