No one size fits all. There is no holy grail method or you can say there is no perfect human, no perfect business plan, no perfect education system, no perfect country or state, no perfect parenting principles, no perfect training principles. One needs to do research in any walk of life as we can't we keep doing copy paste in our own lives by seeing what works for other people. But I also feel like I have the approach of open book as well.
I listened to what Tom did for UTMB in the whole race & it seemed this might the most meticulous one has been. He even put his earphones on in the areas he knew the crowd would be quite loud. just to be attuned with his own self and negate the outside noise in order his own body doesn't get over whelmed and his HR doesn't go up which would increase his effort. Just to keep things in control he did this.
Even both Tom Evans & Ruth Croft were more proactive than other elites who were running in the Top-50 on both sides. Ruth learned her lesson from Transvulcania because the weather was horrendous there some what similar to UTMB just not snowing but the winds were howling. David Sinclair & Matt Daniels also DNFed because of the weather. Tom told that almost no one was putting the jacket in the lead pack when he had already put up a jacket. He told everyone thought that Francois hasn’t put up a jacket and he is 4 time winner of this race, so better mimic him but Tom did it in his own way. The role of being proactive in ultras is quite an under rated Trait.
I am no where near at the level you compete and the athletes you mentioned in this blog. But last year has been some sort of mediocre breakthrough for me. This year I am hoping to shoot for 800 ITRA score and right now sitting at 623.
I have a 100 KM Stadium Run(250 laps) on 24th January in Delhi. I am hoping to run it under 7:30 in order to get a qualifier for Team India for 100 KM World Championships 2026.
I also listened to Rachel Entrekin's podcast & loved the part where she told she is open book. She has been chipping away with consistent progress. It is not an overnight success, she had been competing for almost 12-13 years. On the other side, yesterday I listened to Will Murray on Freetrail and that dude is one heck of a SENSEI. The way he trains- incorporating cycling with running. Some days he cycles for 4-5 hours comes back home and then in 10 minutes transition goes for a run for about whatever his training says for that particular day. And I don't think so anyone has one JJ 100 miler in record time training like this. Everyone who has won has been all running people on men's side.
Right now Taggart Vanetten is preparing for 100 miler at Prairie Spirit Trail on March 28, 2026. Last 11 weeks has been 80 miles(128 KM) running & 200 miles(320 KM cycling) for every week. He has totally changed his way of training as earlier he used to run 150 mile weeks in order to prepare for 100 milers but he has understood no point in this much beating on legs & the whole body in every facet. Cycling helps him build the huge Aerobic Base. He is targeting to dip under 11:19 which is current 100 mile American Record. If this training works for him, then this can be the new modus operandi as earlier it has worked for Will Murray as well.
Adam Lipschitz ran 2:08:54 at Valencia Marathon in 2024 on just 100 KM weeks.
Love this topic. It’s fascinating also how in Pro Cycling which is far more professional/evolved in its journey of training, physiology, logistics, support, mental game, nutrition etc (notwithstanding the shadow of doping and straddling the ethical line) the secrets aren’t shared as openly - like the NFL team comment the teams keep things to themselves but yet the riders chat in the peloton, riders/coaches/support staff switch teams and the knowledge/wisdom/secrets propagate.
David Roche has talked about this a bunch as well. We he and Meghan are consciously and proactively sharing all their athlete/coaching “secrets” with their audience (for the greater good…and CONTENT) but acknowledge they may be eroding some short term edge they may have developed or just fortunately stumbled upon by sharing it earlier (vs a delay once people piece together from results)
Super fair to consider both side. NFL teams are not sharing their playbooks, that’s their bible.
But on the other hand hopefully the sharing of information pushes everything forward and people on the cutting edge almost always stay on the cutting edge ahead of the pack
Did you guys see that crazy apron that the chef was wearing when he won the Western Lasagna Endurance Cookoff last year?
