I’ve always been interested in who signs up to run an ultra. Below are some stats that I pulled from Ultrasignup. While it’s not completely comprehensive (US and trail/ultra centric), I think it’s pretty representative of most runner’s background. This is a fairly normal distribution from what I normally see. The M40-49 age group has…
How To Plan Out a Hundred Miler
I typically go through a similar process heading into each of my hundred mile races. I’m a spreadsheet guy so this is tracked in an excel file. The benefit of planning out my races in spreadsheets is that I can just copy/paste my last race’s plan and tweak as necessary. Aid Stations For me, everything…
Lifetime Mileage Guidelines For Aspiring Ultrarunners
I feel like the ultra community doesn’t do a very good job of communicating what it takes to run ultras. I see people ask if they’re good to go for the race they’ve signed up for and the typical response is either “yes”, “maybe”, or “stop reading Goggins”. The general theme is if in doubt,…
The Sixty Mile Week
I’m in rarified air this week. I added some miles to my schedule and am now planning on hitting 65 miles over six days. How rare is this? Here’s a list of all my 60 mile weeks since I started running. So basically I average not quite 2 sixty mile training weeks a year. A…
Why Bad Runs Are Good
I have a theory. After years of trial and mostly error, I’ve come to the belief that bad runs are good for you. It’s not that good runs are bad, it’s just that you don’t get much training stimulus from them. A workout is supposed to stress your body and if you feel great after…
The Mid-Week 11 Miler
Math sucks. As you increase your weekly mileage, you eventually reach a point where your mid-week run crosses the double digit barrier. There are lots of ways to add miles (extra long long runs, doubles, no off days), however these tricks will only get you so far. Once you’ve hidden miles in all the nooks…
Chasing 10K by UTMB
I am excited to announce that I have partnered with the amazing UTMB race organization to bring you a one-of-a-kind blog experience. Not only will you get my standard race reports and periodic musings on my ultrarunning, but I’ll now be writing about all the incredible UTMB races. I’ll help peel back the curtain to…
Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Program
I tried a thing last year where I would publish a blog post every week. I actually started in December 2021 and was able to keep it going into September only missing a week or two along the way. I then entered a little funk with my running after Grindstone and my failed attempt at…
Too Old for PRs?
If you run for a long enough period of time, you will eventually reach an age where you stop getting faster. That age is probably different for everyone though. I’m too lazy to look it up, but I remember reading a while back that runners typically start slowing down after about 8 years of consistent…
Fifty Ultras
Glancing over my training log, I noticed that DUC was my 50th official ultra finish. Well, technically the 49th, but I’m counting my DNF at Capital Backyard as a finish and if you’d like to argue, I’d be happy to take it up with you in the comments below. Those of you familiar with this…