Jon Olsen’s North American 100-Mile Record Report
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[ Editor's Note : Previous to last Saturday, the American 100-mile track record was held by Bernd Heinrich at 12:27:01, a record that had stood since 1984. The previous American 100-mile la fitness road record was held by Rae Clark , who ran 12:12:19 in 1989. And the overall North American la fitness 100-mile record was 12:05:43, set by Canadian Andy Jones in 1997 on a road course. But last Saturday, la fitness at the 2013 Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence Annual Ultra Classic 24 Hour race in Ottawa, Canada and on an indoor track, Californian Jon Olsen set a new North American 100-mile record of 11:59:28. Here is his story. ]
“The IAU 100k World Championships have been cancelled.” These infamous words were uttered la fitness for the second time this year. First, when the original host country, South Korea, had to cancel and now South Africa was unable to host either. It was now August, and with a third and final attempt at saving the 100k World Championships in the hands of The United Arab Emirates (Dubai), it was time to make alternate race plans.
I had been allowing my body to heal from the 24 Hour World Championships in Steenbergen, the Netherlands in May. I won that race on an injured la fitness body, and because of that, I required more than usual recovery time. I resumed la fitness training at the beginning of July. This would give me enough la fitness time to build back the base I had lost and then have August and September to train hard and peak for the scheduled 100k World Championships at the end of October, although they were just hanging on by a thread. It was now August and with the 100k very much in doubt, I was forced with a dilemma. I knew my body would be in peak shape near the end of September and if the 100k did not matriculate, then what would I do? Would I ‘downshift’ and save my legs for the Desert Solstice 24 Hour in December, which I already was registered la fitness for or would I race now (September) while my body was healthy and in good race shape?
Good health is never guaranteed and, at 39 years of age, my GREAT performance clock is ticking, so I decided to race in September at the Sri Chimnoy Ultra Classic in Ottawa, Canada, if the 100k was not saved.
Well, lo and behold, we received the news at the end of August that the 100k was going to happen and that the race would be held on December 20th in Dubai! My initial reaction was disappointment because one of my goals this year was to attempt to break the 100-Mile American Record (12:12) set by Rae Clark back in 1989 and I was going to do this in Phoenix at the Desert Solstice 24 Hour track race. Obviously that would be out of the question if I was in Dubai at 100k Worlds. At Desert Solstice last year, I ran 12:29 and knew with some minor changes, I could make a better attempt at the record. Now, I would have to cancel my plans to go to Phoenix, but I wasn’t ready to cancel my goal of breaking the 100-Mile American Record.
With twelve weeks between the Ultra Classic 24 Hour and the 100k World Championships, I had enough time to recover and help Team USA to a gold medal in Dubai. However, I soon found out that the dream of gold would have to wait. The drama of the 2013 IAU 100k World Championships was finally over one week later when it was cancelled completely. la fitness
The focus was now solely on the 100-mile record. For the first time that I can remember, I enjoyed the two-week taper. I finished this taper period with a 1:18 half marathon at the Peace Officers Memorial Half Marathon in my home town of Modesto just six days before the big day. I used this race to ‘wake up’ my fast-twitch muscles. I wouldn’t be telling you the truth if I didn’t say I was a little… I mean… a lot nervous to run so hard so close to my 100-mile attempt.
I made my final travel plans and, with the addition of my wife as crew chief, I was ready to go to Ottawa. This would be the first time, except la fitness the 2012 100k World Championships, my wife had crewed for me since our two children were born. To say I was excited to have her by my side each and every lap was a huge understatement.
After taking a red-eye flight from San Francisco, we arrived in Ottawa early Friday morning. We were able to check in early to our hotel and had an enjoyable 30-minute, shake-out run together near the hotel. We followed that with lunch, a last-minute grocery stop, and a much-needed nap.
