I always get nervous before a race. Part of that nervous energy goes towards making my race kit, studying the different sections of the course and choosing different shoes. Looking back at my training log, Ive put in more miles, more long runs, and longer runs than I did preparing for the Kettle Moraine 100 mile. That being said, logging miles isnt everything. I spent some time on the stairmaster last week, working on my steep power hiking skills, maybe that will help. A huge portion of this race is going to be mental fortitude (for me anyways) and keeping my feet and stomach happy. I think I have the stomach thing under control during a 50 miler - I am basically a garbage disposal who can run- but I am planning trying something slightly different at Oil Creek than Kettle.
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| Dont ask me how much this all cost |
Having run a very happy Ice Age 50 mile 3 weeks before Kettle using soley gels as a fuel source, I figured I would just do the same for the 100 miles at KM. Bad Toe. I learned after bonking out kinda hard around mile 83 that I get super sick of gels after about 100k, and need to use more solid food. After the race I spend some time reading peoples strategies for Western States, and noticed super fast veterans like Andy Jones-Wilkins eat mostly "solid" food for the first 50 and then switch over to gels. This will be my approach for Oil Creek. Ive been practicing eating clif bars, candy bars, chips, power bars, muffins, and PB&J sandwiches as I run the poto. I hope to do something similar this weekend. Solid food will consist of Honey Stinger waffles, Clif Bloks, Power Bars, Clif Roks, mini snikcers, and the occasional aid station food. I am aiming for 300-400 calories an hour - yes this is a lot, yes I can eat this much, I hope I dont over/under do it as solid food is more difficult to track consumptionwise than gels.
Onto my feet. Those who know me well know that I have some pretty cool feet. I was lucky enough to have some wicked surgeries on my left foot when I was in 6th grade, and as a consequence of damage to my growth plate, my 4th toe has not grown since. Running shoes are hard to find for me. One foot is wide and short, the other is long and skinny. Blah blah blah. Im gonna rock my new favorite shoe, the MTE101 (European version of the ever-so-popular MT101) for as long as I can, and switch over to my new Speedcross 3. Being the self proclaimed shoe nerd that I am, I will also have my Fellcross, Mtn Masochist, Kinvara, and MT100s either in my car or in the drop bag. Socks - drymax pro are the best socks in the world. hands down. period. but if I need something softer, I will have some smartwools somewhere.
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| Yeah, I know, awesome |
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| Notice the long scar on the 4th metatarsel |
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There is still some last minute planning to do. Exactly which gels go into which drop bag. Which socks to put where. What shorts will I wear, etc. These will be things that I think about over the next couple days. Importantly, I made some humungous Banana Walnut muffins for Hagy, Jason, Chris, and anyone else I deem worthy of a delicious muffin.
I thought I would end this post with my mileage that I ran in preparation for the race (hopefully it will inspire some confidence). **note** this is probably not a wise amount of miles to run week to week, but hell, it makes me happy :) If anyone is actually interested, I usually run 2x a day. mostly a short 3-6 mile run in the morning/lunch time and then however long I can muster at night. These daily total reflect both runs.
| June | 27 | 14 |
| June | 28 | 3.5 |
| June | 29 | 21 |
| June | 30 | 17 |
| July | 1 | 9 |
| July | 2 | 18 |
| July | 3 | 17 | | |
Week total - 99.5
| July | 4 |
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| July | 5 | 13 |
| July | 6 | 14 |
| July | 7 | 15 |
| July | 8 |
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| July | 9 | 31 |
| July | 10 | 9 |
Week total - 82 |
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| July | 11 | 15 |
| July | 12 | 18 |
| July | 13 | 15 |
| July | 14 | 15 |
| July | 15 | 15 |
| July | 16 | 27 |
| July | 17 | 15 |
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| Week total - 120 |
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| July | 18 | 15 |
| July | 19 | 15 |
| July | 20 | 15 |
| July | 21 | 0 |
| July | 22 | 22 |
| July | 23 | 12 |
| July | 24 | 29 |
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| Week total - 108 |
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| July | 25 | 10 |
| July | 26 | 18 |
| July | 27 | 18 |
| July | 28 | 15 |
| July | 29 | 13 |
| July | 30 | 5 |
| July | 31 | 32 |
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| Week total - 111 |
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| August | 1 |
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| August | 2 | 18 |
| August | 3 | 18 |
| August | 4 | 20.5 |
| August | 5 | 15.5 |
| August | 6 | 36 |
| August | 7 | 18 |
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| Week total - 126 |
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| August | 8 | 0 |
| August | 9 | 15 |
| August | 10 | 20.5 |
| August | 11 | 15 |
| August | 12 | 15 |
| August | 13 | 20 |
| August | 14 | 24.5 |
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| Week total - 110 |
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| August | 15 | 16 |
| August | 16 | 16 |
| August | 17 | 17.5 |
| August | 18 | 13 |
| August | 19 | 15 |
| August | 20 | 15 |
| August | 21 | 12 |
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| Week total - 104.5 |
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| August | 22 | 0 |
| August | 23 | 6 |
| August | 24 | 9 |
| August | 25 | 0 |
| August | 26 | 0 |
| August | 27 | 50 |
| August | 28 | 6 |
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| Week total - 71 |
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| August | 29 | 10 |
| August | 30 | 12 |
| August | 31 | 0 |
| September | 1 | 18.5 |
| September | 2 | 12 |
| September | 3 | 13 |
| September | 4 | 23 |
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| Week total - 88.5 |
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| September | 5 | 18 |
| September | 6 | 15 |
| September | 7 | 0 |
| September | 8 | 15 |
| September | 9 | 6 |
| September | 10 | 50 |
| September | 11 | 0 |
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| Week total - 104 |
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| September | 12 | 6 |
| September | 13 | 12 |
| September | 14 | 15 |
| September | 15 | 18.5 |
| September | 16 | 19.5 |
| September | 17 | 29 |
| September | 18 | 20 |
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| Week total - 120 |
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| September | 19 | 0 |
| September | 20 | 21 |
| September | 21 | 22 |
| September | 22 | 17.5 |
| September | 23 | 18 |
| September | 24 | 26 |
| September | 25 | 25.5 |
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| Week total - 130 |
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| September | 26 | 13 |
| September | 27 | 11 |
| September | 28 | 12 |
| September | 29 | 14 |
| September | 30 | 11 |
| October | 1 | 13.5 |
| October | 2 | 13.5 |
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| Week total - 88 |
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