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Hiking 2.0

Ellis Boyd Redding said:
I just looked at that link for the Sinister7 and it looks incredible. It sure makes my ultra this coming weekend look like a cakewalk. I'm hoping to cover 50-60 miles in 12 hours (mostly flat). But I've never done anything more than a regular marathon, and the last one of those I did was when I was in my 30's (15 years ago), so who knows what I'm gonna be dealing with during hours 6-12. Any pointers for an ultra novice? I'll be running 11pm to 11am, so I will also be dealing with running through the night which I've never done before. I'll be sure to thank those volunteers working the 1-5am shift. :thumbsup:
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some of the things i've been told that stuck with me.....

"start slow. then go slower. then go slower than that" - i've been lucky that i've never blown up by going out too fast at an ultra, but i've seen it happen alot and there's no coming back from it.

"stay ahead of your nutrition" - take your fuel early on even if you don't think you're hungry or don't need it....especially with your race starting at night when it's cooler you might not think you need to drink as much, but this is a situation i do have first hand knowledge of. i didn't eat or drink enough during the first half of a 55km race and by the end i was cramped up so bad. my calf kept locking up. when i was done i couldn't even sit down with my legs going into spasms. i was sweating salt so bad that my navy blue had turned white because i had not taken enough sodium or drank enough.

my first 50 miler my friend was crewing me and she made me bring back my empty gel packets to show i was eating them early on even though i felt like i didn't need to. it definitely paid off later in the race.

and of course the most important thing...have fun. enjoy the race atmosphere...remember even in the low moments you're out there doing something that most people can't even comprehend let alone attempt and that's pretty awesome.....and ya thank a volunteer! :Biggrin:
 

canadianhusker said:
some of the things i've been told that stuck with me.....

"start slow. then go slower. then go slower than that" - i've been lucky that i've never blown up by going out too fast at an ultra, but i've seen it happen alot and there's no coming back from it.

"stay ahead of your nutrition" - take your fuel early on even if you don't think you're hungry or don't need it....especially with your race starting at night when it's cooler you might not think you need to drink as much, but this is a situation i do have first hand knowledge of. i didn't eat or drink enough during the first half of a 55km race and by the end i was cramped up so bad. my calf kept locking up. when i was done i couldn't even sit down with my legs going into spasms. i was sweating salt so bad that my navy blue had turned white because i had not taken enough sodium or drank enough.

my first 50 miler my friend was crewing me and she made me bring back my empty gel packets to show i was eating them early on even though i felt like i didn't need to. it definitely paid off later in the race.

and of course the most important thing...have fun. enjoy the race atmosphere...remember even in the low moments you're out there doing something that most people can't even comprehend let alone attempt and that's pretty awesome.....and ya thank a volunteer! :Biggrin:
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Thanks for this great post. These are great reminders for me 3 days before the race.

The first advice about going slow, then going slower, etc... is something I am very cognizant of, but also very concerned about. Even on long training runs, when I am going at a slow pace, I don't like getting passed. I just can't help myself. :Banghead: About a month ago when I was doing a long run of 28.5 miles I happened to come across a group doing a 5k run. I just couldn't help myself. It was midway through my run and felt great, so stupid me picked up my pace for about 2.5 miles so none of them would pass me. Well at around mile 24, in a temperature around 90, I was not doing well and my earlier stupidity came back to haunt me. Those last 4.5 miles were hell and kind of freaked me out about how the heck am I going to run double that distance. But I realized my mistake. Thanks for making this a point of emphasis. I know this is going to be a mental challenge for me. I can't let this happen this weekend!

Advice #2 about nutrition and staying hydrated isn't something I am as concerned about, but perhaps it should be. Like you point out, I can envision feeling great and therefore "not staying ahead" of it. I appreciate this reminder. This is something else I need to mentally stay on top of.

Thanks again and I will definitely thank the volunteers. :Wave:
 
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Took a 70 year old friend on an 10.2 mile hike Thursday that ends at Showers Lake, and just another 100 yards or less, leads you to Echo Summit, that has this fantastic view of Lake Tahoe. He did very well, and kept up the pace I set, almost all the way to the lake itself. It's an out and back hike, and on the way back, I told him that I would meet him back at the parking lot, as I had a need to push it, and I jogged the last 4 miles(not a trail you could get lost on, as long as you stay on the trail, or don't stray to far off to answer natures call, plus, this time of year, there are multiple hikers and backpackers and cell service is fairly strong). Almost an hour later, I saw him coming down the final 200 feet of the trail, and he was like, "WHEW!" Today, he told me that his feet were sore, HAHA!!!! This is a fairly small lake, but very pristine and beautiful. This is not my photo. I snagged it off of internet, and it does not have a name or copyright attached.
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So I completed my first ultra on Fri/Sat. Thanks to @canadianhusker for the advice. I forced myself to eat and drink early even though I didn't feel like I needed it. I also stuck to a consistent comfortable pace. As a 51 yo, I was hoping to place top 3 in the masters division (>40 yo), but things went better than expected. I was able to run 60 miles in 11:45. That earned me 2nd place overall male division. Here I am pictured with the winner who was some 29 yo ultra stud (he ran 75 miles). I made sure to constantly thank the volunteers, especially the ones that worked the overnight shift. :thumbsup:

Whatever you do, just keep moving. :Biggrin:

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Ellis Boyd Redding said:
So I completed my first ultra on Fri/Sat. Thanks to @canadianhusker for the advice. I forced myself to eat and drink early even though I didn't feel like I needed it. I also stuck to a consistent comfortable pace. As a 51 yo, I was hoping to place top 3 in the masters division (>40 yo), but things went better than expected. I was able to run 60 miles in 11:45. That earned me 2nd place overall male division. Here I am pictured with the winner who was some 29 yo ultra stud (he ran 75 miles). I made sure to constantly thank the volunteers, especially the ones that worked the overnight shift. :thumbsup:

Whatever you do, just keep moving. :Biggrin:

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Good stuff, EBR. Congratulations. I've never run farther than a marathon and have no intention of doing so. I admire those of you who can do these ultras.
 
