Guide to Ultrarunning
Edited by: Don Allison
“Ultrarunning: An extravagant form of exercise, in which the athlete
runs, or from time to time, walks beyond the distance of 26.2 miles.
Races of ultra distance are distinguished by slowness of foot,
extreme garrulity and gorging on so-called “food”
they yell at their children for eating.“
— Albert J. Toth (Ultrarunning Terms and Names)
A Step Beyond: A Definitive Guide to Ultrarunning is my running bible! In this voluminous tome, Don Allison, former publisher and editor of UltraRunning Magazine, compiles an assortment of articles, testimonials, biographies and other topics related to this great sport. The guide provides a comprehensive assortment of information for everyone who wants to learn about ultrarunning, train for their first ultra, or simply improve their results.
The articles are written by some of the most well-known authorities and participants in the world of ultrarunning, including a foreword by Bernd Heinrich. Author, professor and holder of several American ultra records, Heinrich has PR’s of 5:10:13 for 50-miles and 12:27:07 for 100-miles. Other contributors include World Record holders, Western States champions, as well as back-of-the-pack runners and newcomers to ultra marathoning. Runners of all levels and distances could benefit from the information presented in this book, specifically the first couple of chapters. Training and Racing Advice – How Do You Do It offers tips on everything from hill training, run-walk strategies, altitude training, night-running, cross-training and tapering, to crewing, pacing or even race directing. Physiology – The Ultrarunner’s Body gets into the specifics on subjects such as hydrating, injury prevention, and nutrition.
The middle chapters include my favorite segments of this book, and ones I refer to regularly. Here we find information on the history of ultrarunning, dating back to Greek legends. An interesting timeline in A Step Beyond suggests that the first person to run 100-miles in under 24 hours dates back to 1762.
A chapter on Races & Places highlights and describes some of the classic ultra races around the World including the 246-kilometer Spartathlon in Greece, the Comrades Marathon (actually 90 km) in South Africa, Death Valley’s 135-mile Badwater and The Marathon Des Sables, a six-day stage race in which runners cross the Sahara desert in Morocco, carry their own food, drink and gear, as well as sleep in Berber tents with several other runners. You will certainly find some (or all) of these races on the “to do” lists of many ultrarunners.
In this part of the book we also find a study on some of North America’s 100-mile races. Many new 100-milers have appeared since this book was published in 2003. North America now counts over 50 different 100-mile events. Nonetheless, this chapter rates the difficulty of certain long-standing 100-milers. Below is my favorite picture from A Step Beyond. This diagram shows the elevation profiles of a handful of these races. Note how these compare to the Boston Marathon and its famed Heartbreak Hill.
Following this section, Don Allison provides the reader with biographies and interviews with some of the most famous ultrarunners. Some of the sport’s most revered athletes are profiled including: Yiannis Kouros holder of over 70 world records, Ann Trason winner of 14 Western States, the late-great Ted Corbitt and the fascinating stories of the Tarahumara Running Tribe. Although we also find a short section on the younger generation of ultrarunners, once again, as this sport has evolved significantly in recent years, many new faces have appeared on the scene, and an updated version of this guide would certainly be interesting. Perhaps Don Allison has been working on this since retiring from his duties at UltraRunning Magazine!
Finally, the chapter on ultra humour is, in fact, quite entertaining. Many perceive ultrarunners as being a bit off-center, so these jokes and anecdotes are appropriate to say the least. What’s so funny about ultrarunning? Check out a local ultra event either as a participant, spectator or volunteer. Listen to some stories or simply people watch. You will certainly encounter quite a Motley crew of athletes within the ultrarunning community.
