78. How to Make the Leap from 50 to 100 Miles
You’ve finished 50 miles, and now you can’t stop thinking about 100.
But doubling the distance brings a whole new level of uncertainty. Do you need to run a 100K first? Are you really ready for 100 miles? And how do you prepare for a distance you’ve never experienced before?
In this episode, I’m sharing the five things I would focus on if I were making my own leap from 50 to 100 miles again. From seeing yourself as someone who belongs at the starting line to choosing the right goal, building a race plan, developing the skills to execute it, and managing the fear and doubt that will inevitably show up, these are the things that can help you approach your first 100 with more certainty.
Your first 100 doesn’t have to be about simply surviving an unknown distance. I’ll show you how to prepare for the challenges ahead so you can make strong decisions, adapt when things don’t go to plan, and give yourself the best chance of running a race you’re proud of. You only get one first 100, and the goal is to make it a triumphant adventure while laying a strong foundation for the 100s still to come.
My 1:1 Mental Mastery Coaching for Ultrarunners is a six-month coaching program where we build the mental skills experienced ultrarunners use to handle difficult races well. Schedule a consult call to learn more here.
What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
Why you don’t have to run a 100K before attempting your first 100-miler.
How to start seeing yourself as someone who belongs at a 100-mile starting line.
How to choose a race goal that gives you room to focus on your race instead of stressing about cutoff.
Why a complete race plan can reduce the uncertainty of making such a big jump.
The five essential skills every ultrarunner needs to finish reliably.
How to prepare for the fear, doubt, and uncertainty that can show up over 100 miles.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
The Ultrarunner’s Mastery Debrief Template helps you evaluate your races like experienced ultrarunners do - identifying what worked, what didn’t work, and what to do differently next time. Download yours for free here.
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Full Episode Transcript:
You've done 50 miles, and now, you want to do 100. But there's a voice in your head saying, "I don't know if I can do this." It's twice the distance I've ever done. So, today, I'm sharing exactly what you need to make that leap successful.
Welcome to Unstoppable Ultra Runner, the podcast for ultra runners who refuse to let anything hold them back. I’m your host, Susan Donnelly, veteran of over 150 100-mile races, and a coach who helps runners like you break through mental roadblocks, push past doubt, and run with confidence. Let’s go.
Welcome to episode 78. Today, I am sharing how to make that big jump from 50 to 100 miles. I made this exact jump back in 1999. I'd done 50Ks, a couple of 40-milers, and a couple of 50-milers, and I had this moment with myself where I realized I was kind of standing at a crossroads. And it was time to go for this big, scary thing that I really wanted to do, had wanted to do forever, or know that I was going to let fear run my life and chicken out. So my choices were either to go for it or chicken out on myself. So I made that leap.
Now, I know that there are a lot of you listening who are saying that you're jumping from 50 to 100K and then 100K to 100 miles. A lot of runners, especially the women out there I've found, think it's smart or responsible to do 100K first. Check off all the required classes before you do the 100. I didn't. There just weren't a lot of 100Ks back in the day, so I didn't even have that choice. And there are plenty of other ultrarunners who didn't make that leap to 100K and then 100K to 100 miles. Not everybody wants to wait on doing a 100 until they've done 100K, and it may not even fit in their schedule. They may not want to do it. It's definitely not a requirement.
You all know that you don't have to check off all the distances between zero and 100 miles before you do a 100? Sometimes runners don't know that, but there's no ultra police checking your syllabus or your to-do list to see if you've completed all the required distances. So that's not a thing. Don't let that stand in your way.
And doing 100K first only means that you've been 12 miles further than the 50. 12 miles. That's it. It can perk up your confidence a little, but there's still 40 miles of unknown territory between you and that finish. And that's not nothing. And you're painfully aware of that 40 miles when you get to 60 miles in your 100. So whether you do 100K first or not, you still have to take a leap. So let's talk about how to make it.
