Nine years ago I began Lewis and Clarking my way through ultras. I had been running steadily for a couple years and spent a lot of time reading about the sport, but overall it was this large blank canvas. What to eat, how to pace, best way to prevent blisters, handling rain; I was faced…
Practicing Race Pace
One of the challenges of ultras, especially as you progress past the 50K distance, is that you never practice your race pace. Sure you’re running slow on your long run, but I guarantee that at whatever pace you’re doing that is going to be too fast for a 50 miler and waaaaaay too fast for…
Running Long Since 2013*
At what point is it acceptable to say “I have arrived as an ultrarunner”? Or rather “I’m an expert”? Is it a certain number of lifetime miles run? Maybe the number of races you’ve entered? Or finished? Does performance have anything to do with it? Should mid- or back-of-pack runners be ignored because we’re slower…
Long Range Weather Forecasts
I’m still over 3 weeks out from my next race, but that hasn’t stopped me from checking the weather forecast just about every day. Something I’ve been doing for the past couple weeks if I’m being honest. It’s not that I have a fear of the weather. Let’s just say I have a very healthy…
Inter-Race Training Strategy
I have seven weeks between ES100 and Buckeye 200. It’s long enough to get some work done, but not really long enough for a full blown training block. I think of these periods more as maintaining rather than training. Not like I normally do a bunch of structured training even if I have 3 months…
2023 ES100 Additional/Final Thoughts
If you hadn’t guessed yet, I’m pretty obsessed with Eastern States so here’s yet another post on the race. Let’s start with finish times. Here are the median finish times over the years and how mine compare. 2023 was the second slowest year to the infamous 2016 race (oh yeah, it sucked). This makes me…
Strategies For A Successful Eastern States 100
I’m going a different direction with my race report this year. More of a How-To guide on running the race. If you’re interested in a more traditional accounting, you can check out my races in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022. Or my photo journey in 2021. Strategy #1: Go out fast Don’t listen to all those…
2023 ES100 Preview
I’ll be heading back to Little Pine State Park this weekend for my sixth running of Eastern States 100 mile. This will break my current three-way tie of races that I’ve done five times before. Phunt and Naked Bavarian were races I kept going back to because they were cheap (both) and/or a perfect tune…
Backup Race, Nothing Like the First
The other way I’ve gotten over the cancellation of the Vermont 100 this month was by signing up for another race. I went to UltraRunning Magazine’s awesome calendar to find a replacement. I started by looking specifically for hundreds on the same weekend as VT100, however there wasn’t anything scheduled that was within driving distance…
The Un-Race Report
For those looking for my Vermont 100 mile race report, I’m afraid I have to disappoint you. Due to severe flooding throughout the state, the race was cancelled this year. I had pre-published my last blog post before the announcement and it went live a couple hours before I saw the RD’s email the next…