run willow run

15 february 2025 just outside of vegas in henderson. my 100 mile race starts at 8am local time.

here is a live tracking link: https://live.aravaiparunning.com/#/jackpot_ultras-2025/429185

my bib number is 111

although the saturday 100 mile field has only about 25 people in it, the course will include runners running various distances and times from 48 hours to 6 hours. so i won’t necessarily be directly competing with others but do also want to finish in less time than my race 6 weeks ago.

looking back

i ended 2023 with strong races in virginia and arizona and began 2024 with good performances in february and april in california. my 2023 arizona javelina jundred was my fastest of my 6 javelina jundreds by more than 3 hours. my 3 other races were all close to 17:30 in time.

some common elements of these 4 races

i wore luna retro mono sandals for all.

i had low points and high points in all 4. i had problems to solve.

i had no consistent hydration or fueling plan, experimented, and was probably lower on food than most would say would be effective.

my last 3 races

although none of them were train wrecks, my june 2024 washington yeti 100, my october 24 javelina jundred, and my december 31 across the years 100 were disappointing in comparison.

i practiced for all these races ingesting larger amounts of carbs during training, either as gels or drink mixes. i never noticed a boost in training; nor did i notice a detriment.

on race day, i noticed dips in energy that seemed to be related to taking in too many carbs, even if a high carb approach is a winning strategy for others.

i am in the process of working with my doctor and awaiting lab results, so what follows is speculation. we are all different, and what works for me may not work for you. before i started racing again in 2017, i enjoyed minimalist hiking, walking for 12 to 14 hours in mountains with only a filter straw and thin shoes. i didn’t miss food. i didn’t feel energy dips. i was happy, serene, not suffering. i think my body adapted gracefully and stealthily to burning primarily fat for movement (with perhaps ketones as well), even at higher exertion. even though i’ve taken in plenty of carbs while training and racing since 2017, my body finds those sugary carbs as a burden to carry and turn into fat later rather than as rocket fuel.

this came close to catastrophe 6 weeks ago when, after consuming 80-100g of carbs an hour for 8 hours, my energy dropped the moment i put something sweet in my mouth (unless it had fiber and other things going on such as fruit).

so i enter this race trying to eat little, mainly eating to convince my brain and central governor i am not starving. i will have the somewhat maligned spring energy gels available–they blend together rice and fruit with things such as mct oil. i’ve been drinking mct and cacao butter coffee to get my gut ready for race day mct. i’ve also found ketone iq to actually give me an energy boost and will have some available.

and it’s possible a carb excess had nothing to do with my poorer performances, and i’ll be hungry.

sandals

i still have toes recovering from wearing super shoes at my last race. i’m planning on wearing my thin venado sandals for this race.

and i will have my thicker retro mono sandals available. the thinner sandals are lighter and feel faster. i like feeling the ground. i’m prepared for if 100 miles of feeling the ground feels too intimate.

fun

i look forward to celebrating with the jester as he continues his streak. there will be other athletes i look forward to meeting again or meeting for the first time.