Weekend at Wentworth 100 Miler - The Training - 2024/2025

Having signed up for The Weekend at Wentworth Ultra race last Summer, I finally began actual focused training in October of 2024 when I paced Valley Harvest Half Marathon officially then kept going to unofficially pace the full marathon with Colin. Feeling relatively good for having run a full marathon with no significant aches, I started the training for my goal of 100 miles on an upbeat. 

For the next 7 months my main goal was prepping for this 100 miler, from planning what to bring on the day, my strategy on the day, and how I would focus my training so that I wouldn't feel overwhelmed.  My goal, as always, is to not let training dictate my life while aiming for success in the thing I am training for.

Having only ever run a maximum of 60km in one day before with more of a focus on speed, I knew that I needed to train myself to be able to tolerate not just distance, but slower paces. This would inevitably include walking as well. But how coudl I achieve my lofty goal of a first 100 miler in a sub 24 hour period if I had to walk some or perhaps lots of it. While I hoped to run as much as possible, I was not foolish enough to think that stuff might happen that would slow me down.

Thus, I placed a large focus on power hiking. Sure lots of people do, it is part of trail running after all. But rather than seeing power hiking as a chance to ease up and rest, I was looking at it as a chance to switch muscle groups, without losing the overall effort. So I started walking fast ( sub 9 min/km pace is needed for a 24 hour 100 miler) then faster and faster, getting well into the 7 min/km range and even touching on the 6 min/km range.  Walking that fast is actually tough on the body, so I did a few dedicated session a week, starting at an hour then working up to 2 hours. I would also walk after long runs for added time on feet. 

Speaking of time on feet, I also aimed to, in general, be on my feet as much as I could during the day. Regardless of time spent actually training, my step tracker kept me monitoring my weekly steps and in general I aimed for the equivalent of 100 miles in steps on a rolling seven day average. 

My biggest week of running was in December at 100 miles. Most weeks I averaged around 120-130 km of running and power hiking (about a 70-30 split).  My biggest runs were usually a monthly marathon, often done on a 5-6km looped course. 

My biggest single run was 80km, when I took on the AO Racing Pick and Shovel challenge. That was a race that I used as a big training day and it went so well, I placed second in men and 1st in men over 50. 

I'd say the biggest single change to my training though was nutrition, both during runs and all day. I did add more protein to my diet, really focused on hydration all day long, and ramped up the carbs during runs. Being a normally low fuel runner, this was a big change, and one I will take forward with my training in general. 

I had a couple of set backs. Tendonitis in my feet after the Pick and Shovel set me back a couple of weeks. And sore quads in the last few weeks before the race also meant I started my taper a little earlier than I had hoped. This also set back my plans for a final month focused less on distance and more on hills for strength. But over all, a good focus on rest and strength exercises really helped me maintain my ability to train much more than I ever had. 

I trained at night during the winter and did one really early morning push in a rain storm in April, which as it turns out was perfect for the day that was to come. Other than that, I didn't try to train too much while tired, as that would increase the risk of injury. 

Overall, I was pleased with my training. Nothing can be perfect but I made it through to race day, learned from my mistakes, and hit the start line feeling ready.