Becoming Ultra

How fast should you actually be moving at mile 20, 50 or 80 of an ultra? Danny Murphy is an ultrarunner, engineer and the founder of UltraPacer, a race-planning tool designed to account for the things that make trail racing complicated including elevation, terrain, altitude, heat, fatigue and even darkness. Scott and Danny talk about how UltraPacer started as a spreadsheet Danny built while preparing for his first 100K, why evenly pacing an ultramarathon usually isn't realistic, and how runners can use pacing data without becoming completely tied to a spreadsheet on race day. They also dig into race-day strategy, setting realistic goals, using training runs to test a race plan, and why a good pacing plan may be just as useful for your crew as it is for you. Chapters 00:00 – Meet Danny Murphy and the story behind UltraPacer 02:00 – Modeling elevation, terrain, heat, altitude and fatigue 05:00 – How the pacing models were built 07:45 – Why ultrarunners slow down 09:30 – Elite pacing vs. everyday runners 10:20