Distance: 40 miles (two 20 mile loops instead of the original single loop figure-8)
Weather: Unlike last year, we actually have snow this year! It's pretty much steadily snowed regularly since Thanksgiving which has been very nice as it's allowed me to get many chances to sled without having to go to the cabin. I even brought the sled to Afton in early December and sledded 15+ miles! Heading into race weekend, temps have been holding pretty strong. Race start in the low 20's, checkpoint in the mid teens, lows down to the tweens. Minimal wind? Fingers crossed!
Runners: Just me!Crew: Marcus is coming again, but this year we rented a room for him at Grand Casino so he has a warm place to stay instead of trying to stay warm in a very cold car. This also removes the option of him being so close by which may have contributed to me leaving the race at the checkpoint last year.
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| What's going in the sled! Well, only some of the food. (not shown: what I'm wearing to start the race) |
Gear: Last year was mostly about gathering gear, whether it was borrowing or buying. Since this year I had most of the gear needed, I focused more on what clothing I'd need for cooler temps. Last year I was worried so much about sweating. I knew being wet, if I got cold, I wouldn't get warm again. I thought it was possible to go slow enough that I wouldn't sweat. Wrong. I sweat no matter how little effort I'm putting in and hauling a sled takes effort, even at a slow pace! If I'm continually moving, it's not so much of an issue. The issue comes when I need to stop. Something as simple as stopping to pee or to grab a snack can be just long enough for me to get chilled. So this year I focused much more on how to stay warm while wet. This essentially came down to ditching anything synthetic and replacing it with wool. Wool is the only fiber I've found that insulates while wet. As much as the synthetics like to claim they do the same, they do not, at least not after you've been out for a few hours. I also realized that I'm simply going to have to change, at least once, into fully dry clothes. The race was pretty warm last year, also in the low 20's, but it never got colder than this (although it did snow the entire time). This year, I don't think we'll have any snow, but we've had a lot of melting this past week and I'm concerned about ice. It's also going to drop about 10 degrees overnight (UPDATE: it didn't, it stayed remarkably the same temp throughout the race). While I'm still layering up with lots of wool, I decided I really like the added warmth of a wool sweater. You'd think with all the knitting I'd do that I'd have something appropriate, right? Well, nope. So I got to knitting. I knit myself a half-zip sweater and a full-zip vest with a chest pocket. Kinda wish I had a chest pocket on the sweater, might have to add one later!
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| The new vest I knit just days before. |
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| Final packing of the sled before race start. |
Training and Preparation: Because of all of the local snow, I was able to get out in town quite a few times this year. Most of the time there was enough snow on the ground to be able to leave directly from home and not have to drive somewhere. After Christmas, I did bring the sled to the cabin and did a sled trip to Iron Lake once, too. Overall, I got out sledding 89m (16m at the cabin) this year as compared to 80m (54m at the cabin) last year. I was shocked by this as it really felt as if I had trained more this year than last year!
After the race last year, I bought myself a sled, bungee rope and harness after returning Rolf's. For most of this year, I trained with a full shoulder harness. However, I didn't feel that it was helping distribute the weight on my back/hips much, if at all, and it was very cumbersome to get on as it was often twisted. I'm also already wearing a hydration sleeve on my back and just didn't need the extra weight from the harness. Waist belts all have a tendency to ride up on my hips, too. With the shoulder harness, it was almost impossible to keep it on my hips. With just the waist belt that Mom & Dad bought me for Christmas, it's much easier to keep it in place, low on my hips. UPDATE: Loved the waist belt! Had little to no back pain, although I did take a dose of advil and later tylenol throughout the night. It was easy to keep the belt in position and it wasn't too difficult to remove when needed.
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| Final rest before race. |
After talking with Alex a few days before the race about our plans for the Spring and Fall races, I ended up impulsively buying a Suunto watch (9 Peak Pro) as I thought it might be nice to be able to easily check my mileage during the race. Not only is Strava notoriously unreliable with regards to mileage, but my phone is tucked away under several layers in order to keep it warm so it's a pain to get to. I didn't realize until after I got home, however, that the Suunto watch I bought was in an opened box and had previously been paired with someone else. Took me forever to figure that out and unpair it so I could pair it with my phone. It's also been pretty glitchy, but I don't know if that's just me getting used to it? They don't have anymore in stock so I'll use this one for the race and then will decide if I'm keeping it. UPDATE: I did like being able to look at the watch and calculate mileage and elapsed time. Once I was able to chart the course during the first loop, it made the second loop much more manageable. I don't find myself using the watch for regular road runs at home, but I do think I'll keep it for now and will use it at Afton in the spring/summer and will definitely need it for the fall race again!
