Saturday August 8, 2026
Less than 5 weeks to go! Training over the last 23 weeks has gone pretty well again! After finishing the St Croix Winter Ultra in January, I maintained running throughout the winter averaging approx. 30 miles/week and even getting in a day at Afton mid-February. Started my 100 mile training plan in early March. Discovered a new place to do hills this year in St. Paul, called the Brickyard. All the kids joined me on Mother's Day while we did 10 miles of hills!
When writing this, I had just finished my 30+20 B2B earlier this week and, I'll admit, it felt rough. Unlike last year, this summer has been very, very hot and humid. There's been very little relief and I'm really looking forward to a cool morning! Both days at Afton were in the 80's, sunny and hot. Day one went okay, but day two started with some diaphragm/side ache cramping that only got worse with a few stumbles and an almost fall in the campground. I decided to practice fast hiking and walked the entire river road at about mile 17 and that helped to get me through. Used scratch both days and also ate quite a bit so I don't know why I struggled so much?
Last year, I was only using Strava to gauge mileage and I now have a Suunto watch. The difference is shocking. I calculated the distance for what I thought was 50 combined miles last year and it was only 44.4! So, while I'm running nearly the same plan this year as last year, my actual mileage is likely 10% more.
Race day strategy is going to be about the same as last year, but with a few noticeable differences. Alex will be pacing me at night and this will free up Marcus to crew which will free up Mom and Dad to not have to crew overnight. Finnley is on board again to crew as much as is needed starting Friday night. Jonah, Griffin, Juniper and (hopefully) Kylah will also be pacing again. I don't expect to be any faster than last year, but I would like to shave off a minute or two during each section if possible, which would get me to Oberg closer to 9:30 instead of 9:53. I spent nearly an hour and a half at aid stations and, honestly, I don't think I can cut time there, so I'm really hoping to run a bit more (or hike faster) early on and especially at night between CR6 and Sonju (last year, we only hiked these sections). After Sonju, it's only possible to hike since the roots are so terrible. I also hope to have my pacers use a gps watch this year to track mileage instead of Strava which was so unreliable!
Now, I'm just thinking about weather. This heat has been horrible and I've forgotten what it's like to run in any temp below 65 degrees. I just hate it so much!
My clothing choices last year were perfect, though, so I'll stick with them this year. Lots of Rungoo for the feet and I have to remember to reapply if I ever change socks. What I'm unsure about is if I should do some blister prevention? Last year, I had zero blisters in training (same as this year), but in the second half of the race I started getting two big blisters, one on each outer heel. At Cramer, Marcus and Finnley repaired them and left big bandaids on and I had no more problems. What I'm wondering is should I preventatively put bandaids on? Or might that just cause unexpected chafing? I think I'm going to hold off and rather recognize a blister forming sooner than I did last year and treat it right away at the next aid station.
I also have been working more on liquid calories. I know I can eat solid foods at the first couple of aid stations, but after that, it took too much time and effort to chew real food and I found liquid foods much easier. The only exception was some wonderful watermelon I had on Saturday! This year, I've bought applesauce pouches, Naked fruit smoothies, protein mochas and am thinking of bringing up some hot soup broth for CR6 and Finland. Combined with all of the Skratch I'm preparing, I think this will get me through. I discovered that Skratch has a caffeinated version and after getting so so tired last year, I've decided to start drinking this version starting at CR6. Speaking of Skratch, last year crew had a hard time dissolving it quickly so this year, I'll be pre-dissolving all that I'll need in big water jugs a few days before the race. These jugs will stay in the car and they can just pour out 2L (enough for my hydration bladder) into a smaller container to carry to each aid station.
I've also changed my headphones over the last year. I've always used airpods, even though they only last me about a year or so. They have so many negatives! Their battery life is only 3ish hours so they need to be recharged often. I have a hard time getting them in and out of the case when I have wet hands. For whatever reason, the volume output is different for my left vs my right ear so I have to adjust for this which is annoying. They also fall out of my ears easily, especially if I need to change a top or buff. All that said, I found some new headphones which I adore! Soundcore Aero Clips that clip over my ear (and never fall out), battery life has lasted through every long 7-8 hour run so far so I think if I bring the case, I won't need to recharge at all. They have the same tap settings as my airpods which I love. The only downside is they don't "read" my texts or announce who's calling if I get a phone call. However, my watch does do all of this so if I quickly look at my watch face, I can see who the text is from or who is calling. I'm sold.
