A buddy of mine want me to join him on a 100-mile race next summer (8 months away).
I've never run that far. I've done marathons (3:08 PR) and 50k trail race, which was really just an all-day hike while drinking beer with friends.
However, 100-mile seems like an entirely different beast. From what I can tell, these are the keys to success:
1. Get used to running while/after eating
2. Hone in on hydration
3. Get your gear all tweaked before the event (shoes, clothes, hydration vest, etc.)
3. Run A LOT. Lots of very slow miles. It seems that most plans do a 50 mile weekend a few weeks out from the race (usually 30/20 Sat/Sun split)
4. Start incorporating hills into EVERYTHING. Even easy runs on treadmills, do 1% incline minimum.
Is there anything I'm missing? I'm planning to do 3 months of base building (starting at 35MPW going up to 50MPW), and then start a plan 20 weeks away from the event.