Transvulcania: A lesson in persistance

All packed and ready to go

A few days ago I flew half way across the world.  The destination for this trip is Isla la Palma, Spain. It is not without significant trepidation that I make this trip, the intimidation of toeing the line with what will likely be the highest concentration of top level mountain and ultra runners that has assembled in one place. I will be racing the Transvulcania 84 kilometer Sky Ultra.  This year’s race is the opener for the new Sky Running Ultra World Series, and it has gathered some amazing talent.

I arrived on Isla de La Palma in the Canary Islands late Wednesday night after 4 flights, and more than 18 hours in the air.  I was greeted at the airport by one of the race staff, loaded into a car and along with a couple of other runners, we made the 45 minute drive to the hotel.  Our driver must have been a distant relative to Mario Andretti because he drove super fast and aggressive the whole drive.  I would later find out that everyone I rode with on the island drives that way! 

The section of trail near the start that I previewed.

Thursday before the race was mostly spent sleeping, relaxing and trying to recover from the travel.  Midday I bummed a ride with the media crew from TrailRunner magazine to the start.  After another white knuckle ride I opted to get my run in from the start and hitchhike back to the hotel.  I ran the first 7k of the course which consists of a climb of pretty close to 3000’ from the beach to the closest town Los Canarios.  At the top of the climb I was pretty quickly able to get a ride from a local who was running the half marathon on Saturday and was super fired up for the event. 

Who wouldn't pick up this guy?

Friday was another rest day.  I went for a 30 minute run with Adam Campbell before a nice dip in the ocean.  

Adam Campbell shaking out his legs the day before the race.

After lunch we had the athlete briefing, which was very well done, and to the point.  The hours quickly slipped by and at 10:00pm I tried to lay down and get a few hours of sleep before the 2:00 am wake-up call.  All of the runners would be taken to the start, and our shuttle was scheduled to leave at 3:00, for a 4:30 arrival at the lighthouse. 

The start of the race was one of the craziest starts I have been part of.  They pack all of the runners for both the ultra and the half marathons into a small parking area just below the lighthouse.  This turns into quite the spectacle considering there were around 2500 starters! Typical for what I have seen at European racers there was a lot of fanfare with music, lively MC’s and generally a ton of stoke.  When the start when off at 6:00 am I was surprised that the pace was fast but not ridiculous.  We did a quick lap around the lighthouse and then headed up the route I had ran two days previous.  The field settle in fairly quick and I found myself in somewhere around 25th or so.  One of my favorite memories from the race was being able to look back at the stream of headlamps working there way up the trail! It was incredible.  

I passed Los Canarios about 5 minutes faster than what I ran Thursday, and deeply enjoyed the energy of what must have been pretty much the whole city who had lined the streets to cheer for the runners. In contrast to the start and Los Canarios the forest we climbed into above town was quite and tranquil. It was a glorious morning on the Island, I was running near Joe Grant and had felt great.  

26 k into the race we arrived at El Pilar aid station.  The place was going off! There were tons of people there cheering the runners on. I grabbed a little coke and got out of there as quick as I could.  Not more than a kilometer out of the aid station I felt like a switch flipped and with it my legs went flat.  I tried to ramp up the pace, but just couldn’t find another gear.  I hit an extra gel and immediately my stomach protested.  As I fell off pace Joe went by and within a couple of minutes the leading women went past as well.  I figured I was just having a little bad patch, so I worked on staying positive, getting food and water in and moving forward. 

So stoked to be on La Palma! Photo: iRunFar

Unfortunately my bad patch would last the rest of the race. I was able to shuffle along, but never found the comfortable cruising pace that I had prepared for.  My stomach simply would not let me consume any more gels so for the last 50k of the race I fueled off of apples, water and coke.  The course was so beautiful and inspiring and it was very frustrating to be able to draw from that energy and run as planned.  I particularly struggled on the descent from the high point, Roque de los Muchachos all the way to the sea. It dropped somewhere around 8000’ in a relentless, quad thrashing, steep, technical descent. By the time I had hit the ocean I was super hot, tired and completely blown, but the race organizers have one last treat for the runners; a 1700’ ascent in about 6k up to the finish.  

I poured a bunch of water on me to cool off, ate a little chunk of watermelon, then put my head down and went to work at getting done. I was surprised to find that I could still run (shuffle) uphill and decided that I would run the entire ascent.  Surprisingly I was able to grind all the way up! At the top there is about 2k of flat running through the town of Los LLanos to the finish.  Much like the other large aid stations there were so many people lining the streets out cheering for the runners to come through.  It was quite hard to not get emotional from all of the support.  I crossed the finish in 9:20:01 completely spent and very happy to be done.  

Done! Photo: iRunFar

The finish area had kiddie pools filled with ice water to soak beat up legs, the school of Physioterapia was offering massages for the runners, and there was some great food.  I enjoyed the finish line environment for about an hour before heading back to the hotel to rest. 

This morning along with many of the other runners I am hobbling around, nursing sore legs.  I plan on spending the better part of the afternoon soaking in the ocean before I board a plane at 9:00 pm and begin my journey home.

I have to take a moment to thank the International Sky Running Federation and Transvulcania for putting on such a great event and allowing me to be part of it! I loved how well organized the event was and how difficult the course turned out to be.  It was my first Sky race and it will surely not be my last.  Also a huge thanks to Patagonia, Ultraspire, First Endurance, and Smith Optics for their continued support. 

