Can one run a solid mountain 100 off mainly bike training?
Signing up for Grindstone
I didn’t plan for another race this year. I intentionally left my calendar open after Western States because I didn’t know how I would feel. People say that it could take up to six months to feel normal again after your first hundred, especially a hot one like States.
But three weeks after Western States, I was getting back to running solid mileage and feeling surprisingly good. I felt a bit sore in the legs on longer or harder runs, sure, but much better than expected. So when Josh Ferguson texted me that he’d signed up for Grindstone and he wanted me to crew and pace him, I thought, why don’t I just run it? It was going to be difficult to train while on my bikepacking trip, but I’d planned to keep running anyway. This was to be more of an experiment than anything. Can one run a solid 100 off mainly bike training (and not necessarily training but touring)?
I booked a flight from San Diego back to DC for when I planned to be finished with the GDMBR (see my forthcoming article on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route for my trip).
Training
After Western States, my legs felt tired and sore, but they recovered quickly. After two full weeks off (where I dealt with some shin pain that started at mile 99), I was back to running a 30 mile week. After three weeks, I was doing a speed workout. There was leg soreness after the harder and longer efforts when getting back, but that ended after a few weeks.
I spent 10 days in Montana before beginning my bike tour and a 5 day training camp/detour in Salmon, Idaho and did lots of slow, steep, vert heavy efforts at altitude. While I felt great on downhills and ok on flats, I really struggled with climbing. Everything uphill felt way harder than it should have. Maybe it was the altitude, lingering fatigue from States, or something else.
During my bike tour, I ran about 4 times per week, averaging around 30-35 miles. Typically I would wake up in the morning at around 7 and go for a 6 mile jog around the roads or trails that I was camping near. I tried to do as many hill strides as I could, but with all the residual fatigue from biking, I really only managed one set of 5-6 hill strides per week, maybe two sets in a good week. Almost all of my runs felt like I was running on tired legs. Constant heaviness and fatigue led to slow runs. If I could manage 9:30 pace on flats, I was happy. For context, during my three biggest biking weeks I averaged 40 hours of cycling time (Strava time) doing 450 miles with 25,000ft of gain on dirt and gravel roads mainly. It was a lot.
I tried to get in a few long runs but it was difficult. I definitely did some long runs and mountain efforts during my training camp in Idaho, I did an 11 miler on trails right after the Tetons in Wyoming, I did a big 24 mile partial night run in Breckenridge at 10,000ft, a flat road 18 miler in Albuquerque, and a taper 11 mile Los Angeles run with a little vert a week before the race. I felt really good on the 24 miler and used race levels of nutrition (although different gels), so that run gave me the confidence I needed heading into Grindstone.
Pre Race Start
The race began at 6pm on Friday, which was an interesting wrinkle I’d never dealt with before. I drove up with Josh (who was running) and Laura (who was crewing us) on Thursday and we picked up our bib. We chatted with Max and Rosalinda Tiemann, who we’d met at MMT 100 earlier in the year. Max is a very strong NC runner who’s won Georgia Death Race and No Business 100. He also typically runs extremely smart races, going slow at the start and staying steady throughout the whole race, so Josh and I hoped to stay with him as long as we could.
Josh and I assumed and hoped we’d be able to run a good chunk of the race together or at least near each other. It’s nice to have company in an ultra and I felt we’d be a similar pace seeing his big training and pacing him to an awesome 8th place finish at MMT.
I camped out with some new friends I made, Nancy and Jeff, who were kind enough to let me pitch a tent in their RV spot. Nancy was running the 21K and is an experienced endurance athlete, having completed multiple Ironmans. It was great getting to know these two over the course of the weekend.
For food, I ate a pasta dinner the night before the race, two bagels and peanut butter and bananas and coffee for breakfast, Trader Joe’s rice snacks throughout race day, and a Panera bread chicken salad sandwich for lunch. I felt perfect for the race.
Gun Goes Off and Early Miles
Josh and I took off when the race started, inspired by a pre race hype song of Eminem’s Till I Collapse (we expected the classic UTMB music but welcomed the American twist). On the first few miles of road, we were going about 8:30 pace, and I was not feeling great. Like I mentioned, most of my training has been around 9:30 pace due to all the biking fatigue, so 8:30 was sadly challenging for me. Yet of course there were probably 40 runners in front of us. Once we hit the single track, I immediately felt better and settled into a groove in the early Congo lines.