Ellis Boyd Redding said:
So I completed my first ultra on Fri/Sat. Thanks to @canadianhusker for the advice. I forced myself to eat and drink early even though I didn't feel like I needed it. I also stuck to a consistent comfortable pace. As a 51 yo, I was hoping to place top 3 in the masters division (>40 yo), but things went better than expected. I was able to run 60 miles in 11:45. That earned me 2nd place overall male division. Here I am pictured with the winner who was some 29 yo ultra stud (he ran 75 miles). I made sure to constantly thank the volunteers, especially the ones that worked the overnight shift. :thumbsup:

Whatever you do, just keep moving. :Biggrin:

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As we say in our in our run group up here "Texas yeah!!!"

Except we substitute Texas for something else
 
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Had a nice 8 miler jog today. Hot as hell outside, 86 degrees. However, 86 here, is equivalent to about 96 at lower elevations. Been using BodyArmor drinks last 3 weeks, and they work wonderfully. The smoke of the previous day, has all but been blown out by northerly winds. YEAH!
 
Got in some fantastic and fantastically 'HOT' hikes this week. 7 miles Thursday, plus 14 today. Total elevation gain for the 21 miles equaled out to just over 3400 feet. With much of that gain, in as few as 5 miles. I feel it, I got some sunburn, but not anything to bad. The wild flowers that we encountered yesterday, were off the charts awesome.

With the wild fires that are fairly close, I have been somewhat fortunate, that it hasn't been that smokey round these parts this summer. I think we hit 90 yesterday, and 89 today, and I know that that is not 100, but at higher elevations, 90 is a scorcher, lots of water is needed on these hikes, as I like to start out around 10 am, so that I am usually finishing up around 5 or 6 in the evening, so that I also get all of the days hottest temps. I like to punish myself apparently, LOL. Happy hiking everybody.

I have this down as right at 329 miles, and unfortunately, I lost my stats from the previous hiking app I had, so my total elevation gain is..... I am not certain.
 
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With a change in winds last night, and into today, the heavy smoke that has inundated this area, was blown out, and I was able to hike today. It was hot, but not really that bad, so, we got in almost 15 miles. 14.8, with an elevation gain of 3685 feet. I feel it, my feet feel it, my knees feel it. The views, make it so worth it. We crushed the hike in a little over 4.25 hours. The good part was, most of the gain was early, and the final 4 miles were either flat, or downhill. Ah, I am a good kind of tired. 344.
 
After having to endure extremely unhealthy levels of smoke and very poor air quality for much of the past two weeks, and also, leaving an outdoor show after roughly 45 minutes Thursday night, I decided to sleep in a bit. When I did finally roll out of bed, I looked out the window, and lo and behold, I could see the mountain that I hadn't seen in those past two weeks. I immediately became wide awake. I got my hiking gear ready, got my hiking shoes on, and within the hour, I was pulling into the parking area of a trail I recently found out about.

It was hot, but it was CLEAR! Yeah baby! Anyway, I have been using Strava hiking app lately, and I used it again Friday. I bring this up because, When I got home, and went to check my stats, I apparently hiked 158 miles, with elevation gain of 10,445 feet, and managed to do this all in 2 hours and 29 minutes.... HAHAHAHA!!! It was an obvious glitch in the matrix somewhere. The hike was actually 7 miles, but, I don't know about the rest because of the glitch. The 2 hours 29 minutes was the only thing that was correct. LOL... I was just stoked to actually be able to get out of the house and not worry about what I was breathing. 351.
 
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12.6 miles today, not to bad. The views that we got, WOW! The ladies I hiked with today hike slower than I do, so I had to slow down, but I pushed them and we actually made pretty good time. We stopped more than I would prefer, but it was okay, because of some awesome mountain and lake views. We were surprised several times with both wilderness and city views that we just were not expecting, so that was cool.

We were also afraid that it might be very smokey, because of several wild fires still burning, but we had perfect, blue skies all day. 364.
 
Worked half a shift, and since it was glorious outside, I decided to go for a nice hike/jog. My goal was to get my run in under 2 hours for a 7 mile loop trail at around 8200 feet. I set my app, and off I went. Got back to the parking area and saved my data. Looked at it after I got home, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I crushed it, at 1 hour and 42 minutes.

One area of the loop still kicks my butt, but, I think when the weather cools down a bit, I can do this in an hour and a half. That's my new goal. 371
 

HUSKER HOT SAUCE said:
Worked half a shift, and since it was glorious outside, I decided to go for a nice hike/jog. My goal was to get my run in under 2 hours for a 7 mile loop trail at around 8200 feet. I set my app, and off I went. Got back to the parking area and saved my data. Looked at it after I got home, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I crushed it, at 1 hour and 42 minutes.

One area of the loop still kicks my butt, but, I think when the weather cools down a bit, I can do this in an hour and a half. That's my new goal. 371
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But what about the lady's? You leave them in the dust?
 
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