The Boston Marathon of trail and ultrarunning is happening this weekend: Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, from Squaw Valley to Auburn. I’m really excited to follow along through iRunFar’s coverage. It’s going to be an exciting year!

The women’s side will see the return of last year’s champ, Magda Boulet, as well as Stephanie Howe who won in 2014 (although I’m not 100% sure she’s running). In addition to those two, the front pack is stacked with talented runners all of whom could vie for that top spot. I think Sally McRae is a bit of a dark horse who may sneak up for the win. I’m also excited to see Bethany Patterson get redemption at WS and represent Virginia.

On the men’s side it’s anyone’s game since there are no recent winners returning to Squaw this year. It will be exciting to watch Sage Canaday make his Western States debut. He’s running for the win, but also running for his first 100 miler finish after getting injured and dropping at UTMB. David Laney is definitely another contender. I expect Laney and Canaday will likely be running together from the beginning – if that’s the case they may blow each other up. My dark horse prediction for the men? Andrew Miller – the winner of this year’s Georgia Death Race.

Aside from ultrarunning, there are also a lot of other exciting sporting events taking place this weekend. With the Olympics less than 50 days away (!!!) there are a lot of trials going on for the US teams. Men’s gymnastics has their Olympic trials this weekend and the women’s side has their P&G National Championships. Swimming also kicks off their trials this Sunday and I’ve got two friends I grew up swimming with who have qualified to the trials this year.

When we flip the calendar to July it will be time for track & field trials as well as the women’s gymnastics trials. So exciting! I’m glad there’s so much TV coverage for these events.

Will you be following along Western States or any of the Olympic trials coverage this weekend?
What are your favorite summer Olympic sports? Basically all of them: swimming, the marathon, gymnastics, soccer, track & field, field hockey.

I’m linking up today with the Wednesday Word link up, hosted by Debbie. Today’s Wednesday Word is lost. I’ve been doing a lot of trail running this year, and getting lost is always something you have to be aware of.

Today’s word prompt reminded me of a post I wrote back in 2014 when I was just getting into trail running. Here is a rerun of six lessons from the trail that still hold true today…

1. You’re going to go slower, and that’s okay. Hills on trails tend to be more frequent and steeper, in my experience. That, in addition to the terrain (roots, rocks, etc.), is likely going to slow you down 2-3 minutes/mile. Sometimes you have to take a walk break, and that’s okay. Be forewarned, running downhill can be just as challenging as running uphill.

2. Plan for the unexpected. You should carry extra water/fuel in case you’re out longer than planned. It’s also a good idea to always make sure someone knows in general where you plan to run, and how long you expect to be gone. I often carry my cell phone in my pack, just in case.

3. Don’t be afraid to explore. Look at a trail map beforehand, if possible, to plan a route and avoid getting lost. Once you’re out on the trail, take note: The scenery is beautiful, but you’ll be spending more time looking at the ground.

4. Don’t get obsessed over the data. Take your specific Garmin data with a grain of salt. When you’re in the woods, your GPS watch can lose its connection with satellites. Also, see #1. But if you do happen to run up a mountain, enjoy the elevation profile. It’ll make you feel like a bada@@.

5. Sign up for a race. What better way to immerse yourself in the trail running community than to run a race? In my experience, the trail running community is knitted even more tightly than the general running community, and they will welcome newcomers with open arms. Trail races also tend to be smaller, and have lots of special touches.

6. Have fun. Don’t avoid the mud or the icy cold creek water – charge right through them both! Even if you don’t invest in trail shoes, it won’t take long for you to have a pair of shoes that are designated as ‘trail shoes’. They’ll be the ones that don’t come into the house, because they smell like the creek.

Sometimes getting ‘lost’ in nature isn’t such a bad thing.

Have you ever gotten lost?
When can getting lost be a good thing?

…and it was hard. Who would have thought, right? Ultras are hard guys, but they’re also amazing and incredible.

Yesterday I completed my second (Or third? I’m not sure if Ragnar counts, but I think maybe it does) ultramarathon. I didn’t really talk too much about it leading up to the race, because I wanted to just go out there and do my thing. This time it was the Eastern Divide 50K, which is basically in my backyard, and I think it is the hardest race I have ever done.

The course had the most elevation change I’ve ever dealt with in a race. I ran by myself for a very long time. I got sick on the course more than once, had full on leg cramps, and dealt with the mental stress of making a cut off by mere minutes. There were several times during the day that I feared I would not get to finish, and there were a few where I had resigned myself to not finishing. And I know without a doubt I would not have reached that finish line without Barry’s help during the final 9 miles of the race.

I hope to have a full race report by next week. For now, I’m in need of some rest and recovery.

I’m linking up today with Tricia @MissSippiPiddlin’ and Holly @HoHo Runs for their Weekly Wrap link up. Check them out and see who else is linking up this week!

Who else raced this past weekend?
What fun activities did you get up to this weekend? I hope everyone had a nice Fathers Day!!

There’s only a few miles between a road marathon and a trail 50K. In my experience, however, they have more differences than similarities.

Training. The training for a road marathon and for a 50K looks similar. Generally speaking, you can get by with a maximum long run of 16-20 miles, and a peak week somewhere between 40 and 50 miles. Unlike marathon training, preparing for an ultra involves running back to back long runs on the weekends to practice running on tired legs. The training also primarily takes place on trails, because most ultras are also on trails. Since trails often involve elevation and technical terrain, you’ll find you spend more time on your feet during ultra training than marathon training.

Nutrition. In a marathon you can, and often will, hit the wall somewhere between mile 18-20. However, at that point you can pretty much drag yourself through the final 10K. That won’t cut it during an ultra, though. The ultra demands more, nutrition-wise. You’re going to be out there for longer, and that means consuming more calories. The good news is that since you’re running at a lower intensity, your GI system is usually able to accept more foods. You also typically end up up eating more ‘real food’ instead of gels. Running an ultra can kind of become an eating contest with a little running thrown in.

Recovery. Road marathons involve more pounding on your body, whereas a trail ultra is going to be more forgiving due to the softer surface. The marathon demands that you run at a certain intensity, and typically uses a certain set of muscle groups the whole time. During an ultra you are running at a lower intensity but you usually use a wider range of muscles. Because of this, I have found that your muscles recover faster from a trail ultra. But when it comes to your body as a whole, I think a road marathon has the faster recovery.

In the end, if you’re choosing between the two it’s totally a personal choice. I don’t think you can say for certain that one is harder than the other. It’s comparing apples and oranges. As for me… my heart lies with the trail 50K. I’ve had a blast at the two road marathons I’ve run, but I don’t see myself running any more of those in the immediate future. However, I do see myself running another 50K in the future.

And by that I mean tomorrow!! I’m nervous and excited and I sure hope I’m ready for this. Here I go again!

If you have run a road marathon and a trail ultra, how would you compare them?

I’m linking up today with Debbie @DebRuns for her Wednesday Word link up. Be sure to click on the button below to join in and to see who else is linking up!

This week’s word is procrastination. I think everyone has something that they procrastinate. I suspect that we all have different methods of procrastination – some people may even procrastinate working out. But runners, we have our own special form of procrastination…

It’s funny to think that runners may use running to put off other tasks while others probably do those other tasks to put off running.

Are you a procrastinator?
Have you ever been guilty of ‘runcrastination’?