When you think about it, the start of these ultras are pretty funny. Realistically, Max, Josh, and I knew we’d have a pretty good shot at top 10, at worst top 15 if there were more dark horses than we’d researched. Yet, here were 30 extra people ahead of us (who we’d likely pass) starting off their ultra at sub 20 hour pace, when most of them would be finishing well after 24-28 hours. It feels like this scenario plays out every race. Are these people trying to bank time early (there was a storm coming that night so I guess it would’ve made sense at Grindstone) or were they just inexperienced and didn’t realize they were going out so hot? Either way, once you realize this phenomenon, it’s a bit easier to relax into an easy pace and let the others surge ahead.
Anyway, Josh and I stuck together in the early Congo lines. There wasn’t much conversation with the other runners, no one really chatted except for Josh and I (and one dude who had run Twisted Branch the same year we had). I lost Josh at an early aid station but eventually reconnected with him and then later with Max around mile 20. Temperatures were absolutely perfect, around 55-60 degrees. We three chatted and enjoyed ourselves on those early miles. For a little, I was leading the pack of us three and I felt a bit sub par, so I got quiet as Max and Josh chatted about football. But I started to feel better on The Wild Oak Trail (TWOT) descent into the first aid station with crew access, North River Gap 1 at mile 32. TWOT is a loop I’ve done a few times (once as a backpacking trip and once as a run) and the memories and knowledge of the trail helped me during the race.
Feeling Great
Max, Josh, and I took an extra minute at the first crew aid. Rosalinda attended Max, while Laura helped Josh and I. It was nice to all be together and feel like a part of the same team so early in the race. The next crew stop was only 13 miles away, so I slurped down my first caffeine gel of the night, added a few more gels to my pack, and got back on the road with Josh. Max had left a few minutes ahead of us.
I told Josh, “your turn to lead”, since I’d led a good portion of the last 10 miles. He was moving solid, but I felt really good, so after he helped me replace my headlamp batteries, I surged ahead. Sadly, I wouldn’t see Josh again for the rest of the race.
All of a sudden I felt amazing. Potentially the best I’ve ever felt in an ultra. I was absolutely crushing on flattish windy single track, my favorite type of trails, putting down sub 10 minute GAP miles for a while. I remembered something Zach Miller had said in his post-UTMB 2023 interview. During the middle the race when he passed Jim, he felt really good. He contemplated slowing down and pacing himself more but he thought, “I feel so good, this feeling might not come back if I pace myself”. So he pushed ahead. I thought of Zach’s interview and decided to capitalize on my good feeling, no matter the consequences later in the race.
I chatted with a new friend and took it easy on the super runnable, light downhill descent into Dowells Draft for the mile 46 aid. It had started lightly raining at that point but I don’t think I’d put my rain jacket on yet.
Rosalinda and Laura helped me resupply. Max had just left a few minutes before me and I let Laura know that I thought Josh might be 20 minutes behind me given how well I’d run that section and how he was feeling. I put lots of gels in my bag to gear up for the long 26 mile lollipop loop.
The loop started with some chill terrain and then a long sustained climb. I quickly caught up to a runner named Chris. He was going a solid pace, but as I’ve mentioned before, I feel like I can power hike with the best of the field so it felt nice and easy. It was still only mile 50. He seemed like he was in a rough patch and after chatting for a few miles, I passed him. He gave me great course intel on the lollipop loop which I was grateful for. Towards the top of the climb I passed the first female. Then came super steep downhill segments of grassy fire road which I hit pretty well. It was foggy and misty so a bit hard to see but luckily this section wasn’t rocky. Coming into the aid I saw Max right ahead of me, about to blow through without stopping. I called his name to get his attention and he slowed up a tad while I filled my water up. I was amped that I was able to catch back up with him. It meant I was moving well.
Temperature Management and Nutrition
Max and I ran most of the next climb together, cursing out the lollipop loop for its challenges. I could talk about this loop forever but in the name of brevity, I’ll say this: it was hard. It was rainy, cold and windy on ridges and warmer in the valleys, you couldn’t see very far in front of you due to the foggy and misty conditions, there were lots of thin trails with no back slope and a steep drop off to one side and the trails were littered with classic east coast pointy wet and slippery rocks. It made for slow going and I cursed all of it.
