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The Revenant

6/5/2018

24 Comments

 
I struggle as much as anyone in terms of being concerned with negative feedback. No one likes sticking his or her head up over the parapet in regards to appearing displeased or disparaging about an event that people are excited about, but in this case I feel that I must. I am concerned about  “ultra endurance events” such as the recently opened Revenant Ultra Run. Certainly I have nothing against the race organisers, however I question the wisdom of the majority of people who are intending to enter. And here’s why-
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Heat. We are talking about an event that is staged in Southland/Central Otago, an area where shade is not exactly plentiful. In mid-January temperatures are likely to hover around, if not well above 30 degrees celsius for the majority of the daylight hours with nowhere to hide. For a team or individual chasing the cut-off time (60 hours) that likely means 30 hours ambulating in relatively extreme heat. If not heat, then it is just as likely that it could be snowing.

Climbing. 16,000 metres of elevation over the course of 190 Kilometres. That is 150% more climbing than the Northburn 100 Miler or the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. For those not living in mountainous terrain, it is going to be extremely difficult, verging on impossible to adequately prepare their body and mind for 16,000m of climbing, not to mention 16,000m of descending.  

Time. An equation that I quite like to use when working out how long a run is going to to take me, is for every 100m of vertical ascent, I add a kilometre to the distance and then multiply the distance by my expected cruising speed on flat ground of similar terrain when fresh. By that equation, the Revanant is equivalent to 350km. I'll let you do the maths on that one. And, that is before we calculate extra time for fatigue, heat, darkness and potentially an unequal partner.

Navigation. There is no electronic aiding in terms of navigation. All navigation is to be done with compass and map. How hard that navigation will be is anyones guess. Regardless of navigational difficulty, add two nights of little or no sleep, and tying your shoe lace becomes difficult to master, let alone trying to read a map and compass. Don't forget that competitors will also need to navigate at night.

What you need to complete the Revenant:
A) An exceptionally capable mountain athlete.
B) Experienced at non-stop multi day adventure racing or similar.
C) Exceptional navigation skills.
D) Speed. A super fast cruising speed.
E) Tolerance to extremes in temperature.
F) If you are doing it as a team, a team mate who also possesses A-E. 

An event like the Revenant is in a different league to almost all other 'running' events. There is a calibre of athlete who would do well at an event like this. World class adventure racers, such as Nathan Fa'ave, Chris Forne or Stu Lynch who are well adjusted to this degree of physical and psychological insult, and even then there is no guarantee. This event does not lend itself to the average trail runner.

My disquiet or concern is NOT with the race itself, nor the race promoters. I struggle with the global trend towards longer distance events with the emergence of 200 mile races and beyond appearing internationally. What I struggle with is why people feel the need to attempt races like this that they patently are unlikely to achieve. If you enjoy suffering so much just come by and I’ll buy you a 40oz of vodka and you can scull it in front of me. I would suggest that the physiological effects of this and an attempt to stay awake for 60 hours and traverse 190km with 16,000m of vertical ascent and descent would be surprisingly similar. 

I question our obsession with going longer and longer and longer. There is nothing wrong with challenging yourself at ultra distance events, however I would challenge those who have an event such as the Revenant on their event horizon to first attempt to complete a fast 5/10/21/42km race. This might also be beneficial for your longer distance runs. The training has the potential to enculturate you to a new level of sitting comfortably with distress. I am pretty sure you can squeeze 60 hours of suffering into the effort and exertion of a fast (relative to each individual) marathon.

Am I wrong on this? I may well be, and I’ll be happy to admit it if that is the case. In the interim, I stand by what I say that I believe that the culture of going bigger and bigger is not helpful if we ignore the fundamentals of running and motility. I believe that in this way we expose ourselves to burnout and injury. Focusing on, and attributing meaning to, these races at the expense of traditional or non-ultra events is not necessarily a healthy or adaptive standpoint and I am concerned that no one will benefit from this preoccupation with going big.

