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How to Run a 100-Miler -- for Dummies

How to Run a 100-Miler – for Dummies[1]


(like anyone else would try to run a 100-miler)


Leading up to my first 100-miler, I had a number of people[2] say to me “I’d like to run a 100-miler too but I don’t know how to go about it. What should I do?”

Well, now that I've successfully DNF'd / completed my first 100-miler, I thought I’d pass along some tips on how not to/to prepare for and complete a 100 mile race yourself.

Note: Although the tips below are targeted primarily towards 100 mile races, I’m sure those contemplating a 50-miler will find most of them useful also. Simply replace words like “this is going to be extremely tough” and “this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done” with words like “50-milers are for girls. Why bother?”

Before the Race

Physical Preparation

You’re going to be hard-pressed to find an article on ultra-running, whatever the length, that doesn’t stress the importance of training. After all, how can you expect to run 100 miles without getting your body used to the idea beforehand? This all makes perfect sense. And all of that training takes a lot of time.

The thing is, do you really have that much time to spare? I know I don’t. Heck. The 100-miler itself is going to take at least 6 hours out of, typically, a summer weekend. And that doesn’t even include travel time!

I find a better approach is to do the minimal amount of training possible. The fact is it’s going to hurt no matter how much training you do. Why take away all of that valuable socializing time with training runs?

Tapering

How much should you taper before the “big event”? One week? Two weeks? Three? This may seem like a hard call but it’s really very easy to figure out once you realize there’s one important aspect that all tapering programs share … In order to taper, you have to have something to taper from! If you have nothing to taper from, you can’t taper. Simple!

 

Mental Preparation

Forget it! If you mentally prepared yourself for a 100-miler, you wouldn’t be running it now would you? Duh!

Seriously, though, I found the best thing here is to create confusion. Waver for several weeks leading up to the event on dropping back to a 50-miler. I believe the phrase I told myself was “90% sure I’ll be doing the 50-miler, not the 100”. Then, at the last minute, switch back to the 100-miler. This confuses your mind so that it really has no idea what you’re doing. You’ll probably get to the 60 or 70 mile mark before your brain realizes what you’re doing. That leaves only 30 or 40 miles of hell rather than the full 100.

During the Race

Crew

Crew is extremely important in order to successfully complete a 100 mile run. There are two basic approaches here:

  1. Provide your own crew.
  2. Sponge off of somebody else’s.

I prefer the second approach as it requires much less planning. Try to look particularly pathetic to get the attention you deserve. This approach is most effective if you make sure you reach the crew slightly ahead of the runner they’re supposed to be crewing for. That way, when that runner arrives, the crew is already pre-occupied with you. This adds a competitive advantage also. I used this approach with Maureen Wiens (Tim’s wife) and it worked great.

If you decide to provide your own crew, just make sure that at least one of your crew members is named Cheryl (last name can be either Johnson or Picot – both seem to work very effectively).

Sleeping

What about sleep? How can you run for 24 hours or more without sleep? Well, as it turns out, in my case, at least, you can’t. When you’re tired enough, you’ll sleep. Never mind that fact that you’re still running while that’s happening. The trick is to make sure you still make the correct turns while you’re sleeping. It’s really quite cool to wake up and realize you’re still running, haven’t walked off a cliff, and are still on course.

Break up the Run

You may find it too overwhelming to think of all 100 miles of the race as a single entity. It’s often much easier on the psyche to break the race up into several smaller, more-manageable segments. Try breaking the race into quarters, for example. Aid station to aid station is another approach often employed. Here’s what worked for me:

1.      First 25 miles

2.      Halfway point

3.      Next major aid station

4.      Next aid station of any type

5.      Just get over this frick’n hill

6.      Just make it to that next rock … No wait! That’s a bear! Ahh! … Oh! It is a rock. Like I care at this point.

7.      Just let me survive to the finish and I’ll promise never, ever, to do this again.[3]

Incentives

Finally, there will almost undoubtedly be times during your run that you’re ready to give up and call it a day. For times such as those, make sure you have something waiting for you at the finish line to keep you going. Some alternatives:

·         Have someone waiting for you who you really want to see and who will give you a big hug even though you reek and are probably covered in mud and blood. Someone who is wavering on whether or not to show up if you’re “only” going to do the 50-miler and who is probably the only reason you’re doing the full 100 but you’re not bitter about it works great.

·         A cold beer

·         A pillow

Alternatives? Yeah right. All of the above.

Conclusion

Well, I think that pretty much covers it. Not really much to it is there? Given that, I expect to see a lot more of you out there next year.

Bill Dagg, PRR[4], CFA[5], DA[6]



[1] It is remotely possible that some of this was written before actually participating in a 100-miler -- remotely possible.

[2] Zero is a number, right?

[3] Or, at least, until memory of this discomfort has faded into the past – give it 48 hours or so.

[4] Pacific Road Runners

[5] Club Fat Ass

[6] Dumb Ass

Comments

Craig Moore's picture

gee Bill ...

you seemed all happy and chipper and well rested by the time we saw you at STORMY (at the finish line in the afternoon). I say, "if it works, do it" ... like lots of rest and not thinking too hard before the event.

FYI, I've posted a whole bunch of STORMY pictures at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigmoore/tags/stormytrailrace2007/

Congrats to you and all the finishers, 50 and 100 milers.

Craig
Ean Jackson's picture

Studley!

Hey Bill,

I barely had the chance to congratulate you after STORMY.  You see, if you only run 50-miles, you get to clean up the venue afterwards then go camping with the RD and analyze the event for 4 days while drinking Guinness and swatting mosquitos!

Your thoughts are so relevant and inspirational.  I felt like such a wuss running only 1/2 way... and I swear that I could not imagine doing a second loop on Sunday or Monday (one and two days after the race), but by Wednesday the thought of doing the full-meal deal started to appeal to me once again.

