100 Mile Ultra Training Plan

I'll start by introducing myself, as this is a slightly different audience then who I usually write to.  I'm an ultra marathon runner that goes by the moniker 'Canadian Ghost Runner'.   Ultra marathons are usually held in the mountains, and typically range from 50km to 100 miles (there are even longer one for the clinically insane).  My life consists of working, running and training.   I run on average 100 miles a week, as well as walking, hiking, and cross training, so what I eat plays a big part in my day.  I live in the beautiful ski town of Fernie, British Columbia, Canada.   As I spend 16-24 hours a week running and training, I listen to a lot of music and podcasts, which brings to be how I first heard about the carnivore diet.  I first heard about the carnivore diet from Shawn Baker on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.  I'm a very skeptical person.  I would have dismissed this as the 'Jade Egg' of diets (go ahead, g...

Add caption The Lost Souls Ultramarathon is a 54km to 100mile run in the Coulees around Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.  The Lethbridge area is basically like if the prairies and the desert had a love child that neither parent wanted to parent.  It's hot, windy, and beautiful.  Coulees are basically like canyon walls, that with enough effort and self loathing can be climbed up and down.  The grades are anywhere from 20% to 'I hate my life'.  To make things interesting, the course also loops around the sewage treatment plant.  So while your legs take a beating on the coulees, you get to pick it you want to smell the air, or taste it.  It's like being stuck in a line at Taco Bell. The 100 mile race consists of 3 loops of the 54K course.  Each loop has 6 segments.  4 of these segments smell like Taco Bell, 3 of the legs are absolute hell, and 2 of the segments consist entirely of pointless climbing and descending while smelling other pe...

A long time ago, in an ultra marathon far far away............ BLACKSPUR  The Province of British Columbia is on fire smoke from the fires has filled the air and blotted out the sun. The Sith Lord Brian of Gallant has seized the opportunity to enslave  a group of runners in the town of Kimberley. His Sinister empire has begun construction of  a 'Blackspur'. Plans for the Blackspur have been leaked to the runners however and a plan begins to overthrow the Sinister Empire and conquer the Blackspur has begun. EPISODE 1 The Smoky Menace Episode 1 is a flaming heap of garbage. This race has 6 episodes/legs (everyone knows that 6 episodes is the most episodes any series can have, and anything that comes after that will wreck the series, and feels like a cash grab...Yes, I have issues).  The smoke was bad.  The Air Quality Index looked more like a temperature gauge in death valley than a 0-10 meter. Runners lined up at the bas...

( The following is an unedited, energy drink fueled brain dump.  It may be choppy, and rambling) THE FOLLOWING IS RATED 14A AND MAY CONTAIN SCENES OR ELEMENTS SOME READERS MAY FIND DISTURBING .  READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. Redbull Fueled 17:09 finish Starting these posts is always the hardest part.  I guess the best place to start would be at the beginning. Date:  Sometime before registration closed Time: Sometime before bar close Place: Bridge Bistro, Fernie, BC I had registered for the Sinister 7, and the Blackspur Ultra, earlier in the season.  I had completed the Canadian Death Race (CDR) the year before, and had sworn to NEVER.  EVER.  EVER.  run it again.  I had a decent time, and had no desire to suffer needlessly.  If I wanted to suffer for no reason, I heard Taylor Swift had a new album.  But there I was.  Sitting on a patio, drinking some amazing Fernie Brewing Company craft beer in the summer...

Sinister - giving the impression that something harmful or evil is happening or will happen 7 - equivalent to the sum of three and four; one more than six, or three less than ten.  Also, the number of remaining brain cells in people who attempt to run the Sinister 7. The Sinister 7 is my white whale, my Moby Dick.  This was my third solo attempt at it.  The first attempt in 2013 was because I wanted to see as much of the course as possible, and this was the cheapest way (I'm Dutch, we have a cheap date thing names after us).  I made it 2 legs.  2016 was a relay team. 2017 was a good old college try, I made it to the last aid station on 4 before the heat got me.  Then 2018, this year, which was a success.  I obsessed for 5 years, and even moved to the area to be within harpoon range of the course. I've decided to write down my observations about this course, so you can prove to people that don't believe you, about how horrible this cou...

Our buddy Steve in full race mode 'he's the dude waving' So to fully understand how this race came to be, a little history. While running a while back, I met a man named Steve.  He was fast.  Much faster than me.  I'd been putting in 100 mile run weeks for over a year, and working to increase my performance. Steve had a course record to his name, and multiple podiums.  He was a swim coach.  He made everyone he was friends with feel like they were his best friend.  The dude was amazing. People eagerly waiting to start the run at midnight We would run this god forsaken 2.5 mile loop patch of hard packed dirt and pavement. It had no consistent elevation.  The city had built this trail a decade ago, but had long since forgotten that maintenance was required.  The bridges are on angles, a mudslide has caused a small forest to slide onto the trail, and in a streak of sheer city planning brilliance, they had put in some wooden stairs, t...