Set in the mountains of Virginia, deep within the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, just west of the Shenandoah Valley, the Grindstone Trail Running Festival drew 800 runners from around the globe.
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This UTMB World Series race, an international level event, was a triple qualifier for some of the premier ultrarunning events:
Since triple qualifier events usually stick to the West Coast of the United States, this race was a brand new opportunity for East Coast runners to showcase their grit and talent.
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Check out the Grindstone 100K experience for these five runners: ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ
Grindstone Trail Festival consisted of three races, a:
Although the 100-miler has been around for a while, Grindstone Joined the UTMB organization and constructed a brand new 100K qualifier.
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๐คThis new race doubles as automatic entry to:
Finishers of the Grindstone Trail Festival earned their UTMB stones (entries into the UTMB lottery) and Western States lottery entries.ย
Grindstone Trail Running Festival promises its entrants scenic trails, fall foliage, and technical terrain.
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But one additional surprise that runners got this year was the tropical storm that rolled in for race weekend!
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Although the 100-milers started with clear skies overhead on Friday evening, wind and heavy rain laid claim to the area from Friday night into the wee hours of Sunday morning.
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Luckily, this meant cooler temperatures for runners, but it also came with its unique set of challenges.
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We got to catch up with 5 of the runners after their 100K race experience.
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The Runners:
๐Q: Why did you sign up for Grindstone specifically?
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๐โโ๏ธCaleb: I signed up for the Grindstone 100k after finding out that it was selected to be a Western States Golden Ticket Race.ย
๐Q: What were your main goals for race day?
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๐โโ๏ธCaleb: I really didn't know what to expect in terms of what place I would finish.ย
๐Q: What were some highs and lows you experienced during your time out on course?
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๐โโ๏ธCaleb: I had a ton of highs out on the course.ย
๐Q: In retrospect what parts of your training paid off the most for this race?
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๐โโ๏ธCaleb: I believe that I respond really well to keeping my weekly mileage from 85-100 each week.ย
๐Q: What were some lessons learned or key takeaways from this race?
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๐โโ๏ธCaleb:ย
๐Q: What was your nutrition & hydration strategy?
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๐โโ๏ธCaleb: My nutrition strategy was to rely mostly on gels and then supplement some carbs/calories with mashed potatoes in the 3 aid stations where we had crew access.ย
๐Q: What gear did you use?
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๐โโ๏ธCaleb: My kit was the coolest looking kit ever with my top being my Blue/White Roam and Run racing tech shirt. My goodness it's beautiful. Roam and Run knocked it out of the park.ย
๐Q: What did you do to recover after you finished?
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๐โโ๏ธCaleb: After the race we went to a Greek restaurant, and I had a great gyro with a type of rice that I cannot pronounce or remember to spell out.ย
๐Why did you sign up for Grindstone specifically?
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๐โโ๏ธJosh: I wanted to see what a Golden Ticket race looked like and was looking at Bandera earlier this year.ย
๐What were your main goals for race day?
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ย ๐โโ๏ธ Josh: In no real order...
๐Q: What were some highs and lows you experienced during your time out on course?
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๐โโ๏ธJosh:
๐Q: In retrospect what parts of your training paid off the most for this race?
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ย ๐โโ๏ธJosh:ย
๐Q: What were some lessons learned or key takeaways from this race?
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๐โโ๏ธJosh:ย
๐Q: What was your nutrition/hydration strategy?
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Josh: 400-420cal/hr via Skratch Super High Carb in 500ml water, supplemented with pure water from aid stations to achieve closer to 750ml fluid/hr.
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๐Q: What gear did you use?
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Josh:
๐Q: What did you do to recover after you finished? What was your go-to post-race meal/drink?
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๐โโ๏ธJosh: Beefy Mac and Cheese, chicken sandwich, eggs and beef with chips, so much water. I really wanted a Fanta Orange Soda tbh.
๐Q: Why did you sign up for Grindstone specifically?
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๐โโ๏ธJeremy: Grindstone was a close race that would be very competitive and provided me with a western states qualifier, all while not having to run 100 miles!
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๐Q: What were your main goals for race day?
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๐โโ๏ธJeremy: My main goal was to secure my Western States qualifier for the year. This would leave me with 16 tickets for the lottery in December for the 2024 race.ย
๐Q: What were some highs and lows you experienced during your time out on course?
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๐โโ๏ธJeremy:ย
๐Q: In retrospect what parts of your training paid off the most for this race?
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๐โโ๏ธJeremy: Truly my training was about as good as it could be with a full time job and a family.ย
๐โโ๏ธJeremy: I forgot to mention 1 key piece of training!! I made a trip to the course and ran 16 miles of the course on Saturday followed by 29 miles on Sunday with 2nd place finisher Caleb Bowen. This was HUGE for me on race day. I knew every climb and what came before and after it!
๐What were some lessons learned or key takeaways from this race?
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๐โโ๏ธJeremy: I always say, running is freaking hard...don't make it hard and over complicate it! The human body is amazing and you truly don't know what you are capable of until you put yourself in those uncomfortable positions.ย
๐Q: What was your nutrition/hydration strategy?
