CCC.

I’ll keep the recap on this one reasonably short, mostly so I don’t burn myself out from writing post-race blogs.

The big learning lesson from this one is that racing at the highest level requires the highest level of focus and attention to detail. I did not give this race and the people in it the respect it deserved and to be honest that was lowkey pretty lame of me!

When thinking about my season, CCC was never on my radar. I had made the decision after UTMB last year that I needed a break from this race and the atmosphere around it. I wanted to focus all, and I mean all, of my attention into Western States, and if I felt good in the back half of the year, I would line up for Diagonale de Fous on Reunion Island. In the grand scheme of races I want to do well at in my career, CCC never landed on the radar either - it has always been UTMB. It has interested me, I just never thought I would do it since I thought every time I would come out to Chamonix, I would be targeting the big loop.

After signing with HOKA in August, I got really excited to line up on a start line as soon as possible, and the plan was to announce joining the team in Chamonix during UTMB week anyway. I was feeling really good after States and putting in big days running around the Sierra all through July. I felt strong and fit in the mountains and just felt like I needed a little sharpening up to race at my top-end. My coach and I decided to put together a 3 week block starting in August to get ready for CCC and see what would happen. We figured the worst that would happen would be a so-so result and the best would be a sick podium. At the end of the day, it is just more race experience and we were going to be there anyway so why the hell not.

I did have one “why not” reason deep in my gut that is important here and something I really want to challenge myself to let go of moving forward as a pro. My “why not” was the anxiety of having a bad performance after two of the best races of my life and immediately losing stock and value to brands and fans. I think this is something everyone goes through after having great performances but isn’t talked about enough. The whole “you’re only as good as your last performance” thing is absolutely not real but it can really be debilitating if you allow it be.

The combination of no real focus or goal for the race, only three weeks to mentally and specifically prepare, anxiety of doing anything worse than a podium, and not to mention almost no course knowledge other than the two times I’ve run UTMB, really set me up for a rough day with no fight when things got tough. All of these mental pieces added up to having a sub-par day that I did not want but I do think I needed.

Everything being said, I am happy I faced that anxiety and ripped the bandaid off. Not every race can be your best even if you are fully prepared in every way for it. You could roll an ankle, get sick, or the weather can turn - things that are out of your control can happen and ruin a day you were poised for, and it is important to be able to live with those moments that cause a poor performance and not let them influence what you know you are capable of.

Ok, now into some details. There are two major things I think I could have done differently that would have dramatically changed my day:

1. Drink More Fluids:

   Upon arriving in Chamonix six days prior to the race, I already knew the humidity was going to be a big issue on race day. I’m already a heavy sweater and the Sierra is one of the driest places you can train/live. Even going on a 30 minute easy shakeout I must have lost over a liter of fluid. What I should have done is buy a scale and do a super simple sweat rate test, but I didn’t and just assumed everything would be ok carrying three bottles in between aid stations. The thought of carrying more seemed like diminishing returns as my pack was already super heavy and I wasn’t sure how I could fit a fourth full flask somewhere on me. With more course knowledge, I could have filled up flasks or carried additional empty ones at fountains along the course I didn’t realize existed. I saw these as I ran by but when I’m in race mode I don’t react quickly unless the action was already in the plan. It didn’t register that I needed to utilize the fountains until it was too late.

2. Take More Liquid Calories:

   The day before the race, Vic came over and we went through several options for nutrition plans. A crux of CCC is not seeing crew for 5-6 hours until Champex-Lac, and having to carry all your nutrition on you until that point. With an already fully-stocked pack with mandatory gear, this makes carrying additional bottles and nutrition extra challenging. We opted to go with gels for all my carbs and diverted from carrying extra bottles with drink mix in them to fill at the aid stations. This meant that I had to take a gel every 20 minutes instead of the usual every 30 + a bottle of drink mix throughout the hour to hit the carb targets. Understanding this would mean I would be getting less sodium also, I took salt pills much more frequently than I would in the past. The combo of more gels and more salt pills made me feel bloated and had me battling side stitches all day, which ultimately lead me to eat less later in the race and get into a massive energy shortage.

The race in general felt pretty uneventful. I look back at it as three distinct sections:

1. Courmayeur to Arnouvaz (mile 0-16)

2. Arnouvaz to Champex-Lac (mile 16-34)

3. Champex-Lac to Chamonix (mile 34-62)

I’ll go through each of these highlighting the big mistakes and takeaways as I have done in the past.

Section 1: Courmayeur to Arnouvaz (mile 0-16)

As everyone knows, the race starts out with a notorious 5000ft climb that everyone takes out way too hard. The big thing I want to talk about here is carbo-loading, which is something I have been very intentional about since Canyons, aiming to hit 12g of CHO per kg body weight per day in the 48 hours leading up to a race. Starting with a heavy pack and nearly 20 gels on me already makes that climb much more challenging, but I was also pounds heavier than my baseline from being carb-loaded and over-hydrated. I felt like I was working way too hard even just hiking up this climb, meanwhile Hayden was chatting and making jokes the ENTIRE way.

My coach mentioned that on some tour stages with a lot of climbing, riders actually try to cut weight the night before rather than carbo-loading, which was interesting to hear but totally makes sense. The only difference is their stages are 4-5 hours while we are preparing for 8-15 hour races. At some point the scale tips one way or the other and there is probably some testing we can do to see what is the max weight from carbs + fluids I can be at while still maintaining efficiency at a certain pace climbing. And this is really only important for races that start with an hour+ climb.

