St Croix 40 Winter Ultra (Part 1)

Friday December 6th, 2024

Having followed the Arrowhead 135 race for years, I've always been very curious about these winter races, but knew they were beyond my reach! Once I heard about this race a few years ago, I thought that sounds much more reasonable! An opportunity to tackle a race in the winter, but with a much shorter and less daunting distance!

I've consistently run outside in the winter since 2012. In fact, I really started my running journey in January 2012. I find the challenges that winter brings to push me harder than any hot and humid day in the summer ever could!

I debated for weeks signing up. On November 1, Rolf kindly offered to have coffee with me so that I could pick his brain. After our meeting, I officially signed up and started working on my spreadsheet! There's a lot of gear that's required, stuff that's recommended and stuff I knew I just wanted. Rolf offered to borrow me his sled, along with his bivy. For the rest of the required gear, I purchased a below zero sleeping bag, lightweight camping pad, stove/fuel, reflective vest and some flashing red bike lights. 

Facts about this race:

• January 11, 2025 
• Starts at 6pm (which means running at least 13 hours in the dark until sunrise)
• 40 miles (I've only run this distance - or more - once and that was in 2017)
• Have to pull a sled carrying your gear  

My main concerns for this race, in order are:

1. Sweating - I don't think there's any way I'm not going to sweat, no matter how cold I start out or how slow I go. So I have to manage staying warm while also being wet. This meant the purchase of many layers of wool. I went mostly with SmartWool because there stuff is actually 100% merino, none of this part-wool/part-synthetic crap. Synthetics might pull away moisture from your body, but they don't insulate you once they're wet and if I stop for any reason during a run, I instantly get cold. I'm going with wool bras (thank you to Duluth Trading for making these), SW baselayer (1-2 layers depending on the cold), SW Hudson vest (they only make them for men, but size small works great and it has an awesome chest pocket that fits my phone AND keeps it warm so I don't need to worry about my phone dying due to cold). Bought a North Face Casaval hoodie last year that is really great for cold weather and some wind - it's lightweight and not too bulky, but keeps me warm and I can fit my backpack under it which is also really nice as that keeps my straw from freezing. For the lower layer, I'll be wearing SW leggings under my Athleta polartec leggings. If I need a 3rd layer I'll put on my favorite rain/wind pants that are lightweight and flexible. Darn Tough socks. Altra trail shoes (more on feet later). I'm also bringing my new North Face puffer for emergencies. 
2. Feet. While on the gravel road at home, my trusty Altras were fine. However, the one day I wore them to the campground and back up at the cabin, I ended up with a very large blister on the bottom of my foot. I ended up buying some Altra hiking boots which were supposed to be identical to my shoes, but with some ankle padding. I wore them on the gravel road at home and ended up with 2 blisters, one on the top of each foot near my toes, and sore ankles after 12-12 miles. So, nope, those had to be returned. I'm chalking up the bottom foot blister to the fact that my sled failed during that run and I was compensating my not walking normally. I bought some gaiters that may be needed if the snow is deep? But my Altras are so flat that I'm afraid the plastic piece that goes underneath will break/fail. Might just go with my warm-weather Dirty Girl gaiters?
3. Fueling. During warm-weather races, I'm usually pretty good at fueling. I drink and eat quite a bit because it's easy to grab things from my pack with bare hands. For this race, not only are my hands likely going to have mittens on them, but the mittens will be clipped into my poles. Also, food freezes so I have to carry food that I can eat while frozen! Access is important. The reflective vest I bought has a zippered pouch on the front that I hope to stash some high-calorie gorp in (nuts, PB M&M's, craisins, chocolate chips, etc). I'll be carrying 3L of water on my back which should be more than enough to get me to the aid station where I can re-fill. Plan is to set a timer on my phone that'll go off every 30 minutes so that I can take the time to drink and eat something. 
4. Distance. The only time I've run this distance or more was in 2017 when I completed the Fall Superior 50 mile with Alex. I've run several 50k's, but I haven't completed more than a marathon length race in 5 years when I finished Wild Duluth in 2019! This race is a much different beast than anything I've attempted before. It's not a running race, it's a hiking race. 
5. Night. During the 50 mile, we started and ending the race in the dark so that's my experience with head lamps. Hey, at least it's something!
6. Mental. Not only did I buy wired headphones (because air pods don't last for more than few hours before needing to be charged), but I listened to my first audio book as I knew I wouldn't have enough podcasts to last through the night! Plan is not to listen to stuff constantly, but at least I'll have the options if I load a couple of books onto my phone! Will also curate a playlist for music motivation when I need it.
7. Survival checks. When's the last time I camped? Um, a million years ago? I'm glad the race starts in the sleeping bags/bivvies as I'll have time to set them up. Re-stashing them though at the race start does not have me terrible excited as it likely means starting with cold hands! I am thinking of just putting my sleeping bag in a large dry bag instead of in its stuff sack as it won't take as much time and I think I'll have space in the sled. If I make it to the aid station and if I decide to continue the race, I'll have to boil 12 oz of water. I bought a small stove and have fuel tablets as I hear they're the best in low temps. Bringing some hot cocoa packets to add to the water once it's boiling!

