Hood Hundred Training

I set out this year to conquer the 100 mile distance, and I’m very excited to make the attempt in 6 weeks, which seems absolutely insane to say!

Training has been going well. My coach Jesse has been working on a solid build for the race and I’ve got a great crew going with me. The hardest part to conceptualize and to train for living in such a flat place is the elevation. We’ve been spending a lot of time doing incline treadmill and stair-mill climbs as well.

I’ve been thinking a lot in the past few days about the build and I had it in my head that I wanted to get a few weeks in at 60 miles a week or more. I read a lot about ultra-running and listen to podcasts about training and methodologies etc.

It’s so easy with so much information for us to think about what we should be doing or what the ideal build would be. To compare ourselves to runners of different backgrounds, abilities and locations. Ironically it seems like every podcast I’ve listened to this week has addressed some of those same issues. One of the Boulder Boys made the point that the obsession with mileage and speed is a very American trait which I found interesting. My coach and I tend to approach things from time on feet, but in this build and in my last marathon build I had a lot of concern about mileage. Last week had a moment of realization that while I may not be getting the mileage a faster runner gets, I am still getting the same or sometimes more time on feet and under stress than other runners who clip of mileage faster than I do. So as we approach the final 6 weeks of training heading into my hundred, does the mileage make me nervous? Yep, it does, but I am also choosing to trust the process and trust that my coach is gonna get me there. There are a lot of factors at play, but one of the things I can control is the comparison game, and I can let go of the fear that I’m not working hard enough or getting enough mileage in.

It’s game time!