
One step beyond: the ascent of mountain runner Kílian Jornet - mitchbob
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/sep/06/one-step-beyond-the-ascent-of-mountain-runner-kilian-jornet
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curiousDog
For a lay person, could someone please explain how the kind of endurance runs
he does are fundamentally different from the paved-road marathons Kipchoge
wins? If anything, he has an edge and should be able to master the paved ones
too due to being able to run in lower oxygen environments isn’t it

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avs733
He ran the Pikes Peak marathon in 3:27min. The Pikes Peak Marathon course
starts here at 6,300 feet, before climbing more than 7,700 feet to Pikes
Peak’s summit at 14,115 feet. It then returns to the start. It is on trails
(not great ones). It has switchbacks. Kipchoge's course had a total of 18m of
elevation gain, and a net of around 5m...it was on roads with corners designed
to not slow him down. Kilian's runs aren't just about speed or optimization
they are also about significant skill. It's the tortoise and the hare...I
don't know Kilian's outright best road marathon time, but I'll bet it would be
extremely competitive but not world class. Eliad would win a road 50k (31mi)
I'd bet, but I would put my money on Kilian for a head to head trail marathon
or a moutnain race, or a 50miler.

As a point of comparison Jim Walmsley holds the outright record at the Western
States 100, his pace was 8:30min/mi. He also holds the 50 mile world record at
4:50:08 (5:48min/mile). He ran the US olympic marathon trials this year...he
finished 22nd with a 2:15:05 (5:10min/mi pace).

Funny enough, 2:15 seems to be a common marathon time for elite ultra and
mountain runners [0]. Those last 15mins are HARD, the last 3min are beyond my
comprehension as a person who prefers ultras and mountain races over the road
marathon scene. But so is a marathon at altitude with 7,700 ft of climbing. So
is a 50 miler at nearly marathon pace. Give them a road marathon, Eliad will
crush the other two. A mountain course with tons of climbing and scrambles and
choss, I'll pick Kilian. A reasonable but very long course (>50k), I'm going
to pick Jim. They are just hard in very different ways. It's like comparing a
rally car to formula one car to a le mans car...different optimizations.

[0] [https://www.fastrunning.com/training/marathon-
training/kilia...](https://www.fastrunning.com/training/marathon-
training/kilian-jornet-run-210-marathon/10982)

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buzzdenver
Kilian was supposed to run his first road marathon in Valencia IIRC, not sure
if it's canceled, but he's been doing a lot of track work. And last year he
took like 5 minutes off Wyatt's Sierre Zinal course record, so you never know
with Kilian.

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yodsanklai
I'm curious of the result. Jornet will do extremely well for sure, but
probably far from the best in the discipline. Kind of what happened in the
Mayweather/McGregor boxing match.

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thoughtstheseus
If you like this check out Mediocre Amateur on YouTube. Great Mountains

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mxvzr
In the same vein take a look at tvmountain, also on YouTube. Little to no
talking, almost never any music, just the sound of crampons & the ice axe. I
find it strangely relaxing.

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runnr_az
That guy beat me by 12 hours at Western States 100!

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buzzdenver
Humblebrag :) Good job, that means you were way under the cutoff.