I've coached for well over 1,000 hours since my own jump, and I've narrowed down what you need. So I'm going to share the five things that I'd help you do to ensure that you have the strongest, most successful race possible if you're making that leap. If I were making my own jump again from 50 to 100 and I could only do one thing, I could only either do the 100K or these five things I'm going to tell you about, I'd choose the five things in a heartbeat.
The first thing is helping you see yourself as capable and as someone who deserves to be at that starting line. The most common advice that you're going to get about a 100 is about how you see the 100-mile distance, dividing that big 100-mile distance up into sections, aid station by aid station, so it's easier to picture in your mind. And that's great, but what matters more than that is how you see yourself at that distance, your self-image, because this is the first thing that's going to stop you.
You have an image in your head of who a 100-miler is, what they look like, how they feel, what they do. And you have an image in your head of you, yourself. And you're looking at all the differences between this person and you. You think that to be a real 100-mile runner, you have to close that gap and be like them, but that's only going to frustrate you, make you want to compare, and burn you out.
The real solution here is making space in that image for you, building the belief that 100-milers look like you too, because you are a 100-mile runner. And 100-mile runners look like all kinds of people, all types of bodies and personalities and ages and skin colors. It's a mosaic, not a single, rigid stereotype. So you becoming a 100-miler adds to the beautiful mosaic of who a 100-miler is.
In my first 100, I had to see myself as a 100-miler too. I had very little idea of what to expect, like almost nothing. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know if I was prepared, but I met the qualifications for entry, and the RD let me in like everybody else who was in the race. So I decided that if she thought I could do the 100, I could. So when I got to that starting line, I joined the other 15 or so runners. It was a very small field, and I was a part of that field, just like everybody else. I was a potential 100-mile finisher just like they were. When you're standing at the starting line, you're all potential finishers. And yes, I felt like a newcomer, but it didn't mean I couldn't do it. It just meant I was new at this distance, which I was. I'd never done it before. And that wasn't a problem, because everybody is new at this distance the first time.
And once the RD started the race, the business of running the race occupied my attention. I didn't have time for self-image. It didn't matter whether anybody else thought I belonged or whether I finished the race. I didn't have to prove I was capable. All that was irrelevant. This was just between me and the course. I knew I could do something here. I just purely wanted to see what I could do and see as much of the course as I could. And more than anything, I knew this was where I belonged, even though I'd never done one before. I knew that this was the distance for me, even though I'd never run it. I knew I was going to love it. This, to me, felt like home.
So I saw myself as a 100-miler, either in this race or another one. But I saw myself that way, and that's what I want for you. Not to close the gap between you and some image you have in your head of what a 100-miler looks like or is, but to make yourself part of that image.
All right, the next thing you need is to pick your goal, and a first 100 is a special case. Normally, I like clients to go for big goals. I'm going to push them that way. Big goals, goals that feel big to them. But your first 100 isn't time to decide that you're going to shoot for a sub-24 finish, and believe me, I've heard that a lot. And here's why. Just going for the 100 is a big goal by itself. The distance is the big goal.
Your job in your first 100 is to learn the distance. That is it. You need to learn how it feels, what it's like, what recovery is like, all of it. And you can only learn it by getting to the finish. But the goal is not to just finish. I don't want you pacing off of cutoff because that turns cutoff into your default goal. It's going to ensure that you stay close to cutoff the whole time and stressing about it, which is not any fun.
So I have clients pick a goal that's faster than cutoff that seems comfortable. And it's not like a sub-24. Like we're talking 29 hours for a race with a 30-hour cutoff, instead of 29:50 or 29:55. Whatever feels doable and achievable to them that is a little bit ahead of cutoff. It gives you that buffer that frees you to focus on your race instead of stressing about cutoff. And it also creates an anchor for everything you do and every decision you make in the race.
All right, after the goal, the next thing I would help you do is to use that goal to build a race plan for achieving it. You can finish a first 100 without a plan. I did, but I definitely wouldn't do it that way again if I had the choice. Knowing what I know now, I would not do it that way. I had no sense of pace. I had no sense of what was ahead of me on the course or how to manage doubt. Luck just happened to be on my side, and that is not something you want to count on.
