u/Runannon

I'm over here on the injured train sadly, but using my *downtime* to think about next year and what races could be fun!

I love races that are historic..... I've done Vermont and Umstead (and loved both), so I kind of want to run Old Dominion. The HURT 100 looks so hard and spectacular too, but it is so far away!

What are some races you've eyed for a long time but have not yet entered (or entered the lottery for)?

Bonus point if they are pretty accessible for East Coasters....

I am looking to add a training option that I can easily access from home.

One thought is to add some walking to the mix (to be better prepared for the hiking in long mountain races)

Are walking pads useful? Useless? Should I just get a treadmill?

And how about weighted vests? They are everywhere but training for the Uphill Athlete discussed this as a training tool before it was cool. Are people doing low zone weighted workouts?

The 'old Garmin Fenix 7S from 2022 seems to be lasting less and less time. It didn't make it through my last 100K (with GPX on and bluetooth for my HR monitor enabled). It did make it through my last 100 miler a year ago but without the GPS/NAV turned on. That was a flat race though.

My next 100 miler is one where the climbing, descending, and remoteness mean I will need GPX/NAV turned on AND the race will likely take me about 30 hours (cutoff is 36, so could be even longer).

Do I bite the bullet and get a new watch?

OR do I charge the watch during the race? (this could be finicky as the watch is old and has to have the silly charger in at just the right angle to keep charging). I am leaning toward getting a new watch --- but they are SO EXPENSIVE.

Should I just switch to Coros? Do Garmin to Coros converts have anything to say about this? Pros and cons of making the switch?

Is it normal for an expensive watch to last only 4 years (with daily use, but still!)?

As you can see - I am ... not sure what's best....

The Sulphur Springs Trail Race is Canada’s largest and oldest ultra. I’d never raced outside of the US before this, but the timing worked out and I am really glad to have chosen this adventure!

DISTANCE: 100K
TIME: 10:44:24
RESULT: 2nd female, 9th overall

GOALS: 

 ✅ A GOAL: Sub 11 (?). I am not great at goal setting, especially for courses I cannot see in advance of race day, but did have this number vaguely in mind.
 ✅ B GOAL: Finish the race under the WSER qualifying time of 18 hours….
 ✅ C GOAL: Finish

GEAR:
Hoka SpeedGoat 7s, North Face SunRiser 3-inch shorts(SO incredibly comfortable!), Umstead 100 miler swag technical race shirt, Lululemon long crew running socks, Zensah seamless bra, UltrAspire Alpha Vest with 2-500 ml flasks (also carried my Ultraspire light and battery and an e-blanket as part of mandatory gear, but didn’t use).

_____________

TRAINING:
I used the Roches’ 100 Mile Champion Plan and worked this race into it (because I have a 100 miler this summer). The weekly mileage was about 45-80. I did inadvertently have a few days of carrying a 90-100 mile 7-day load. This was largely because of one high mileage weekend on the Eastern States course that I did 4 weeks prior to this race while volunteering for the all-female training camp hosted there (an incredible experience in PA if you are a female-identifying trail runner looking to make connections and run technical trails with friends!!)

Significant work travel interrupted my “peak training” weeks. When I could not squeeze in the volume, I aimed to maintain the workouts. When fatigue meant I couldn’t manage the strides or more demanding workouts, I made sure to get the volume. If you can’t meet both of your weekly objectives, one is better than none.

RACE FORMAT: 100K = 5 x 20K loop, rolling:
The course is 5 X a 20K loop with 1200-1500 ft of climbing/descending per loop.

The 20K loop can be conceived of as an elongated clover leaf to some degree. It has 4 “smaller loops” within it, one larger one, followed by two tiny ones, and then a large one again. Between these areas of the course, there are sections with two-way traffic. 
The two main climbs are something known as “Three Sisters” (feels like 4 by the end!) and the climb at the end of the loop up Martin Road. I don’t know the exact details, but I want to say the Martin Road is only a couple hundred feet over .35 of a mile ish. Three sisters is not terribly long either, but has three punchy ups in a row, which are challenging to run every loop, but probably possible for fit, speedy folks. The rest of the climbing is very much runnable throughout the race if you manage to save your legs. The second “larger” loop also has sweet long, gradual descent, which is a blast to ride down! The descents are not steep except in one little connecter part of the first larger loop but it is incredibly short. The entire 20K loop is non-technical. It’s dirt/gravel. However…. On this edition of Sulphur Springs, there was A BUCKET LOAD of rain and the course was absolutely maniacally slippery throughout by the time I was halfway through my second loop. Fun times! 

RACE PREP & TRAVEL:
My partner and I drove up over the course of Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, stopping halfway-ish in Hammondsport overnight. 

Looped course fueling: As far as fueling, I decided to have 4 1- liter bottles of premixed Skratch high carb set up with 500 calories in each bottle. That way, I could get to the end of a loop, refill my 2-500 ml flasks, and be sure I was getting 500 calories exactly. (a lot of times I will use a gallon jug, but I wanted to try being a bit more exact, plus 1- liter bottles are easier to shake up and pour during a race where my hands would be cold and stiff). This worked fabulously. At the end, just due to not finishing my whole bottles each time, I had about 900 ml left over (not ideal- I should've drank more!). I put an LMNT packet in each of the 1-liter bottles as well (but not my first flasks in the vest). I also consumed 3-120 calorie Amacx gels with 75mg caffeine in each. This allowed me for the first time to really track my intake. 

