![]() Of athletes who trained at altitude, 43 percent went even higher, logging runs at altitudes more than 20 percent higher than their typical training altitude. Runners who mostly train at or above 5,000 feet had a median finishing time of 25:39:37 (this represents less than 20 percent of finishers). Get High…SometimesĪccording to the data, athletes who live above 5,000 feet tend to have faster finishing times, though this could be due to selection bias, where many elite athletes choose to live in running meccas like Tahoe, Boulder, and Flagstaff, all of which are above 5,000 feet. While most WSER finishers cross-trained, the relationship between cross-training and finishing times can’t be linked in the data, and this is just to demonstrate that cross-training is an effective way of boosting overall training volume for many athletes. RELATED: How a Two-Time Olympic Marathoner Finished Western States 100 In addition, 55 percent of finishers logged a hike, 33 percent logged a walk, and almost half logged at least one strength workout on Strava. WSER runners seem to prefer biking, with 57 percent of finishers logging at least one bike ride in their build-up, versus the 15 percent who backcountry skied (though that time on snow might come in handy this year!). We can’t point to a causal relationship between finishing times and cross-training because of confounding factors, but those who logged their cross-training on Strava averaged 26 percent more training time across their cycle than their non-cross-training peers. Comparing data from Western States training with other 100-milers in the U.S., we don’t see a statistically significant variation in peak week timing, or long run length. Ninety-seven percent of runners logged at least a 50K in the build-up, and across all finishers, runners logged on average three 50Ks in the six months before the race, suggesting a sort of peak-long-run sweet spot for many finishers. Fifty-seven percent logged a long run of 50 miles or longer. ![]() All finishers logged at least a 20-mile long run in training, and, on average, finishers logged 10 runs of 20 miles or more in the build-up to the Western States 100. The long run is an essential part of 100-mile training, where athletes are able to build endurance, test gear and fueling strategies, and dial in their effort level for race day. While there’s not a huge difference between peaking three and four weeks out, those weeks are overrepresented among finishers versus peaking five weeks out.Īs we saw earlier, most athletes peak with around an 80-mile week, during which the median long run is 32 miles (many people log a self-supported or race stimulus 50K), and almost a third (32 percent) do a 50-mile race during their peak week. Eleven percent of finishers log their biggest week five weeks before race day, and 19 percent peak three weeks out. How’d they build volume and experience going into the race?Īccording to Strava data, about a quarter (22 percent) of athletes do their peak week four weeks out from race day (and many participate in the Memorial Weekend Western States Training Runs, which strings together a 50K, 19-, and 20-mile days). The median base going into the six-month lead-up to WSER was a modest 37 miles with 2,700 feet of climbing, and a median 12-mile long run. That’s some significant volume! But not everyone started with huge training weeks. ![]() Sixty-five percent of runners did at least one race in the build-up to fine-tune their race day strategies and log more time on feet. The median longest run was 50 miles, and 43 percent of athletes did at least a 100K run in the lead-up to States. ![]() The median peak week for a WSER finisher was 81 miles and 16 hours, with an accumulated elevation of 13.5K feet of vertical gain (we use medians rather than averages to eliminate outlier data). Here’s how successful runners train for the Western States 100. Data scientists at Strava compiled data from Western States finishers, from 2018-2022, to help us investigate the numbers behind successful finish times. While no runner who finishes the Western States Endurance Run (WSER) is “average,” we can learn something about effective training from finishers. In our new monthly column in partnership with Strava, we take a deep dive into compelling data points that reveal the more human side of sport. ![]()
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