Gear I used for the Race:

Most of the kit before the race

Shirt: Patagonia Airflow Tank

Shorts: Patagonia Strider Pro

Socks: Patagonia Lightweight Merino Anklet Sock

Shoes: Patagonia Evermore

Pack: Ultraspire Alpha

Sunglasses: Smith Serpico Slim

Hat: First Endurance Trucker

Getting Lost in Peru

Town is that way...at least I think so

I can feel my heartbeat pounding in my head, my breathing is fast and labored, and my pace clearly isn't as fast as it should be given the effort it is requiring. A little over two hours into the run I admit to myself that I am not on the route that I was planning on taking.  I am lost, sort of...

The Town of Cusco in the distance, I still know where I am sort of....

Four days prior I had had left SLC with a large group of medical and dental providers all bound for Peru.  I have actually made this pilgrimage every spring for four years now.  The group I am part of, Idaho Condor, takes a group to the highlands of Peru every spring to offer medical and dental care to a very special people living in and around the Sacred Valley outside of Cusco, Peru.  I love being able to go every spring to provide medical care and to get in some high altitude training to kick off ultra-season. Cusco sits at a little over 10,000' and it is quite easy to get up to and stay above 12 or 13,000' feet for an long period of time.  It is also hard work.

During this trip I had set a couple of slightly more ambitious goals than I had in the past in regards to running while in Peru.  One of them included running from Cusco to Chincheros via the mountain range that separated them.  I had spoke to several people who all thought it could be done, and had made contact with two people who have completed the traverse.  I went as far as buying a map, not a topo map since that proved pretty much impossible to locate.  The map I bought did have some trails and all of the roads that could be traveled to link the two cities.  We held a half day clinic Wednesday morning and at 1:30 pm I set out on what was estimated to be a 4-5 hour run.

The first part of the run went without incident as I climbed from the Plaza in the center of Cusco, past the ruins of Saksywaman, and into the mountains that form the Northern Cusco Skyline.  I have gone on many shorter runs into this area and felt confident in finding the correct saddle and trail that would lead me through the crux of the route.  The altitude always slows things down a little for me, and considering I had only been living at 10,000' for three days, I was pushing on all cylinders to simply run up hill. When I finally arrived at the saddle and got my first look at the next portion of the run, I immediately got quite nervous.  The mountains in front of me were large, with massive relief between the ridges and valleys.  I was standing at 12,700' and in front of me was an enormous chasm, flanked on the far side by a peak that extended much higher than my vantage point.  I could not make out any villages or other landmarks that were on my very helpful map. The trail I had followed up to that point contoured to the east ( off to my right) and I couldn't see any other trails going to the north or the west, the direction I thought I needed to be heading.

Right or left? 

In one conversation I had about the route I was told that I needed to go left at every intersection that I came to and that would lead me to my destination.  I quickly justified that this technically wasn't an intersection because there were no other trails, and without further debate I started to run again.  The trail was amazing! A pencil thin single track pasted on the high flanks of an Andean mountain.  It contoured around without gaining much more elevation and I finally felt like I could run at a decent pace.  About 45 minutes later I noticed a small village in the valley below.  I consulted my map and was a little confused about the location of the village.  It's location didn't fit with where I thought I was, it was also a long ways down to the village, maybe 2500' descent. It was 3:45.

Good single-track early in the run

After some internal debate I decided to continue on for another 15 minutes to see if I could get to a better vantage point.  40 minutes later I finally admitted to myself that I was going the wrong way, but I wasn't even sure which wrong way I was on.  The small villages that I occasionally spotted didn't match at all with the map, and they were so committingly far away that to descend to one would be going all-in- a full commitment to that location.

It was very exhilarating to be lost.  I knew that I had a headlamp, some gels and enough clothing to be out until I relocated myself.  I resolved to simply run until I ran into someone (not too likely), I arrived at a village, or I could make sense of my location and pick a new route. I was completely free;  no route, no destination, no specific time to arrive.  Yet, I was nervous at the same time; this could end up being very epic. At a few minutes after 5, I came across a shepherd who spoke a little Spanish and was able to explain that I had in fact should have gone left at the saddle and that my current trajectory would lead me deep into the Sacred Valley.  He recommended a slight alteration to my route which would loop me back to the highway, which I could then follow back to Cusco.

Basically I ended up running the skyline of this picture and then back to Cusco

By following my new friend's directions I was quickly able to "find" myself and work my way back towards civilization.  I ran down the final pathway and paused at the top of the stairs that would lead back to my hotel just as it got dark enough to consider pulling my headlamp out of my pack. I was relieved that the adventure had turned out so well and not in the least disappointed that I hadn't made it to my original destination.  The journey into the unknown and mishaps along the way had provided a much richer experience than if things had gone according to plan.

Ski Mountaineering World Championships Round-up

When I went to Europe for the Ski Mountaineering World Championships a few weeks ago I intended on writing a brief write-up every day about the races and the things Team USA was up to.  Well, as often happens, I found myself much busier than expected and chose to take extra time to recover or (gasp) ski! So here I find myself, home for almost two weeks, sitting at the keyboard trying to figure out how to share what happened.  In an attempt to keep my adult ADD in check, I am going to summarize what happened and share a bunch of pics.  If you want to hear more, leave a message below and I may or may not write a more detailed post about a certain part of the trip.