Anyway, I felt pretty rough this whole stretch. The first climb seemed to take a lot out of me, probably from working too hard and probably from the humidity and not drinking enough. I superman’d HARD on the trail right in front of Dakota at mile 7 on the steep descent down to the first aid station. Pretty sure I went close to 45 degrees balancing on my face with my legs in the air behind me before slamming back down. It felt like that kind of day.

Once we hit the rollers to Arnouvaz I started getting passed by a lot of friends and had a bit of an emotional low. The climbs felt harder than they should have and I was struggling getting into a good rhythm descending after that faceplant earlier. Finally around mile 15, my legs turned around and I started gaining ground on people again until I ended up in a group of Americans rolling together into Arnouvaz.

Section 2: Arnouvaz to Champex-Lac (mile 16-34)

After taking my time at the aid, I started to feel like myself again up Grand Col Ferret. I eventually caught up to Caleb, then Eric, chatted with both of them for a bit and then decided to push a little. I feel like in the last 800 ft of this climb I pushed myself up into the front of the race again - probably into the top 20. Descending felt amazing and I must have passed another 10 people before arriving in La Fouly, but skipped a couple critical fountains I decided to roll through. Such small decisions lead to such massive blowups later.

Exiting the La Fouly aid station, I was happy to see Eric and Jon were right there behind me. Eric and I then proceeded to hammer to Champex. We fed off each other really well and kept asking what place we thought we were in. Turns out we had run into 7th and 8th by Champex, but the climb to the aid station started to crack us both a little.

I had trouble deciding if I should just stick to a long-strided hike or shuffle up the climb to the Champex aid. I remember wishing I had spent some time out here to feel confident on how to approach each of these sections. Last year at UTMB I was completely wasted coming into Champex and almost dropped, so anything felt like I was doing better than that.

The energy of the crowds got me to Champex fine but I could tell this back stretch was going to get hard. I sat at the aid and had trouble thinking about what I needed. It was a big “culture” shock compared to running into aid stations at States, lifting my arms, and having my crew do the rest. The plan just did not feel dialed and I had to think way too much, which just lead to wasting time jerking off while I simultaneously tried to recover, cool off, stuff my pack, and answer questions.

Section 3: Champex-Lac to Chamonix (mile 34-62)

This was a total wash. The only thing I’m proud of here is the forward movement. There were zero thoughts of dropping and zero hunch over on the side of the trail moments, despite how bad I eventually felt. I took terrible care of myself in this final marathon and went total zombie mode.

It started with calf cramps up the Bovine climb anytime I would try to shuffle which just lead to a slow hike to the top and giving up a few places. The worst part about cramping is knowing you fucked up. I spent 40 minutes here just completely pissed at myself for fucking up by not drinking enough, even though I knew that was going to be an issue. I felt like I reverted and I was no better than I was a year ago racing here. It felt like I didn’t earn any of the results I got in the last few months and have learned absolutely nothing. Obviously I don’t actually believe that, but that is how I pump myself up sometimes. And no I don’t need therapy. I lost my stomach somewhere on that climb too and the gel every 20 minutes protocol turned into one every hour, which took every ounce of my soul not to throw back up.

At this point, I’m totally dry on water, taking in 30g of carb per hour, cramping and trying not to throw up. Shits bad man. Somehow, I was able to run downhill fine so I pushed to Trient and from there to the finish I just survived on Coke and water with a gel followed by an exorcistic deep belly burp immediately after.

There were moments of fight, usually on descents, but I ultimately dropped back to 15th and finished an hour slower than I was hoping for. A lot of specific lessons learned along the way, really highlighting to me how fucking different it is racing out here and how much attention to detail a course and race like this requires.

As much as a bad race sucks, there is nothing more motivating for me. Really, nothing. I’m not necessarily eager to hop on a starting line after a long year of intense racing, but I can’t wait until next year to get a crack on doing this successfully. I want to double. The whole concept of it intrigues me so much - nailing two very different races. I don’t want to approach next year by just targeting Western States and then if I feel good, throwing my hat in the UTMB ring. I want to work backwards and do everything I can starting in January to podium at both races. I don’t know what that looks like yet but part of the equation is getting to France right after States.

I just turned 29 and I am beginning to really understand my values…

I think your values in your youth are definitely molded by how you grew up, who you surrounded yourself, and what was spoken to you. For me, those were shaped around working a 9 to 5 high-paying job, earning enough to buy a big home and supporting your family. That always seemed like the end goal to strive for, and if you were lucky MAYBE you were able to achieve that by getting a desk job in an industry you’re kind of sort of interested in, but that was far from a guarantee and ultimately didn’t really matter.

I’m in a position now and enabled with the resources to pursue being one of the best in the world at what I absolutely love to do. How many people in the world are dealt a hand like this? To not give 100% and do everything I can to be the best would be an absolute waste of an opportunity.

I think for me, that means taking a step away from my current primary job and focusing all of myself into running. No, that does not mean running all day, and I’m sure I will not know what to do with my free time on a lot of days.

By doing this I will be able to approach the sport from every angle. I will be able to squeeze extra bits out of myself on hard days, travel when needed, rest appropriately, eat better, and ultimately just pour all my energy into a single pursuit. You can be 80-90% good at a lot of things but it is truly impossible to be your best at more than one thing, and that is what I want to dedicate to next year (or more) of my life to.

It’s extremely uncertain how it will end up. The stress of a singular pursuit could backfire and psychologically crack me. I could get injured and have no results for months or even years. My contract could get cut or I may not be able to re-sign one if things don’t go so well. If all or one of these things happen, I know it will not have been a waste. It will be disappointing for sure, but not a waste.

