Grand Slam Stats

Some facts and figures I found interesting from the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning, involving running the Western States 100, Vermont 100, Leadville Trail 100 and Wasatch Front 100 in the same summer.

Average age of finishers: 44.77
Official finishers prior to 2013: 266
Official finishers including 2013: 288

Number of those 288 who broke 100 hours in total: 54 (plus Nick Clark)
Number of women who broke 100 hours: 6 (including Krissy Moehl, Darcy Africa and Ann Trason...plus Abby McQueeney Penamonte in 2013)

Most finishes by one person: 8 (Dan Brendan - missed only two years from 2004 to 2013)
Most starters in one year: 36 (1998)
Most finishers in one year: 22 (plus Nick Clark for 23) (2013)
State or country with most finishers since 1986: California (51)

Total ascent according to run100s.com: 74,732ft
Total descent according to run100s.com: 78,861ft
Total ascent according to my Garmin: 74,116ft (including several hours of using a less accurate 305 model at Wasatch that tends to underestimate)

Most stats above taken from run100s.com, the rest from Strava/Garmin.

Wasatch Front 100 - The Finale of the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning

The end of 400 miles. Photo: irunfar

Just 20 days after Leadville the remaining 23 Grand Slammers turned up in Utah to crown the summer's efforts. Much as Nick and I wanted to do well in the race itself, it was now all down to whether he could beat me by over 69 minutes, which was my lead from the other races. As he said in post-Leadville interviews, it was 'game on.' See my race reports from the other three races (Western States, Vermont and Leadville).

A canceled flight the day before the race didn't help my stress levels but I eventually got to the race briefing late, direct from the airport. There was a lot of uncertainty in the air for me despite the fact everyone I spoke to seemed to think I had the Slam record in the bag. I didn't think that, but at least I was uninjured and as well rested as possible.

The race itself started with almost two hours of dark and the first few miles were on gently rolling trails, an easy introduction into the 26,500ft of ascent and almost that much descent (it's a point-to-point course). This race is by far the hardest of the Grand Slam events and wasn't helped by it being one of, if not the, hottest year in the race's history.

Nick and I went to the front from about mile three onwards then the first huge climb started and Nick disappeared into the darkness. By the top of the climb, a 4,000ft net gain, I could just see him about three minutes ahead and I was just ahead of the chase pack. I felt that was a good start and that my legs were cooperating. Some of the early miles were beautiful and I was able to enjoy it before feeling the fatigue and soreness that would inevitably follow. Rod Bien and I ran together for many miles and I considered him the biggest threat for the win after Nick since I used to live in Bend, OR, where Rod lives and I'd seen his strength on the climbs. Rod eventually got a comfortable margin for third, but all I cared about was how far ahead Nick was.

Nick led from start to finish and I was in second almost the whole day as well, but he had me worried when he started increasing his lead through the day. It didn't help that I missed a turn before half-way and added 15 minutes, meaning he had a 38-minute lead at mile 52. The heat took it's toll in the first half too and therefore many people dropped fairly early on, plus all the runners were slowed by the lack of shade for long sections. Even though Western States was far hotter this year than Wasatch, I had about as many issues dealing with dizziness and difficulty eating at both. The additional altitude of Wasatch certainly added to this, with much of the course above 9,000ft.

From about 25 miles in I could definitely tell my legs had run several 100s recently, which wasn't how it felt at Leadville. All I could do was to look after myself enough to avoid a melt-down (or a serious one anyway). Yet Nick kept his lead to between 27 and 41 minutes for most of the second half so I had to push.

I've never vomited in a race before so when I got light-headed then started spewing at mile 80, I got very worried. It had been dark for over an hour and the trails in the last 25 miles are sketchy to say the least. Technical, rocky trails are fun, but there were some nasty super-steep descents down v-shaped scree slopes with fist-sized rocks throughout. Combining high altitude, exhaustion, night and those downhills led to a lot of falls, swearing and frustration. I struggled to get into a rhythm with constant ups and downs from mile 85 and was generally feeling sorry for myself. I was sure Nick must have been zooming ahead of me to get close to the 69-minute win he needed, but I wasn't the only one feeling the effects of the day and the previous races.

After a 9.7-mile stretch between aid stations on the hardest terrain of the day I'd somehow pulled back a few minutes, which got me so excited I sped up then had to puke again. With 7.6 miles to go Nick was only about 35 minutes ahead, so even my second bout of stomach issues wasn't enough to worry me.