The Backdrop to the Teams Race

Saturday February 9
Most of the team spent the morning getting registered and doing recon of the individual course that would be held the next day.  Marshall Thompson, my partner for the teams race, and I broke off from the main group to talk strategy and to scout the middle fourth of the course. Seeing what the race officials had put together, coupled with the amazing backdrop, had both of us pretty fired up to get after it the next day.

Team USA 

That afternoon we attended the opening ceremonies. It is pretty cool to be able to represent your country and at the same time I find these events a bit intimidating.  It marks the pinnacle of so much hard work and the start of finding out where you stand amongst the best in the world.  Needless to say the pre-race jitters kicked in.

Sunday February 10

The Very Fast start of the Teams Race, Marshall and I are 32A/32B on the edge of the picture. 

We woke up to pretty cold temperatures and made our way to the start line.  The race started in the valley near the river, well below the Vallouise Ski Area and worked its way up (with a couple of climbs and descents) to a high point above and outside of the area.  We then enjoyed a very long descent (with one small climb) back to the valley and had a long skate back to town.  Just outside of town we had to put our skins on for one final slight uphill to finish at the town center.

The race for Marshall and I went well.  We had no serious mechanical issues, both of us felt good on the climbs, and we skied the descents well.  We finished 17th overall, 2nd US team, and 3rd North American Team.  We watched the rest of the US teams come in and then headed over the the lunch tent to work on recovering for the sprint race the very next day.

That afternoon I had the tremendous opportunity to represent the US at the athlete meeting.  Athletes from all of the participating countries were present to discuss Ski Mountaineering Racing, some of the rules, and from our standpoint what needed to be changed and improved upon.  The meeting was directed by Kilian Jornet and Mireia Miro.  I sat next to the amazing Spanish mountain runner Marc Pinasch.  I was a bit starstruck during the meeting and was pretty fired up to be part of the sports progress.

Monday February 11
A bunch of new snow fell overnight.  I was excited at the prospect of a powder day, but first was the sprint race. The sprint format is fairly new to skimo racing.  It was designed to concentrate the elements of a skimo race into a spectator-friendly format.  The way the course is designed it should take the top men about 2:30 to finish it. I raced this race in Claut two years ago, and was excited to throw down on the short course again.

Sprinting as fast as possible

My race went pretty well.  I felt pretty flat from the previous day's effort, and kind of flubbed one of my transitions.  I finished 34th overall, tied to the hundredth of a second with fellow US racer Max Taam.  Andy Dorais took home the top US spot in 31st.  All of the team US men fell outside of the quarterfinals (30), so we put on puffy coats to cheer on the women.  Nina Silitch made US Skimo history by battling super hard to a 2nd place.  It was incredibly impressive to see her do so well.

That afternoon team USA went to the awards ceremony to cheer for Nina, and after that there was a whole lot of celebrating.

Tuesday February 12
Tuesday was one of the highlights of the whole trip for me.  I was able to get out on the course and cheer for my good friend, Micah Thatcher.  Micah is an amazing 17-year-old who I have been helping get into the sport. He came to the Worlds as our only junior racer and did an incredible job duking it out with some über tough euros.  He fought hard the entire race.  He had an epic crash after straight-lining an entire descent that resulted in a broken ski. We scrambled to help him find a ski, and after a few minutes we had him back on course.  He continued to rally and finished a very respectable 18th.

Micah about to point it for 1000' 

Meredith, Chad, and I skied some of the fresh pow after the race before calling it a day.

Wednesday February 13

Start of the Individual Race, looks like Kilian should do some nordic racing! Photo Andy Dorais

Andy and I cruised out of the hotel in time to watch the start of the individual race, and then we caught the chairlift/Poma Lift combo to get to a good vantage point to watch the race.  We had a great time watching the leaders come through followed closely by the US contingent. We hung around watching the ladies come through and then we skied down to the finish.  We missed the top men finishing but arrived just in time to see Janelle Smiley come charging in to the finish, passing one more racer in the final meters of the race.  She finished 13th overall.

After the race both Andy I and took some time to recon the vertical course, which we would both be racing the next day.  After that I went back to the hotel and took an extra recovery catnap and started to get my head in the right place for the next day's effort.

Thursday February 14
I woke up ten minutes before the alarm clock and headed down to eat breakfast.  I wanted to make sure I was fueled, but that my stomach was empty before the race start. I then got my kit ready and tinkered for for another half-an-hour before it was time to go down and start warming up. I followed Adam's instructions very carefully for my warm-up and timed it just right to line up for the start.  I honestly can't remember too much about the next 30 minutes and 39 seconds other than I told myself over and over again to push as hard as I could. I remember starting to have the metallic taste in my mouth maybe ten minutes into the race and having the narrowing of my vision as I turned the last switchback. I finished feeling very, very worked.  I was a little disappointed that I didn't finish further up in the pack, but after looking at my HR data from the race I had to be satisfied. For the entire effort I held my HR within 2 beats per minute of my anaerobic threshold, with about half of it being two to three BPM over! I finished 46th overall and 3rd US racer.