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๐โโ๏ธJeremy: No matter the temp, drink lots of water! I have found as of late, I need more water than I thought.ย
๐Q: What gear did you use?
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๐โโ๏ธJeremy:
๐Q: What did you do to recover after you finished? What was your go-to post-race meal/drink?
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๐โโ๏ธJeremy: Many times I feel like I am so hard on myself throughout training that I don't take recovery seriously enough. I try to splurge a little and eat whatever I want. We headed to McDonalds! Spicy chicken sandwich, large fry and an Oreo McFlurry!!
๐Q: Why did you sign up for Grindstone specifically?
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๐โโ๏ธWil: Stones. All about the UTMB stones to be able to enter the lottery for races in Chamonix, France. One of my rugby buddies, Casey Koza, went with me to watch my brother, Jim Walmsley, race at UTMB in Chamonix last year. (The UTMB Experience: A Spectator's View of This Epic Ultra)
๐โโ๏ธWil: Signing up for this race was interesting. The new โstonesโ UTMB lottery system originally had 3 events in the USA, but they were all out west (Canyons, Speedgoat, and Western States).
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๐In December, it was announced UTMB would be adding Grindstone for an east coast event.ย
๐Q: 100 miles or 100K?
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๐โโ๏ธWil: The registration opened the next day, and boom. I registered and texted my brother to let him know I had signed up for the 100 miler.
๐Q: What were your main goals for race day?
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๐โโ๏ธWil: Finish. That was the primary goal. Iโve never ran further than 50km and wanted to have the mindset I was going to be running all day.ย
๐Q: What were some highs and lows you experienced during your time out on course?
๐โโ๏ธWil:
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๐Q: In retrospect what parts of your training paid off the most for this race?
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๐โโ๏ธWil: There were a few things I felt went really well during my training. Handling time constraints while building weekly mileage (working full time and being a dad), practicing with poles, and running easier.
๐The most important runs were the long runs...
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๐โโ๏ธWil: I didnโt follow any particular structure on how to get the rest of the miles in during the week.ย
๐The only long run I ended up cutting short was my scheduled longest run 3 weeks out.
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๐โโ๏ธWil: I planned for this on the Sunday because I planned to be up late Friday to follow my brother's UTMB race. It ended up being an all-nighter into Saturday as my brother was able to win his race.ย
๐The next positive in the training was getting out and using poles.
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๐โโ๏ธWil: I tried to use poles once per week. It wasnโt much, I felt comfortable when I had to use the poles during the race. The biggest part of the practice was how to get the poles in and out of the quiver I stored them in.
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๐The last positive from my training...
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๐โโ๏ธWil: ...was making a big effort to run at an easier effort and staying in Zone 2.ย
๐Q: What were some lessons learned or key takeaways from this race?
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๐โโ๏ธWil: When things get hard, they get hard for everyone. You just need to keep moving towards the finish and eventually youโll get there.
๐Q: What was your nutrition/hydration strategy?
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๐โโ๏ธWil: I didnโt really have a set nutrition strategy. Part of that was by design so I would force myself to enjoy the race and take time at aid stations.ย
๐Q: What gear did you use?
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๐โโ๏ธWil:ย
๐Q: What did you do to recover after you finished? What was your go-to post-race meal/drink?
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๐โโ๏ธWil: There werenโt any options at the finish line, or at least if there were, it wasnโt obvious.ย
๐Q: Why did you sign up for Grindstone specifically?
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๐โโ๏ธCasey: Myself and my buddy Wil signed up for Grindstone with the sole purpose of attaining running stones so we could run a race at UTMB.ย Wil and I went there last year to watch his brother and had a great time so we figured why not qualify and run one of the races (OCC) for ourselves.
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๐Q: What were your main goals for race day?
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๐โโ๏ธCasey: My main goal was to remain healthy, not break anything and to finish in under 18 hours. All of those goals were accomplished so itโs a win for me.
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๐Q: What were some highs and lows you experienced during your time out on course?
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๐โโ๏ธCasey:ย
๐Q: In retrospect what parts of your training paid off the most for this race?
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๐โโ๏ธCasey: Biggest thing that paid off was the long runs for sure, 1 in particular. ย
๐Q: What were some lessons learned or key takeaways from this race?
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๐โโ๏ธCasey: A big lesson I learned is when you get above the 50k there is going to be suffering, it's going to be painful and it really is as much about mental toughness as physical toughness. ย
๐Q: What was your nutrition/hydration strategy?
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๐โโ๏ธCasey: I used an assortment of gels (Spring Energy, Maurten, Science in Sport) as well as Maurten 160 at each aid station.ย
๐Q: What gear did you use?
๐โโ๏ธCasey:ย
๐Q:What did you do to recover after you finished? What was your go-to post-race meal/drink?
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๐โโ๏ธCasey: My normal post race is Iron City light beer (a staple of all yinzers) (yinzers are Pittsburghers)ย and whatever food I can get a hold of. ย
Have you ran the Grindstone 100K or another race in the UTMB series? Tell us about it in the comments. Or create a WeeView about your favorite race.
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