Karl hooks up with Robert Kunz of First Endurance to discuss the advantages of using OPTYGEN and ULTRAGEN in the world of Ultrarunning! Karl is attempting to break the current record for running the entire Appalachian Trail in less then 47 days 13 hours and 31 minutes! He will need all the help he can get, his body must hold together and receive the right nutrition to accomplish this tough goal!

Karl Meltzers interview with First Endurance

Iron is one of the most abundant minerals on earth and is essential to normal human physiology. About 2/3 of the body’s iron is found in hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to cells. An adequate supply of iron is necessary for the body to produce hemoglobin and red blood cells (RBC). If too little iron is available, fewer and/or smaller RBC’s are produced, leading to decreased oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. This is called iron deficiency anemia and can cause fatigue, poor work capacity, and decreased immunity. It is important to understand there are different levels of iron deficiency. The least severe is when someone has low iron stores (low serum ferritin levels), the next is depleted iron stores (using cut-off values), while the most severe category is iron deficiency anemia.

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Check this out, I paced John Maack at the 2007 Wasatch 100 and this guy really had his drop bags worked out! No they were not bags he used orange 5 gallon buckets with lids! Yea, buckets, what a great ideal! Here are the immediate advantages I noticed;

* Easy to spot your drop bag (bucket) at the aid stations, even if you are tired.
* The bucket seals up and this keeps your gear dry from the weather and your items will not get crushed like your gu packs or lights.
* This can also be a chair if all the seats are taken at the aid station.
* If you are passing a aid station more then once it is nice to have a bucket instead of a ripped up or wet drop bag!
* Easy to find your buckets at the finish line when you are hammered.
* I don’t think the race directors would like to see 300 orange buckets for a to be hauled around!

Wasatch Speed Goat - SM

The first ever Speed Goat of the Year has been chosen by the readers of Wasatchspeedgoat.com! Three Scrapes for Hal !

Hal wins the polls with 944 votes over runner up Nikki Kimball who posted 803. A total of 3,655 votes were cast, thanks for all!

Hal receiving his medal after dominating the 2007 Westerns States 100!

Hal will receive the goat skull award designed by Wynn Davis, trophy designer for the Speedgoat 50k. Hal will also receive a comp entry to the Speedgoat 50k at Snowbird Ski Resort on 7/26/08. Karl and I will present the award to Hal at the Coyote Two Moon in March!

Top 5 Speed Goats for 2007, way to go ladies!

1. Hal Koerner 944

2. Nikki Kimball 803

3. Krissy Moehl 613

4. Karl Meltzer 564

5. Kyle Skaggs 495

Wasatch Speed Goat - Scott

For those out there thinking about the UTMB…think no more. After finding out last year over 7000 runners applied to get into the ultimate 163k race, everyone applied at once. In the US the time was 1am MST to do it. The Europeans really love their Ultra runs! Cheers to the 2500 that got in!

What Americans will try to win this big race this year?

Generally regarded as the father of American ultrarunning, Corbitt died in Houston on December 11 from cancer.

Born in South Carolina in 1919, Corbitt was a quarter miler in college at the University of Cincinnati. He began running marathons in 1950 and competed in the marathon in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. He ran his first ultra, a 30-mile race, in 1958 and in 1960 was elected the first President of the Road Runners Club of America.

In 1966, RRCA established a national 50-mile championship and Corbitt finished second. He won the 1968 RRCA 50-mile championship in a time of 5:39:45. He continued his competitive career well into his 50s, setting an American record at 100 miles (13:33:06) at age 50 and running 134.7 miles in 24 hours at age 54.

Injuries and asthma removed him from the competitive scene for many years, but he continued to run well into his 80s, and completed 303 miles in the Sri Chinmoy 6-Day race at age 82. He worked as a physical therapist for more than 40 years, and could often be found quietly volunteering at races in the New York City area. Corbitt was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 1998.

A founding father of Ultrarunning.

It is time to get your application in for the Hardrock 100, this buy far is the toughest 100 in the world. With only allowing 150 runners in the race due to the National Forest Service rules this is one of the toughest races to get in to! If you are a lottery winner be sure you are ready to take on the toughest course you will ever due in the San Juan’s Mountains which starts and ends in Silverton, Colorado. There is just about 33,000 vertical climbing most above sea level, so hang on for the challenge of a life time because you have 48 hours to finish!

Beginning August 5th on the summit of Mt. Kathadin Karl will begin his quest to run to Georgia faster than anyone else has. Andrew Thompson currently holds the record of 47 days and change. A stiff record that will be tough to challenge. GPS tracking and daily updates will give the world a chance to watch a goat run through the woods…all day long! Any takers or supporters out there? I welcome any assistance, but will NOT be muled in any form. -Speedgoat Karl

Happy new year to all, it is time to run off all that holiday bulk! Here in Utah it is tough to get training in but thank goodness for all the ski resorts. We put on our headlamps and run up and down the ski resorts on the groomers. The only catch is you got to be able to out run a snow cat, these guys will through a spot light on you as you sprint away downhill! This type of training is great fro base work and low impact training. When spring arrives you hit the dirt running! Our first race for Karl Meltzer and I is the Red Hot 50k in Moab Utah! This is usually the toughest race of the year because I am not in race shape yet~

Wasatch Speed Goat

I smell winds of change as Montrail was gobbled up buy the large corp. Columbia Sportsware. Columbia has decided to discontinue the Montrail Ultrarunning Team which I have been on since the year 2000.
So what do you do? Go try the La Sportiva Fireblade , this is a very well made shoe. The Italian shoe company has the same thought process as the other Italian companies I have used like Scarpa ski Boots and of course Ferrari’s. The Fireblade is a sleek fast trail shoe with no ex-tra bulky material, the shoe fits real snug around the heel and arch area with plenty of room for a big toe box. The stiff heel really helps with pronation control and rolling your ankle. I was really concerned about the skinny heel cup but it really works well on preventing the ankle roll problem. I have been used to floaty boaty shoes that were bulky and loose fitting, now I have shoes that fit like it should, if you like the roads and dirt I highly recommend this Fireblade as it runs real well on all terrain!

Purchase: La Sportivas Fireblade right now for (MSRP: $71.96)