I will say that I excelled at temperature management during the race. I made it a point to keep taking on and off my rain jacket and gloves during the race. One of the main reasons I did this was to make sure I was able to eat. At some point on the lollipop loop my stomach felt a bit uneasy so I skipped a gel. I noticed that my hands were cold during this time so I put my jacket and gloves on. After 1 skipped gel and a 30 minute extra delay with nutrition, I was able to eat again no problem. This happened one other time during the race, coming up out of the lollipop loop, and I took a longer eating break for 1.5 hours but eventually I randomly started craving salty food like quesadillas and was able to eat gels again.
Nutrition in general was on point. I used a combination of SIS Beta Fuel gels and Precision Hydration gels for food. I hadn’t trained with this stuff since Western States, but it tasted good and I had no issues. I was taking a few salt caps an hour (250mg) early, like I did at states, but once it got cold I stopped and didn’t feel I needed it. I took 3 caffeine gels, 100mg at mile 33, another 100mg sometime during the lollipop loop, and 150mg right before the climb out of the loop. Yet I stared feeling dizzy and high heart rate/breathing rate with this last gel so I stopped taking caffeine. Per my final calculations, I took in 270 cal/hr from gels alone during the race. I also had the on-course drink Naak the entire race, but it was clear the Naak wasn’t mixed up well so I don’t know how many extra calories I got from that. Probably at least 50-100, so I imagine I was doing 300-350 cal/hr which is right where I want to be.
Climbing out of the lollipop loop on the steep, grassy fire road section, Max dropped me. I was breathing really heavy and struggling to get that under control. This was the start of the decline for me. It was my first big trouble I had climbing, which is usually my strongest attribute.
Just Keep Moving
Finally I descended into Dowells Draft 2. Max had left the aid station a few minutes ahead of me. I quickly changed shoes and took an extra minute while Laura and Rosalinda got me liquids and repacked my gels. Josh was 30 minutes behind me at the last crew stop so it was likely he was a good deal behind me now sadly. During the lollipop loop, I kept turning around, expecting him to come up from behind and blow by me. We made the decision for me to take all my gels for the next few crew stops now as Laura would have to wait for Josh and might not be at the next crew aid in time which was only 10 easy miles away and Max could fly ahead as he does late in races. This was my longest aid station stop, maybe 5 minutes.
Leaving the aid, the 10th place runner Chris, who I’d climbed with before, had just passed me so I followed him and his pacer out. I tried to keep them within sight. Quickly we both passed a walker, so we moved up a spot. Chris was shockingly running all the uphills and I was mainly walking, but somehow I was still able to keep him within sight. Once we crested the hill and had a downhill section into the next aid, I cruised past Chris.
5.5 miles of gravel road to the Camp Todd aid was annoying but I managed to run 95% of it. The first two 100K guys came flying by and I didn’t recognize them. I wanted to see David Roche and Paul Jacobs leading the race, but David had dropped out and I saw him at the Camp Todd aid station and Paul was a few spots back.
After Camp Todd there is a massive 3,000ft climb up to Little Bald on the Wild Oak Trail. I would call this the crux of the race. Climbing was not working at this point and I struggled to manage 22 min miles. I needed to take some 20 second breathers on the side of the trail at this point but for some reason I just couldn’t catch my breath. Paul passed me here and we said some encouraging words to one another.
After the climb I ran a few miles with Zach, a nice 100K runner from Montana going for a golden ticket who was dealing with some issues. I recognized that running with other people really helped me to keep running and brought my RPE down. Maybe I should have gotten a pacer…
All in all, I was still moving well on downhills, but my climbing was shot and flats were a mental struggle. Going into the mile 93 aid station I wanted to know my place. They said I was in 8th and the 7th place dude was still in the aid station. I quickly left the aid ahead of him and his pacer.
Is It Over Yet?
The end wasn’t so exciting. 100K peeps ran past me including the top 2 females Lotti Brinks and Devon Yanko. It was cool to see this race unfold! I had to walk lots of the shitty last uphill. Looking back, I wish I ran more of this section. I didn’t let myself go deep enough into the pain cave here. Eventually, after feeling like I was on the last gravel road FOREVER (!), I hit the paved road section and knew it was only 3.5 miles left. I really wanted to coast – walk it in, end the pain. I took a piss, let a 100K runner pass me, and looked behind me. It was someone I recognized. The guy I had passed for 7th at the North River Gap 2 mile 93 aid station and his pacer! FUCK! Well, let’s send it, I thought. I started going 8:30 pace and kept it up. Eventually after 2 miles I lost him. Then I looked at my watch and realized there was a chance I could go sub 23 hours if I pushed it. So I kept running hard and finally made it to the finish, 106 miles later in 22:58:29!