I will never ask “what-if”. I will never doubt I poured 100% of myself into this thing and did everything I can in my control to be one of the best. I can always find work in the future, and at the very least, I won’t have to go back to doing something I’m not fully invested into. I will have the freedom to choose to pursue a life and career that embodies my values and not just provides me with a stable paycheck and benefits.

In the meantime, I hope none of my coworkers read this…

2024 CCC - 15th Place, 11:22:48

https://www.strava.com/activities/12283456663/overview

Western States Endurance Run.

I’m sorry to report that the blog is not 3 for 3 on Ws and that Oppenheimer was right but wow, how sick would that have been…

We are one week out from the race and I’m still trying to wrap my head around what happened last Saturday and what I did in the prep or in the days before that allowed me to access such an intense and unbreakable flow state all day. I had a major life event happen 2 weeks before race day that took a heavy emotional blow, and to be honest I had no idea how it would affect me on the day. It was not something I could necessarily ignore and compartmentalize either, but I did notice every run I did in those 2 weeks in the lead up felt extremely good. Rarely do I feel like I nail a taper and typically it feels like the fatigue catches up to me when I start to drop the volume, but my body felt different in the days leading up this time around.

Mentally, I felt confident but I also felt like nothing mattered. I felt like if I blew up I wouldn’t care. I came in knowing how I wanted to race and if I was not going to be aggressive I might as well just not show up. I wanted to make a mark on this race and running smart, picking people off on my way into the top ten was not impactful enough for what I wanted. I felt top five was possible and on a very special day, podium.

The number one thing I’ve learned this season is that you cannot wait for the race to come to you. Because it just won’t. To podium I needed to put myself in the mix early, cover moves from the guys I knew would be dangerous, and just hope I would be strong enough and on top of my fueling to hold on until the end. The only reason people blow up anymore is because of small mistakes and in this era, at this level, on this stage, mistakes are hard to come by. It is safe to assume 90% of the elite field will nail the race and take care of all the details. I think anyone in the top ten on the day could have ended up on the podium. It took being aggressive early to establish a gap that would decide the outcome.

I’m sure everyone who raced would say something different but I believe the race began after we all filled our bottles at the first aid station at Lyon Ridge. From that moment, a switch flipped and I accessed a level of focus, intent, and presence I never before have in my life. No waives, no smiles, no words to crew and pacers other than “yes” or “no”, and no exchanges with competitors for the most part. The race became about the next step and nothing further for the rest of the day, which at some point developed my mantra for the day:

Do what feels sustainable in this very moment.

Coming back to this mantra allowed me to block out any doubts or fears of blowing up later in the race, run harder down descents I would normally jog, shuffle up climbs that I would normally walk, and take the lead from Jim at points between Michigan Bluff and Green Gate. I did not once for a second think about how many miles were left and that we had to make it 100 miles. It is truly amazing how much of blocker the notion of 100 miles being a long way to go has been on my past performances. All these years I’ve run with fear as if it were a part of our mandatory gear checklist, but for some reason on June 29, 2024 I decided to not bring fear with me.

Before I dive into the gross details, I want to highlight this screenshot from the Race Analysis feature on Strava. It provides a visualization of how full-on the race was from the start and how relatively even we had to run all day to stay competitive. I ended up positive splitting only about 6 minutes in the back half (with stoppage, 7:09 for the first 50 and 7:15 for the second 50) despite going out right at course record pace. The El Dorado aid station at Mile 52.5 is typically what is considered to be the halfway point when analyzing race splits, which I entered at 7:27 into the race. Considering this, I did end up negative splitting the course by 30 minutes which is insane for me think about given how hard I felt the early pace was.

Traditionally, States is broken down into 4 sections: The High Country (Escarpment to Robinson Flat), The Canyons (Robinson Flat to Foresthill), Cal Street (Foresthill to Rucky Chucky), and the River to the Finish. As I’ve done in past blogs, I’ll break the report into sections based on key turning points in the race that were notable from my perspective, which turned out to be the following 8 for me as I recall how things played out:

1. Olympic Valley to Lyon Ridge (mile 0-10)

2. Lyon Ridge to Duncan Canyon (mile 10-24)

3. Duncan Canyon to Devil’s Thumb (mile 24-47)

4. Devil’s Thumb to Michigan Bluff (mile 47-56)

5. Michigan Bluff to Cal 2 (mile 56-70)

6. Cal 2 to Green Gate (mile 70-80)

7. Green Gate to ALT (mile 80-85)

8. ALT to Finish (mile 85-100)

Section 1: Olympic Valley to Lyon Ridge (mile 0-10)

Name something more embarrassing than being first up the Escarpment? You can’t. I decided to live with it though and crested the top first with a massive pack right behind me. I did not think the pace was any different than past years but looking at the “WSER-Start to Emigrant Pass” segment on Strava, it looks like we may have swept the leaderboard. I’m eager to see the “Splits” excel come out for this year on the WSER website to compare all historical data, but long story short I guess we ran up quick. Expectedly, everyone seemed to be keying off Jim and running 5-10 steps behind him, adjusting pace as he did. I found this pointless as we are all running the same pace anyways so I decided to get in front and prepare myself to have clear footing through the singletrack in the High Country.

It felt empowering to set the pace through the High Country and run what I felt was comfortable instead of chasing and clipping heels in a long centipede like years past. I caught up with Ryan, Tyler, and Jim, sharing some personal life updates with Jim which he gave affirmative commentary on but I’m sure deep down was wondering why the f I felt like I need to tell him all this. Jim took the lead from me around mile 9 and set the pace to Lyon Ridge where the gloves really came off.

