Last week, Coach John picked me up at the Reno airport, and we drove west on I-80 over Donner Pass. I felt this weird, thrilling sensation build inside of me as we crested the Sierras. This confused me until I realized I had driven that stretch of road just three times, all while en route to pacing Western States. But instead of heading to a coffee shop to hide from the heat until pacing duties started, I was heading to Forresthill to do a week-long training camp on the States course with Will Murray and Jenn Lichter. The phantom feelings of States would permeate the week, offering opportunities to renew my relationship with the course while putting in an abundance of miles.
We certainly trained; I ran 167 miles in seven days and felt better as camp progressed (since I’m Strava dark, this is your teaser for how training is going :P). We pushed hard and asked a lot of our bodies. But we also fell over laughing, put on baseball gloves and played catch, and met the guy who runs the Greengate aid station (who is also a butterfly dealer?!). Critically, the hard work was done in a context of fun, friends, and discovery. But an easy-to-miss part of training was strengthening our relationship with this 100-mile thread of trail through the California hills. I feel like I befriended the course, learning more of its quirks and paying it respect that is impossible to do while racing.
I found it so fascinating to see the course without the spectacle of a race. Michigan Bluff reverts from energetic aid station to a tiny cluster of misfit homes clinging to the canyon walls. Foresthill is no longer lined with mobs of people; now it’s just a lonely street with a few bars. Cal Street loses the reprieve of aid stations; it feels empty and still bakes like an oven. Rucky Chucky is silent, aside from the sound of water rushing over rocks. For a place that I’ve only known to be pulsating with energy and the scent of dreams, the quiet is almost eerie.
With the tunnel vision of a race gone, I got to know the trail in a more intimate way. Will and I stopped on Swinging Bridge to admire the granite pools of cerulean water below. We leisurely laid in Volcano Creek, appreciating the cooling waters that almost seemed out of place in the hot forest. Down Cal Street to the river, I couldn’t stop hooting and hollering at how beautiful it was. The American River sparkled and tumbled thousands of feet below us, a beautiful reprieve that would tease us for over a dozen miles before the crossing. We laughed at 5-minute hill, a cruel dirt road that feels like it was created to radiate heat, just as your ice runs out and you begin to dry. Perhaps my favorite was stopping to oggle at the roaring Rucky Chucky Falls. A lazy river turns into a chaotic roar of whitewater as it’s squeezed through massive granite rocks.
The Western States course came to feel like a safe place and a friend throughout training camp. It now feels like a place I can go to do the unthinkable, the formerly impossible. During the race, I can calm my mind and body knowing I’m running with a friend. The course and I can work together to squeeze the most out of myself. I spent time listening to the Canyons to find out the best way through on race day. While there were plenty of physiological benefits I reaped, it’s the psychological benefits that will be my secret weapon come race day. It felt so good to grind hard, smile big, and continue to fall in love with running on the States course. Needless to say, I am getting STOKED to race!!
Lovely and genuine text, thanks for sharing! I dont think people are ready for this discussion yet, but Jeff is my pick to win this year, even with such an “out of this world” field. Go Jeff!
Jenn-Jeff-Will, this trio is quite deadly. It seems like Garnett-Paul Pierce-Ray-Allen or you can Lebron James-Dwayne Wade-Chris Bosh. the numbers you said are quite big brother. I haven't seen these kind of numbers especially a lot of athletes are putting these kind of numbers. Abby Hall running with Jim Wamlsley and she also has put some 250 KM weeks as well. I have seen Hannah AllGood running 70 KM in a single activity, Fuzhao Xiang also running 60-70 KM single runs and many more athletes as well. I don't why it is so common amongst the athletes preparing for WSER, Do you have any insights about almost everybody focusing on these kind of long runs and 200-250 KM weeks. Earlier this wasn't the case.
I have also found out that the course remains the same but we are in such a hurry on the race day that we don't experience it the same way we can in training days, the intimacy with the course surely increases.