Keys to Finishing a 100 Mile Race

After a successful Bighorn 100 mile mountain run in 22:04 and a top-10 finish, I finally felt like I knew what I was doing at the 100 mile distance. I made some mistakes that could've cost me my race, but I was able to overcome them and that's where long races get really interesting. Hopefully I can share something here that will be helpful to other ultra runners looking to tackle a 100 miler.

There are 2 keys to running a 100 mile race:
1) fueling
2) pacing

Fueling:

"It’s not about fitness. Everybody is fit, but it’s who can eat, drink, fuel, and get from the start to the finish—those are the guys that win.”
-Mike Aish, ultra runner

Calories:

I try to eat 200-300 calories every hour.

I like to drink a combination of Carbo-pro + water in my bottles and to have a variety of gel flavors to eat.

Carbo-pro is a flavorless powder with 100 calories and 25 grams carbs per scoop. Powerbar gels are currently my favorite gels because they have 110-120 calories, 200 mg of sodium, and 27g carbs. They are more liquid-like than GU or Hammer gels, and when they get cold they aren’t as firm to eat. I also like e-Gels, which have 150 calories and 230 mg of sodium.

If I have a crew at the race, I'll have them bring Ensure to each crew access point because liquid calories go down easily and quickly.



I find that both E-gels and Powerbar gels go down quickly during the night time when my stomach tends to revolt. I like a variety of sweet and sour flavored gels like chocolate for sweet and green apple or tangerine for sour. The balance allows me to avoid getting so sick of them.

I try to eat some solid foods early in a race, like granola bars, bananas, salted potatoes and whatever else they have at the aid stations that won't make me puke, but I generally move to a gel and liquid-only diet later on when my stomach is sensitive and I need calories quickly.

Whatever you're consuming, check out the calories and the carbs on the label. A rule of thumb I use when choosing a fuel source that will provide energy quickly is 25g carbs per 100 calories.

Salt:

I like Salt Stick caps with 215 mg sodium and a blend of 4 other electrolytes, or Succeed S! Caps with a massive 341 mg sodium and 21 mg potassium. I'll take one tab every 1-2 hours in the 60-80F degree days, and 2+ tabs if it’s hotter than that. At night, try some chicken broth for salt and warmth -- it's glorious when available.

Below is a pic of my secret weapon: the tiny plastic container. I keep enough salt tabs, gas-x, tums, and tylenol for 30 hours of running in this little gem and it's always on me during a race. No sharp edges to cut/chafe either.



Hydration:

I down 30-40 oz of water every hour if it's 60-80F. A bit less if it's colder and 50 oz or so if hotter. My target when I get 'running brain' aka 'the dumz' is to drink one and a half 22oz handhelds or two 17oz Salomon soft flasks every hour.

Ultimate Direction AK vest with two 17oz soft flasks on Redcloud Peak

We are each an experiment of one. Use your long training runs to experiment with different amounts of water.

Pacing:

"Let 'em all go"
-Me

Patience is key to pacing 100s, and you can ruin your race in the first 25 miles by running too fast.

Nobody wins a 100 in the first 25, but plenty have lost their race there. I've tried going out hard and hanging on, and afterward I vowed never to try that again. Recently, I've started using a HR monitor to keep close tabs on my effort, especially early in the race.

Bighorn 100 start. Currently in 50th place.

It is true that a 100 mile race begins at mile 75. If you can be patient at the start and hold a strong effort during the last 25 miles, then you have nailed the 100 mile distance. Most people will blow up between the 65-80 mile mark. I’ll venture that most runners blow up because of two reasons:

1. Not taking in enough calories and fluids
2. Going out too hard

Good news: these are fixable problems!

Heart Rate Method:

I’ve started wearing a heart rate monitor during races in order to keep myself from going out too fast, firing up the engines too soon, and blowing up. During training, I’ve figured out that I can run all day at 130-138 bpm. If I’m going up short hills then I can hold a 138-145 bpm effort, but if I’m running up any longer hills and I’m hovering in that higher HR zone, then I’m sure to explode at the end of the race.

There is no shame in hiking hills in order to keep your effort/HR low. Make it a fast hike and you can smash your mountain 100.