We awoke three hours later and made our way to the Louis-Riel Dome, the site for the pre-race check-in and the indoor track that I would get to know intimately in the course of rounding it 402 times! While at the Dome, I met up with my running mentor and 12-hour participant, Mark
Home Blogroll Book RFP Home RFP Resources Buy RFP Spread the Word RFP Samples Table of Contents (pdf) Chapter 1 (pdf) Chapter 2 - partial (pdf) Reviews and Interviews Media Kit Support iRunFar Archive About iRunFar.com Bryon Powell Contributors
[ Editor's Note : Previous to last Saturday, the American 100-mile track record was held by Bernd Heinrich at 12:27:01, a record that had stood since 1984. The previous American 100-mile la fitness road record was held by Rae Clark , who ran 12:12:19 in 1989. And the overall North American la fitness 100-mile record was 12:05:43, set by Canadian Andy Jones in 1997 on a road course. But last Saturday, la fitness at the 2013 Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence Annual Ultra Classic 24 Hour race in Ottawa, Canada and on an indoor track, Californian Jon Olsen set a new North American 100-mile record of 11:59:28. Here is his story. ]
“The IAU 100k World Championships have been cancelled.” These infamous words were uttered la fitness for the second time this year. First, when the original host country, South Korea, had to cancel and now South Africa was unable to host either. It was now August, and with a third and final attempt at saving the 100k World Championships in the hands of The United Arab Emirates (Dubai), it was time to make alternate race plans.
I had been allowing my body to heal from the 24 Hour World Championships in Steenbergen, the Netherlands in May. I won that race on an injured la fitness body, and because of that, I required more than usual recovery time. I resumed la fitness training at the beginning of July. This would give me enough la fitness time to build back the base I had lost and then have August and September to train hard and peak for the scheduled 100k World Championships at the end of October, although they were just hanging on by a thread. It was now August and with the 100k very much in doubt, I was forced with a dilemma. I knew my body would be in peak shape near the end of September and if the 100k did not matriculate, then what would I do? Would I ‘downshift’ and save my legs for the Desert Solstice 24 Hour in December, which I already was registered la fitness for or would I race now (September) while my body was healthy and in good race shape?
Good health is never guaranteed and, at 39 years of age, my GREAT performance clock is ticking, so I decided to race in September at the Sri Chimnoy Ultra Classic in Ottawa, Canada, if the 100k was not saved.
Well, lo and behold, we received the news at the end of August that the 100k was going to happen and that the race would be held on December 20th in Dubai! My initial reaction was disappointment because one of my goals this year was to attempt to break the 100-Mile American Record (12:12) set by Rae Clark back in 1989 and I was going to do this in Phoenix at the Desert Solstice 24 Hour track race. Obviously that would be out of the question if I was in Dubai at 100k Worlds. At Desert Solstice last year, I ran 12:29 and knew with some minor changes, I could make a better attempt at the record. Now, I would have to cancel my plans to go to Phoenix, but I wasn’t ready to cancel my goal of breaking the 100-Mile American Record.
With twelve weeks between the Ultra Classic 24 Hour and the 100k World Championships, I had enough time to recover and help Team USA to a gold medal in Dubai. However, I soon found out that the dream of gold would have to wait. The drama of the 2013 IAU 100k World Championships was finally over one week later when it was cancelled completely. la fitness
The focus was now solely on the 100-mile record. For the first time that I can remember, I enjoyed the two-week taper. I finished this taper period with a 1:18 half marathon at the Peace Officers Memorial Half Marathon in my home town of Modesto just six days before the big day. I used this race to ‘wake up’ my fast-twitch muscles. I wouldn’t be telling you the truth if I didn’t say I was a little… I mean… a lot nervous to run so hard so close to my 100-mile attempt.
I made my final travel plans and, with the addition of my wife as crew chief, I was ready to go to Ottawa. This would be the first time, except la fitness the 2012 100k World Championships, my wife had crewed for me since our two children were born. To say I was excited to have her by my side each and every lap was a huge understatement.
After taking a red-eye flight from San Francisco, we arrived in Ottawa early Friday morning. We were able to check in early to our hotel and had an enjoyable 30-minute, shake-out run together near the hotel. We followed that with lunch, a last-minute grocery stop, and a much-needed nap.
We awoke three hours later and made our way to the Louis-Riel Dome, the site for the pre-race check-in and the indoor track that I would get to know intimately in the course of rounding it 402 times! While at the Dome, I met up with my running mentor and 12-hour participant, Mark
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