This article was originally published in the December 2023/January 2024 issue of UltraRunning Magazine. Subscribe today for similar features on ultra training, racing and more.
Ben Gibbard is no stranger to training for ultras. With multiple 100-mile finishes under his belt and a long list of ultrarunning accolades, he’s well-versed in the sport. However, as lead singer for the band Death Cab for Cutie, an indie rock band that’s been touring for over 20 years, the demands of traveling and performing aren’t always conducive to the rigors of training for endurance sports. We recently caught up with Gibbard during a break between tours to find out more about his 100-mile training regimen while on tour and how he makes it work.
Gibbard is based in Seattle, which averages 152 days of rain per year. While it’s one of the wettest climates in the country, it’s also one of the mildest year-round, which makes for ideal running weather. With temperatures rarely dipping below 45 degrees in the winter, trails are always accessible. It’s one of the reasons he often sticks close to home when racing, whether it’s the Chuckanut 50k in Bellingham, White River 50 in Crystal Mountain or Cascade Crest 100-miler in Easton. But it’s not just the weather that keeps him coming back home to run.
“For me as a musician, one of the many things that attracted me to this community in the northwest is that it feels very similar to what it was like coming up in the indie and punk circuits when I was younger. Everyone who was playing in bands when we were first starting out—nobody was doing it because they thought they were going to get famous or even wanted to get famous—we were all playing music together because we loved being in a community with each other. When I found this (ultrarunning) community in the northwest, I found so many parallels,” said Gibbard.
Luckily, Death Cab’s frontman is also able to tap into the ultrarunning community while out on the road. While he was training for a 100-mile race this year, the band was scheduled for a lengthy 2023 tour that stretched across the US and Europe.
“I look at my tour schedule and know that I can get some proper mountain time in Missoula, Colorado or Salt Lake. But we were touring for the month of March in Europe, and I was training for the Tiger Claw 50k in Issaquah (WA) that has 8,000 feet of gain. I knew I wasn’t going to get much vertical training that month, but I had all of April to start ramping up, so I concentrated on time on feet.” With friends like Scott Jurek in Colorado and Gary Robbins in Vancouver, BC, Gibbard can often count on good company for long trail runs from city to city.
Even with an advanced schedule and a community of ultrarunners, how does a touring musician make the time to train for a mountainous 100-miler when playing five shows a week? According to Gibbard, it’s a little bit strategy and a little bit luck.
“Obviously I know where I’m going to be in the world, months—sometimes a year, in advance. But when I get closer to the tour, I start pulling out my calendar and the training I’m trying to get done, and start sliding things around based on where my energy levels will be and how many shows we’ve played in a row. Sometimes I really don’t want to do a 4-hour run on a specific day, but because we’re in Bergen, Norway, and the mountains are right there, I’m just going to play the show tired. That’s better than spending those 4 hours in Stockholm running around a city park the next day.”
“I have to be a little strategic as to where the race is and when I can start ramping up. I try to schedule back-to-back days where one is a day off and the next day is a show. We just got back from a two-and-a-half-week tour where I got in a 72-mile week and 14,000 feet of gain because I went through Boulder, Missoula and Vancouver. There are certainly ways to get lucky.”
Gibbard (left) runs with pacer Gary Robbins during the 2016 Cascade Crest. Photo: Glenn Tachiyama
If you’ve seen him perform on stage, you know Gibbard’s energy is contagious and keeps the band flowing seamlessly through hits like “I Will Possess Your Heart” from the album Narrow Stairs, and “Sound of Settling” from their Platinum album Transatlanticism, which just celebrated its 20th birthday this year. But as both a member of a touring band and an ultrarunner training for a 100-mile race, experience is key.
“At the level we’re at, we don’t have to touch any of the gear until we’re on stage. We travel by tour bus, so I typically get up in the morning, throw on my running gear and go for a long run, come back and get cleaned up, nap for an hour in my bunk and crush food before the show.”
“As ultrarunners, doing this crazy sport puts a lot of things in perspective as to what’s hard and what isn’t. You can pretty much persevere through anything. If you can run 100 miles, it gives you the confidence to do a lot of other things in life. For me, if I can run for 4 hours or 30 hours, I can throw my body around on stage for 2 hours. It becomes less physically taxing.”
Gibbard has successfully run qualifiers for both Western States and Hardrock, and was selected for the Hardrock waitlist in 2023. Unfortunately, due to his travel schedule and tour dates, specific training for races like Hardrock is almost impossible and weighs heavily on his decision to sign up for lotteries and events.
“Year-round I have varying degrees of mountain activity and vert, but when I go out on tour there are certain elements of common sense you have to employ. A prime example would be that I was on the waitlist for Hardrock this year—I didn’t get in—but let’s say, hypothetically, I got into Hardrock and a year and a half before, we booked a tour in northern Europe for a month leading up (to the race). The best you could hope for are dirt trails through mostly flat urban areas. I’d be setting myself up to fail given the terrain I’m able to access.”
So what’s ahead for Gibbard who just finished a tour celebrating the milestone of Transatlanticism as well as reuniting with bandmates from his other band, The Postal Service?
After being in the sport for over 10 years, he says, “One of the things I love the most is the time I get to spend with my friends in the mountains training. As adults, we’ve kind of lost the focus on play as exercise or vice versa. We go to gyms, lift weights and go home. But this is an opportunity to go out in the mountains with our friends and play. To me, that’s one of the best parts about it.”