Solve Cutoff Stress

I came into Massanutten 100 this year wanting to run well.

After getting pulled at Zumbro 100 the month before, I wanted to get back to finishing 100s.

But I wasn’t close to being trained like normal for Massanutten, so I decided to run the highest pace that felt sustainable for 100 miles at my current fitness - slower than usual.

A few sections into the race, I checked my cushion on cutoff. Twenty minutes. Good.

A couple more sections in, I was up to an hour and ten minutes ahead of cutoff. Great trend.

At 50 miles, after a technical nine-mile section, I was down slightly to a straight hour on cutoff. I wasn’t sure about this one. I ran a lot of that section, so I expected to gain on cutoff but parts were slow so maybe holding my own was ok.

No matter - next up was four miles of flat gravel road. I’d gain a ton of time here.

I ran it hard and couldn’t wait to hear the result, but the aid station volunteer said I was (still) only an hour ahead of cutoff.

Huh??

At 54 miles, the last thing I wanted was to have to speed up. The section ahead was ten miles of technical and it was now dark…so running faster?? As I told a friend, “I’m concerned and frustrated.”

I set out on the ten miles as fast as I could, trying to untangle the confusion. Was I missing something? Slow? Or was someone wrong?

The happiest explanation was that we started an hour later this year, and the last aid station, maybe the last two, used old clock times for cutoff. So when they said one hour, it was really two.

But I didn’t want to count on it.

Cutoff stress is more than miserable - it can slow you down and make you drop.

When you hear you don’t have much cushion on cutoff, you panic and go way too fast but only make it a short distance before wearing yourself out. Exhausted and still panicked, you drop in defeat.

Or you wear yourself out worrying about it, calculating everything over and over until you can’t think any more.

Or you run with your mind miles ahead, wanting to be at the next aid station already. You’re so distracted, you miss a turn in the trail, forget to eat and drink, and fail to notice you’re slowing down.

The solution is eliminating cutoff stress.

It seems like a tall order but I used the same process I’ve used for decades and now teach my clients.

It showed me my pace and cushion on cutoff were just numbers…and the number didn’t matter.

Whether my cushion was 2 hours or 2 minutes, I was already running the highest pace I could sustain for 100 miles. A different number wasn’t going to change that.

So I set all the cutoff panic, worry and distraction aside - it didn’t matter.

I was already doing my best and that’s all I had to keep doing.

I felt the tension release and went on to finish a relaxed hour and half ahead of cutoff.

How would you run without cutoff stress?

You would run a calm, smart pace the whole race.

Be present and pay attention to footing, notice when to power hike or run, and follow course navigation.

Focus on all the things you need to do to finish the race - fuel, hydrate, prevent hot spots…

And run happier.

Simple mind shift, big results.