That afternoon, after spending too much time on the phone with Avis Rental Car Assistance (long story, but I wasted far too much time on the phone, and we pretty much ended up buying a fiat van...don't ever rent from that company). Chad and I rallied to catch a crew that left about an hour ahead of us to ski a big line Andy had spotted a few days before.  A little over an hour of hustling up the way we thought they had gone we caught sight of our compatriots.  We finally caught on and proceeded to follow Andy up a huge line deep in Ecrin's National Park.  We went until my dang-o-meter started to buzz as we crossed into a wind loaded section a few hundred feet below what we thought was a saddle between two higher peaks.  We turned around just as the sun was dipping behind the mountains, the whole crew got ready to descend and we then leapfrogged down the 7000' continuous descent.  It was a great way to lick our wounds after the vertical race.

Bootpacking, still a ways to go- Photo Andy Dorais

Getting Ready to ski 7000' back to the valley- Photo Andy Dorais

Friday February 15
I hardly slept the prior night; we stayed out kind of late and Andy left at 3:30 am to catch his flight in Torino. I stayed in bed as long as I could before loading into the van to watch the last event of the World Champs - the Relay races.  The relays are another super fun race to watch. Each racer would do a multiple climb/descent lap that was taking about 12-15 minutes to complete. They would then tag a teammate and so on until the whole team had gone. (men 4; women 3; juniors, 1 female, 2 male)  The races were super exciting to watch.  The US men finished 11th, the women 8th.

That afternoon we went to the closing ceremonies and the closing party.  After watching the Spanish and Italian juniors completely destroy themselves with the open bar, Team USA headed back to the hotel to get some rest.

Saturday February 16
Chad, Scott, Mckenna, Kim, Micah and I loaded all of our stuff into a van and drove to La Grave.  We sorted our giant pile of gear on the sidewalk, bought tickets to the telepherique and hopped on.  La Grave is famously known for it's steep skiing and we were excited to break out the bigger skis for the day and explore some of what it had to offer.  We cruised around pretty mellow terrain while trying to get acclimated and waited for Chad's friend to meet up with us.  We finally connected with his buddy who gave us some beta on where to ski and off we went.  Overall we had a pretty good day, skied some fun lines, and for the first time while in France, didn't hike uphill.

For a bunch of weight nerd rando racers we sure pack heavy. 

Sunday February 17
The whole group opted to go for a tour this day; the objective was a long easy day with a French style picnic.  I have to admit that at this point I was feeling pretty tired from the week, so I had a pretty easy time just hanging back and enjoying the incredible scenery.  We still skied over 6000' vertical feet, including some of the best turns of the trip.  Scott and Chad broke off about 2 hours in and charged with a very specific objective in mind, to ski Goleon Peak. They got shut down just below the summit, but they skied 10,000' of vert before returning to the hotel later in the day.

La Grave in the background during our French Picnic Tour

Skiing some pretty good powder, La Grave in the background- Photo Mckenna Douglas

Monday February 18
Mckenna, Kim, and Chad decided to head back over to La Grave for the day and get a better taste of what the gondola had to offer. Scott, Micah and I decided we could use one last tour before leaving the next day.  We went up the valley from La Grave to Vall de'Arene and proceeded to have the best ski day of the whole trip.  We skied a handful of long, steep powder lines. All of which had the best snow of the trip.  We could have gone for days up there, but we refrained ourselves from getting too out-of-hand and settled for another 6000' day.

If you look close you can see the 1st of the 3 lines we skied

Some pretty awesome mountains to spend some time in! Photo Micah Thatcher

Overall it was an incredible trip to France; great racing, great skiing, and great company.  I owe a special thanks to my wife Tanae for putting up with me training all of the time and allowing me to galavant all over the world racing.  Also a special thanks to La Sportiva, First Endurance, and Ultraspire.  These sponsors are critical in helping me pursue racing at this level; couldn't do it without you guys!

I hope to have a post in the next week or so reviewing some of the gear I took to Europe as well as my fueling strategies for the races.

World Ski Mountaineering Championships Pre-Event Mini Golf

We arrived in France yesterday.  We had a super long travel day getting to Pelvoux, but fortunately it was uneventful.  I snuck in a run last night just as the sun went down, which I ended up finishing in the dark.  After a nice dinner, we all crashed hoping to get rid of some jet lag.  

Today after a pretty leisure morning, the majority of the US racers went out to stretch our legs and get in some ski time.  We walked out of the town and then skinned up a road into Ecrins National Park. We ended up spotting a couple of cool little couloirs just off the road and before we knew it we were playing a bit of couloir mini-golf.

Micah, Andy, and Mark walking up the road towards the Park-

Andy standing in the spindrift at the ice choke, a bit of spindrift coming down.

John happy to be heading down.

Andy ripping on race gear.

Looking up at the 2nd couloir it disappears into the cleft in the center of the rock. 

US Skimo Champs this Saturday

Well it's time.  The first big race of the ski mountaineering season is Saturday, followed by the second big race on Sunday. I have spent the last several months working with Adam St. Pierre and Rob Shaul preparing myself in the very best and systematic way possible.  For the first time I have included a very rigorous strength training program to kick off the training cycle and then at least twice a week since.  Adam developed a very thoughtful progression of endurance training, based loosely on my training from last year.