Going from 50 to 100 is a big enough step into the unknown. You don't want to be winging it at the same time or hoping that luck is on your side too, or relying on everything going your way because it's almost guaranteed that it won't. So what you need is a plan that shows you exactly how to make that goal happen, one that takes everything into account and puts it all together to answer the voice of doubt in your head that's saying, "I don't know if I can do this." A plan relieves a huge amount of stress. It gives you something to picture and something to make real. It's proof also that you can do it, the best proof you can get. The plan gets rid of enough anxiety about the unknown that you show up to the starting line calm and excited about the adventure ahead.
Your first 100, it may be messy. It's almost guaranteed to be a little bit messy. You're probably going to make mistakes, and that's okay. It's your first one. You've never done it before. But having a plan to adapt from when you do make a mistake keeps you grounded. It keeps you from panicking because you know how that mistake affects your race, and you can simply adapt the plan and stay in the race. I'm going to drop another hint here. Coming up, there's going to be a new offer related to this, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.
The next thing I would help you do once you have that race plan, you need the skills to implement it. Through all those hours of coaching that I've done and reverse engineering what I do to finish hundreds so consistently, I've narrowed these skills down to five essentials that every ultrarunner needs: surfing the lows, controlling pain, focusing your attention, problem solving under pressure, and making clear decisions. Without these five, you make preventable mistakes that cost you precious time and sometimes the race.
And if you don't know these are skills, you don't know that's what's costing you. You might blame your fitness or your training or your crew or your pacers or just decide that you're not tough enough or not cut out for this when really, it's just a skill you haven't learned yet. You look around at everybody else and you decide that they know what they're doing and you don't. You feel like you stick out like a sore thumb, like everybody can tell that you have no clue what you're doing. But when you have these skills, you see that even though you're a first-timer, you know what you're doing. You use them every step of the way to move faster, to up your chances of finishing, and to have the amazing first 100 that you want.
All right, now that you see yourself as a 100-miler, you've committed to a goal, you've created a plan for your race, and built the skills you need to execute it. Next, you need a way to manage the fear, doubt, and uncertainty that will inevitably come up. Fears and doubts that you don't fully encounter in a 50-mile race. That's what made me drop twice at Leadville and twice at Umstead when I was a newish 100-mile runner. Learning how to manage that led me to the coaching I do today.
Think about it this way. You have twice the miles and time in a 100 that you do in a 50. So the fears and doubts that you escaped in the 50 will show up with a vengeance in the 100, and you can't outrun them at that distance. A 100 is not necessarily harder than a 50; you're just out there twice as long. And that means that your negative thoughts have twice as many opportunities to derail your race.
One unmanaged fear spiral can take you out of a race. So you need one simple way to deal with all the negative thoughts that create that fear and doubt, like my Reframe 101, which is a process that's easy to use in your head in a race. No pen or paper required. Having that in your tool belt gives you confidence because it makes you stronger than any fear and doubt that shows up. Fear, doubt, and uncertainty will show up. They do for everybody, but you're in charge.
So, to sum it all up, here's what I would help you do to make that successful leap from 50 to 100 miles. First, see yourself as a 100-mile finisher, so finishing seems natural and you don't sabotage yourself. Second, choose a goal that's not too ambitious and not too close to cutoff, just right to power you to the finish. Three, build a complete plan for mind and body at that race so you have proof that you can realistically hit that goal. Fourth, I would teach you five skills that you need to finish reliably at all distances, so you're prepared to make this jump a success. And fifth, learn one method, one simple method, to reframe any negative thought that comes your way in the race. So you're ready to deal with twice the amount of negativity that you'd face in a 50.
Having all of these would have made my own leap of faith far more relaxing and certain. They make getting all the way to the finish way more likely. They put the odds squarely in your favor. Less faith, more certainty.