Section 2: Lyon Ridge to Duncan Canyon (mile 10-24)

Jim, Tyler, and I entered Lyon Ridge together and we were able to fill our bottles and exit before the massive pack of 20 men came in at once. I left first but Jim quickly caught up. We climbed together but it seemed like his mission started as he began to drill the descents. I thought about following but did not have the confidence that I wouldn’t blow out my quads by the time we hit the Canyons. Nevertheless, I was still moving well in second and would actually catch glimpses of Jim a few switchbacks or another ridge away. By the aid at Red Star Ridge he had 2 minutes on me and meanwhile Hayden and Dan had moved up and exited the aid right with me. I let the dynamic duo take turns pulling while I sat back and hung on. I took my time at Duncan Canyon relative to them, using my crew to swap packs and apply an ice bandana, and dropped back about 30 seconds before heading out toward Robinson.

Section 3: Duncan Canyon to Devil’s Thumb (mile 24-47)

My legs were heavy but I was climbing well. I pulled back Hayden, Dan, and Guomin on the climb up to Robinson and was in and out of the aid in 25 seconds. The 15 mile descent from Robinson to the bottom of Devil’s Thumb is easily my least favorite part of the course. In years past, I’ve blown up here going too fast while in other I’ve lost the field here going too slow, characterizing how difficult it is to know how fast to run this section. This year was no different as I was completely clueless to how far up the road Jim, Hayden, and Dan were. All I knew was that I was running 6:40s for a few miles, got caught by Dakota, and never saw the three lead men up the road. I figured Dakota is a good person to push this descent with as he typically does not hold back. He was quicker through aids so I would lose him every time we ran through one, but eventually we made it down to the Swinging Bridge together. I looked up and saw Hayden and Dan beginning the climb together. We somehow caught up. I crossed the bridge and started the climb and a heard an enthusiastic “WOOO”. Holy shit there was Jim sitting in a spring. We were at the very front of the race.

Section 4: Devil’s Thumb to Michigan Bluff (mile 47-56)

Things got extremely exciting. Hayden, Dan, Dakota, Jim, and I all were within 30 seconds of each other climbing up Thumb. The Top 5 men within 30 seconds 7 hours into Western States. I started to realize how mindblowing this was but I tried to ground myself and stay present. This climb is notoriously where so many people unravel in this race.

To this point I had been drinking about three bottles (1500mL) an hour. In the excitement at Last Chance (the last aid station before the Thumb) I forgot to fill a 3rd bottle so I left with only 1L. It was starting to get very warm down in the Canyons and I really started feeling it on the exposed climb up The Thumb. I tried to climb as chill as possible knowing I was down 500mL. The legs were definitely starting to feel weak up the climb. In my visualizations I imagined running the upper quarter of this climb but I had to hold myself back due to that logistical error.

I came into the aid station right with Dakota on my heels while Dan and Hayden had just left as we arrived. Jim came in front of all of us and I’m pretty sure he ran up the whole thing. In retrospect sitting in that spring by Swinging Bridge for a minute while we all passed him probably allowed him to do that. I wanted to do the same but to be honest he was hogging all the water. Pro move. Huge box out.

I would guess this ended up being my longest aid station stop for the day as I really needed to reset and cool off. I took my time with Dakota and left after a little over a minute. Now we were on the chase. My downhill legs felt GOOD. I caught Hayden right at Mile 50 descending down into El Dorado, and then Dan at the very bottom of the descent at Mile 52. I entered the aid in 2nd but left in 3rd with Dan 15 seconds in front of me. I caught him halfway up the climb and continued to climb hard out to make an assertive move. I just moved into 2nd place and ran into the Michigan Bluff aid with intention.

Section 5: Michigan Bluff to Cal 2 (mile 56-70)

As planned, my crew setup at the very end of the aid zone so I could get eyes on who was leaving. I ran straight through, did not make eye contact with anyone and transitioned packs and ice bandanas in 20-30 seconds again. I was out of there and expecting to see Jim minutes up on me toward Chicken Hawk Hill.

Within half a mile on the runnable double wide road, I heard footsteps behind me and I figured Dan or Dakota had caught back up. I tried to play it cool and not look behind my shoulder until I heard unfamiliar voices chatting. Curious, I looked back and saw a film crew along with a tall figure in all white soaked down to the bone. After a few head turns to really confirm, I came to terms with the fact that I had put myself in this position and I had to step up and do everything I could to race Jim for the remainder of the day. Honestly, I was stoked for the opportunity and I never thought about the outcome. I just knew that if I were able to hold on I was going to have a historic day, so that became my sole focus.

We traded leads back and forth to Foresthill. Jim slowly would pull away on the steep uphill pitches where I felt like I only had one gear, but I would catch back up as the climbs would level out. I was feeling confident descending whereas it seemed Jim would actively slow down. In doing so, I took the lead on the descent down to Volcano. I ate shit near the bottom and not a word was exchanged. We soaked in the creek at the bottom together and I asked if he wanted to lead up the climb to Bath Rd. He said I should go for it and that I was running really well. Thanks, Jim.

Overall, the vibe was friendly but tense. Both waiting for the other to strike - perhaps me with this feeling more so than him. You know that scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where Harry and Cedric are racing through the maze to find the Triwizard Cup but they both help each other at points and it’s kind of awkward because they want to beat each other to it at the same time? Well, it felt like that. I won’t get into who was Harry and who was Cedric but at the end of the day they’re good friends and it’s really sad when Cedric dies. Just like the Triwizard Cup, the Cougar will do crazy shit to your soul.

