Burning River 100 Preview

Sean and I head back to Ohio to tackle the 16th Burning River 100

Last year at this time Sean and I had decided to do something pretty ambitious. He was going to attempt a second 100 miler in 5 weeks and I was going to attempt to run 100 with an accelerated 6 weeks training plan. This year, we are heading back to northern Ohio in very different or not so different circumstances. In June Sean completed the Bighorn 100 in 33:03:19 while I DNF'd after 30 hours at the 82 mile mark. After that race, we both had similar training plans, but as we all know, having a plan and having that plan come off are two different things.

Training for Burning River 100

Our basic plans were going to be fairly straightforward. Basically we were both going to do a mix of speed and skill work during the week, with long runs no longer than 14-16 on the weekends. For me, I was going to continue to focus on hills and tempo/progression runs to keep up my strength. Sean was going to mix his typical intervals with some tempo runs. There were two main things I was worried about with prepping for this race. First, I was going to start back to my regular job on July 1 after having a much more flexible schedule for the past 10 months. My training has been more complete in the last year due to this flexibility. I've worked on speed, strength, and, well, flexibility. I wasn't sure how my body was going to react to having to either get up earlier or cut back on the intensity or duration of my workouts. Leading up to bighorn, I would spend 2 hours in the gym most days. That wasn't going to be an option any more. The other main hurdle was going to be a conference in Portland, Oregon that I was attending June 30-July 4. Travel always messes with my training, but this was going to be a critical weekend 4 weeks before the race.

Here's a screen grab of my weekly mileage for the past two months.

So, what's with that "C" word?

Yep. While I was able to get in a couple really good runs while I was in Oregon, I came back and tested positive for Covid 3 days later. I had not gotten it this whole time and now 3 weeks before a 100 miler, I came down with it. So, that made me feel pretty rotten for a few days, but I also wanted to focus on resting and healing and not getting out there to put in the miles.

So, I've only run about 120 miles since Bighorn 100. I think I would have liked to have had a week of about 40 miles during the week of 7/4 but instead that was only 8.89 miles. Additionally, I got into a bad habit of eating whatever just to keep my fitness up, so my fitness has not been where it was just before Bighorn. Now mind you, 3 weeks before Bighorn, I returned from a trip to Europe, so I had some fitness concerns then, too, but I was actually able to do okay with diet and exercise while traveling.

So, the long and the short of it is that my longest run since Bighorn was 16.6 miles that I did four weeks ahead of time, compared to the 26 miler I did 2 weeks before Bighorn. However, I do have some of that residual endurance from doing 82 miles at Bighorn 6 weeks ago. I guess we'll see how all these factors combine this weekend.

Budgeting this race

A few special considerations when it came to developing a budget for this race. The first one is that although one of our tenets of frugal running is that preparation ahead of time is key to saving money, we planned this race more at the spur of the moment. We only decided to run this race after I DNF'd Bighorn. So, we were not able to get the best rate on entry fees or accommodations and travel. For traveling by car, that's not a big deal. We originally decided that we would both meet in Memphis, where my wife lives, and then drive from there. Last year Sean drove the 10 hours to Hattiesburg from Austin and then we drove the 15-16 hours to Cuyahoga falls, getting in to the hotel at 1 am. Not ideal, but we had a whole day to rest. So this year, we were going to save time and exhaustion by only having an 11-12 hour drive on Thursday rather than 15-16 hours. While both of those are long days, when you leave at 6 am, they are completely different prospects.

Since I was going to go to Memphis anyway, the launch point of Memphis compared to Hattiesburg cut down on the cost of gas.