The training was going completely perfect until last Thursday when my body succumbed to a very nasty bug.  I spent 3 days pretty much completely in bed before I started to feel like myself again.  Other than some sniffles I have made a complete recovery.  It did effect my headspace some, going from feeling very top fitness, to being bed ridden and weak.  I do not think it was a training setback at all, but has made me even more humble and respectful of my competitors that will be toeing the line on Saturday. One thing that I have kept on the forefront of my mind this winter is to not take anything for granted, work hard to gain every bit of fitness possible, and never underestimate other racers.  I have a feeling that there are many out there who have worked harder than ever before to get ready, that have an absolute focus on preparing themselves to race.  More than ever in the past there is a deep field of racers, any of which could stand on top of the podium on Saturday.

 I am not able to fly under the radar this year after being so fortunate in last year's race, a place that I am envious of.  This I do know; a win this weekend will require the stars to align, for gear to function properly, for the body to respond perfectly, and an effort that will not soon be forgotten.  I also know that I will give my best effort, that is that can expected, and I will not be beat by anyone not giving the same of themselves.  It may hurt, but it will hurt so good!

Here are a few stats from the last 8 weeks of training for anyone still interested:

Nov. 4-10: 7:03 total time. 5000' ascent.
Nov. 11-17: 10:40 total time. 13,500' ascent. (plus 4 hours of lift skiing).
Nov. 18-24: 10:28 total time. 11,020' ascent.
Nov. 25-Dec. 1: 14:18 total time. 20,400' ascent.
Dec. 2-8: 14:48 total time. 24,400' ascent.
Dec. 9-15: 15:12 total time. 23,800' ascent.
Dec. 16-22: 12:49 total time. 24,000' ascent.
Dec. 23-29: 5:53 total time. 10,100' ascent.
Dec. 30-Jan 3: 3:30 total time. 5000' ascent.

For those scrutinizing the numbers here realize that I have a couple hours of strength training per week, some running, roller skiing, and touring.  There have not been any "junk" or filler miles.  Every workout has had a solid purpose and was high quality.  I take one day completely off every week to spend time with my family as well.  I also know that I am better and more specifically trained now for ski mountaineering racing than I have ever been in the past and I am ready to race!

Fueling in the Tetons

The Grand Teton from the Summit of the Middle Teton

This summer I spent a lot of time running in the Tetons.  The efforts of the runs varied immensely depending on the objective and the people I was running with.  With the different intensities and distances came different fueling strategies.  I have been thinking a lot recently on fueling and thought I should share how I fueled on 4 of the more memorable runs in the Tetons and how it might help others better understand fueling for mountain running.  

Ty Draney descending the Middle Teton

Run #1 Middle and South Tetons with Ty Draney.  This was one of the first runs I was able to get out and do in the Tetons this past summer. Ty had never been to the summit of any peaks in the Tetons and we were not sure about the snow conditions up high.  We left the car planning on being out for 6-7 hours.  We mutually agreed that it would be a conservative pace, but not too easy.  I took 2 liters of water. 2 EFS Liquid Shot flasks and a couple of Nutella, Peanut Butter and Jam wraps.  Over the course of the run I nipped on the flasks about about every 15 minutes, which provided a constant flow of calories.  I ate the first wrap on the summit of the South Teton, and I chowed the other wrap as we began our descent off of the Middle Teton.  We spent plenty of time messing around on the descent; taking pictures and working on our glissading techniques.  The conservative pace allowed me to eat real food, when at higher effort levels it normally doesn’t sit too well.  Our total time for the run was 6:19:00.  

Calorie breakdown: Total Calories for the run: 1900, roughly 300 calories an hour. Water Consumption: 3 Liters, about 500 mL an hour (475g*/3000mL= 15% solution).  Breakdown: Whole Wheat Tortilla wraps (2 Tbs of Nutella, 2 Tbs of PB, 2 Tbs of raspberry preserves) 550 calories each.  EFS Liquid Shot Flask- 400 calories.  

Me chasing RIcky Gates up the Grand- Photo Kroger

Run #2 Speed attempt at the Grand Teton with Ricky Gates.  A few weeks after Ty and I had our adventure I got a call from Ricky who was planning on an attempt at the Grand Teton car to car record.  I met Ricky that morning and we set out on a blistering pace towards the summit of the Grand.  Ricky had gapped me by several minutes within the first few miles and that would be the story for the rest of the day.  I pushed very hard the entire time and felt pretty good all things considered.  Just after crossing the two lower technical sections I started to feel a little off.  I pulled the plug and headed back down to the upper saddle to wait for Ricky to come down.  A minute or two after I got to the saddle Ricky came cruising down.  We ran from the Upper Saddle to the Lower Saddle pretty much together, but as soon as we hit the snow Ricky put the hammer down and again put several minutes on me.  I pushed as hard as my body (mind) would go, and hit the parking lot in 3:29:00.  Ricky finished about 3:19:00 if I recall correctly. Before leaving the car that morning I knew it would be a very hard effort.  I chose to carry 1 liter of water and 1-8oz flask of slurry (4 oz of EFS liquid shot and 2 scoops of EFS powder).  I consumed pretty much the whole flask during the run and drank 2/3 of the water.  