Running up to Bath Rd to Foresthill, Jim built another gap as I mentioned before, he was much stronger on the climbs than me. The same story played out though running down toward the crowds at Foresthill, where I was able to close the gap and come into our respective crew stops at the same time. Coincidentally, our crews setup right next to each other before the turn onto Cal Street. Again, Jim took his time and took care of all the little things he needed to while I stuck with my pack swap, ice bandana swap, and douse in water. It may have been a bit hasty but I knew I needed to get out of that aid first as I was afraid if Jim had the momentum he would put a massive move in to break me on Cal Street.

Tim joined me on the journey to the river which I’m so grateful for. He didn’t say much but he said everything I needed to hear. We flew through Cal 1 together in first place. Hearing cheers not too far back, we knew Jim was closing in and I knew the steep rollers on the next section toward Cal 2 would be pivotal. I was prepared to be passed and Jim finally did about halfway between Cal 1 and Cal 2.

We cruised at our own pace, careful to not get too caught up in racing yet. The temps began to rise and while my stomach felt totally fine, my drink mix was starting to become hard to palate. Up to that point, I had been drinking 3x 500ml soft flasks per hour, 2 as pure water and 1 with drink mix. I carried an empty flask with just drink mix powder in it so I could easily fill it with just water whenever I entered an aid and drink my own nutrition instead of take the unknown concentration mix at the aid stations. At Cal 2 I made the decision to fill a 3rd flask with just water instead of use the powder flask because I wanted to continue hydrating at that 1.5L/hr rate and I was worried the distasteful drink mix would cause me to drink less. By choosing to do this, I would miss out on about 40g CHO each hour and my totals would drop from 100g/hr to 60g/hr with just gels. I felt comfortable doing this since I figured my glycogen would be relatively high after 10 hours of 100g/hr and I could make it to the finish strong with just 60g for the next 4-5 hours. While hard to say, I do believe this decision ended up having a massive impact downstream in the race, which I will get to later.

Section 6: Cal 2 to Green Gate (mile 70-80)

All day I noticed I was getting time back on the descents. I wasn’t slow on the climbs but my legs were heavy and I didn’t have the pop to get up the steep stuff quite as fast as Jim. Capitalizing on this, Tim and I sent it hard down to the river from Cal 2. To keep the momentum going, I ran up most of 5 minute hill and pushed to Cal 3 where we found out we cut Jim’s lead from 2 minutes at Cal 2 to 30 seconds. Still staying calm, we continued at our own sustainable pace and finally we caught a glimpse of Jim’s white bucket hat. Slowly closing on him we remained calm and quiet until suddenly he darted off the trail and bushwhacked down to the river. Genuinely so confused on what was happening, I asked Tim, “Is he playing mind games with me?” In my head, Jim had seen us and wanted to pretend he did not give any fucks how close we were since he was so confident he would smoke us. Tim reassured me as much of a chessmaster Jim is, he was not playing mind games and he really just needed to take time to cool off. I didn’t fully buy it.

We came into Rucky Chucky in first shocking the world and apparently Jim who thought he was still in front of us after jumping in the river. Turns out he never saw us behind him and never saw us pass in front, which just shows how demoralizing Cal Street can be - even if you are closing hard and only 10-20 seconds behind someone, the way the trail bends makes it near impossible to see them and can just get mentally exhausting when you’re trying to hunt and it seems like no gaps are closing.

I meet crew for the last time, swap Kris Brown in as my pacer, and enter the river in first. At this point I had no idea how far back Jim was but within seconds of beginning to cross I hear Jim in the water behind me. To be honest, I cracked a little at this and wish I had kept my composure better. I was hoping the river would be a time to relax, take my time, and really reset but with Jim on my ass holding the rope 20 feet behind me I felt immensely pressured, rushed and stressed. Side note, I will absolutely follow his move to put on a life vest and float along the rope instead of try to walk across next time. While wasting less energy trying to walk across the slippery rocks, he was also fully submerged and cooling the entire time. Absolute pro move.

Jim was on our shoulder within two minutes from exiting the river. Between us, pacers, film crew, and crew that ran down Green Gate for Jim there were probably 10 of us running in a pack up to Green Gate, all dead silent. Tensions were extremely high. Kris reminded me to run my pace and let Jim go if I had to, but I was pleased with my climbing legs at this point and held on. We entered Green Gate together and I left three minutes in front of him.

Section 7: Green Gate to ALT (mile 80-85)

By no means did Kris and I think we had it. We were running well and perhaps if it were anyone else behind us (edit: except Hayden) sitting at Green Gate we actually might have. I’m not sure how much caffeine Jim slammed at that aid station but I would have to assume enough to kill a small baby. Within three miles he had caught back up to us which means he ran a minute per mile faster on rolling terrain. I assumed he would take his time with the pass as he did prior times, but he was just absolutely feeling it this time.

The move happened on the longer, switchbacking climb about 2 miles away from ALT. He caught us, stepped aside off the trail, and went right by. He looked back as he did and told me to come with him, which is when I knew this was going to be THE move. You don’t say that unless you know there is no chance that person can hang.

I think about that move a lot. The way Jim bounded up the hill, taking 1 step to cover the same distance it took for my 3, was jaw-dropping. The fan boy in me is so happy I got to witness true greatness like that that late into a 100 miler, but the competitor in me is wondering why I gave up so easily then. Part of me wonders had I been able to respond for even just 30 seconds up the remainder of the climb, would he have slowed down the pace knowing that his move wasn’t necessarily working as he wanted it to and would I have been to stay with him longer. I think he got a lot of confidence from signposting me then and there which carried him to drill the pace harder and harder for a bit until he had that 5 minute gap at Quarry Rd.