For accommodations, last year we paid the big bucks to stay at the Sheraton Inn and Suites next to the race start. That is such an ideal prospect, it's hard to pass up. However, we were looking at prices that were closer to $250 per night for the two nights, so there just had to be a better deal. This time, I booked a two bedroom apartment in Akron for $95. Importantly, it also has only a $12 cleaning fee, so the total with all taxes and fees was just $230 for two nights for a 2 bedroom 900 square foot apartment. The apartment has a full kitchen, so we save on having to cook dinner, there is coffee provided, etc. while at the Sheraton the breakfast buffet is something like $25--no thanks. So, we save $270 or more on the two nights plus probably another $50 per person by being able to cook at the Airbnb.

But then, the trouble

After we signed up, Sean realized that he has a meeting on Friday morning, the 29th, the day before the race, for work. The best he can do is to get a $630 flight (prices really got crazy this summer) to Cleveland that gets in at 9:30 at night. Not ideal for an ultra that starts at 4 the next morning, but it is what it is and we roll with it.

Then, my car also had issues. A week after Bighorn, I took my 2015 Subaru Forester to the dealer in Jackson to look at the transmission issue that it was having. 8 hours and $2211 later, my car is running well again. While that was a huge cost, one thing that this transmission issue was doing was kill my gas mileage. While I budgeted for 25 miles per gallon for the Wyoming trip (and I was getting really closer to 23 mpg), yesterday I got nearly 30 mpg. Between the better gas mileage and the fact that gas prices have dropped on overage about 50 cents per gallon in the last week, means that I will go from and expected cost of gas for the Memphis-Akron round trip of $250 to about $188. The better gas mileage alone saved about $25 but it will take 100 trips of this size to get the money back from the transmission job, but it is a silver lining.

Gas mileage improving during this trip

So, right now, for me, the costs are expected to be $280 for entry fee; $188 for gas; $165 for accommodations and another $50 for food. Total cost expected to be $690. There are a couple costs that we will wait to talk about in the race report. For example, we don't have a hotel for Saturday night, so what are we going to do to get a shower after the race (always one of the tricky questions when trying to do this races frugally)? Also, we aren't driving back on Suday (that would be insane), so I need to get a hotel somewhere Sunday night.

How does Sean feel about the race?

Sean and I got on Zoom this past weekend to talk a little about how we're feeling heading into this. Here are some excerpts from that conversation.

WS: How's your training been going? Do you feel prepared?

SD: I think it's gone really well, I had no hiccups . I feel fast. I'm actually having to kind of hold myself back for the next seven days. This damn caloric deficit and the calories I earn through training eats at my brain. But I feel really good in my training and I want to push myself more.

WS: Well, that sounds pretty good then. That's a good problem to have. What are your concerns?

SD: I have fears, just like everyone else. The humidity is a concern. I would say, what would you call it, the hike and bike trail? Yeah, the hike and bike trail is a concern because it is so exposed. I just don't know how many miles once you come out of the woods, how far you have to go on that. I don't know how much the mileage is.

WS: Well, it looks like it's about 6 miles total. You're on the hike and bike trail for one mile up until the aid station that was the car hop aid station, and then it's 5 miles to Silver Springs and the turnaround. So, with out and back, that's 12, 12 to 13 miles.

SD: Shit. That's a lot.

Challenges of Burning River 100

WS: Yeah. I mean that's the thing that I think is unique about this race is that you are on different surfaces, back and forth. You start off on paved and then you go to single track and then back and forth between roads, single track, towpath, and horse trails. Some of those paved sections are pretty steep, too.

SD: The only thing I remember are that you're on road and then you're on trail , you're on towpath, hike and bike, then you turnaround and it just flip flops between towpath and then trail. Then you're on on road for a little bit. You're on trail for a long time, and you maybe get on towpath for a little while. After that you know what I mean. It's all a bit nuts.

WS: Yeah, you keep on changing surfaces. You even run through that cornfield at one point.

WS: Looking at the website now, I'm noticing that they only list 5 aid stations where there are popsicles (Kendall Lake, Route 8, Silver Springs, Route 8 (back), Kendall Lake(back)). I just remember how much I depended on those last year.