As I said above, I may well be wrong, and would love to get your thoughts on the matter.
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Revenant Ultramarathon
24 Comments
JG
7/5/2018 09:05:01 am

Agree 100%

Look at Red Bull Defiance - one year competitors so cold they needed assistance to zip up jackets, the following year sunstroke etc. That's on a much more achievable course.

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James Kuegler link
10/5/2018 12:16:20 pm

JG, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. The weather certainly has the potential to add an extra element of challenge and/or risk.

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Thomas Johnson
7/5/2018 10:37:34 am

Did the race organisers pay you to write this? :-)

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chloe
8/5/2018 01:30:57 am

bwahahahaha my thoughts exactly !! :D

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James Kuegler link
10/5/2018 12:17:30 pm

Hi Thomas. They didn't though I did have the thought that this likely adds fire to the belly of many who are planning to start the event. Most people don't enjoy being told they can't/shouldn't do something.

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Patrick Moss
7/5/2018 12:16:28 pm

Agree. Healthy number of DNF s at RoF this year on a much more achievable course.

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What the hell
7/5/2018 12:53:39 pm

What the hell. If anybody is keen enough to give this a crack, good on them. I would rather go out and do my own missions in my own time and enjoy the vastness of our wilderness without all the pain and threat to my health and well-being. All the best to the organisers. Does it have to be that big???

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James Kuegler link
10/5/2018 12:21:13 pm

As you say, if anybody wants to give it a crack then good on them, though I like you would rather enjoy the vastness of our wilderness without the pain and threat to health and well-being. Of course, that is relative and some will suggest that it's no different to the comparison between a couch potato and someone running parkrun on Saturday.

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Tatsuru
7/5/2018 02:19:41 pm

Completely agree.
I enjoy up to 100km (or 70km + 3,000m), beyond that pain factor exponentially increases. I also think running over 12 hours (10h if I can) is unhealthy. So 100miles would never be mine.
Don't need to limit yourself? But my challenge is not longer & longer distance, but longer running life. I want to keep on ruining ultras in my 70s, rather than one 200miles and burnt out.

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James Kuegler link
10/5/2018 12:27:58 pm

Tatsuru, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. Developing life long running habits so that folk like yourself can continue running late into life is certainly much higher on my agenda than pushing the body to extremes and having folk burn out early in life.

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Phil
8/5/2018 06:28:26 am

Good on you for writing this controversial post James - I really enjoyed it. Obviously you will have people who do and don’t agree on both sides but it is great to have a robust discussion sometimes - keep up the good work!

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James Kuegler link
10/5/2018 12:29:52 pm

Phil, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I am glad you enjoyed the article. You are right some will agree, and some will disagree.

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Miles
8/5/2018 06:58:48 am

Agree. A great article, you are right about world class athletes should only apply, otherwise why would you put yourself through this?

There seems to be a big and ongoing movement to go longer and longer,

I guess the temptation for someone to post Revenant, as a participant, next to their name might be too great!

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James Kuegler link
10/5/2018 12:31:45 pm

Miles, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. Do you think people gain the bragging rights / notoriety / ? they desire from being able to tell their mates that they are going to do the Revenant regardless of whether they finish or not?

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Geoff Barnes
8/5/2018 07:07:41 am

I think it is a case of people having the opportunity to push their limits. The information is there and it is an informed choice.
Think of 15 years ago, you could be talking back then about a 160km being too far now look at the current situation!!
Not saying it is healthy however is a 100km race healthy for you?

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James Kuegler link
10/5/2018 01:28:32 pm

Geoff, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. You're right, all of the information is there for folk to make an informed choice. As far as the question of what is and isn't healthy, obviously it isn't black and white.

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Mark
8/5/2018 09:12:59 am

Agree 100% too. But personally i do not know how someone could ENJOY anything more than 50km 😂

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James Kuegler link
10/5/2018 01:45:32 pm

Mark, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. One of the questions I will often ask an athlete is at what point something ceases to be fun. Not that everything needs to be rainbows and unicorns, though ideally, at least in my opinion they should enjoy most of it, and even more so the process to get there.