I blame my inability to respond to 2 pieces of empirical data: 1) cutting my carb intake from 100g/hr to 60g/hr two hours prior by choosing not to refill my powder flasks and just drinking water along with my gels, and 2) choosing to be more conservative with caffeine to avoid GI issues. I’m sure these both played a large part in Jim being much stronger than me in the last 20 miles of the race, but deep down I think I was so mentally exhausted from leap frogging with him for almost 30 miles that when I saw that move, I was ready to tell myself that was it and it was time to just accept second place. There was a feeling of relief not having to fight anymore and that is what bothers me the most.

When I think about nailing Western States, it doesn’t necessarily mean winning it, but it means having a perfect day where I can stay present and competitive from the second the gun goes off to the moment I cross the finish line. I almost had that day, but gave up a little too early, which makes me extremely excited to come back and figure out how to stay competitive in the final miles. It wouldn’t be until the final mile where I snapped back into that mindset on this day.

Section 8: ALT to Finish (mile 85-100)

All things considered, we were not going slow (the segment for River to the Finish shows 7th fastest all-time and 5th fastest on the day, which really means 8th and 6th respectively since Jim didn’t upload) but we found ourselves in some trouble with Hayden on his way to the segment CR. Every aid station we would get gap updates. We had 10 minutes on him at Green Gate, 7 minutes at Quarry, and 5 minutes at Pointed Rocks. At no point were we concerned as we were moving well and did not stop for more than a minute at any aid.

Every update I got I would do mental math to determine how much faster than us Hayden would have to run to catch us, which according to my coach is actually a complete waste of blood glucose since the brain uses so much. The more blank you can keep your mind, the more energy you can allocate toward running. Anyway, by Pointed Rocks it just did not seem possible he would run 1 minute per mile faster than us to catch us by the finish. We thought we were in the clear.

Apparently Tim saw the warning signs as Kris and I looked like ghosts crossing No Hands Bridge, and rushed himself up to the Robie Aid Station to assist. Kris handed me off to Tim after we topped out of the dirt climb and told me Tim would take me home. I was confused on why but I went with it. I later found out Kris was in the box for quite a while trying to take care of me and ended up puking on the sidewalk shortly after passing me off. Thank you for your service, King.

Tim and I made it up the final steep sections of the climb and were in cruise mode down to the track. He turned to me and asked if I wanted to go under Jared’s 2019 time of 14:26 and be the second fastest person behind Jim to run Western States. I firmly said “no” and I just wanted to take the last mile in, which he respected.

A half mile later, we crested the final bump before making the left hand turn across the bridge to the track and began to celebrate with the crowds. For whatever reason, Tim decided to look behind his shoulder at this point and in total dismay saw Hayden with about 10 of his Precision crew members charging hard. All I heard was “Rod, we gotta go”. I slurred back, “Why?” He responded, “Hayden.”

The next bit I don’t remember so much. I just remember being so sad it had come down to this and how upset I would be if I got 3rd after battling that hard with Jim. I needed second. I feel like my eyes were closed for the next half mile but all the videos show them open, which is kind of scary. I felt bodies on my shoulder as I rounded the track and couldn’t tell who they were and if they were Hayden about to rob me of my dreams. I collapsed at the finish line, heart rate through the roof and began to vomit. My body was so confused on what just happened and what it just did.

When I came to and was able to stand up, Jim was right there and Hayden too. I felt so insanely proud to be on the podium with these two legends and truly bonded to them by what we were able to do together. The first, second, and third fastest people to run Western States right there, just hanging out. What a gift and what an experience I’ll always remember for the rest of my life.

I came into this season wanting to learn from my mistakes and wanting to see if I had the potential to break into the upper echelon of the sport or not. Between Black Canyon, Lake Sonoma, and Canyons, I was able to implement new learnings I developed from mistakes made in the last and take care of the little things that have prohibited me from making the step up in performance in previous seasons. While it’s still only July, I feel like Western States was the perfect opportunity to execute on everything I learned this year on one of the sport’s biggest stages. However, even when the result is spectacular and beyond your wildest dreams, there is still room for improvement. I never in a million years thought I would run 14:24 but at the same time, I’ve identified areas where I messed up this year and where I could have done better to allow myself to compete late stage in the race.

What is so so exciting about this sport is that I don’t actually think fitness is the one big limiting factor in holding back fast times and insane performances. It really is the little things that could improve our personal bests by hours. Taking care of those little things is so easy compared to stepping up training when you’re already training at the highest level, and that gets me so fired up to do it. I already can’t wait to see what times are run at next year’s race and in the meantime I’ll continue using this place to keep myself accountable to never making the same mistake twice.

2024 Western States Endurance Run - 2nd Place, 14:24:15

https://www.strava.com/activities/11771799725#3242367568333247060

Canyons 100k.

Ok look.. I know the great Oppenheimer (don’t fact check me) once said correlation does not imply causation but I have raced twice since I started this blog and I have won both races. Want a cold hard FACT? Blogging. Wins. Races.

I only kind of kid. The reason I started this thing is because I did not want to make the same mistake twice in a race ever again. The hope was that writing those mistakes out and putting myself on blast to all 12 people (4 being me) who might read this thing would hold me to a level of accountability I historically have not been able to hold myself to. I was tired of talking about how much I hate handhelds but then lining up with them again, of having caffeine too early in the day, cramping up my stomach but then feeling like I needed that boost to wake up the legs for the early start, of drinking aid station mixes without even knowing the concentration of carbs and electrolytes in them running out of calories before hitting my crew but then still choosing to take from them. I was tired of making these obvious errors and chalking up the result to not being fit enough or good enough to compete with the best. If I was going to lay over, die and accept that truth, I needed everything else to go right so the only disruptor would be fitness, and this was the only way I was going to do that.