So that's it. Making the leap from 50 to 100 is totally possible. I did it. And your first 100 only comes once. You want to go in knowing that you belong, the same as everybody else. You want to feel certain that you can do it, even though you've never done that distance before. You want to know what you're doing in the race, when to adapt off your plan, when to refocus your attention, how to make strong decisions when you're tired, and how to deal confidently with negative thoughts that try to take you out of the race.
You want to know that you did everything you could to run the strongest race possible. You want to be proud of it. You want it to be a triumphant adventure, not survival. You want to look back on it and think, "Yeah, of course it was messy. It was my first, but I did better than I thought I would." And you want to know that you laid a strong foundation for your next 100, because you're hooked now, and there will be a next one.
All right, you all, that's this week's podcast. Thanks for listening. If you know someone who could use this, share it with them. It might be exactly what they need to hear. See you next week. Bye.
Thanks for listening to Unstoppable Ultra Runner. If you want more ultra talk, mindset tools, and strategies for running with confidence, visit www.susanidonnelly.com. This podcast receives production support from the team at Digital Freedom Productions. That’s it for today’s episode. See you next week.
Welcome to Unstoppable Ultra Runner, the podcast for ultra runners who refuse to let anything hold them back. I’m your host, Susan Donnelly, veteran of over 150 100-mile races, and a coach who helps runners like you break through mental roadblocks, push past doubt, and run with confidence. Let’s go.
Welcome to episode 78. Today, I am sharing how to make that big jump from 50 to 100 miles. I made this exact jump back in 1999. I'd done 50Ks, a couple of 40-milers, and a couple of 50-milers, and I had this moment with myself where I realized I was kind of standing at a crossroads. And it was time to go for this big, scary thing that I really wanted to do, had wanted to do forever, or know that I was going to let fear run my life and chicken out. So my choices were either to go for it or chicken out on myself. So I made that leap.
Now, I know that there are a lot of you listening who are saying that you're jumping from 50 to 100K and then 100K to 100 miles. A lot of runners, especially the women out there I've found, think it's smart or responsible to do 100K first. Check off all the required classes before you do the 100. I didn't. There just weren't a lot of 100Ks back in the day, so I didn't even have that choice. And there are plenty of other ultrarunners who didn't make that leap to 100K and then 100K to 100 miles. Not everybody wants to wait on doing a 100 until they've done 100K, and it may not even fit in their schedule. They may not want to do it. It's definitely not a requirement.
You all know that you don't have to check off all the distances between zero and 100 miles before you do a 100? Sometimes runners don't know that, but there's no ultra police checking your syllabus or your to-do list to see if you've completed all the required distances. So that's not a thing. Don't let that stand in your way.
And doing 100K first only means that you've been 12 miles further than the 50. 12 miles. That's it. It can perk up your confidence a little, but there's still 40 miles of unknown territory between you and that finish. And that's not nothing. And you're painfully aware of that 40 miles when you get to 60 miles in your 100. So whether you do 100K first or not, you still have to take a leap. So let's talk about how to make it.
I've coached for well over 1,000 hours since my own jump, and I've narrowed down what you need. So I'm going to share the five things that I'd help you do to ensure that you have the strongest, most successful race possible if you're making that leap. If I were making my own jump again from 50 to 100 and I could only do one thing, I could only either do the 100K or these five things I'm going to tell you about, I'd choose the five things in a heartbeat.
The first thing is helping you see yourself as capable and as someone who deserves to be at that starting line. The most common advice that you're going to get about a 100 is about how you see the 100-mile distance, dividing that big 100-mile distance up into sections, aid station by aid station, so it's easier to picture in your mind. And that's great, but what matters more than that is how you see yourself at that distance, your self-image, because this is the first thing that's going to stop you.
You have an image in your head of who a 100-miler is, what they look like, how they feel, what they do. And you have an image in your head of you, yourself. And you're looking at all the differences between this person and you. You think that to be a real 100-mile runner, you have to close that gap and be like them, but that's only going to frustrate you, make you want to compare, and burn you out.
