Taggart VanEtten Sets 100-Mile Treadmill World Record

On May 1st, 2021 Taggart VenEtten stepped onto a treadmill in a bar in his hometown of Morton, Illinois and began running. Eleven hours and thirty-two minutes later he had smashed the world record for 100 miles on a treadmill… and he had done it on Zwift.

Farm Boy

Taggart describes himself as a farm boy from Illinois who grew up hating running. His father was a sub 5-minute miler but Taggart started out playing baseball and basketball like most other boys his age. In high school he became a wrestler. But at 17 he finally found running. He had a short collegiate track and cross country career before moving to triathlon.

Triathlon

As a young triathlete, Taggart was running two or three times a week, but was doing a lot of cycling on Zwift. Rather than doing bike workouts, he found he gained his fitness from Zwift races.

From the age of 19 to 23 he moved through the triathlon distances from Sprint to Olympic and then 70.3. He peaked with a personal best for the Half Iron distance of 4 hours 11 minutes.

First Marathon

In November 2019 Taggart was still triathlon training. He was putting in hours of bike and swim training but comparatively low run mileage of around 20-23 miles a week.

However, that month he ran a debut time of 2:37:36 at the Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis.

First 100 Miler

Having had such a great first marathon, Taggart wanted to try running an Olympic Qualifying Time (OTQ) and started training for that. Unfortunately in 2020 the world shut down and the marathon he had been training for was canceled.

He was left in limbo, having done so much training with nothing to show for it, and almost out of the blue signed up for the November 2020 Tunnel Hill 100 miler.

The course record of 12:08:36 for this run was set by Zach Bitter in 2018. (Zach was, until recently, holder of both treadmill [12:09:15] and outdoor [11:19:13] 100-mile world records.)

Taggart won the race in a time of 12:19:55 – the second-fastest time ever for the Tunnel Hill race!

Training for a 100-Mile World Record 

Taggart is lucky enough to have a Nordictrack Exp7i treadmill at home. It gets cold in Illinois during the winter months and he uses the treadmill most mornings for his first run of the day.

On average he would cover 130-150 miles a week, but this increased to over 200 miles a week during his 16-week training block leading up to the world record attempt. This creates some logistical challenges, especially since Taggart works full-time as a teacher.

He wakes up at 3:45am on weekdays to get his first run in, but is in bed usually before 8pm. Despite living away from home, his mom still prepares his meals and brings them over to him!

Diet

Taggart eats a nutrient-rich, high carbohydrate diet. Plenty of fruit and vegetables, fish, chicken, sweet potatoes, whole grain bread, and oats.

But he also allows himself two ‘cheat’ meals a week and will occasionally drink alcohol when he goes out with friends on the weekend.

During the 100-mile treadmill run, he drank water. Every two miles he would take a Salt Stick chew and every four miles he would rotate between waffles, bananas, a Gu gel, or Clif Bloks.

Zwift Running

The world record attempt took place at a bar in Taggart’s hometown of Morton, Illinois. There was an 80-inch screen on the wall displaying Zwift Running. Taggart ran the whole run around the Mayfield track. That is 402 times around the track!

Unfortunately for Taggart, the Matrix T5x treadmill he was using would stop and reset every 99 minutes. He would use this time to visit the bathroom. Taggart was using a Stryd footpod, which kept moving as he ran to the restroom. As a result he only gained 95 seconds of avatar stop time during the run. Zwift clock time 11:32:00, and official watch time 11:33:35. But of course, because the treadmill was reset, the official event distance could only be seen on Zwift.

He finished after 11 hours and 32 minutes of running, hugged his mom, and sprayed champagne over himself and his friends! The time is unofficially a new 100-mile treadmill world record.

What’s Next?

Taggart’s hopes of achieving an OTQ are still alive. He is hoping to run the required time (Men’s A Qualifier – 2:15:00,  Men’s B Qualifier – 2:19:00) before the next US Qualifiers in early 2024.

However, there is a far more imminent goal for Taggart. He has decided to attempt the outdoor 100-mile record.

Previously held by Zach Bitter, the record was broken again in the UK on April 26th, 2021 by Aleks Sorokin who ran a time of 11:14:56.

Taggart hopes to beat this time at Six Days in the Dome in Milwaukee on June 19th, 2021. The venue is a 443 meter oval track and is the same one used by Zach Bitter when he ran 11:19 for 100 miles at the 2019 event.

Best of luck to you, Taggart!