Since I’m done racing for the year, I thought I would go back and add up all the miles I raced this year. Considering the number of ultra I do each year (seven) and the number of those that are hundreds (three), the mileage adds up pretty quick. My 465 miles will end up being about 20% of my total mileage for the year.
As you can see above, I’ve been fairly consistent in the 400-500 mile range since 2016 when I started doing three hundreds per year. That’ll change next year when I double up at Olde 96er by doing the 200 mile race and then go over 100k at Laurel Highlands Ultra in June.
I know these numbers are pretty high for most people, but I’ve gotten used to the load and this doesn’t feel like too much. I use the shorter ultras (50K-50M) as supported training runs and usually only have to take a half week or so off from training. Hundreds definitely take more time for me to recover from, which is why I like to have a couple months between them at a minimum. It was a short 6 weeks between my last two this year and while I was able to handle it, I took a month mostly off afterwards to make sure I fully recovered.
Taking another look at that chart, I notice I’ve never done a race in December. This is typically my offseason and there usually aren’t too many races during the month. While my race calendar is already full for next year, maybe I can squeeze Naked Nick 50K in.