Today marks 1 week until Badwater begins for me. In my mind Badwater starts the moment I begin movement to the Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City. This time of year is very exciting obviously we had Western States 100 June 28th and Hardrock starting today. With that there has been a lot of insightful podcasts, articles, and videos from top ultramarathon runners. Two of them have resonated deeply with my Badwater preparations.
I created a full pace chart for Badwater and based on my estimates I believe I can finish the race in under 24 hours. Either I'm very cocky or the lack of heat will make for some of the fastest Badwater times we've ever seen. Obviously the lack of 125 degree temps will make for a faster course. The added 7000 ish feet of climbing won't likely slow us enough to compensate. Thus we should see some faster times. I estimate moving at 4.5 mph on the 3 major climbs, 6 mph on the flat and 7 mph on the downhills. This seems pretty conservative to me.
This is a hard race to predict times since there is no historical data to reflect on. Frankly there isn't a lot of data on 135 mile races to compare to. The 3 major 135 mile races (Brazil, Arrowhead and Badwater) take place in extreme climates that drastically effect finisher times. With a new 100 mile race course you can look at a race with a similar course profile and ballpark your finish time. My fall back is to look at position. I generally finish in the top 5% of any race I enter but have been creeping into the top 3% recently. Jemez was supposed to be my check on this in a mountain race but they cancelled the race after 20 people so... No help to me there. If the top 5% rule is true then I should finish in the top 5 seeing as there are 100 people. The problem with that assumption is that Badwater requires you to be a grizzly and seasoned ultrarunner. Anyone in the 8am start wave has a chance at top 5 we are all very talented.
This leads me to my first nugget of knowledge that has helped me as I prepare for Badwater. I believe this is from Andy Jones-Wilkins'. He made the comment that we are all just trying to be the best version of ourselves on race day. AJW was preparing to finish his 10th Western States at the time and coming to the realization that he was not going to set a PR or be able to make the top 10 but he could still have a great race for himself despite not competing in the manner he may have 5 years ago. This is how I feel about Badwater. I can't predict my finish time or my place but I can plan on being the very best version of myself that I can be on July 21st.
The 2nd piece of gold I found came from Liza Howard. Liza has been my ultra mentor since she started coaching me 3 years ago. I've been out on my own for two years but she made it very clear that if I have a question pick up the phone and call her. So as I began my taper for Badwater I returned to her taper plan for me for my first 100 in 2012. I use so much of what Liza taught me 2 years later the only problem is the 2012 version of me and the 2014 version of me are two different animals. I had several people question my plan to drop as low as 20 miles the week before the race. My friend Ben detailed some of his experiences with tapering over his 15 years of running experience which never included dropping that low. When asked I didn't know why I just knew I should do what I was told... So I called Liza and asked her, why... Her answer reminded me of the most important thing. Every runner is different and so much goes into how you taper. Liza is a very dedicated mother and is so tired race week that sleep is more important to her. I currently live a life that allows for 8 hours of sleep and a nap if I need it. I am recovering from workouts very quickly and feel great morning to morning so running 7-8 miles clear until 4 days before the race won't effect me. So this week I'm hitting low 50's and next week I'll be in the 40's.
In case you missed the underlying point from Liza, its that every runner is different and you have to learn how to listen to your body. Strava and blogs are great tools to follow other training but what works for one runner doesn't work for another runner. I can run mile for mile like Dominic Grossman but I will likely end up as carnage along the road to my race if I try to run 10 100 mile weeks in a row.
So here I sit 1 week until wheels up and I've already nervously spent $100 on last minute supplies. I bought another 32 Gu's and a Ultimate Direction waste pack for the Cerro Gordo climb. I'm not training as much dropping from around 13-14 hours a week to 7-8 hours which gives me more time to think about Badwater so it's expected. The good news is my wife comes home Tuesday and it will be so great to have her back. The rest of my time has been looking at what comes after Badwater.
Obviously I have the Army 10 Miler in October and I believe the Outer Banks Marathon in November but after that... The CR for the Heartland 100 (my first 100) is 14:26 and hasn't been challenged since 2002 when Eric Clifton ran a 14:30. That's what's on my mind...
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