Race Preparation: I was explaining to Kylah that while this race has a lot of similarities to the Fall Superior 100, the main difference is that it's quite monotonous. It's dark for the entirety of the race, the terrain doesn't change much (there's really only one hill per loop), and the crowd spreads out so much that I found myself basically alone for most of the race last year. So it comes down to self-entertainment. I have a bunch of podcasts saved up and two audiobooks that I've been waiting to listen to for months (Taran's new book "Behind the Mirror" and Parvati's book "Nice Girls Don't Win). This year, I am going to bring both my Airpods and Earpods as the wired headphones drive me crazy and I don't want them to be a barrier for me. My plan is to use my Airpods (and hopefully not drop them in the snow where they'd disappear forever) and while they're charging, use the Earpods. UPDATE: Using just the Airpods went great! When one died, I charged it while using the other one and really only had to do this a couple of times throughout the race and it worked. Much better than corded headphones! I'll try this again in the fall.
I had a plan this time and I pretty much executed it exactly. I listened to Taran's book for the first loop and when I got to the aid station at 11:44pm (about 25 minutes earlier than last year), I started my water boil (NOTE: started with 2 tablets just to ensure a quick boil that I didn't have to tend to) and then took the time to change my top half. My lower half was warm and my feet weren't cold or seemingly wet at all. I'm so glad I bought and brought a second jacket. This way, I could completely swap out my top layers with dry layers. Well worth carrying the extra weight. Putting on my new warm wool sweater felt so good! What a treat! By the time I was done, my water was almost boiled. All in all, I was at the aid station for about 15 minutes which at the time felt less than 15 minutes! Up until now, I hadn't eaten much, although I had drank 70oz of water. My stomach hadn't been great so I'd stopped to drink some coke a few times, but all the food I'd brought was too sweet. The peanut m&m's that usually work for me were just too much. I could barely swallow the dried coconut too! So before leaving the aid station, I grabbed the bag of potato chips I'd brought and ate those throughout the second loop, along with making myself eat both of my brownie "gu's". I also drank a bunch of the coffee I'd packed as I knew I was going to get tired during this second loop. I started with podcasts for the second loop and eventually turned to music for the last hour or so when I was running more than walking.
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| Race start. |
About an hour before the finish, my headlamp finally died (NOTE: it lasted about 11.5 hours at a low beam). As it only has a rechargeable battery, I had to use my backup headlamp. Usually I bring two rechargeable headlamps as I borrow Marcus's, too, but he couldn't find his after having last used it at the Fall race so I had to take an unknown headlamp with me instead. While it technically worked, the light was very, very minimal. But at this point in the course, I knew where I was and knew the end was near so sight didn't matter too much. In fact, I picked up my pace quite a bit and actually ran most of the last 3 miles. The trail conditions were damn near perfect. Solid base with no ice and no slush. Easy to run and there were definitely people who ran the entire race (albeit with much lighter loads in their sleds, others with just a backpack and no sled). The top runner and the top two skiers finished in about 6 hours which is half the time it took me!
At the finish, I had to show them my 3,000 calories (no one believed me that a quart size bag of peanut m&m's is 3,000 calories, but trust me, it is) and my sleeping bag. I asked "do people ditch their sleeping bag??" They said "not yet this year", haha!
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| Race finish. |
We got home around 8-8:30am and I tried so hard to go to sleep. Attempted for a couple of hours, but ultimately gave up. Took a shower and dealt with my wet clothes. Chilled out in bed most of the day. My eyes were tired so watching TV was difficult, but that was all I was in the mood for! The kids came over for the Golden Globes that night. Marcus ordered Indian which tasted incredible and I passed out around 8pm.
Final Time: 12:09:00 (22:22 pace), 8/15 women, 3/6 age group 50+, 44/61 overall. Took me 5:44 for the first loop and 6:10 for the second loop with 15 minutes spent at the checkpoint.
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| Powdered apple cider never tasted so good. |
Recovery: I felt pretty good on Sunday. The soreness set in Sunday night so my first night of sleep was pretty rough as rolling over in bed was painful. Took it easy on Monday and by Tuesday I was mostly normal. Didn't run again until Thursday as the weather hasn't been great. Cold and very, very icy.
Notes for Next Time: Immediately after the race was over, I was not at all sure I'd do this race again as the stress leading up to the race is a lot. The unpredictability with the weather really affects me. I have a plan for most situations, but I still second guess myself constantly. Ultimately, this year I nailed the gear and was wearing the perfect layers of clothing. But it was also quite mild out! I loved the waterproof Altras, but I'd wear my black nylon rainshell pants instead of the orange snowpants. Love the wool sweater and vest I knit! I really, really need to focus more on liquid calories and salty over sweet snacks. I had opted not to use Scratch for this race as I didn't want to have to pee every couple of hours as it's a PITA to do with all the gear on, but it might have been a good thing to have winter trained with it anyhow just to see what effects it has on me. I only peed once during this race, shortly after leaving the aid station and had been drinking water/liquids consistently.
I thought the two loops would really bother me, but I had a plan and it worked. I overheard Jamison mention how much nicer the two loop course is for them and their volunteers so I anticipate them using this course going forward. And writing this more than a week after the race, I actually can see signing up for it again! I know Marcus would like to possibly bike the race. Is there a way for us to both participate next year?