In 2024, Minnesota had very little snow. In fact, I don't think we used our snowblower even once all winter! I'm really hoping for a snowy year! Meanwhile, I knew I needed to figure out some training plans for practicing sled pulling without snow or a sled. I started with the belt - I bought a padded Husky belt at Home Depot that has velcro for quick-release (most belts have buckles which would be impossible to unbuckle with mittened hands). I then added some clips to it to attach my ropes/bungees. For indoor training on the treadmill, I bought a resistance band that I hooked to a couple of dumbbells on the floor behind the treadmill and clipped to my waist. 

For outdoor training, I went to Discount Tire and asked for a 20#-30# tire. They ended up giving me an enormous 33# tire! I drilled a hole for an eye-hook, attached a bungee dog leash and clipped it to my waist harness. Marcus and I took a few trips during peak October leaf season up to the Carlos Avery area so that I could practice tire-pulling on gravel. It was hard, especially on softer gravel/sand. But I was able to keep my pace around 16-17mph which is faster than I need it to be so that's good. This included stoppage time for rests, snacks, peeing, etc. Every time I went out, though, it seemed I needed to tweak something. Whether it was a carabiner that rubbed wrong or a loop I'd sewn on that came loose, it seemed something "broke" with every run. In fact, on one of our gravel road days, the dog leash I'd been using got "caught" under the tire causing it to fray and snap. 

In October, we went to the cabin and we didn't have room in the car for the tire so I brought an old kids' sled I found in our garage that I'd tricked out to mimic a winter sled. I put bricks inside a burlap bag and secured it to the inside of the sled. I made it to the Iron Lake Campground and halfway home (about 6m) before I realized that the sled was taking on sand. I stopped to dump out the sand and I discovered that the bottom of the sled was destroyed and that's how the sand was getting in. I flipped the sled and attached the bricks to the top and trudged on. Shortly after, one of my two ropes had also snapped so I was down to one rope/pole. Somehow I managed to drag everything back to the cabin, but those last few miles were rough. I was really looking forward to snow. For now, I was back to the treadmill/tire. 

This lesson did teach me, though, that using fixed poles was not the method I wanted to use. While super helpful when going downhill as it keeps your sled from bumping into the back of your legs, the rigidness makes it really difficult to turn around and/or get anything out of your sled without removing the waist harness. The St Croix course is relatively flat so I knew declines wasn't going to be too much of an issue and it's quite easy to just pull the sled along side you like walking a dog. 

Before Thanksgiving, I made a solo trip to the snow-less cabin. Brought my tire this time along with the dog leash that I hadn't realized had frayed! While it still technically worked, I knew I needed a back-up (or better) system. Thank goodness for Amazon! I was able to buy a new dog leash and some carabiner bungees and have them delivered. I set up my new system and dragged the tire around the Old Gunflint and on the Moose Trail. Hard work! It snowed our last day up, but I didn't have a sled and was suffering from a cold. We went home for Thanksgiving, but the snow just kept on coming up north. I reached out to Rolf so that I could pick up his sled and bivy. In addition to not using fixed poles (Rolf had a pair that I declined), I ultimately decided to stick with using bungees as they tend to absorb shock better than just a rope. While Rolf uses a single heavy rope, my bungees have carabiners attached to both ends. I hooked two to the corners of Rolf's sled and then to the clips I'd added to my waist harness. I added some eyebolts to the back corners of Rolf's sled and am using another two to hold down my gear (and to be back-ups in case one of them breaks). 