Tuesday September 1, 2026
Suddenly down to 10 days! Starting to track the weather. Compared to last year, it looks as if it could be at least 10 degrees warmer both at night and during the day. I'm not sure how I feel about this. This has been a really, really rough summer. So hot and humid and just absolutely no relief days at all! I read a news article yesterday that Minnesota is experiencing its 6th hottest summer in 153 years!! That's crazy but nice to know it's just not in my head. So the optimist in me is telling myself that I'm well prepared for a race in the mid to upper 60's, especially if I get lucky and there's low humidity!
Last year, I ran 1100 miles over 28 weeks, average approx. 41 miles/week (however, since I was relying on strava and not an accurate gps watch, I'm guessing this is likely more like 1000 miles. This year, I ran about 20 miles more (mostly due to the fact that I didn't get ill this year - I had the flu early on during last year's training - and was able to run every single week). Last year, I went to Afton 24 times with 5 b2b runs. This year, I went 27 times also with 5 b2b runs.
What I didn't do enough of were hills. Even with discovering The Brickyard, I didn't go as often as I should have. While the distance at The Brickyard is twice as much as Hyland, the grade isn't as steep and there's a lot of gravel which ultimately made it a bit "easier" so I really tried to stick to Hyland for most of my training. I missed nearly a month of hill work for most of July. Partly due to a vacation to the cabin (where there are shockingly no good hills for repeats) and also some serious heat and smoke advisories. If I were to do this race again, I really can't miss hill work. Once I got back into it in August, I was quite sore. A 30+20 mile run at Afton didn't make me sore, but 6 miles at Hyland the next week did! This is a problem so make sure I don't let this happen again. Finally after getting back to Hyland several weeks in a row, any post-hill soreness went away (just wish this wasn't only 2 weeks before race day).
Storkamp sent some pretty good news in his pre-race e-mail. The high bridge around Tettegouche has been under constructions for years. Unbeknownst to me, this required a detour to get around and through the Tettegouche aid station. The reduction in mileage here along with some other minor deductions is deleting 1.9 miles from this year's race! While this number might seem insignificant for a 100+ mile race, at 15-22 minutes/mile, this can add up to 30-45 minutes! I had felt so slow during the Beaver Bay - Silver Baby - Tettegouche sections and I now know that's because there were extra miles in here that I wasn't accounting for. Fingers crossed that I can get through these sections a bit faster this year and hopefully achieve my goal of getting to Oberg before 6:30.
I started packing yesterday. Marcus' black and white headlamp has gone mysteriously missing again after we finally got it back in June (it had previously been missing since the race last year, only for Kylah to discover it in her key bowl on her dining room table). Several months ago, I had bought myself a new headlamp that's lighter so hopefully we'll still be covered.
I'm also not packing nearly as many snacks. Mostly just soft food and liquids. I'm only bringing one grilled cheese that I'll eat after Beaver Bay (and will grill Friday morning instead of Thursday morning so it's fresher). Jonah's applesauce pouches were great late in the race so I bought a bunch of those. I'll be bringing some gummies, waffles and muir brownie batter, along with some puff bars - all of which may work early in the race. I also bought apple juice, a bunch of smoothies (chocolate protein, mocha, naked fruit, etc) in addition to cold brew, coke and ginger ale. Hot food is tough to keep warm, but I might try prepping some plain chicken broth and soft mashed potatoes with gravy for CR6 and Finland.
Thursday September 3, 2026
I'm down to only 3 runs, having finished my 10m and 8m this week so far. As of today, weather should be low 50's to start with clouds (possibly with some lingering rain). On Friday, it should warm up to the mid 60's. Overnight, lows will mid 50's, but with a 30-35% chance of rain. On Saturday, highs will again be in the mid to upper 60's with a 30-35% chance of rain at sunset, also cooling to upper 50's/low 60's at the end of the race. The good news is dew points should hold in the low to mid 50's which is great so at least it won't be super humid!
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