Saturday, January 18, 2014

Frosty 6 Hour - Good LS100K Practice Run

Did the Frosty 6 Hour today.   A snowy loop made for some rather arduous trudging but overall extremely satisfying.   A goal was beyond 42.2,  B 42.2 and C get to 35K.  Failed all three but I had another mission to accomplish and that was to run outside in -9C weather for 6 hours without taking a "warming break" and to remain comfortable!     I decided to use the run as a Laura Secord 100K training opportunity suiting up with all my gear required to go for up to 20 hours.  

Started the day wearing ,   Mizuno Breathe  Thermal Mid Weight Long Sleeve Compression T with a second Mizuno  Midweight then my Ron Hill Shell Over top.   On the head was a Compression Cap.  On my hands were 2 pairs of gloves the very thin Columbia Gloves with with the silver metal reflectors and then over top a roomy pair of Columbia Omni Shield Gloves.    Below the waste it was a a pair of wind proof Running Underwear,  my Suguoi Tights ,  Injinjji Toes Socks and over top of them was the Inov Winter Socks with a built in Gator.     Decided on the Saucony Exodus Gortex with a pair of Yak Trax.  

Now I also wore a fanny pack with a water bottle empty until need to prevent freezing as well as my Ultra Aspire Pack ,  no bladder!    Stuffed 2 gels in the fanny pack ,  8 gels in the Ultra Aspire.    Also in the Ultra Aspire I had the following,   extra compression gloves,  extra compression Cap ,   2 extra Mizuno Thermal tops ( the same as what I was wearing ) ,  3 Buffs ,  HD Video Camera ,  iPod Shuffle and some S Caps.   I probably forgot a thing or 2 but if I was going out for 20 hours in cold or wet conditions I would have been OK.  Needed way more calories but that can be picked up along the way.  Everything was packed in plastic bags to keep things dry.  

Oh ya the race ... felt like a bit of a goof showing up at the start of the 2.1K loop outfitted to run forever but then we were off an all was forgotten.   Walked the first 2.1K talking with Chris  ( Chars Husband).  Walking the loop I knew the Shell had to come off so I tied it around my waste.    Didn't take long for the compression cap to come off and eventually the second pair of gloves.   After a couple of hours the Cap was back on and too were the second pair of gloves.   Caught a bit of a chill a little after an hour again after sweating a bit on a little more aggressive 3rd loop.    Decided to try to run dry ,  not sweat and more of less held the pace to the brink of sweating.    It was tough going on the snowy trail and there was a bit of variability here and there so that  meant a variable effort.   This sort of running can lead to big sweats so I was careful to regulate the effort in order to keep the sweat at bay.  

 So I spent the day comfortable plodding along.  Did Gels ,  Pretzels ,  Chili ( Twice) , Chocolate ,  Coke and Water.  I had enough Calories and Fluids and not seating I didn't need any S Caps.  

 Finished the 6 hours  feeling like I could keep going  another 14 hours.  Felt very comfortably dressed the whole day.   Legs were a tiny beat beat up from all the sliding around but not too bad.   Didn't log as may Ks as I had planned but I was satisfied the if the LS100 was -8C / Snow I could get it done.  About the only thing I would add would be some chemical hand warmers...just in case!  

Logged a total of 31.5K in somewhere around 5hrs53mins.  Could have went out for another 1/2K or so but I hurried back to the pot of Chilli!    

2 comments:

Anne said...

One day I will get to do the frosty half.. and hopefully next year the LS100. Sounds like you have been doing some thinking about the race. Great stuff.

Ultra Monk said...

Good job Ron.