After taking a couple weeks to recover from CCC, I started running a lot of miles again.  This of course spurred many questions about what am I training for now?!?! Didn’t you just run a big race in Europe??  And while that is true, it was not the end of my racing for 2019. I have one more big goal to tackle for the year, get my 5th 100 mile finish.  So when I tell people that I am running Rio Del Lago 100 miler, that then brings all the questions about how do you even train for that??  It’s true training for a 100 mile race is not a small task but I feel it can be simplified into a few key elements. I am not an expert but here’s my thoughts based on my 100 mile training cycles. 

Most people probably assume that running a ton of miles is the most important key to a successful 100 however as someone who now has a few under her belt, I would say being mentally tough is far more important.  Until you have actually experienced these types of distances and reached 20-30 hours of running time, you can only imagine what you will feel like which honestly doesn’t even come close to the actual truth. Yes you need physical strength to keep pushing through those late, exhausted, painful miles but it’s all too easy to let your mind convince you that you can’t.  You need to be able to keep pushing yourself when all you want to do is curl up in a ball on the side of the trail. So when people ask why I train in all kinds of conditions when I could have just ran on my treadmill or picked a different, place, day or time to run, that’s why. It’s not because I feel like I have something to prove or that I will be shamed on my social media for using my dreadmill, it’s because I want to challenge myself to do the tough things especially when I don’t want to do them.  For example, I went on a long training run with my friend who is also running Rio Del Lago. About 2-3 miles in, we encountered snowy, icy, slippery trails. We were definitely unprepared for these conditions however instead of giving up and turning around, we stuck it out. Not all of it was like that but the parts that were, were seriously annoying. We were forced to creep along super slow, still slipping constantly. I, myself, got super frustrated a few times, but I kept going and we finished that run, slower than we wanted but we did it, building our mental strength for the race.  So when I can’t move faster than a crawl at mile 75 in the pitch dark middle of the night with my legs screaming at me, I will have the ability to override the voices yelling at me inside my head to stop and instead make it to that finish line. To me this far outweighs just piles of miles during a training cycle.  

That said, I cannot discount the importance of long runs or as us ultra runners like to say “time on feet.”  This usually consists of a training block that has lots of long runs including some back to back long runs on the weekends to get those legs really tired and then run even more miles on those tired legs.  Every single time I get to about 3-4 weeks before the race, I have such a hard time getting myself out the door mainly because I’m just exhausted and I know my legs are going to hurt. But as coach Caleb says that just means we are doing it right.  In order to prepare your legs to get through 100 miles, you need to basically exhaust them during training.   

And running all the miles leads to the next key to being successful at 100 milers and that is eating all the foods.  Well not really eating all the foods but definitely eating well. For me, it can be a HUGE struggle. When I am hungry, I am hungry and I want food ASAP.  And we all know that leads to not making great food choices. Add to that running 60 miles for 10-12 hours a week and I am STARVING, like ALL THE TIME. I have been working really hard the past year on cleaning up my eating.  I can feel the difference when I eat “well” vs not so well which helps me to want to stay on track. I also can feel the difference when I don’t eat enough to support my body on these runs. Both quality and quantity are equally important.  

The final key to training for 100 miles is to enjoy the process.  Just like within the 100 mile race itself, the training cycle is going to be full of ups and downs, physically, mentally and emotionally.  Don’t let the downs get to you. Soak it all in, learn from it, have fun. And then go out there and crush it!