Per usual, my legs shut down the minute I crossed the finish. Some local runners that were volunteering and spectating (Jordan Chang, Sean Cate) congratulated me! My RV friends came over and helped me limp back to the campsite, which was about a half mile away. It was pouring and I was freezing and shivering. I quickly took a hot shower, chatted with Josh (he let me know he DNF’d at mile 85 due to a bad ankle sprain; I was bummed to hear this), and Jeff made me a plate of steak and eggs! Nancy and I chatted about our races (she had gotten 2nd in her age group!), but I couldn’t talk much. I needed to go to bed. I’d been up for 36 hours, maybe the longest continuous stretch in my life!
I slept really well that night. Josh and Laura picked me up the next morning, we ate a big Cracker Barrel meal, and met Rosalinda and Max to chat about the race. Max ran really strong and finished 5th, an hour faster than me! He crushed the last 35 miles.
Takeaways
My goal coming into this race had nothing to do with time and everything to do with expanding my personal pain cave. I was extremely happy with my result at Western States, but looking back, I know I probably could’ve gone harder in the middle sections. I was still figuring out the 100 mile distance and how to pace it. At Grindstone, I wanted to push it and see if/when the wheels came off and how I would handle it. Courtney definitely inspired me with her triple crown this summer and I was fascinated by how her mental toughness allowed her to be so strong at the end of races.
All in all, I’m super proud of how I pushed through my lows. I went hard for 30 miles and struggled at the end, but I still moved up 3 places (from 10th to 7th) even when I felt I was CRAWLING up those late climbs. It proved to me something that Jim Walmsley said after 2023 UTMB, that when he was feeling low, so was Germain (the 3rd place runner), and that gave him confidence that he could keep up. At mile 75, everyone is hurting. If you keep moving, you’ve got a good chance of holding your position.
Of course, I can always be critical. I’d love to have run the whole last climb and gravel road at the end. Had I done that, there’s a possibility I could’ve caught the runner who finished ~15 minutes ahead of me. On the positive, my pain cave is bigger than it was and I’ll work on running the late climbs next time.
From an analytical perspective, the one thing I want to work on next is my stoppage time. According to Strava, I had 21:54 of moving time. That’s just over an hour where I wasn’t moving. I was very happy with my aid station management and I don’t think I spent more than 20-30 minutes combined in aid stations. So where is the other stoppage time from? I took two shits, peed about 30 times, fixed my headlamp a few times, stopped to put on and take off my rain jacket, and stopped sometimes towards the end to take a few short side-of-the-trail breaks. I’d love to reduce this. Looking back at the Strava of other runners, they had a lot less wasted time. Max had about 45 minutes difference between total time and moving time, Mike McGonagle (the race winner) had about 15 minutes of stoppage time, and Joey Miller (the 3rd place dude) had about 30 minutes of stoppage time. I’m basically giving these super strong runners 30 minutes for free. That has got to stop. I’ve got to get better at gear changes on the move, especially when I’m tired and want to take breaks, and figuring out how to make peeing take less time. I swear I lost 10-15 minutes from peeing alone. I don’t know if moving while peeing is feasible, but I’m sure I peed a lot because I wanted to take extra breaks. Holding it in a bit more would’ve helped.
From a running perspective, I think the next area of improvement that can help me level up is to get faster in general. After running with Max for a while, it’s clear he is super strong on flats compared to me. His base easy pace is faster. I’m really confident in my power hiking and descending, but I know I can get faster on flats. In the next six months while I’m in Central and South America continuing the bikepacking trip, I likely won’t have much access to trails so I want to focus on general road speed.
When all is said and done, I am super proud of this effort. The experiment paid off; you can prepare for ultras off mainly bike training. I think all that work on my Z1 and Z2 on the bike paid off and allowed me to push for longer. Now it’s just about sharpening some of the other tools in the tool shed and I believe I can compete for the podium in these competitive 100 milers!