Matchstick Analogy:

Coach Jorge Martinez (E3 Training Solutions) uses the matchstick analogy regarding pacing, which goes as follows. Your body is a box of matchsticks, and there is a finite number of matchsticks in the box. Every time you spike your effort, you burn a matchstick. And when you run out of matchsticks, you have nothing to light your fire.

When you go too hard uphill or down, you burn a matchstick. When you pass someone too fast, or try to keep their faster pace when it's not your pace, you burn a matchstick. Matchsticks are valuable tools, and they should be saved for when they're most needed, like the last 25 miles of a race.

Bonus: Gear Stuff

Gear I like:

Ultimate Direction AK Race Vest 2.0
17oz Salomon soft flasks
Buff headwear
Garmin Forerunner 310XT w/ heart rate monitor
Nathan Quickdraw Plus
Petzl MYO RXP headlamp

Shoes I like:

Pearl Izumi Trail N2
Adidas Adios Boost
Salomon S-lab Sense 3 Ultra Softground
La Sportiva Helios
La Sportiva Vertical K
Montrail Rogue Fly
Hoka Bondi Speed

Moment of zen:

Why run 100 miles? Because nobody hires you to do it, nobody can fire you from it, nobody can tell you that you don't have the degree to do it, you just go out there and figure out how you can do it.

Gear Review: Salomon Fellcross 1 Shoe Review

The Salomon Fellcross is inspired by fell running, which is popular in the UK. Essentially, fell running is where you are tasked to run from point A to point B and figure out your own best route there, rather than following a marked trail to the finish. As a fell runner, you will likely run through mud, bogs, and other soggy conditions on your way up and over hills.

Fellcross in their element

The Salomon Fellcross outsole has long, aggressive, multi-directional lugs -- aimed toward your heel in the forefoot and toward your toes in the heel -- that are spaced far apart in order to bite into soft ground and shuck the mucky hanging-on debris. This design is great for runners in wet, squishy, muddy conditions, as well as snow running. The Fellcross are terrific fall, winter, and spring trail shoes when the conditions get messy on the trails. The lugs will grip well in deep, powdery snow and wet, heavy snow better than yak trax or microspikes, which will move around and sometimes come up around the outsole of a shoe while running. If I'm in these conditions, I'll never choose yaktrax or microspikes over Fellcross. However, in frozen conditions, the Fellcross performs terribly. The outsole is made of material that will slip and slide over icy, hard packed snow as well as wet, slick rock. But in 3-4+ inches of snow, they will eat up the conditions marvellously. Also, The outsole wears slowly, so the high cost ($180ish) won't bite you by season's end.

Multi-direction Lugs

Big Lugs

Fellcross are less flexible than the Speedcross and the Hornets, especially in the midfoot. At 4mm drop, they will tax the calves up steep slopes, and without rocker technology, I've found my feet to slap the ground in the forefoot, even when concentrating on my stride. They do not feel light weight, but in the wet, cold, muddy, snowy conditions they are built for -- where you're covered from eyes to toes in heavy cold gear -- weight isn't that much of an issue. 

Lots of traction in the snow

Because of the shape of the inside of the shoe, the medial of my big toes have been chafed and calloused by running in these for longer than 2 hours, and I have a narrow forefoot, so this came as a surprise. 

As for the upper, I like the quicklaces (with garage area for tucking in the excess lace), but the quicklace requires some adjusting to get used to. Often my instep is bruised from over-tightening the laces in order to keep the shoe in place through mud. One huge plus is that the upper is solidly made. I've run in Peregrines in the mud, and the torque between the outsole and upper tears the fabric on the upper of the Peregrine, especially in the inner forefoot, but even after 200+ miles in the Fellcross, that area remains unharmed.

For 14er hiking/running, I often choose these shoes when there is going to be snow or mud, and they never disappoint. They are very warm, which is great when paired with some Smartwool socks, but in the late spring my feet cook in the Fellcross as they don't breathe well. I love the lugs right up front in the toes, especially when ascending 20%+ grade mountains. I feel like I can dig the toes in like crampons.  

Perfect Fellcross conditions

You can't see it- but even Cody and the photographer are wearing Salomon's ;)

In sum, the Fellcross are best in muddy or deep snowy conditions, and worst in icy or hard packed trail or road conditions. They fit true to size (I'm a 10 in most shoes, including Salomon, and true to Fellcross). I'm looking forward to trying the Fellcross 2 which use the Salomon Sense and Ultra endofit technology for better fit, but overall I'm happy with the Fellcross 1 for what they excel at.

