I've been meaning to take note of some things that seemed to work in my favor in preparing for and racing the Vermont 100. These are those notes.
- Consistency: I set and reliably hit weekly mileage goals in the nine months leading up to the race. I found 40 miles per week to be the sweet spot where I felt I was building fitness and avoiding my recurring ITB issues. This is obviously on the lower end, but I was optimizing for sustainability. I tried to include at least one longer effort (~13+ miles) each week. I view this (consistency) as the most critical component of the preparation and plan to continue to prioritize it in service of biological inertia. I'd be remiss in failing to mention that observing friends' dedication to doing the work was a big source of inspiration here. This is the primary lens through which I view Strava.
- Racing checkpoints: Spring on the Trails Six Hour in March and Manchester to Monadnock 50 Mile in May. Great opportunities to work through nutrition puzzles (not all of which I solved) and test the fitness. Gained confidence from both efforts. The latter featured a balance of terrain somewhat similar to that of Vermont.
- Extra training motivation: I had the opportunity in mid June to support John Kelly for two segments of his Appalachian Trail FKT attempt on consecutive days. This was a source of training motivation, inspiration, and physical stimulus.
- Altitude camp: I spent the week prior to race week playing in the San Juan Mountains ahead of volunteering at Hardrock, much of that time being spent between 9,000 and 14,000 ft. I was hopeful that this would make East Coast running feel particularly oxygenated, and that seemed to work out. I can't recall climbing more effortlessly in an ultra.
- Bottle in hand: I decided to wear a belt for Vermont, which meant that I carried at least one bottle in hand the entire race. I’ve struggled to keep up with hydration in most of my ultras, but it wasn’t an issue here. This is no doubt due in part to the ample support on course, but I think holding bottles helped keep drinking top of mind.
- Electrolytes: I consistently find it difficult to stomach plain water during longer efforts. I suspect this has something to do with imbalances brought on by my being a salty sweater, but I've yet to confirm this with evidence more conclusive than the many salt stains on all of my favorite hats. As such, I avoided plain water for most of this race, opting instead for a grab bag of Gatorade, Open Fuel, and the Skratch available at aid stations. I still had to work through some spells of nausea with the help of salt capsules, but these were relatively short lived. Fierce Green Apple Gatorade became the primary source of carbs late in the race.
- Pacing: If I had a goal (beyond finishing) coming into this race, it was to be able to run in the later miles (70+). Before Vermont, I'd failed to do that at any 100. I still faded pretty significantly in the back half of the race (2h23m slower than the first 50 miles), but I did manage to run quite a bit. I attribute this in part to smarter pacing early in the race. I dipped below a 10-minute mile only twice in the first 50 miles.
- Ice bandana: This was my first time wearing an ice bandana during a race. Having incredibly attentive crew and aid station volunteers proactively offer to fill it up with ice at many of the aid stations was in itself quite motivating. The ice was a welcome companion through the heat of the day.
Here are some things on which I didn't focus much.
- Heat training: I heat trained in the sense that I ran in the heat. I didn't do anything specific to prepare for the heat. I might've just been lucky here, as the weather was historically favorable this year.
- Strength training: I started off the year with a simple strength routine that felt sustainable, but I let it lapse at some point and never really got back to it. To be clear, I'm talking about a short session once or twice a week with lunges, split squats, box step-ups, and some kettlebell work—nothing extravagant. I do want to revisit this and give it another shot, as resilience is still very much a fickle thing for me.
- Time goal: I didn't have a specific finish time in mind for this race. I just tried to draw on experience and run at what felt like a sustainable pace given my preparation and fitness.