SD: I saw your message on the Facebook page that you were asking about a cooler.

WS: Yeah, I've heard back from a couple generous folks that are either willing to take my cooler or to shove a couple of my drinks in their cooler.

WS: So, how do you feel about your training between Bighorn and now? I know I didn't run for about a week after Bighorn since I wanted to make sure I was fully recovered. Then the next week I put in a pretty heavy week going up to Portland. Let's face it, that 50 mile week is as big of a week mileage-wise that I'll get. That week that included the trip to Portland, I was feeling great.

SD: You felt great.

WS: I felt fucking great! And then I came back and ran that 4 miler which included a last mile that was at 7:02. So I was still feeling strong and fast. And then the next day (July 7th), I tested positive for covid.

My "still" positive covid test one week later.

SD: In my opinion, I think you've recovered pretty well.

What Covid did to my training plan

WS: You know you got to stay healthy. You got to stay hydrated. You got to stay, you know, nourished when you're fighting off a fucking virus. And so I was eating all sorts of garbage that I try to avoid during a training cycle: ice cream, oreos, nutter butters...Combine that with taking a week off of running during this training cycle and coming back gingerly, it's just not great.

WS: You know I started getting back into it, but then I'm like uncertain and so I look at what I did last year, like my training between Mohican. I did a 26 miler at night and also a 30 miler in the morning, building up my miles and stamina and gettnig heat acclimation in. I just haven't done those long runs this time.

SD: But it's totally different because last year you were trying to get so many fucking miles in.

WS: Yeah, true.

SD: Yeah, at Mohican you got 20 or 23 miles or something under your belt, then you got that 50 K and then a marathon. So you were trying to fucking get as many miles as you can. Under the circumstances you were in, you were worried if you could make it to the finish line. This year, you have 82 fucking miles under your belt from Bighorn. So, Boom! You have a fucking rich foundation to point at. You're there. So after that, you have to worry about having too many miles under your belt. Not too little like last year.

SD: I don't know...it kind of reminds me of the covid year, 2020, where I did Jackalope Jam, and I ran the 24 hour race. I had like 80 something miles under my belt, right? After doing 84 miles in 24 hours. And I was like "Oh Fuck"! Because remember; was supposed to do Jackalope Jam 24 hours as a preparation race for Screaming Monkey 100.

WS: : Oh that's right. Because Screaming Monkey was going to be April, then, and then you're like: "Oh Fuck. Did I do too much?"

SD: I did too much, and I remember weeks afterwards I was fucking still out. I'm still fucked up. So when covid hit I was, "Oh good . I don't have to run that race now." That's why I sit here and say, "82 miles, you got it covered."

WS: Yeah, I buy that. But I still think ideally the weekend that I got covid , I would have put down a 16 to 20 miler. You know, just to get some quality miles. But as it ends up, that 16 that I did in Portland was my longest run.

SD: But didn't you do 14 last weekend?

WS: Yeah, I did 14 last Saturday and then 10 last Sunday.

SD: Yeah, you're good.

WS: I think I'm worried about psychologically missing the preparation that I did last year. Now I know what this feels like again since Bighorn is still fresh enough in my mind to where I can use that to psychologically get myself through this, but I don't have that really fresh experience that will get in a what a marathon or 30 miler will give you. Especially all the suffering from the runs last summer to get ready for Burning River. It was dark and humid and those training runs were brutal. I just don't feel like any of my training runs were brutal enough to be much help for the psychological aspect of a 100 miler.

SD: You're really not far off from what I did last year. You did the 16 miles in Portland; basically two weeks after Bighorn, right? That's basically what I did. Then the week after you got covid, you did 14? That's what I did.

WS: Yeah, if you look at my weekly mileage from those two weeks, it's pretty reasonable given where I was in the training cycle. Just that one week when I had covid is off.

SD: And then you just did 8 miles today and did those last two fast as fuck. So you're fine.