After Black Canyon, I was super disappointed with how the race went down. I executed strategy poorly but I also just felt like I had no chance of being competitive in that field, which made me feel like I had no chance being competitive in a Golden Ticket race ever again. My coach Matt Ison and I had a soft-ass pity party call where we talked through my frustrations and how I feel like I’m putting so much time into this sport and making so many time-consuming sacrifices but not able to break into the upper-echelon of it. Something that really stuck with me was him saying that at the frequency that we’re racing, I’m only going to get 2-4% fitter training block after training block and it’s not fitness that will close the ~40min gap between me and the podium at these races, but nutrition can. That really really stuck, and I’ve always known it but this time I really believed it.

If you read my last blog, the main blockers I faced at Black Canyon were going out way too slow, under-fueling for the intensity a 100k Golden Ticket race requires, and calf cramps in the later stages of the race making closing hard on the final climbs out of the question. There were more issues, but you can’t fix everything in 11 weeks. I wanted to focus on these three. The first fix is easy - just run faster at the start, bud. The second two, less easy, but I sought the help of Vic Johnson (@mountain.sports.dietitian) after my close friends Dani & Emkay interviewed him on their podcast. Vic and I hit it off quick and went straight into using every long run and workout in my Canyons training block as an opportunity to drown myself in carbs. We also got a sweat test from Precision and found out my sodium concentration per liter of fluid loss and did multiple sweat rate tests in different conditions through this training block to get a rough idea of how much I need to replace. Spoiler: it was a lot.

Last time I did a recap, I did it aid station to aid station but I don’t really think that tells the best story of how the race plays out a lot of the time. When I try to recall the race last weekend, I seem to break it into the following five sections in my head. Each of these sections had critical moves made that changed the dynamics of the race for me. I’ll spend some time recapping what happened at each next.

1. China Wall to Deadwood 2 (Mile 0 - Mile 17)

2. Deadwood 2 to Volcano Canyon (Mile 17 - Mile 25)

3. Volcano Canyon to Cal 1 (Mile 25 - Mile 33)

4. Cal 1 to Drivers Flat (Mile 33 - Mile 47)

5. Drivers Flat to Finish (Mile 47 - Mile 63)

Section 1 - China Wall to Deadwood 2 (Mile 0 - Mile 17)

The mood was set early on the start line. Katie Schide and I lined up next to each other and two minutes before the horn went off she leaned over and said “I better not see you that late in the race again today”. She was referencing last year at Western States when it took until Green Gate around mile 82 of the race to finally catch up to her. She knew what I knew - that I needed to run hard from the start today. Thanks, Katie.

10 minutes later I saw my second sign that I couldn’t fuck around for the first couple hours again. While everyone was running packed like sardines on the double-wide rutted fire road, rolling their ankles every other step for the first mile, Tim Tollefson decided to get out of the mix and save some energy by leading us out. I’ve run side-by-side with Tim on so many Saturdays in the last year now that it felt right to join him up there today. So I did, and we lead the next mile together until turning onto the singletrack into the first canyon of the day.

This was a foreign place to be for me this early into a 100k stacked to the brim with the best ultra-trail runners in North America. I felt like I was making a mistake but I quickly realized, everyone else is literally running the exact same pace as us, just a few steps back and more boxed in. Controlling the pace at the front doesn’t mean you are burning a match - you might even be saving one.

There was some mixup in the leads down the singletrack to Indian Creek but more or less, all the same +/- 15 seconds. Petter lead the first climb to Deadwood, Adam on his heels, and then me. A small gap opened up and the three of us came into the first aid station at Mile 10 together. I took my time and refilled 2 bottles here as I had already downed 2 in the first 75 minutes of the race and then caught back up. A few others caught up too by the time we were descending The Thumb to Swinging Bridge. The front pack now consisted of Petter, Adam, Stephen, Makai, Preston, Tracen, Ryan, and myself with Drew and Matt basically in there too. Up the Thumb, Adam pulled aside and let Petter go. I thought that was a little weird but probably smart also - Petter seemed characteristically bouncier up the climbs than any of us - but I decided to test my legs a little and bridge up to Petter instead of hang back with the rest of the group. It was fun climbing out of The Thumb and taking the lead for the outer Loop 6 section to Deadwood 2. I felt extremely strong and got my first hints that today would be an excellent day.

Section 2 - Deadwood 2 to Volcano Canyon (Mile 17 - Mile 25)

The group quickly bunched up again after the Deadwood aid station and on the descent down to El Dorado. I lead the way with Stephen right behind me. We caught up a bit and compared how much faster we were running down this thing now than during States. At the bottom of the canyon, I pulled over to take a shit and let the group run by. It took about a mile up the climb out to catch them again and I felt like I worked a little too hard to do it. I noticed that Petter had broken away again and wasn’t even in eye-sight of the group, which I was a little upset by. Then Stephen made a move and no one was responding either. Being at the back of the train, I couldn’t really do much but figured I needed to chill a little any way. The last mile of this climb mellows out a little and opens up from singletrack. I weaved through the group and was happy to see Stephen still in eye-sight by the time we hit the top and ran down to the Michigan Bluff aid station.

Nikki and I had a plan to set up at the end of this aid so I could clearly see who had already passed by and headed out. I loved this and it will be something we do moving forward. I noticed Petter hadn’t left and Stephen did a quick transition and was already passing through right when I hit Nikki. Being the pro that she is, it only took us 10 seconds here to shove 2 new bottles in my vest and hand me the 2 gels I needed to get me to Foresthill, and I was out of there in 2nd.