The real solution here is making space in that image for you, building the belief that 100-milers look like you too, because you are a 100-mile runner. And 100-mile runners look like all kinds of people, all types of bodies and personalities and ages and skin colors. It's a mosaic, not a single, rigid stereotype. So you becoming a 100-miler adds to the beautiful mosaic of who a 100-miler is.
In my first 100, I had to see myself as a 100-miler too. I had very little idea of what to expect, like almost nothing. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know if I was prepared, but I met the qualifications for entry, and the RD let me in like everybody else who was in the race. So I decided that if she thought I could do the 100, I could. So when I got to that starting line, I joined the other 15 or so runners. It was a very small field, and I was a part of that field, just like everybody else. I was a potential 100-mile finisher just like they were. When you're standing at the starting line, you're all potential finishers. And yes, I felt like a newcomer, but it didn't mean I couldn't do it. It just meant I was new at this distance, which I was. I'd never done it before. And that wasn't a problem, because everybody is new at this distance the first time.
And once the RD started the race, the business of running the race occupied my attention. I didn't have time for self-image. It didn't matter whether anybody else thought I belonged or whether I finished the race. I didn't have to prove I was capable. All that was irrelevant. This was just between me and the course. I knew I could do something here. I just purely wanted to see what I could do and see as much of the course as I could. And more than anything, I knew this was where I belonged, even though I'd never done one before. I knew that this was the distance for me, even though I'd never run it. I knew I was going to love it. This, to me, felt like home.
So I saw myself as a 100-miler, either in this race or another one. But I saw myself that way, and that's what I want for you. Not to close the gap between you and some image you have in your head of what a 100-miler looks like or is, but to make yourself part of that image.
All right, the next thing you need is to pick your goal, and a first 100 is a special case. Normally, I like clients to go for big goals. I'm going to push them that way. Big goals, goals that feel big to them. But your first 100 isn't time to decide that you're going to shoot for a sub-24 finish, and believe me, I've heard that a lot. And here's why. Just going for the 100 is a big goal by itself. The distance is the big goal.
Your job in your first 100 is to learn the distance. That is it. You need to learn how it feels, what it's like, what recovery is like, all of it. And you can only learn it by getting to the finish. But the goal is not to just finish. I don't want you pacing off of cutoff because that turns cutoff into your default goal. It's going to ensure that you stay close to cutoff the whole time and stressing about it, which is not any fun.
So I have clients pick a goal that's faster than cutoff that seems comfortable. And it's not like a sub-24. Like we're talking 29 hours for a race with a 30-hour cutoff, instead of 29:50 or 29:55. Whatever feels doable and achievable to them that is a little bit ahead of cutoff. It gives you that buffer that frees you to focus on your race instead of stressing about cutoff. And it also creates an anchor for everything you do and every decision you make in the race.
All right, after the goal, the next thing I would help you do is to use that goal to build a race plan for achieving it. You can finish a first 100 without a plan. I did, but I definitely wouldn't do it that way again if I had the choice. Knowing what I know now, I would not do it that way. I had no sense of pace. I had no sense of what was ahead of me on the course or how to manage doubt. Luck just happened to be on my side, and that is not something you want to count on.
Going from 50 to 100 is a big enough step into the unknown. You don't want to be winging it at the same time or hoping that luck is on your side too, or relying on everything going your way because it's almost guaranteed that it won't. So what you need is a plan that shows you exactly how to make that goal happen, one that takes everything into account and puts it all together to answer the voice of doubt in your head that's saying, "I don't know if I can do this." A plan relieves a huge amount of stress. It gives you something to picture and something to make real. It's proof also that you can do it, the best proof you can get. The plan gets rid of enough anxiety about the unknown that you show up to the starting line calm and excited about the adventure ahead.
Your first 100, it may be messy. It's almost guaranteed to be a little bit messy. You're probably going to make mistakes, and that's okay. It's your first one. You've never done it before. But having a plan to adapt from when you do make a mistake keeps you grounded. It keeps you from panicking because you know how that mistake affects your race, and you can simply adapt the plan and stay in the race. I'm going to drop another hint here. Coming up, there's going to be a new offer related to this, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.
