Jan Ryerse's Training for Rocky Racoon

In training for my third 100, I tried to incorporate both back to back long runs and 8-10 day periods of high mileage followed by a recovery week with lower mileage. As shown in the third histogram covering the four months prior to the Rocky Racoon 100, which I ran in February 1999, I had a couple of 10 day periods in which I covered well over 100 miles. Much of this was on my treadmill as we'd had snow and ice in St. Louis and I couldn't safely get in the long runs on roads or trails. It doesn't matter if you do some of your long runs on a treadmill as long as you also pay your dues on the trails. (Long distance running on the treadmill need not be as boring as it sounds. I have my treadmill set up in front of a TV in the basement and I watch my favorite TV shows and/or listen to music. Periodically I take bathroom and food breaks on the long TM workouts. I did one 30 miler over 6 hours on my TM). The back-to-back long runs, the focused periods of high mileage and the 2-a-day and a 3-a-day workouts helped me to get used to running and walking on tired legs. This is absolutely crucial for success in 100s. You don't have to move particularly fast but you've got to keep running as much as possible for a sub 24 hour 100. I was able to get a sub 24 hour buckle at RR (22:44). The main reason was that I was able to run a lot more in the last 40 miles than I did in my first two 100s.

"http://www.run100s.com/stanj/Freebies/jr_rr.htm" (updated: 3/11/99) stanj@run100s.com