In contrast to some of the insanely hard night sections before it, the last few miles are gentle and very runnable. There's still a lot of downhill to the finish but it's at more of a pedestrian 12% gradient than the near vertical sections earlier, plus it's all on fire roads finishing with a couple of miles of paved road.

Wasatch is undoubtedly the hardest race I've ever run and makes for a seriously tough finish to the Grand Slam. I look back now and know the only reason I got through it and kept motivated was that nick and I had pushed each other for the whole summer and I was never going to let that hard work go to waste.

Nick won in 20h24m, a slower time than he should have run due to the heat and leg fatigue. I heard him finish as I was running down the side of the mountains about three and a half miles away. Then I came in just under 21 hours after more night running than I've ever dealt with, but couldn't find the route to the finish line when just feet away from it. I was shouted at very angrily by a race volunteer (I assume) who told me to follow the glow-sticks, which just weren't very visible from 100ft away. That little altercation cost me a couple of minutes and I finished in 21h01m. I felt no emotion, not even relief, and was just drained. The day had been full of so many emotions and highs and lows as varied as the course profile, that I think there was just nothing left. It took me about two hours to eat a grilled cheese sandwich as even that was too much effort after the running stopped. Full race results here.

Nick at the finish. Photo: irunfar

Congratulating each other on our wins (everyone's a winner). Photo: irunfar

In summary

So Nick ran the fastest combined time for the four Slam races in 70h21m but 37 minutes later I lowered that again to 69h49m. Just writing that makes me wonder how we both were able to go head-to-head for such a huge amount of time and finish so close. It really came down to the final miles and nothing was certain until we both crossed the line.

Much as the body gets damaged by these consecutive 100-milers, the mind takes a beating too. Forcing myself to give it everything through the last 30-70 miles (depending on which race in the series it was) four times in succession drained me to my core.

I'll have many fond memories of this summer and the main theme will be the friendly, but committed, competition with a good friend and incredible runner. I've nothing but the utmost respect for Nick and we drove each other to perform better and run faster than solo efforts would have allowed. It's rare to see a close rivalry between just two runners in the ultra world and to have us so evenly matched through the summer. I look forward to the next time we face off against each other, probably at the 2014 Western States.

There were 22 finishers in the official Grand Slam plus Nick completed the races without entering the overall series. Their details are here and all went through more than I could have imagined before I attempted it myself.

My full Grand Slam write-up is on irunfar.

Also, here are the Strava GPS files for the four Slam races:

Western States 100

Vermont 100

Leadville Trail 100

Wasatch Front 100

And finally the gear I used, which was basically identical through all four races and worked really well for me:

Scott Kinabalu T2 trail shoes
UltrAspire handhelds, Spry and Alpha vests
Julbo Dust shades
Clif Bar Shot gels and Shot Bloks
Drymax Max Protection Trail socks
Hypoxico Altitude Tent (for Wasatch only)

Thank you to everyone who helped or supported me, whether it was my pacers Sean Meissner and Aaron Keller, my sponsors or my wife who had to put up with me spending half the summer away from home.

Grand Slamming

Buckles from the Grand Slam

It's almost time for Western States 100 again (this is my fourth year in a row) but this year I wanted to try something new and attempt a bigger challenge for the sake of variety. So I'll be running the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning, one of the classic ultra challenges which dates back to 1986. It involves running four of the oldest 100 milers in the US in one summer - Western States 100, Vermont 100, Leadville Trail 100 and Wasatch Front 100. That totals 400 miles of racing with around 74,000ft of ascent and more descent due to WS100 being a net downhill course.

Here's Keith Knipling's 2006 set of profiles for the four races:

I've only ever run the first of these races and have never tried to run 100s this close together. I'm definitely nervous. However, one of the biggest draws about ultrarunning is that it gives runners the chance to push their limits and try things that initially don't seem possible. Since I've already run WS100 a few times it made sense to try the Grand Slam since I at least know how I'm likely to feel three weeks after the first race and last year I think I'd have been ok to run that far again. The other big factor is that WS100 has a lottery and the guaranteed routes to entry (placing top 10 the previous year or getting a spot from top two in a Montrail Ultracup race) are getting more and more competitive every year. There's no guarantee I can keep qualifying so it makes sense to try this while I have a WS100 entry for certain.

Here's an interview I did about the Grand Slam for Julbo.