Calories: I consumed 2410 calories
Caffeine:  225 mg of caffeine
Sodium: ~5050 mg of salt (probably didn’t need that much on a cold day, but it didn't hurt me either).

Some people may laugh but I’m terrible with directions. I legitimately took the 20K gpx and multiplied it x 5 to make a full 62 mile file on my watch. If you are reading this and planning to run Sulphur Springs, you do NOT need to do that. The entire course is VERY WELL MARKED using large arrows (not just ribbons). You will not mess this up!

RACE DAY:
We woke up at 3:45 am and drove from our hotel to the course. The morning was pretty uneventful and the energy was good!
The RD mentioned that there were 2300 runners across all of the distances. (but that 700 of those were in the 10K/20K which would occur the next day).

LOOP 1: 1:52
I don’t know if it is the caffeine, adrenaline, excitement or what, but my HR is always BONKERS high for the first bit of races, absolutely nuts.This race was no different. I was running at conversational pace, chatting with whoever was around but my HR was 170+ for a lot of the first loop. I concluded that even if it were high for non-running related reasons (anxiety? Caffeine?), I needed to get it under control. I am pretty competitive, but knew I was not going to “win” (1st place F is a beast who already has the CR on this race), so I was not concerned about people passing me; 100 K is a long race and the first 20K is not when I feel inclined to “make a move up the field”

LOOP 2: 2:04
I felt like absolute crap the entire time, but decided to be chill and wait things out - I knew that if I kept running at a high HR, I would be toast, so I really tried to chill on this loop and reset myself. It worked! The loop was starting to get gnarly already with the rain starting to accumulate.

LOOP 3: 2:13
I decided to keep it pretty slow, knowing that I was only just over 40% done and wanting to save my legs for later. Midway through this loop, I started feeling a lot better knowing that I was coming up on being 50% done. The course was comically F&%$ed up by this time. Everywhere I looked there were people tucking and rolling, sliding, skidding, falling on their butts. Being out there suffering with everyone re-energized me. Maybe I am sadistic, but I love a good mud fest. 
I will not lie, one thought I kept having was , “stay upright– do not get hurt your first time racing in another country…” At one point, I tried to gain some momentum running down a short down, but kind of lost control and ran into thorny bushes! Blood was drawn and my legs are pretty scratched up, but there was no pain. It was more just hilarious. 

LOOP 4: 2:16
Started feeling really good and just kept laughing at how awful the course conditions were. This is where I started to make my moves without overdoing it. Slow and steady! The only upside of terrible conditions is that I couldn’t over-exert myself. 

LOOP 5: 2:18
Felt – really really good. I kept the “watts” really low but tried to “run” (shuffle) as much of this loop as possible! I tried to ONLY walk on the “major climbs” while trotting up the lower grade ones. I wanted to bomb the downs but course conditions  didn’t really allow for that without putting myself in danger of falling on every little downhill. I kept smiling. 

TAKEAWAYS:

• This race confirmed - I love loops, love mud, adventure, and historic (long-established) races.
• What I am most proud of is not letting my pacing slow terribly even as rain and mud saturated the course. My loops were 1:52, 2:04, 2:13, 2: 16 and 2:18. 
• This was by far the largest race I have ever done when you consider all the other runners on course. Most everyone was great–some runners seemed unfamiliar with the concept of staying to the right in two-way traffic sections and there were some side-by-side runners with poles on who seemed unaware that they were taking up the whole double track even after multiple “on your left” heads up warnings as I approached! I suppose that is normal with larger races, and it is just something you have to be comfortable with. I do recognize that it is also harder for people to move over in the rain/mud without falling. 
• The RD added a 350 meter “warmup” loop before the race course to help spread the runners out before we entered the trail - I appreciated this and think it is a great idea. Overall the course did not feel congested except a bit in the two-way sections.
• It pays off to think ahead of time about HOW to get calories in most effectively. The 1-L bottles at my “table” were perfect.
• My Garmin 2022 Fenix 7S with GPX turned on and a bluetooth HR monitor could not quite make it through this race-it died with less than a mile left!
• This race was SPECTACULARLY well organized!!! I cannot imagine what a herculean task it was to pull this off, and in a crazy weather year even moreeso. I did not use the aid stations, but there’s one at mile 2.7, 5, 8 and 11.5 of the 12.5 mile loop!
• Trail braids are life- normally in wet weather my hair becomes a bees' nest I almost want to cut off rather than try to detangle, but trail braids kept everything in order!
• The race swag (everything from vendor discounts to a race shirt/socks and even free race photos, etc.) and prizes for the podium were SO incredibly generous!!! 
• All in all, I highly recommend this race!! The environment and runners are so inspiring, the course is gorgeous, and the whole weekend is exceptional.

What the title says...... I am looking to be a speedy as I can and wonder if road shoes would suffice on this course or if trail shoes are better? I have some trail shoes I like, but they aren't super fast feeling. (SpeedGoat 7)