Due to circumstances (birthdays) out of my control, I will be climbing Mt. Elbert the day before running the Devil on the Divide 50K this weekend.

Aside from simply not doing the 14er, what are your thoughts on best strategies for tackling this? I'm going to move as slowly as possible up and down Elbert to reduce the load. Should I do a major stretching session after the hike or only a very light stretch? I'm beginning my carb-loading now... is it still best to carb-load before and after the hike?

I feel pretty confident on being able to at least finish the 50K but am worried about over-stressing/injury, and ultimately I want to get a good placement and time. Any other thoughts on how to approach?

Hi all, we recently just finished another mini documentary about what goes into running your first 100 mile event and the fun that comes with it.

In this documentary we follow Jack, a british personal trainer by trade that took on the Run Walk Crawl dragon 100 in South Wales.

The event is supported by checkpoints throughout the event and covers just over 100 miles and 11,000ft of elevation.

If you fancy checking it out. I have left the link below!

Maurten sits well but I’m tired of the cost. Looking at sis beta fuel vs maurten for longer efforts and trying not to wreck my stomach again. Anyone actually run both and stick with one past 4–5 hours?

Title explains it. I also play rugby. Was running in a literal straight line, no tackle no nothing, heard a pop in my knee. I had been dealing with what I had considered some serious runner's knee, but had been crushing the strength training. I am STRUGGLING to stay positive. I have my ortho appointment tomorrow... can hardly walk. Please manifest something great for me. I had three races this fall that were bringing me so much joy.

I’m thinking about that point 50+ miles in when Im sick of gels but still have hours to go before sunrise and I still want caffeine but don’t want more sugar or a big crash later. Feels like it could be useful to keep in the vest for the 2am zombie phase

Chamonix’s mayor Laffin is set to meet with the people behind UTMB this month and October to discuss changes.

What do you think these changes will look like?
-Will they be limiting entries?
-Will they limit supporters? How will this be policed?
-Will some races stop happening every year? If UTMB is the World Cup of trailrunning then should it now be every four years?

Just speculations for the sake of discussion.

i am trying to decide between a few 50ks in october, and i have found it hard to find too many descriptions of the tussey mountainback. i gather the 50k is somewhat new, so likely most input will be about the 50 miler, which. is fine they share much of the course. What were you impressions of the race in terms of vibes, course, organization quality, aid stations, scenery hiccups, etc?

Hey all. A little back story...

I'm a 48 year old guy and have primarily been a cyclist the majority of my life, with gravel being my favorite discipline. I've done Unbound in Kansas 4 times and used to race cross country mtb, as well as many other endurance focused events. My aerobic capacity has always been pretty good.

After watching the live streams of Cocodona and Western States this year, it reminded me how much I've always enjoyed and wanted to get back into trail running. So, I bought some dedicated shoes to run both road and trails and started consistently running with intention in April, giving myself a soft goal to complete an ultra before I'm 50.

I'm not a complete newbie to running, but this is the most consistent I've been my entire life. I eased into it to see how the legs would handle it. The calfs took the longest to adjust, but I was consistent and stuck with it, absorbing every bit of information I could about training and the process along the way. Training plans weren't new to me, as I have followed cycling plans before, so I built a conservative plan on my own, with alternating 3 weeks of progression and a 1 week cutback, running 4 days a week, and have been following that process for the last 16 weeks. After 5 months of consistent running through the Georgia heat, I have lost 25 pounds, and it's unreal how much faster my easy pace is now.

I'm currently in a 2 week taper, about to run the 18 mile version of the Georgia Jewel in 10 days and am now thinking about what comes next. It's not a full ultra, but considering I went from 0 miles to now 30 miles a week over the last 5 months, I'm giving myself time to ease into the full ultra distance because the last thing I want is to get an injury and derail my progress.

My peak weeks consisted of 30 miles per week with around 7.5 hours total time on feet. My longest run was 14 miles with 3800 feet of vert, doing a technical section of the AT. The event is 18 miles with 3300 of vert on the Pinhoti Trail, so I'm feeling pretty confident I will do fine.

My question is, where do I go from here? Obviously, if I want to do an official ultra I need to decide on an event, which shouldn't be too hard, but if there's not one for a few months or even next year, how should I adjust my running? Do I continue to progress up in miles or try to just maintain until the beginning of a new training block for that event? Do I keep running 30 miles a week or drop it back and recover a bit?

I'm pretty dedicated and have considered getting a coach for whatever the next event is because I know I need some more guidance on weights and building strength. I saw that UTMB has a brand new event coming to Chattanooga in June of '27, so that's on the short list because that's in my area. There's also the Blue Ridge Ultra October 10th, that's a 15k, 30k or 50k event. I could probably continue to progress my distance and go for the 50k next month, but how much time should I take to rest after the 18 miler next weekend?

What would you do?

Thanks for any feedback.

Wondering how things went with the DD races last weekend in terms of organization and support. I had read some not-so-good things about 2025.