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Billie
8/5/2018 03:06:40 pm

Totally agree that there's an obsession with big, harder, longer Ultra's out there. Personally I love longer distances, have done a few 100k Ultra's BUT totally agree that people should do whatever distance they choose and do it well. Be well prepared, do their best possible time AND enjoy the experience PLUS not feel they have to do something epic. NZ TrailRunner mag also made the same point a year or more ago. Good on you James

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James Kuegler link
10/5/2018 01:41:02 pm

Billie, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I agree with your comments especially that folk should be prepared, and enjoy the experience (and the process). Perhaps we could rephrase the last bit slightly to say that they should be able to feel epic about their achievement without the need for that to be tied into it being the longest, hardest, gnarliest thing they can suffer their way through.

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Dion
8/5/2018 04:10:22 pm

Lots of good food for thought, and a nice analysis of the challenges faced with the event. I think you're right, on and for most of the trail community (99%+) the opportunity of completing the Revenant is as close to zero as it can be while while not being zero.

Where I disagree is your meta-narrative that longer and longer is becoming more popular. Sure Ferraris are a popular car, but we all drive a Mazda/Toyota/Hyundai (or whatever). Just because a Ferrari is popular and appears on a teenagers wall, that doesn't mean that the market for supercars is going up! But what teenage boy doesn't want a Ferrari on their wall! And what trail runner doesn't enjoy watching the Barkley on Netflix, or the Revenant trailers. Our brains love fantasy. Event directors like Shaun Collins (NZ Trailer Runner Magazine) would tell you that there is growth in the short distance segment, and that the long distance has plateaued and is shrinking. There will always be a world-wide market for boutique super cars, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the segment is actually changing my choice, over whether I buy a Mazda/Toyota/Hyundai. I’ll continue to fantasise over the Redbull Defiance, or Revenant, or Coast to Coast, and actually run the “Rotorua we run the forest.” Fantasy is a part of life.

Thanks for the brilliant article and making me pause and think. It’s brought me back to real life, and with some concrete facts, puts the 20k runs firmly in my sight. Cheers.

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James Kuegler link
10/5/2018 01:52:00 pm

Dion, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I understand where you are coming from with respect to fantasy.

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Gary Moller link
10/1/2019 06:49:07 pm

Well said, James. I'd like to add my 10 cents worth, if you do not mind, as an older athlete who is still going strong and who makes his living assisting mostly burned out athletes.

Whenever one is exercising to their limits it is a good idea to be constantly trying to figure out at which point is the wear exceeding the body's ability to repair. If the decision is made to go past that point, is it really worth it over the long run of ones life?

I have a rule of thumb that pain that is deep within a joint may be due to damage to the joint structures and reason for absolutely ceasing the offending activity on the spot. Joint wear and tear is mostly irreversible and may lead to joint arthritis and the need for joint replacements later in life. Pain to tendons and muscles is generally less of an issue with regards to longevity as an active person.

I do like to ask athletes how long they want to be active in life because what they are doing right now has an impact on their health, including mobility many years later. If an athlete wears out her cartilages or blows his adrenals by age 40, will they be active participants with their grandchildren in their 60's or 70's?

It is also worth considering that endurance can be improved quickly, whereas bone, cartilage, tendons and ligaments take many years to fully adapt to the stresses and strains of activities like long distance running.

So, I think it boil down to taking a very long-term approach to these kinds endurance events, starting with a gradual buildup that is over years rather than months, concentrating on perfecting condition and form while participating in events that are more of the exhilarating than exhausting kind.

I hope this adds a little to the interesting discussion here.

Keep up the great work, James!

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James Kuegler link
13/1/2019 08:59:23 am

Thank you for sharing your thoughts Gary. I agree with you that ultimately athletes need to take a very long-term approach to these kinds endurance events.

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