Calorie Breakdown: Total: 450 Calories, about 150 calories an hour. Water: 600 mL, just under 200mL an hour (112g*/600 mL = 18% solution). Breakdown: 8 oz Slurry- 480 calories.  

Mike Foote, Ty Draney and Chris Kroger descending the Grand

Run #3 Up and Around the Grand with Ty Draney, Mike Foote and Chris Kroger.  I blame Ty for coming up with the idea for this run, and he in turn blames Nate Mcdowell for planting the seed of summiting Mount Rainer and then doing the circumnavigation in a single push.  Regardless of it’s origin, 1 week after being on the Grand with Ricky I was back.  This time the plan was to run to the summit of the Grand, back to the car to refuel and then run the 36 mile Circumnavigation route.  The total route would be just under 50 miles with 17,000’ of ascent. We didn’t know what to plan for exactly but hoped to do about 5 hours on the Grand and then another 6-7 for the Circumnav.  Total estimated run time was 11-12 hours.  We headed up the Grand with relatively heavy packs, by running standards, because we were carrying the requisite gear to rope the upper technical sections of the climb, even with the heavy packs we made decent time, that is until we hit the log jam just after the Upper Saddle.  There were several groups of climbers that had arrived before us and were not willing to let us pass.  They assured us they would move quickly but after 45 minutes of shivering in the shade on the North Side of the Grand we bailed.  We did make quick work of the descent and just over 6 hours after leaving the cars we were back dropping off climbing gear and refueling for the next leg of our journey.  For the first leg of the journey I carried 2 EFS flasks and 2 of the Nutella, PBJ, Jam wraps, about 1900 calories.  

Chris Kroger had other obligations so he didn’t go on with us, but Ty, Mike and I headed out to run the Circumnavigation loop clockwise.  We ran into the heat of the day and it started to take it’s toll about 3 hours in.  All of us were feeling the effort starting to pile up and there were some epic low spots experienced on the way up towards Alaska Basin.  We patched ourselves back together and continued to move forward.  By the time we finished the Circumnavigation we had been on the trail for a total of almost 15 hours and certainly felt like we had gotten out money’s worth.  The second leg of the trip I consumed 3 liters of water,  2-10 oz slurry flasks, 1 EFS flask and two more wraps, about 2460 calories.  

Calorie Breakdown: Total: 4060 calories, about 270 calories and hour. Water- 6 liters of water total, 400 mL an hour (1015g*/6000mL = 16% solution). Breakdown: 3 EFS Flasks- 1200 calories, 2 Slurries- 960 calories, 4 Nutella, PB, Jam wraps- 2200.     

The Inca Runner Campers loving the Tetons

Run #4 Circumnavigation Trail with Inca Runners Ultra Camp. The last hoorah of the in the Tetons was the Inca Runners Ultra Running Camp.  We spent 4 days running various trails in and around the Tetons and capped the camp off with a group run of the Circumnavigation Route.  The group was great, but we had been doing a lot of running the previous 3 days and the cumulative fatigue took some of the pep out our legs. We kept the pace reasonable all day and in the end it was one of my favorite runs of the summer.  We finished the run in a little over 10 hours and capped it off with a nice soak in Jenny’s Lake.  I knew the pace for this run would be moderate so I took 2 EFS flasks and 4 of the now famous wraps and in leu of water I carried two liters of EFS in my hydration pack and drank 1 liter of plain water near the end after the EFS ran out.  

Calorie Breakdown: Total: 3400 calories, about 340 calories an hour.  Water: 5 Liters, about 500 mL an hour (850g*/5000 mL = 17% solution). Breakdown: 2 EFS Flasks- 800 calories, 4 Scoops EFS (2 per liter)- 400 calories, 4 Nutella, PB&J wraps- 2200 calories.    

You may notice a recurring theme after reading this far.  For moderate paced, long runs about 300 calories an hour seems to work really well.  That is generally coupled with between 400-500 mL of water per hour resulting in a heavily concentrated fuel to water ratio, about 16%.  I will admit that I need less water than a lot of athletes and this may be too concentrated for you, actually it is recommended that you stay less than 15% or GI upset may occur. I never had any “bonks” or low energy because of fueling.  For shorter, harder efforts I do well on fewer calories and rely on my bodies reserves a little more.  After each of these, and most trail runs I do, I always consume a bottle of Ultragen.  Ultragen is an amazing recovery drink that helps quickly replace many things that are depleted during a long or hard run.  A full serving of Ultragen is 320 calories.  As I worked on writing this I was amazed at how evenly spaced my caloric intake and water consumption ended up being throughout all of these runs.  I didn’t plan on how many calories I needed, I just made an estimate and it worked out really well.  Hopefully this may provide some insight to you and how you could tweak your fueling to be a little more optimal.  

*For sake of math I simplified the solution equation assuming that all the calories came from Carbs, I will be working on getting the caloric breakdown and solutions more exact over the next week or so.  

UTMB 2012-Running in the Dark

Waiting for the Start- Photo Tanae Nelson

All year long I have been focused on getting ready for the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc.  It was THE race on my calendar for the year, all of my running training had this race in mind.  The course for the UTMB is 167 km (104 miles) with 9500m of ascent (32,000).  I developed training runs that would maximize ascent and descent to get my legs used to pushing uphill and pounding down.  I followed the advice of UTMB veterans and tried to train as much as I could in the Tetons because they thought it would be the ideal training grounds (bonus!).  I ran 2000 training miles between January 1st and the week before the race.  I felt quite ready to run a challenging hundred mile race in the mountains of France.