Trip Report: Mt. Evans

Date: June 21st, 2013. Trailhead: Echo Lake

     Another weekend, another 14er! We were able to leave early-ish, and got on the trail by 8am on June 21^st. The weather was looking perfect, once again, and the three of us were in great spirits. Rather than make the trek easy, we started at one of the furthest trailheads, at Echo lake, knowing the route would be about 16 miles. We also didn’t learn our lesson from the last hike, and didn’t bring any trail guides with us in case we lost our route. Such Newbies!

Echo Lake

            Ryan, Jon, Cody and I did some run-hiking for the first 5 miles. Anytime we start above 10,000 feet, I’m happy to maintain a 10-11 min mile, since I still hadn’t adapted to altitude. The trail was gorgeous, taking us through some pine forests, and meadows with stunning lakes.

            At around the 5 mile point, we began the really big ascents. We followed the trail that switch-backed up the side of the mountain. As we stopped to catch our breath, we realized that a herd of big horn sheep were hanging out on the hillside, watching the silly humans try to ‘run’ up a mountain. Cody was amazing- she didn’t show any interest in the sheep (she must not have seen them!).

There really are sheep in this picture- they just blend in so well!

This is the trail. It was steep. Cody didn't even notice.

Chicago Lake

Looking down on Chicago lake from above

            We took a food break at the Summit Lake parking lot. We hadn’t seen a single other hiker from Echo lake to Summit lake, so it was interesting to pop out of the trail, into a parking lot filled with people and cars!

Summit Lake

Looking down on Summit Lake

            Finding the next part of the route was a little tricky, and we spent the rest of our time navigating over lots of rocks, trying to find the route. Here’s where having a route description or guide would’ve been helpful, because we started to summit something that was not Mount Evans. We finally got used to looking for cairns, and managed to keep making progress on the correct trail. Cody was a champ at the rocks- this time, we really had to climb up, and in a few spots, she needed a boost.

Cody- part dog, part mountain goat

Route finding

            After what seemed like hours, we eventually made it to the actual summit. Again, after seeing only a few other hikers for the last hour, we emerged at 14,000 feet into a huge parking lot, with REAL bathrooms, cars and motorcycles. The final 300 foot climb to the summit was like a Disneyland route, but I was happy it exists, because it allows people who aren’t as able-bodied to see the incredible summit of a 14,000 foot peak.

View from the top

Summit Dog!

The saddle trail over to Mt. Bierstadt

            After enjoying the views and the steady wind on the summit, we went over to see why everyone was hanging around this older building. Turns out, mountain goats live there! There were some baby twin mountain goats and their parents hanging out, posing for pictures. We went to check them out, and Cody was amazing again- completely ignoring the wildlife. The little baby mountain goat got a whiff of Cody, and got nervous, scrambling up the rocks and away, until his Mom let him know it was OK.

Crying for his mom!

            The scramble down the summit was a lot harder than our previous descents. We didn’t have any snow to slide down, and the rocks were slippery. We also had been up past 14,000 feet for almost 2 hours at this point, and all 3 of us humans were starting to feel loopy and uncoordinated. Ryan and Jon had run out of water, so we had to stop at a mountain stream for them to fill up.

Running down from the summit

Mr. Mountain Goat, posing on a rock

            By the time we got to an area that was more runnable, my legs were exhausted and I was low on fuel, so we couldn’t quite run back as hard as we would’ve liked to. Finally, we made it back to the car, after a vicious 300 foot final ascent. This was the first hike that tested our limits a bit- from the difficult route finding, to the additional time spent at higher altitude, we were pretty happy to be done. Our expectations were that this was supposed to be ‘easy’, but maybe now we’ll finally learn that there is NO easy 14er!!!

Overview:

If you start at Echo Lake, you can get a lot of good trail running in for the first 5-6 miles. If you’re a beast (like Ryan and Jon), you may even be able to run up to 7 miles- but it’s really steep. The remaining climb gets a bit technical, and requires more scrambling. I'd suggest wearing cheap gloves that you don't mind running, to help protect your hands when scrambling over rocks.

Details

Total time: 7:09

Moving time: 5:09 (18:19 min/mile). Again- a TON of time taking pictures!!