WS: Yeah, that's been my approach. Not to focus too much on volume, but just to get in some quality runs.

SD: Yeah, but I understand it. You just have this thing from getting covid hanging over your head.

WS: And the other thing is just being back at the job means, I just can't go run any time of day or go to the gym for 2 hours. The days before Portland, I went out at 11 and ran an 11 miler in the middle of the day for heat acclimation.

SD: That's fucking badass.

WS: Right now, I think my best bet is just to work on some psychological stuff to be focused on this race. That and working on my stomach because it does seem to be the heat that fucks it up.

SD: It's so funny because you're so methodical with things compared to me. It's like you're sitting there going "Okay, I need to journal some stuff this week to mentally prepare for the race." It's interesting to think about what you would do in a California ultra.

WS: I'm looking at the weather forecast now. It's supposed to start off at 59 or 60 and get up to 80. Even if it gets up to the mid 80s, that's not the worst because I'm pretty sure it got to the upper 80s on that hike and bike trail last year.

WS: What section has you worried this year?

SD: That section between Kendall Lake and Pine Hollow. It's just really hard because after those prairie hills, you go back in the woods. It's really close in and it's just technical and tough.

WS: I just remember that section feeling like it took forever on the way back and it didn't seem to take much time on the way there. You're just enveloped by these big trees and it's just really humid.

SD: I remember there were a couple benches in there and there were a couple of folks. I don't know if they were 100 milers or 50 milers and they were going "uggh".

The rain, the mud, the heat, the humidity

WS: What do you think the biggest challenges or obstacles will be this year?

SD: One of the things I remember last year was the rain. The way I look at the rain last year was it was both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage was that it felt really cool, like cool on my skin and in the fact that I was able to navigate it pretty quickly. I got a lot of confidence from that. I gained a lot of confidence from that right. But then you know, on the way out the trails weren't too bad but by the time we headed back , they were a big mess because they'd been trampled on. I used to think I sucked at running in mud and the way I handled that, I got a lot of confidence. This course, it invites speed. It can be a fast course that I don't find too challenging.

WS: I think it's got enough challenges to keep it interesting compared to what I've heard about Brazos Bend, for example. I would rather have this sort of mixed trail. I like the mix of surfaces and I think with the temps in the low 60s overnight. It will be cool enough to be able to not be too draining.

SD: What are some of your goals for this race?

WS: I have four staggered goals. My number one goal is a sub 24. That's a lifetime goal to run a sub 24 hour 100 miler and so I have to go for it. My number two goal if I miss that is to break my PR for the 100 miler, and right now that's 27:04:50. My number three goal is PR Burning River. Last year, I ran it in 28:37:40, so 28:30 or so is goal 3. Goal 4 is just to finish and get my WSER entry.

SD: Do you mind if I challenge any of these?

WS: Go ahead

SD: I would think just finishing the race would be a fucking accomplishment, given covid.

WS: I think that's true and that is a goal, but what I realize about myself if that I have to have time goals that are ambitious or I won't leave myself enough of a cushion to accomplish any of the goals. I had good goals for Bighorn but when I missed my goal for the turnaround, I didn't have enough cushion to meet the other goals. I need enough wiggle room to when shit goes sideways, I'm still well under the time I needed for the goal. So if I would have had a more ambitious goal, I would have push myself harder, which would have given me that little bit more gap, such that I wouldn't have been running up against the time so so closely.

SD: I kind of like your four goals method. I think that would work for me. But then at the same time, during these races , everything's an ebb and flow; how do I feel when running these races. So it's all about adjusting. I don't want to be thrown off too much because I'm not able to make my goal when something unexpected comes up in the middle of the race.

Well, that sums up most of our conversation. I'm thinking about posting the video of this conversation on YouTube. If that's something you'd like to see, be sure to make a comment below about that. We will be back next week with another blog with a race report so we can let everyone know how it went.