Checking in at the Sports Center- Photo Tanae Nelson

We, my wife, Tanae, and I, arrived in France a week before the race and she helped me to stay focused on tapering and resting before the race.  Tanae wrote a separate post about our two weeks there so check it out here.  As we got closer to the race the typical self-doubt that comes during a taper wreaked havoc on my confidence.  Without days laden with miles I found myself restless and not sleeping well, but regardless I rested.
Race day finally arrived, but with it adversity.  The weather forecast was not ideal for running high, exposed passes.  As a matter of fact the weather was calling for temps in the high 30's to low 40's, rain in the valleys and a snow line at 2100m.  The race would cross that line many times, which had the potential to make for very difficult conditions, maybe the worst type for running.  The runners get wet from the rain in the valley and on the ascent the temps drop, runners get cold.  I did not envy the position the race directors were in as they considered the course, course changes and the safety of runners.

Me, Krissy, and Topher about 20 minutes before race start- Photo Tanae Nelson

Around 2:30 in the afternoon, about 4 hours before the start, the announcement came.  Course changed, France only, 110k, 6000m ascent, start at 7:00pm.  Initially I was upset, I didn't fly across the ocean to run a 100k in the dark, in the valleys below Mont Blanc! We scrambled to find the new course map, but most of us were quite unfamiliar with the area and looking at the lines on the topo didn't improve  my negative mood.  I had to put myself in a time-out, during which I forced myself to put myself in the RD's shoes, I understood the change and if I was going to enjoy the race, and race well I needed to change my attitude.  When I came out of the time out I had a new attitude and was looking forward to the adventure.  After all, I had never started a race in the evening, in the rain, in France, with 2300 other trail runners, it was going to be fun for sure.

Start of the race- Photo from Jonas Buud's Facebook Page

I lined up at the starting line at the very front next to Topher Gaylord and Mike Foote both of the US.  It was an amazing spectacle to see so many people lining the course as it wove out of town.  The start itself was insane.  As the ten second countdown started there was a surge from behind slowly pushing us forward. With three seconds to go Mike Foote pushed on my pack and said "go or we are going to get trampled" and with that the whole front of the pack exploded forward.  Seb Chagneu, a famous North Face Runner, tripped and went down about 3 people to my right.  As I saw him fall I wanted to help him up, but to do so would have been the same as stopping the Snake River from flowing downstream, instead I sprinted out of town like a frightened rabbit.

Krissy Moehl speeding out of the start- Photo Tanae 

As the initial surge of adrenaline seeped out of my veins I realized how fast we had gone for the first several km's and I immediately slowed down.  "This race is shorter but it wasn't that short," I told myself over and over again.   I lost a handful of places but felt comfortable with my pace.  After 10k or so of running we finally got off of the packed paths and roads and started to ascend up a ski area.  I felt pretty good running the ascent and regained several places as we made our way up.  It was starting to get dark and also started raining during this climb.  At the top of the climb I switched on my headlamp and promptly found myself on my back.  The first part of the descent was on a grassy sidehill that was nice and wet, and turns out it was super slick.  I picked myself up and cautiously worked my was down onto the steep service road that would be our descent down.  Once on the road I tried to open up my pace some, but found that the faster I tried to go the more I was getting past.  I know that I am not the best descender, but it was almost embarrassing how quickly the other runners were able to move.

stoked for dry clothes, somewhere in France in the middle of the night-  Photo Tanae

Before long the trail leveled some, the rain fell harder and I was alone, in a gap between groups of runners.  I held my ground here as we ran on another packed service road alongside the highway.  I didn't lose any more places as I ran up the next ascent and then down into Les Contamines.  I met Tanae here and swapped out my jacket and long sleeve shirt for something a little more substantial.  I knew that we had a big ascent into and above the snow line and didn't want to worry about being cold.  Moments after arriving, I was leaving. The streets in and out of town were lined with hundreds of cheering people, most of which had cowbells and despite it being about 40 degrees, raining and around 10:30 pm they all seemed to be having a great time.

I had a long rough patch on the ascent out of Contamines.  My legs felt sluggish, and my I couldn't seem to get my head wrapped around pushing through whatever was going on.  I slowly lost place after place on the climb, which chipped away at my fragile mental state.  Most of the ascent was on service roads just after an aid station that was high on the climb the surface switched to trail and it felt like I had new legs.  I was able to run well, snow swirling all around me.  I enjoyed this boost for half an hour or so until the trail dumped back onto a ski area service road, and as quickly as it came my legs felt flat again.  Clearly it had to be mental, just a change in surface couldn't have that much effect on my legs right? I shuffled my way down, down and down, absorbed in the cone of light that the fog created around my headlamp.  Eventually the surface changed to pavement and a few more houses popped out of the mist.  The whole sky lightened some, I was getting close to Les Contamines once again.