Starting elevation: 10,409 feet

Max elevation: 14,304 feet

Total ascent: 5,571 feet

Elevation Profile:

Gear

My essential Brooks LSD lightweight running jacket, Salomon Speedcross and my Nathan hydration vest. Ryan wore his Ultimate Direction Wasp vest and his Salomon sense Ultras.
Cody wore her UltraPaws boots to protect her feet on the hike, and rocked her Julius K9 harness.

Trip Report: Mt. Massive

Summit Fever continues- Mt. Massive, June 15th, 2013

This time, we add the next necessary component to our adventures: camping. We found a nice campsite near the Mt. Massive trailhead, outside of Leadville, CO. The drive from Denver to Leadville on a Friday night wasn’t too bad, and it took under 2 hours to pull into the site. Setting up camp was easy, and soon enough, we were off to bed.

            After a relaxing morning and a full breakfast, we headed to the Mt. Massive trailhead at around 9:00am, without really reading any route descriptions. That was a mistake. For whatever reason, we had it in our heads that the route was only 6 miles, so when we had only climbed 500 feet in 2.5 miles, we convinced ourselves that this was the wrong trail. We were on the Colorado trail, and we knew that this was part of the route, but from where we started, the trailhead sign didn’t say ‘Mt. Massive’, so we were never sure this was actually the right way. We also didn’t encounter a single other hiker out there, which given that it was a Saturday, was pretty odd. At 2.5 miles, we turned around and headed back to the campsite to check our guidebook. Low and behold, that was the correct trail, so after refueling on potatoes and cheese, we headed back out. Yay for an additional 5 miles!!

Gorgeous Colorado Trail

            Back on the trail, we covered the familiar 2.5 miles quickly, and realized we were 0.2 miles from the sign that says ‘Main Massive Trail’. From there, we quickly began ascending, passing through a gorgeous meadow that gave us a sneak peak of the mountain ahead.

Too little, too late

Could this look any more perfect?

Cody rockin' her trail boots

            We quickly made it passed treeline, and began the rocky ascent. Unlike our previous 2 hikes, we still hadn’t gone through any snow. Following the actual trail, with solid ground underneath was a pleasant surprise- who knew it would be easier to hike in something other than snow?! The trail was really steep at this point- I had a lot of hands-on-knees moments.

Steep and Rocky

Ryan had to wait like 5 minutes for me to catch up and take this picture

            As we got closer to the top, we found ourselves in some snow, and the footing got a little sketchier. This trail was more exposed, and was on more of a ridge, compared to Bierdstadt, Grays and Torreys, so hiking in the ever-moving snow made things more exciting.

Exposed trail on both sides- exciting!

Navigating the rocks

We made it to the pseudo-summit without climbing up too many rocks. After that, we could see the final summit, and despite not having to climb much higher, it was a lot of rock scrambling and route finding to get there. The snow just added to fun! We hadn’t been on any big rock scrambles yet, and Cody navigated everything like a champ. Rather than blindly follow her humans, she would assess our route, then determine if she saw a better way. She always picked the smarter route- less climbing, better footing.

Cody picking her best line. See those tiny dots, far away- that's where we had just come from

Summit Shot

The summit was stunning. After working so hard to get there, the view just looked more amazing. 

Yay!!

Cody's 4th 14er!! She always gets up there and enjoys the view!

A rare picture of Cody looking at me, while on the summit

     We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with our friends, and did another smaller hike on the Colorado trail the next day.

Hiking on the Colorado Trail

The best shot I could get of all 4 dogs

Overview:

The route is supposed to be 13.5 miles, but with our turning around, we added 5.3 miles, for a total (from the campground) of 18.9 miles. The first 4 miles are relatively runnable, then it gets really steep and technical for the last few miles.

I restarted on our second attempt, so for 13.6 miles:

Time: 5:44

Moving time: 4:12 (18:32min/mile)

Elevation Start: 10,058 feet

Max Elevation: 14,375 feet

Total Climb: 4,577 feet 

Elevation profile:

Gear:

My essential Brooks LSD lightweight running jacket, Salomon Speedcross and my Nathan hydration vest. Ryan wore his Ultimate Direction Wasp vest and his Salomon sense Ultras.
Cody wore her UltraPaws boots to protect her feet on the hike, and rocked her Julius K9 harness.