Grindstone 100 Training: Do as I say, not as I do

“Do as I say, not as I do.” It was my mother's frequent refrain as I was growing up. And it’s about how I feel as I prepare to outline my Grindstone 100 training. I don’t mean to imply that I’m qualified to give advice regarding this race; I haven’t run it yet. What I mean is that this is not meant to be a training guide, but instead as a lens through which to view my yet-to-come race report for people looking to do the race in the future. For non-ultrarunners, it’s an answer to the question: “You’re running 100 miles? How do you train for that?”

I find myself wanting to make excuses for my “bare minimum” training for this race. But the truth is, life gets in the way for all of us, and that’s not something I have a special claim to as a mother or resident. Ultrarunning is something I do for fun and for myself. It can’t be my top priority. So with that disclaimer, below are the hard stats, stripped of their defenses.

February: Weekly mileage 30-40ish, consistent long runs working up to 20 trail miles

March: Only 50 miles total for the entire month, with the longest run 10 trail miles

April: Mostly 30-45 mile weeks with long runs up to 24 on trail

May: Several weeks around 15 miles with supplemental bike trainer workouts, but one week was 45 miles with a 5+ hour trail run (24.5 miles). Also introduced some speed walking work-outs.

June: Low weekly mileage, but I did a 5.5 hour 30 mile mostly road run at the beginning of the month and ran a 50 mile race (Dawg Gone Long) at the end of the month as my qualifier for Grindstone.

July: Weekly mileages were 25-46 and included long runs of 23 and 25 on trail. I started doing more consistent speed workouts during this time.

August: Weekly mileage was 25-50 with long runs of 3+ hours (14 miles included hiking up a mountain) and 5 hours (24 trail miles). Joined the Y and started doing more intentionally steep and fast speedwalking workouts as well as lifting upper body weights 1-2 times a week, which I continued until the race.

September: I managed a couple 60 mile weeks in a row, with consecutive weekend runs of a 6.5 hours (50k on trails), 4.5 hours (21 on trails), and a 60k race that was a mix of trail and road in just under 7 hours for my max long run 3 weeks before the race. After reading race reports I also switched some of my workouts to target some mountain specific challenges: I started doing fast intervals with the treadmill on a negative incline to hopefully mimic the pounding of the steep descents on my quads. I also added in weekly stairclimber work-outs, working up to climbing 3000ft in an hour.

Now, 6 days out, I’m spending as much time worrying about various aches and pains and compulsively checking the weather as I am running. I look forward to beautiful mountain views, fall weather, a challenging course and like-minded company starting Friday night at 6 pm! The race website promises a webcast if you want to check in periodically at http://www.eco-xsports.com/

Thanks friends!

-Jordan