Rocky Raccoon 100

Well Rocky Raccoon 100 is in the books and I’m happy to report a successful adventure!   

My primary goal entering this race was to come up with a hundred mile PR and since my previous PR was set at Leadville – 20.29 (which goes without saying altitude and mountains),  I figured my goal was extremely attainable.  I ended up with a time of 16.09 for a second place finish.  Rather than give you the play by play action, check out my blog for all the exciting details.  In this report, I want give you the details of my fueling strategies and equipment used.

Living in Colorado in the winter you can almost expect temps to be hovering in the 30s, if not lower.  So you can imagine when I read the forcast in Huntsville, TX to be in the 80s with lows in the 50s, I had to not only pick the right clothing but I had to revise my fueling strategy that my body wasn’t used to.

Clothing – I chose to wear the new team issued Pearl Izumi sleeveless Infini-T and split leg Infinty short.  In the past I have never been a fan of sleeveless shirts and short-shorts because of chaffing issues so I was real nervous about this.  But just to let you know PI has made some major changes to their running line, in particular, they have added a mesh type material around the neck and sleeve areas to reduce friction – very soft and supple feeling.  Not to mention the new design looks SHARP!  But just to be on the safe side I put Body Glide around my arm pit and groin areas.  Body Glide is nice because it doesn’t cause a greasy feeling and doesn’t get all over your clothes.  In the end, NO CHAFFING ISSUES!

Shoes – If you have not tried Pearl Izumi shoes lately, you need to!  Maybe you’ve had a bad experience from PI shoes way back when but I’m here to tell you they have revolutionized their shoe line.  I wore the black Peak XC with the PRO PI sock.  The Peak is a minimalist shoe with little protection on top for a free feeling but just enough protection on the bottom for rocks or roots in this case.  Since the Peak is a minimalist shoe, don’t expect to wear them for a long run without conditioning your feet.  Try shorter runs and build up to the desired distance.  In addition, I sprinkled the new liquid powder from Body Glide on my feet to avoid any possible blister.  In the end, only one blackened toenail from a root and NO BLISTERS!

Fuel and Hydration – This is the one that always gets me.  My stomach usually turns bad late from early race negligence of eating and drinking.  This time around my plan was to have one 20oz Nathan handheld of water every 6 miles in one hand and a flask of the new First Endurance EFS gel every two hours in the other hand.  I had practiced this routine on several training runs up to 6 hours without any stomach upset or energy issues.  Since the temps were approaching 80 I really had to stay on top of this.  Just so I wouldn’t get sick of the gel I ate 1/2 PB & J sandwich every 6 miles to get something solid in – worked like a charm!  As you read my report, you’ll notice I had a minor bonk around mile 68, which turns out to be the hottest part of the day.  I realized that even though the EFS has electrolytes, it wasn’t enough for the hot weather.  At the next aid station I supplemented my regimen with two S caps every hour for 3 hours.  So in the end, a minor bonk but quickly recovered for a STRONG FINISH!

Light and Sunlight – During the hottest part of the day we were thankful enough to have trees deflecting some of the direct sunlight.  And since it was partly shady I switched my new Smith Redline Max lenses to the rose color to bring out those nasty, hidden roots.  At night during the last loop I wore the Petzl Myo XP which I have used in all my 100 mile races because of the brightness.  I know my light was bright because as I was approaching people coming from the opposite direction they were covering their eyes and looking away.  In the end, NO TRUE DIGGERS ALL DAY AND NIGHT.

So there you have it, my shameless review of all the products I used.  I hope this somehow helps you with your race plans.