No one size fits all. There is no holy grail method or you can say there is no perfect human, no perfect business plan, no perfect education system, no perfect country or state, no perfect parenting principles, no perfect training principles. One needs to do research in any walk of life as we can't we keep doing copy paste in our own lives by seeing what works for other people. But I also feel like I have the approach of open book as well.
I listened to what Tom did for UTMB in the whole race & it seemed this might the most meticulous one has been. He even put his earphones on in the areas he knew the crowd would be quite loud. just to be attuned with his own self and negate the outside noise in order his own body doesn't get over whelmed and his HR doesn't go up which would increase his effort. Just to keep things in control he did this.
Even both Tom Evans & Ruth Croft were more proactive than other elites who were running in the Top-50 on both sides. Ruth learned her lesson from Transvulcania because the weather was horrendous there some what similar to UTMB just not snowing but the winds were howling. David Sinclair & Matt Daniels also DNFed because of the weather. Tom told that almost no one was putting the jacket in the lead pack when he had already put up a jacket. He told everyone thought that Francois hasn’t put up a jacket and he is 4 time winner of this race, so better mimic him but Tom did it in his own way. The role of being proactive in ultras is quite an under rated Trait.
I am no where near at the level you compete and the athletes you mentioned in this blog. But last year has been some sort of mediocre breakthrough for me. This year I am hoping to shoot for 800 ITRA score and right now sitting at 623.
I have a 100 KM Stadium Run(250 laps) on 24th January in Delhi. I am hoping to run it under 7:30 in order to get a qualifier for Team India for 100 KM World Championships 2026.
I also listened to Rachel Entrekin's podcast & loved the part where she told she is open book. She has been chipping away with consistent progress. It is not an overnight success, she had been competing for almost 12-13 years. On the other side, yesterday I listened to Will Murray on Freetrail and that dude is one heck of a SENSEI. The way he trains- incorporating cycling with running. Some days he cycles for 4-5 hours comes back home and then in 10 minutes transition goes for a run for about whatever his training says for that particular day. And I don't think so anyone has one JJ 100 miler in record time training like this. Everyone who has won has been all running people on men's side.
Right now Taggart Vanetten is preparing for 100 miler at Prairie Spirit Trail on March 28, 2026. Last 11 weeks has been 80 miles(128 KM) running & 200 miles(320 KM cycling) for every week. He has totally changed his way of training as earlier he used to run 150 mile weeks in order to prepare for 100 milers but he has understood no point in this much beating on legs & the whole body in every facet. Cycling helps him build the huge Aerobic Base. He is targeting to dip under 11:19 which is current 100 mile American Record. If this training works for him, then this can be the new modus operandi as earlier it has worked for Will Murray as well.
Adam Lipschitz ran 2:08:54 at Valencia Marathon in 2024 on just 100 KM weeks.
Really detailed
I enjoyed this detailed response. Good luck with your upcoming race.
Thanks a lot brother and I have added proactive part(3rd para) to the comment as well.
Love this topic. It’s fascinating also how in Pro Cycling which is far more professional/evolved in its journey of training, physiology, logistics, support, mental game, nutrition etc (notwithstanding the shadow of doping and straddling the ethical line) the secrets aren’t shared as openly - like the NFL team comment the teams keep things to themselves but yet the riders chat in the peloton, riders/coaches/support staff switch teams and the knowledge/wisdom/secrets propagate.
David Roche has talked about this a bunch as well. We he and Meghan are consciously and proactively sharing all their athlete/coaching “secrets” with their audience (for the greater good…and CONTENT) but acknowledge they may be eroding some short term edge they may have developed or just fortunately stumbled upon by sharing it earlier (vs a delay once people piece together from results)
Super fair to consider both side. NFL teams are not sharing their playbooks, that’s their bible.
But on the other hand hopefully the sharing of information pushes everything forward and people on the cutting edge almost always stay on the cutting edge ahead of the pack
Really thoughtful and interesting post (and now I’m hungry….)
Share away! There is not a recipe or training plan I can’t dick up.
Good read
Thanks Finn