Headed back into the dark- Photo Tanae

It was good to see Tanae, Jon and the key members of Krissy's crew, KP and Ellen. I switched clothes again choosing to get into lighter layers now that the rain was easing some and we would be at lower elevations for the remainder of the race.  I mumbled something to Tanae about it not being my day and headed back out into the dark.  I ran ok up the first climb, but on the descent the wheels came off.  I was wallowing in my sad, sad mind when Topher Gayord caught up to me.  He was moving well, I tried to hang on for a few minutes, but when I realized how long our upcoming climb was I rolled over and started walking.  I watched Topher run away into the night.  When I finally topped out the Bellvue (?) climb I sat down at the aid station and drank soup for several minutes. I actually sat there until I got cold.
The aid station worker warned me that the hill was slippery and to be careful.  I quickly learned that when given that type of advice during UTMB to pay attention.  I was tiptoeing down and watched another runner charge ahead of me, slip, slam onto his back and then slide more than 100 yards down the hill.  I took stage left and ran through the weeds on the side of the trail.  I checked to make sure the runner was ok, and then went on my way.  The entire descent down, a couple thousand meters, was the slickest goop that I have ever run in, actually I skied more than I ran down the trail.  For once I was relieved to get onto a service road that had decent traction.  It also meant that I would see Tanae again.
In the aid station I got a different response from Tanae than I expected.  She verbally slapped me around trying to motivate me to get after it and to quit feeling so bad for myself.  I tried to blow it off, but she would have none of it.  I left the aid station kind of upset that she took the hardline, but as I internalized what she had said it did motivate me.  I put in my headphones and went to work.  When I left Les Houches aid station I was in 57 place.  From there I ran every step of the long road climb up to Merlot, then we were routed onto a nice technical single track.  Like before as soon as I was on single track I had life in my legs, and this time it was even more than before.  I hammered all the way back to Chamonix, blew through the aid station and kept working hard as we climbed towards the final aid station of Agentiere.

I knew that I would run out of real estate before I ran out of gas, so I pushed hard.  I passed lots of runners along the single track.  I caught up to Topher just before the last climb (one we didn't know existed).  I tried to bum a little water off of him, because I had ran out by not filling up at the aid station near Chamonix.  He had done the same and was starting to hurt because of it.  I kept pushing up the ascent as my mind panicked while trying to solve my hydration dilemma.  I thought about drinking out of puddles, sipping water off of wet leaves, or licking wet rocks.  Thank goodness we crossed over a nice stream before I resorted to any of the previous, and I took a few moments to drink heavily and fill my hydration bladder. I felt rejuvenated and then really tried to push the descent down to Argentiere.
I met Tanae just outside of the aid station, she handed me a red bull, and smiled.  I knew I was running more like I should have been and she felt the same.  I chugged the red bull and headed out. 10k of mostly down hill to the finish.  We had joined in with the CCC runners so there was a lot of traffic to keep me motivated and to keep chasing down runners.  About 1 k to go, just before entering Chamonix, two runners blew past me. I didn't have much of a response but put my head down and pushed hard to the end.  It was amazing to run into town to the cheers of hundreds of spectators, and to finish with a big hug and kiss from Tanae.  I managed to move up more than 20 places in the last 30k to finish 32.

Coming down the finish chute- Photo Tanae

Happy to cross the line- Photo Tanae

mixed emotions at the finish line, glad to be done, but left wanting. Photo Tanae

Topher and I at the Finish- Photo Tanae

Our feet after 110k in the mud and rain. Photo Tanae

The kiss at the finish line that made it all better.   

 Topher finished a few minutes later claiming 34th.  We spent several minutes talking about the race, talking to the race directors and enjoying the scene.  The chilly air finally got the best of us and we made our way back to the apartment.

Krissy finishing strong- Photo Tanae

Krissy, me, and Mike Foote at the Finish. Photo Tanae

After quick showers and a change of clothes we went back to the finish to watch Krissy finish.  It was super exciting to be back in at the finish.  We got the chance to congratulate Mike Foote on his fantastic third place finish and then we all cheered for Krissy as she came across.
As I reflect on the race I realize I could have ran better if I had, had a better attitude, but in the end I really did enjoy myself during our night time adventure in France.

Some of my gear laid out before the start .

Gear:
Shoes: Patagonia Evermore (spring 13)
Socks: Patagonia lightweight Merino
Tights: Patagonia Speedworks
Shirts: Base- Patagonia Gamut team jersey, Light Flyer long sleeve, Forerunner long sleeve and Cap 4 hoody. (I switched the long sleeve layers during the night to stay warm and dry)
Jacket: Patagonia Houdini, Stormcell, and a prototype Jacket (I also swapped jackets when I changed long sleeves)
Headamp:  Black Diamond Polar Icon
Pack: Ultraspire Omega (UTMB edition)

Fuel:
First Endurance EFS/EFS LS slurry (5 10oz bottles)
First Endurance Prerace (3 at the start and 1 every hour after 4 hours)
First Endurance Ultragen at the finish for recovery.

I need to thank Patagonia, Patagonia Footwear, Ultraspire, First Endurance, Roch Horton, and Chris Johnson for all of their help with gear and helping make it possible for me to go on this amazing adventure!  As always a huge thanks to Tanae for crewing, allowing me to go on these crazy adventures, and letting me have the time to train.  Thanks to Chloe and Brynlee for the inspiration and a huge thanks to my mom for watching them while we were gone.