The next thing I would help you do once you have that race plan, you need the skills to implement it. Through all those hours of coaching that I've done and reverse engineering what I do to finish hundreds so consistently, I've narrowed these skills down to five essentials that every ultrarunner needs: surfing the lows, controlling pain, focusing your attention, problem solving under pressure, and making clear decisions. Without these five, you make preventable mistakes that cost you precious time and sometimes the race.
And if you don't know these are skills, you don't know that's what's costing you. You might blame your fitness or your training or your crew or your pacers or just decide that you're not tough enough or not cut out for this when really, it's just a skill you haven't learned yet. You look around at everybody else and you decide that they know what they're doing and you don't. You feel like you stick out like a sore thumb, like everybody can tell that you have no clue what you're doing. But when you have these skills, you see that even though you're a first-timer, you know what you're doing. You use them every step of the way to move faster, to up your chances of finishing, and to have the amazing first 100 that you want.
All right, now that you see yourself as a 100-miler, you've committed to a goal, you've created a plan for your race, and built the skills you need to execute it. Next, you need a way to manage the fear, doubt, and uncertainty that will inevitably come up. Fears and doubts that you don't fully encounter in a 50-mile race. That's what made me drop twice at Leadville and twice at Umstead when I was a newish 100-mile runner. Learning how to manage that led me to the coaching I do today.
Think about it this way. You have twice the miles and time in a 100 that you do in a 50. So the fears and doubts that you escaped in the 50 will show up with a vengeance in the 100, and you can't outrun them at that distance. A 100 is not necessarily harder than a 50; you're just out there twice as long. And that means that your negative thoughts have twice as many opportunities to derail your race.
One unmanaged fear spiral can take you out of a race. So you need one simple way to deal with all the negative thoughts that create that fear and doubt, like my Reframe 101, which is a process that's easy to use in your head in a race. No pen or paper required. Having that in your tool belt gives you confidence because it makes you stronger than any fear and doubt that shows up. Fear, doubt, and uncertainty will show up. They do for everybody, but you're in charge.
So, to sum it all up, here's what I would help you do to make that successful leap from 50 to 100 miles. First, see yourself as a 100-mile finisher, so finishing seems natural and you don't sabotage yourself. Second, choose a goal that's not too ambitious and not too close to cutoff, just right to power you to the finish. Three, build a complete plan for mind and body at that race so you have proof that you can realistically hit that goal. Fourth, I would teach you five skills that you need to finish reliably at all distances, so you're prepared to make this jump a success. And fifth, learn one method, one simple method, to reframe any negative thought that comes your way in the race. So you're ready to deal with twice the amount of negativity that you'd face in a 50.
Having all of these would have made my own leap of faith far more relaxing and certain. They make getting all the way to the finish way more likely. They put the odds squarely in your favor. Less faith, more certainty.
So that's it. Making the leap from 50 to 100 is totally possible. I did it. And your first 100 only comes once. You want to go in knowing that you belong, the same as everybody else. You want to feel certain that you can do it, even though you've never done that distance before. You want to know what you're doing in the race, when to adapt off your plan, when to refocus your attention, how to make strong decisions when you're tired, and how to deal confidently with negative thoughts that try to take you out of the race.
You want to know that you did everything you could to run the strongest race possible. You want to be proud of it. You want it to be a triumphant adventure, not survival. You want to look back on it and think, "Yeah, of course it was messy. It was my first, but I did better than I thought I would." And you want to know that you laid a strong foundation for your next 100, because you're hooked now, and there will be a next one.
All right, you all, that's this week's podcast. Thanks for listening. If you know someone who could use this, share it with them. It might be exactly what they need to hear. See you next week. Bye.
Thanks for listening to Unstoppable Ultra Runner. If you want more ultra talk, mindset tools, and strategies for running with confidence, visit www.susanidonnelly.com. This podcast receives production support from the team at Digital Freedom Productions. That’s it for today’s episode. See you next week.
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