Training For Multiple 100 Milers

In terms of training I've mainly focused on WS100 since if you're fit enough to run one race like this really well then the main issue for doing four is recovery. Doing four times the training would have been ridiculous and just led to injuries and a lot of slow running. Besides, each 100 will be a great long training run for the next one. The one difference to previous years is that I've given a bigger focus to WS100 training and made my build-up harder in terms of training intensity but lower in terms of number of races and length of races. I've been conservative at the build-up races too since I can't afford to start the Grand Slam tired or injured.

Unfortunately I have had a couple of pieces of bad luck with injuries. A slight knee issue from last December stayed with me until February when I took a month off and it basically went away. I had the tiniest inkling it was back when running in Peru last month so opted to play it safe and keep my eye on the prize of WS100 and the Grand Slam. It doesn't concern me and I can't see it being an issue, but I've played safe recently.

The more annoying injury is that as soon as I got back from Peru I was running on a bike path, placed my foot on the edge of the pavement and twisted my ankle worse than I ever have. Luckily it seems to be a grade 1 ankle sprain with minor damage that meant I was running again within about four days and doing technical all-out trail running within a week. It also held up through a tempo long run at the San Francisco marathon at the weekend but it's not perfect and the remaining 11 days to WS100 will be helpful in making sure it has time to heal, especially as it's taper time and the hard training is over with.

Anyway, I'm very excited about WS100 and it seems to get more enjoyable each year. Then I can focus on race two, but it's definitely a case of taking it one at a time.

Grans Slam Stats

Below are some stats about the Grand Slam with more details here:

- Completed 266 times since 1986 by 234 different people
- Number of finishers from England: 3
- Record for the combined time: 74h54m16s by Neal Gorman in 2010 (Neal was meant to be running WS100 and Hardrock 100 this summer but is out of at least the first with illness)
- Number of people who've broken 80 hours for the Grand Slam with these four races (in the past Old Dominion 100 and Arkansas Traveler 100 could also be included, but not in recent years): 6
- Number of women who've broken 80 hours for the Grand Slam: 1 (bet you can guess her name...I'll give you a hint - she's the only person to win Western States and Comrades, male or female)

What If Four 100s Is Too Easy?

For those who think the Grand Slam is just too short, there's the option of extending it to six 100s for The Last Great Race which adds Old Dominion 100 and Angeles Crest 100 to the Grand Slam. Or you could see how many 100s you could do in a year, like Liz Bauer who ran 36 of them last year. None of this is on my radar in the foreseeable future, which my wife is very glad to hear.

Grand Slamming 2013

Keith Knipling's GPS profiles from 2006

Since before my friend Paul Terranova got into Western States via the 2012 lottery and decided that meant he should do the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning (Western States 100, Vermont 100, Leadville 100 and Wasatch 100 all in one summer), I'd considered it. Given he'd never run a 100-miler before and he added on the Kona Ironman to his summer, it was an impressive target to aim for. And even more so given he then won the Slam this year with a combined time of 80h53m, only about six hours off Neal Gorman's 2010 record.

2012 was my third consecutive Western States so I told myself that if I felt like I could recover from it well and be ok to run a 100 miler on the day of Vermont 100 then I'd go for it in 2013. The main difficulty in going for the GS is that Western States is very difficult to get into given a very oversubscribed lottery or a few places available for automatic qualifiers. One of the ways to guarantee an entry is to be top 10 in the previous year's race so I luckily had that hurdle out the way and no practical impediments to giving it a go (it also helps I don't have kids and a work a flexible enough schedule).

In the last week several top runners have shown an interest in going for the GS - Karl Meltzer, Nick Clark, record holder Neal Gorman, Nick Pedatella and Jay Aldous. Even if just a couple of them do, it'll make for a competitive year and make it much more interesting as that record gets seriously challenged. Plus Neal is quicker than he was in the year he got the GS record.

Some numbers:

Race                Neal's GS record   Clarky's best times    Potential record

Western States        18:14                          15:44                          15:45-16:30

Vermont                  16:33                                                             15:00-16:00

Leadville                  18:47                           17:11                         17:30-18:30

Wasatch                  21:19                          20:21                          20:00-21:00

Overall                   74:54                                                            68:15-72:00

This is a best case scenario and even if someone's on these fast splits, it doesn't count unless the last race goes well too. And Wasatch is a beast so a bad day could add on a lot of extra time on tired legs.

Note that Neal ran 16:18 at the 2012 Western States, and he's almost certainly faster than in 2010, but the conditions play a large part in these races so tough weather at more than one of them would probably mean no chance of a record. But whether it's record-breaking or not, I'm very excited to go up against a fast group of great runners and try out three new classic races.

But who wants to bet that Nick Clark can get 3rd in all four of the races?