The Morton
Comeback
The only words necessary to describe the 1997 race are "Mike
Morton." A U.S. Navy diver from Maryland, Mike had a difficult
time in the 1996 race, withdrawing after 86 miles. Certainly no
stranger to ultramarathoning with victories at the Old Dominion
100 and the Vermont 100, Mike returned to Western States with
just one thought in mind: make up for 1996.
It has been repeated a thousand times over that no runner can
win Western States without having the advantage of training on
the Western States Trail. Most experienced runners will contend
that knowledge of the trail is worth at least two hours off the
total time. Further proof of this is that in the first 23 years
of the race, there had never been a men's winner who didn't live
in California. And furthermore, every winner since 1987 had lived
in Northern California. Well, Mike Morton apparently wasn't privy
to the prevailing knowledge.
Fortunately for everyone involved, weather conditions on raceday
were the finest in the history of the race. Temperatures never
topped 80 degrees, and the night was very cool, although by the
time Morton arrived in Auburn, the sun hadn't even had a chance
to go down.
Mike took the lead at 17 miles, and when he arrived at Robinson
Flat (30.2 miles), everyone felt he would "lose it in the
canyons." All he lost when he hit the canyons were the runners
who were pursuing him. At Foresthill (62 miles) people said, "he'll
crash and burn on California Street Trail." The only things
Mike burned were the rocks as he blazed over them. At the river
crossing (78 miles), the sentiment was "he'll never finish
at that pace!"
Not only did Mike finish at that pace, but he also became the
first non-Californian to win the race, defeating Tim Twietmeyer
(who finished second) by an hour and 33 minutes. To those who
thought he'd crash and burn, instead Mike burned Tom Johnson's
course record by 14 minutes. Skeptics felt that if an "outsider"
won, he wouldn't be accepted by the "Western States family."
I've been involved in 15 Western States awards ceremonies, and
Mike Morton received the loudest and longest standing ovation
I've ever witnessed.
He still holds the
age group 18-29 record to this day with a time of 15:40:41 ....
and we were running right there beside him this weekend:)
TRAINING WISDOM
FROM AN ULTRAMARATHONING LEGEND
Ray Krolewicz has run
over 400 ultramarathons, winning over 80 of them. He's a former
American record holder for the most miles in 48 hours (216 miles,
since broken by others), and has run a number of 50 mile and 100K
events at a sub 6:50 (sub 3 hour marathon) pace, but has never
ran a sub 2:30 marathon. During the decade of the 1980's, he ran
at least one ultra marathon every month of the decade. On the
Sunday after the 2005 Boston Marathon, I had the privilege of
running a slow 20 miler on the Illinois Prairie Path with the
talkative "Ray K", as he shared a lot things with me.
This was shortly after his 50th birthday.
The basic training
approach is 1) a lot of slow runs -- very slow -- 9-10 min./mile
pace, where endurance is built. the body is taught to burn fat,
and recovery is obtained at the same time, 2) a fair amount of
somewhat hard 800M repeats during the training peak, and 3) frequent
racing -- including short events and ultra events. Basically 80%
of the miles are "slow fat burn runs", and 20% are "faster
variable paced running".
After a slow long run,
doesn't eat for 1-2 hours, so fat burn will continue (I did this
with him on a slow 20 miler 6 days after Boston, and the pace
was so easy, that it was all OK -- taking over 3 hours, and not
eating before, during or after -- was a pleasant recovery run).
While Ray K reports to drinking huge quantities of sports drink
when racing, he never took a drink of anything (not even water)
during this 20 mile run.
Long runs (other than
races) need be no longer than 22 miles, but should always take
over 3 hours to complete. Has been known (in his younger days)
to do more than one a day on each day of a weekend. He has some
interesting post long run (light) exercises (for "alignment").
Most people train too
hard year around (not too many miles, but too fast a pace), and
then not hard/fast enough when it counts (i. e., speed work during
the peak phases before a goal race). Doing daily and long runs
too fast prevent frequent racing, and then brings less than optimal
results on the infrequent races.
Lots of runs, lots
of miles. Talks of months with "87 runs" (3 runs a day,
with one day off) before a major ultra event.
Recovery comes from
running slow, not from cutting miles or taking days off. If you
never stop moving, there's nothing to recovery from.
Most folks eat too
much salt when not running, and salt supplements during an event
are rarely needed (maybe at Badwater ....). Too much salt causes
the body to dump the salt, and one looses a lot of fluids in the
process.
Drinks a lot of sports
drink during races, but unless over 100 miles, little else. Drinking
only water can lead to too little salt, but shouldn't be the case
with sports drinks unless very hot conditions (well over 80 F).
Doesn't eat solid food morning before long run or races (if you
do, then must drink a LOT of water).
If you can't run, then
walk. Walk until you can jog. Jog until you can run slow. Run
slow until you can run faster. Just keep moving.
However, not much for
walking during a race, unless forced to -- even a shuffle is more
efficient. Just run slower until you're able to run faster again.
He often starts ultra
events with loose shoes, and then tightens them up as his feet
enlarge.
Utilizes a lowered
hand 11-12 minute shuffle pace for ~1/2 mile to recover from a
bad spot, and then takes off again.
Not much for tapering
-- had me taper for 10-11 days, because he thought I wanted to.
For himself, more like 0-7 days. Has often done back-to-back ultra
events. Not much for idle recovery, either.
After the carbo load
meal, drinks a lot of liquid calories (300) the night before a
race or long run.
