Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Moab 100? Why not...

I was planning on running the Antelope Island 50 in a few weeks, but the registration somehow closed despite the race specifically claiming not to have an entry cap. I had originally considered Moab 100 instead of AI50 to begin with, so I just opted to get in a good 100 mile desert trainer. I know that my base isn't "exceptional" right now, but it's still pretty good and I was definitely in the best shape of my life before I broke my foot on Halloween, so I'm not too concerned about the distance.

What are my goals? Well, first off, to run well the whole way without ever really regressing to walking. Second, I want to absolutely nail my nutrition. Third, I want to have as close to even splits as possible. Fourth, I want to win if the race (assuming it isn't more competitive than it's been the last few years). I should say though that if I hit the first 3 goals and a bunch of competitive people show up and beat me, I will still be very happy.

I'm planning to start out around 10:00/mile and just hold that pace. I will aim to take incredibly minimal breaks, eat lots of high calorie foods (donuts, cookies, etc) at the end of every lap, eat 2 gels per 6 mile loop, take 1 salt pill per hour (it won't be that hot, but I will take more if necessary), and keep a steady pace and effort the entire time.

3 comments:

  1. Woot! I'm hoping to start out at 11 min pace. I would be pretty happy if I finished 100 minutes behind you! What a great last week of training. My last weekend was similar with a medium long run Saturday after a brutal week. I'm a triathlete, so I have to keep the swimming and biking up through this as well.

    Like I said on twitter, I don't know if you have people coming down to help you, but you are welcome to utilize my pit stop area and my team of helpers. I have plenty!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Sonja! If you can run the whole thing at 11:00/mile you'll actually beat the existing course record (Duncan's average was a little over 11s). The big difference between 100s and shorter races seems to typically be wasted time near the end for me. People obviously run 50s at a faster pace, but it's not hard to run 50 miles without stopping more than 10 minutes or so throughout the race to eat and refuel. Near the end of 100s, it becomes a HUGE temptation to just sit down for awhile and waste time, so for me it's going to be a matter of really keeping it going at the end. Thanks for the offer of help! I don't have anyone coming out this time, so if you do have a bunch of extra people, I might leave a few water bottles with them so I can make a swap without having to stop. By the way, how long did that 100k training run you did take you?

    ReplyDelete