In 2016, I ran SD100, well trained, but owing to the cool weather, I was NOT heat-trained... and I failed to adjust my race plan to the reality of the 100+F temperatures on race day... I took it out hard and was incinerated and cramping from mile 25 until I dropped at mile 55.
This year, my training is not as deep as it has been in past years when I've run 100 milers. Partly this is because I needed to work through a chronic achilles injury in the fall and early winter, and so I kept the mileage conservatively bounded; and partly it was due to a demanding work schedule culminating in an intense work trip to Zurich in the third week of May.
Still, I got in some good mileage, with a major milestone being the Leona Divide 50 in mid-April; and while in Zurich I got in a flat fast 30 miler, in 4:50, along the Zurichsee On May 19:
Last week I ramped the mileage and got in 80 miles; the Memorial day weekend mileage was 20/10/29, all mountain running, but it was wet and cold! I felt pretty good about the 29 miler, which I did in about 5:20, with about 6000 ft of climb and descent.
This week I got in some fast 10-milers on the Mt Wilson Toll Road, but there was no prospect of heat training with the marine layer and rain:
But yesterday the weather has changed! I took yesterday off as my quads were pretty wrecked from all the fast downhill running last week; instead I took a hike with my son, and then rolled my quads (excruciating) to get the knots out. Today's run plan was to take an afternoon heat run up Mt Brown and cut the run to 14 miles if the quads were still flakey; and go longer if they were solid. No worries, the knots were gone; I focussed on practicing "sustainable" running, pushing the fluids and keeping both uphill and downhill pace in bounds of what I plan to do at SD100. The run was lovely and I ended up extending to mileage to 22 with a dog-leg out to Oakwilde on the Gabrielino Trail. I finished feeling strong despite having eaten nothing; in the course of the run I drank 10 bottles ~ 12-13 pounds of water and came home 6 pounds down; but I felt like I could continue when I was done.
I'm looking forward to this year's SD100, I'll be running it with my pal Greg Frye and I consider it an experiment in heat and race management.
