Training to run a 100 mile race

When I talk to runners about racing 100 miles on foot the most common question is "How do you Train for that?"  My friend Pete from Runblogger has started to post a weekly review recapping his training for a marathon.  He suggested that it might be cool to post what sort of workouts I'm doing as I prepare to run the Massanutten 100 race on May 18th.  My goal is to write a weekly recap on either Sunday or Monday leading up to the race.

With only six weeks to go, I am now in my peak training.  I have been gradually building up to almost 100 miles per week.  In March I ran 383 miles.  While many marathoners run 100 miles per week, the training for a mountainous Ultra is considerably different.  The biggest difference is probably the consistent back to back long runs on the weekend to build endurance.  Below is my recap from last week.

Monday - Ran 5 easy miles (41:45 - 8:21 pace @ 1% grade) after work.  Shoes - Hoka Bondi B 2.

Tuesday - Ran 15.2 miles on trails (2:12:22 - 8:43 pace).  Trails were very icy and I had to be very careful on the hills, especially the descents.  Was supposed to throw in 4 1/2 mile hill repeats, but had a mental breakdown and decided that doing hill repeats was no fun and I needed to have fun in order to train this hard.  Wrote coach an angry email.  Starting to feel burnt out, even though I'm getting stronger.  Shoes - La Sportiva Helios

Wednesday - Ran 8 very easy trail miles with my brother (1:22:51 - 10:22 pace) and fell in love with running again.  Later in the day I realized that I was supposed to do 10.  Figured I'd add in the extra miles later in the week. Shoes - La Sportiva Helios

Thursday - Ran the same 15.2 mile trail route as Tuesday (2:06:00 - 8:20 pace).  Attacked the hills like a fartlek run at coaches recommendation rather than doing structured hill repeats.  Had much more fun and enjoyed the run. Shoes - Montrail Fluid Flex

Friday - 8 miles of roads (1:01:32 - 7:42 pace).  Was supposed to only run 5, but I got in the extra miles that I forgot on Tuesday.  Felt very easy, glad to see a somewhat brisk pace for the effort.  I also hiked with Amy for about 5 miles earlier in the day.  Shoes - Montrail Fluid Flex

Saturday - Got up at 5am and ran 20 miles (2:45:13 - 8:16 pace) to work.  Then worked all day.  Did a few big hills on the route. Shoes - Altra Torin

Sunday - 22.5 miles (4:55:00 13:07 pace).  Did the Tully Mountain trail with Ryan and Kristina.  Trail had a lot more snow and ice than we expected.  Trail was pretty messy.  Shoes - Montrail Fluid Flex

Summary - 93.9 miles in 15 hours 4 minutes

This week also marked the beginning of my strict diet prep.  No more alcohol, sugar or flour.  My plan is to eat this way until after the race.  I have done this before with very good results, but it is not easy!  I will write more about the diet in a later post.

Beautiful scenery on the Tully Mountain Trail