How to Know You’re Ready for a 100

You need three things to be ready for a 100-mile race.

And they aren’t what you think.

It isn’t experience. You can have years’ worth of ultramarathon experience and not be ready.

It isn’t completing the shorter distances. You can run a 100-miler as your first ultra.

It isn’t your training. Training is wonderful but completing a training plan or a certain amount or type of training doesn’t automatically make you ready.

It isn’t passing a performance test. You need something more than being able to complete an arbitrary combination of miles, elevation, and whatnot.

And it isn’t having a veteran, elite runner or your best friend tell you you’re ready. That’s great but it’s just an opinion.

All of these are helpful going into a 100-mile race but they don’t make you ready.

Here’s what does.

1. The first is desire.

Specifically, the desire to answer the ‘can I do it’ question for yourself.

This isn’t desire for redemption, to run a hundred because you should, or to prove doubters wrong.

It’s an inner desire to see what you’re made of, an itch you have to scratch, a question you have to answer, a challenge you’re compelled to accept.

It won’t let go and keeps asking, “Why not now?”

You need desire to be ready for a 100-miler because it’s the force that makes the training miles worth it, day after day.

It’s the fuel that propels you to the finish line when you’re exhausted, chasing cutoff, and tempted to give up.

It’s your strong Why.

2. The second is trust.

No matter what your mind says, your gut says ‘you can’ and you trust it.

This makes no logical sense because you don’t have proof you can run 100 miles and you may have even DNF’d trying. But like a battery with a full charge, you know the capability is there, even if you don’t see it yet.

You need self-trust to be ready for a 100-miler because no matter what other races you’ve run, you’re going to have to make a leap up in distance that requires a leap of faith in yourself.

To do something big, you first have to trust it’s possible.

3. The last is commitment.

The commitment to follow through on your desire.

You need commitment to be ready for a 100-miler because that’s what it takes to do the training no matter the setbacks, the work it takes, or what people say.

In the race, commitment puts one foot in front of the other all the way to the finish line.

Desire makes you decide to get out of the aid station. Commitment makes you take the action to stand up out of the chair, walk out of the aid station and start the next section.

If you don’t have all three of these, don’t worry, you can get them.

I do this all the time with clients. I help them find the desire, build self trust, and stay consistent with commitment, and you can too.

You might feel tempted to avoid looking at desire, trust and commitment because they’re intangible concepts, not solid miles, but you have to line them up to make everything else possible - all the training, race planning, and miles between you and the finish.

These come first.

When you’ve got them, you're ready.