I headed back to the cabin on December 5th, just a week after leaving. Plowed the driveway and quickly tested out the sled that first afternoon. Wow, pulling a sled on snow is so much easier than pulling a tire on gravel! Who knew!

That brings us to today, Friday December 6th, 2024. Plan this weekend is to get 2-3 good sled-pulling days in. Trying out the neighborhood along with the boat landing and eventually the campground. This will all depend on the condition of the snow/roads. I need enough snow to not destroy Rolf's sled, but not too much snow that I'm wading through it in tennies! Temps around 15 degrees today with some wind.

Iron Lake Campground #4

UPDATE: Hiked 9 1/2 miles to Iron Lake Campground. Very little wind, temps 14-16 degrees. The part of the road that the city typically plows was recently covered with about an inch of fluffy snow after previously having been plowed which was good or the gravel might have harmed Rolf's sled. As I suspected, the road wasn't plowed beyond the turnoff for the boat landing (in either direction) nor had there been any snowmobile traffic so I trudged through several inches of virgin snow. I wasn't quite sure how far I was going to go today, but when I got to the "post office", I was unexpectedly surprised to find the road was plowed beyond that point! All the way to the road from the north end! 

For snacks, I had brought a bag of freeze dried apple chips in my vest pocket - these were perfect and I could eat them with my Menards gloves on. As I neared the campground, I started seeing very fresh and recent wolf tracks. He was also taking a detour at the campground. While he seemed to prefer #5, I went on to #$ and stopped to boil water. I immediately pulled out my stove and once I got the match to light, the tablet lit right away. I had no idea what to expect as far as how long it would take although my research had suggested it wouldn't be more than several minutes. While waiting, I took the time to put my warmest jacket on, stopped to pee (practiced with my new pee funnel), refilled my snacks (don't forget to zip the pocket up once you're done - all the bending over just made me lose an entire bag of gorp into the snow which I'm sure the animals won't mind) and kept checking on my water. It really seemed to be taking a long time to boil. Each tablet lasts about 12 minutes so I had to light a 2nd tablet as my water had not yet boiled after the first tablet was used up. 

Snack stash in front pocket.

My feet were pretty snowy from the hike through the deeper stuff and they ended up getting wet and I could feel them starting to get cold so I kept trying to move around. In the race, it would probably be a good idea to take the time to sit down and swap out socks, gaiters and shoes for dry ones while I'm waiting for the water to boil. Finally, after 26 minutes, my water boiled! I forgot my hot chocolate packet so once the water was ready, I packed away my jacket, took a couple of sips and poured it out before turning around to head home. Went through a few mitten changes throughout. Would be smart to have another pair of my $5 Menards gloves as the pair I was wearing while making water got slightly wet. I came home and bought another pair of Leki Trigger mitts because both of the pairs I have now have finger channels which makes it much harder to get your hand in and out, especially when they're sweaty. Overall I was dressed just fine - SW leggings, Athleta polartec leggings, wool bra, SW tank, SW quarter zip, SW vest and TNF jacket. Wool socks, regular gaiters, Altra trail shoes. For my head, SM buff and black balaclava. Used the hood on my jacket to help regulate heat. Swapped out mittens between extra warm Leki mitts and cheapie Menards mitts. 

While my moving pace was 15:16, my overall pace was 21:16 which included lag time between starting Strava while still in the cabin and actually getting going, time at the campground (including 26 minutes to boil water) and a couple of stops to switch out mitts along the way. Seems like a lot of down time, but would keep me under a 15-hour finish time which is great!

NEXT TIME: Figure out how to build a bumper for the front of the sled - pool noodle? Figure out how to shave down water boiling time - need a wind barrier? Buy more cheap gloves. Buy some bic lighters as back-up in case the matches/striker fail.