Should we schedule a Western States draw day party now? 

 

 

Training

Yes I to believe in the train just enough approach it's just a lot simpler. Oh and We did see the real bears out there. Tim wanted them to eat him so that he could find a way out of the race. No chance there I just kept dragging him down the road. To his credit even with nothing in him and feeling dead He was still speed walking and He probably could have finish the race walking if he could have kept something down. 

Yes I think it was the incentives ; )

Well you pulled it out.  Tim was telling me that you were wussing out the week before the race.  I was glad to hear that you regained some manhood and stood up to the plate.  Tim had also mentioned that you had already writen your blog before the run and I joked with him along the trail that you might have to rewrite some of it by the finish. especially when Maureen told us a Perth aid station that you had stomach problems. but you pulled though so I have to give you credit.  Next time you're not aloud to drag Tim to his death or I guess that's what I was left to do.  I tried everything on him but his body had other plans.  He sure didn't give up though. he never seemed tired and when I would ask him if he was he would reply " I'm in to much pain to be tired" but you would have never guessed it talking to him. I hope you don't get to attached to your sub 24 hour run because the next time you'll have to step up to a real 100. But I still can't say that I've beeten the 24 hour mark so congratulations again and welcome to the club.    

You are amazing!!

I can absolutely verify that you were sleeping when you came into University Aid station for the last time.  There was some serious lag time between asking a question and getting a response!  It was ask the question, wait..... say Bill?.....Bill?.... a number of times, repeat the question and finally get a mumbled answer.  But there was NO WAY you were going to sit in a chair. 

Congratulations on a great run.  You and Rick were both alone for much of the night and there are a lot of noises in those bushes.  Maybe being asleep was the way to go.

Cheryl

ps I was surprised to hear from Al Harmon that he has also fallen asleep while running.  Wonder if its a common thing for ultra runners or maybe just DA's?
Bill Dagg's picture

The latter, I suspect

Probably just happens to DA's.

Thanks for the awesome job out there (as always).

Baldwin Lee's picture

Why didnt you write this before Tahoe Rim??????

Well, obviously Stormy was three weeks after Tahoe, but I could've used your wisdom, Bill!

I'm still in disbelief that I finished Tahoe and I have the blisters and buckle to prove it!

That said: Here are the methods of my madness on how to finish a 100 miler.

(Note: these methods will only work if you happened to be named Baldwin Lee and you were running Tahoe Rim 100 mile on July 21-22, 2007)

1) Develop a crippling disease prior to training. In the middle of January, I contracted shingles, a brutally painful, adult version of the chicken pox on the left side of my chest, back and arm. Imagine being stabbed with an icepick at a rate of a 100 times in a minute. There is no pain medication that you can take as it is essentially nerve damage and there is no cure. Bright side? Pain management - having gone through the worst of it for a month and a half, a calf cramp really doesn't seem that bad.

2) Training. Or lack thereof. I was bedridden until March before I could start running again. By this point, my muscles had atrophied and my fitness was pre-50k levels. I couldn't overdo it because I would've been injured from overtraining. I only ran one 50 miler and that was Elk Beaver in May. I averaged less than 50 miles per week and just concentrated on time on my feet. Ironically the lack of training probably saved me as those who put in too many miles dropped out.

3) Weight problems. For my first 50 miler I was at  165 lbs. For Tahoe Rim I was 191. Part of it I knew was an aggressive weight training program, but I had gained a lot of weight due to no activity for two months. But it didn't really play too big of a factor as my weight during the race was within a pound of my starting weight. I guess overeating in training translates to eating on race day. 

4) Altitude and Heat. Well, I can count all the times (3) I was above 4000 ft on one hand and coincidentally they were all at the same place: Black Mountain. Heat training was a lot easier, two fleeces, dark toque, glove, pants were what I was wearing on my runs back from work (about 21k) during some hot stretches in May and June. Fully dressed in the sauna in my condo helped somewhat, although I do have this matter to be addressed at the next Strata council meeting.

5) Almost no night running. I ran for 1 hour in the darkness prior to Tahoe Rim. That's it. I ended up paying for it as I was sleepstumbling for nine miles. If it weren't for the cutoffs I would've pitched a tent at the 50 mile mark and slept for six hours and then started the run again!

6) No crew.  I have enough voices in my head as it is telling me what to do.

7) Pacing. When I hit the 20 mile mark I was at 5:23. So I was running a 25 hour pace. But I knew I wouldn't be able to sustain that pace and was only ensuring that my continued pace would probably cause massive organ failure. I had to back off, fortunately Mile 21 started with a hill.

8) Mental focus. Knowing you have over twenty hours to finish miles 51-100 is a great comfort. Actually needing over twenty hours to finish is downright depressing. Having told everyone that I was running a 100 mile race kept me from dropping out as I didn't want to let anyone, especially myself, down.

9) Run KneeKnacker the week before your 100 miler. If you can't get into Kneeknacker due to the lottery, run a very technical 50K race or training run and try to aim for 9-10 hours. Sure, you're going to be in a lot of pain and all your friends will be shaking their heads at you, but being an ultrarunner you should be used to the suffering and the blank looks on the faces of your friends as you describe what you did on the weekend.

10) And finally, do not take any pain medication during training. Race day, feel free to take as many as you want. You're running 100 miles, you've earned it.  Judging by my Advil bottle I took 22 liquid-gels over a 34 hour period and aside from a quick visit to a Carson City walk-in clinic, suffered no permanent effects.  



Step #7

I feel you there.  when I started burning my hours away at Hardrock.  I knew I had a lot of time before the cut offs but boy when you have to use all that time to get in it's a killer.  way to hang in there.

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