Does anyone have any experience with the McMillan calculator out to 100 miles? Was it accurate? I have found it to be accurate at times up to 26.2, but I haven’t any experience with its accuracy out to 100 miles. I am going to be running 100 on Sunday May 23 and the calculators time/pace seem to me to be incredibly slow. I have never done a 100 mile run. Will it be that bad? FWIW, I am well trained for the distance, I believe. Thanks for any input.
Similar to you, I’ve found MacMillan to be quite accurate over shorter distances. My PR’s correlate very well over all standard distances from one mile through to the marathon.
My 100 km PR stands out as anomaly, being quicker than the MacMillan prediction. It wasn’t substantially faster, maybe by 15 minutes or so if I recall, but compared to only seconds of deviation for the shorter distances it was significant. I think my 50 mile was also slightly ahead of MacMillan.
However, my 100 mile PR was out of line with MacMillan. I attribute that to two factors.
Each time I ran a 100 mile PR it was as a split time in 24 Hour race, consequently they weren’t indicative of how fast I could run 100 miles and never a useful data point.
As for the 100 milers I’ve run, all have been trail races (none resulting in a PR), where trail conditions, elevation, weather extremes, etc, invalidate the accuracy or usefulness of Macmillan.
Unless your 100 miler is on the track or an accurately measured, flat road course, I’d dismiss MacMillan as largely irrelevant. There are many more critical considerations that will determine your performance in your debut 100 miler.
What has your training consisted of? I’m considering stepping up to distances longer than marathons.
I’ve never run 100, but 2.5 x my average marathon time worked out pretty well for predicting my finish time at Comrades (55 miles).
I’m curious. What were your marathon and Comrades times?
I’m curious. What were your marathon and Comrades times?
Marathon: 4 hours
Comrades: 10:35 (down); 11:20 (up)
I’m curious. What were your marathon and Comrades times?
Marathon: 4 hours
Comrades: 10:35 (down); 11:20 (up)
Thanks. Great memories, no doubt.
Two of the best race experiences I’ve ever had. Highly recommend it if you’re looking for a ultra to run.
I have followed a 80/20 100 miler plan from Training Peaks. I think I did the intermediate plan as I thought I would be cycling as well, but I’m not, so I added some more miles to the plan. This year so far I have run 1100 miles in 150 hours. This week I peaked out with 117 miles and 17 hours. I wont lie, its been a lot of running.
I have never done a 100 mile run. Will it be that bad? .
Umm…possibly?
What was your longest run
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I have never done a 100 mile run. Will it be that bad?
I’ve never ran anything close to 100 miles. But I’m gonna go with me gut on this one… yes, it will be bad
I have never done a 100 mile run. Will it be that bad?
I’ve never ran anything close to 100 miles. But I’m gonna go with me gut on this one… yes, it will be bad
I’m haven’t run this far either but can tell you from one Ultra run that it is more of an ‘experience’ at 50mi or 100mi than the speed and race aspect of a 26.2.
Enjoy it, have fun, and you will probably have to face some sort of inner truth in your life to go on during the Ultra. It’s such a long ordeal that you’ll likely experience a range of emotions and physical states (don’t forget a few squares of TP).
These events are way more hippie than triathlons and you’ll meet an interesting spectrum of the population. Cheers.
Yes, I can see how that was foolish on my part. What I meant was that the calculator showed an 11:00 average pace for a 100 mile run. Last fall I ran a 3:15 marathon. My average training pace this year has been around 8:25. I was wondering if the slowing down was typically that drastic from other peoples experience.
Last year prior to the 3:15, I did run a 52.4 miler as the last day of the Ultra520k Canada.
This year my longest run during training has been a 38 miler, 2 - 33’s, and 5 26.2’s. Most often they were back to back days.
Don’t take this as me dumping on you, but this is typical of so many ST ultra threads.
The OP so often provides SFA info, (yes, you’re now giving us a drip feed), and seems to expect some sort of worthwhile answer.
I’ve spent more time and detail in my reply than you’ve given in posing your questions. If people really want others to invest time and effort on some informative feedback, please be courteous enough to provide some meaningful and helpful info on which others can base their responses.
I’m happy to talk about ultras, more so than I am to talk about tri on ST, as there are so few who provide feedback on ultra topics beyond their experience of only having run one or two races. But please, if you (or others) want answers, don’t leave the burden of the work to those of us who reply.
the MacMillan calculator is accurate… it is you who are not 
the MacMillan calculator is accurate… it is you who are not
There’s a lot of truth in that.
MacMillan’s accuracy relies on decent data input.
PRs from limited racing or training make for less reliable extrapolations. The harder one trains and the more one races, the more accurate Macmillan will be.
Plenty of people have unrealistic expectations of MacMillan.
Yes, I can see how that was foolish on my part. What I meant was that the calculator showed an 11:00 average pace for a 100 mile run. Last fall I ran a 3:15 marathon. My average training pace this year has been around 8:25. I was wondering if the slowing down was typically that drastic from other peoples experience.
Congratulations.11 minute miles will see you home in 18:20.
You would have won Hardrock by 8 hours if you were there last race. And you would have smashed Killian’s course record by over 4 hours.
I have never done a 100 mile run. Will it be that bad?
I’ve never ran anything close to 100 miles. But I’m gonna go with me gut on this one… yes, it will be bad
A friend of mine, who has crewed Badwater 3 times and has 2 finishes of her own, almost a dozen Umstead finishes, as well as some other assorted 100s, 50s, and 24-Hour races to her credit, has the following as her forum/social sig: “100 Milers are all Gallowalking festivals”
YMMV
the MacMillan calculator is accurate… it is you who are not
There’s a lot of truth in that.
MacMillan’s accuracy relies on decent data input.
PRs from limited racing or training make for less reliable extrapolations. The harder one trains and the more one races, the more accurate Macmillan will be.
Plenty of people have unrealistic expectations of MacMillan.
One thing that bugs me about McMillan is that the absolute best runs are most certainly drug fueled and adds an “alien†aspect to the crowd sourcing