Stephen was out in front but made a wrong turn once we hit the dirt road. Petter had caught up to me here and we screamed at Stephen to come down onto the lower fire road. He made it down and we had a pack again - us 3, Preston, Tracen, Adam, and Ryan.

The fire road is about 1.5 miles long and the last half mile before taking the sharp left to Volcano is a bitch of a kicker. I knew this and was thinking about it while going up El Dorado. I could tell climbing out of El Dorado that my strengths today would be on the climbs and I needed to capitalize on that before Cal Street because there was no way I would be able to break away on that flatter/downhill stretch. Once we hit the steep section, I started to open up and I told myself to build for 2 minutes, that’s it. I slowly picked it up and Stephen came with me. I looked back once we reached the top and could not believe the gap we had. Stephen looked back too and says “I think this is where people pop”. I responded back, “Do you feel good?” and remember thinking what a dumb thing to ask. He humored me though and said, “Yeah I’m feeling good” and took the lead after we topped out and made the left down to Volcano. I said, “Good. Then let’s go.”

Section 3 - Volcano Canyon to Cal 1 (Mile 25 - Mile 33)

Stephen was on a mission and I was all for it. We sent it down to the river crossing and started the climb up to Foresthill. Once we got off the singletrack and onto the road, I opened up a bit not with the intention on trying to drop him, but just extend our lead a bit on the rest of the group before the aid station. The two of us were working so well together I truly wanted to run the rest of the race with him. I remember at one point thinking, “Damn, I like this guy. I would not mind getting second to him and us both grabbing the Tickets.” Hope you read this, Stephen, but if not I get that too.

We arrive at Foresthill together and are in and out together too. 20 seconds here maybe. It felt so smooth and Nikki was on it. I also saw Vic for the first time here too. Super fun to have him out there watching me execute the nutrition plan we put together five days prior.

Stephen took the lead down Cal Street. I think we both recognized that he was pushing the right pace going down to allow us to maintain a gap. I think I would have eased up too much so I’m really glad he took the initiative. We also had a wild Mike McMonagle on our ass with a camera which helped us push just a little bit harder. The pace felt hot but it felt good. I was expecting my quads to be toasted here based on the earlier miles we hammered so I was pleasantly surprised with how I was feeling following Kersh’s heels down to the deck where the Cal 1 aid station lives during Western States.

Section 4 - Cal 1 to Drivers Flat (Mile 33 - Mile 47)

Stephen pulled over to tie his shoe. I was about to stop and wait for him so we could keep rolling together. It felt wrong to give up the energy I was getting from him and I just knew we were putting time on the field together. But I also knew that I had to do my time at the front at some point too, so I decided to keep moving but slow it down a bit so he would catch up in a few minutes or so.

Right after Cal 1 there’s an extremely steep but short climb (Strava shows 0.34mi at 18.7%) that I call Senseman Hill. I saw Eric Senseman here at my first Western States in 2021 when we were both unbelievable fried and walked together with our pacers for bit. I remember being so dead but running into him bringing me back to life for a bit. It’s always so energizing feeling great in places you’ve felt terrible in before. Obviously the context is a bit different (mile 64 versus mile 34 / 105 degrees versus 65 degrees) but still, it’s such a pure and obvious example of your growth and all the hard work paying off, it’s hard not to get excited. I literally and figuratively ran with this energy I got climbing up that hill and decided to go, cresting hard to the top of the hill and keeping the momentum going until Cal 2.

I filled up 2.5 bottles (I had an extra empty flask on me from crew at Foresthill) knowing that this next stretch descending down to and running along the river to Rucky Chucky would be the hottest of the day, and continued to try to keep the pace up. I experienced my first real low of the day here from Mile 40-45. My legs felt like lead on the climbs. More specifically my hamstrings and calves felt like they weren’t functioning at all how they should.

All the negative thoughts start to come into your head at this point. I hadn’t even made it to Driver’s Flat climb and I was already feeling like I was fading. Talking to multiple people before the race, everyone agreed the race starts at Rucky Chucky on the climb up to Driver’s Flat and you need legs there, so I started to feel the imposter syndrome kick in. Downhills were still fine though so I took advantage of that and ran hard down them. I continued fueling on schedule too as I was having zero stomach issues and things started to turn around by the time I started climbing up to Drivers.

I did shuffle up this climb and it was nowhere near as fast as I pictured myself running it when visualizing the race. But then again, I was picturing myself hunting here rather than holding onto the lead, so I gave myself a break. A few 15 second walk breaks on the steeper pitches reset me a bit and had me running up at a better clip.

Section 5 - Drivers Flat to the Finish (Mile 47 - Mile 63)

I went straight to Nikki, Chloe, and Vic, emptied the wrappers out of my belt and couldn’t believe how much I ate. Loved seeing all the trash flow out. Vic asked me what I’ve been eating and what hasn’t been sounding good. I replied back, so proud of myself, “I’m eating everything bro.”

Onto the endless rollers to Mammoth Bar and where I thought would be the crux of the course - some long and gradual, some short and steep, but they all hurt. I knew I needed legs here so I was quite a bit worried how I would hold up during my low around Mile 40. I was able to start rolling a bit after the reset at Driver’s and then I ran into the livestream cameraman who followed me for the next couple miles. Being in the front is such a huge advantage for this reason, especially in the later-stages of the race when you need it most. You basically get a pacer following you with a camera. Is this cheating? Is this doping??

I came out of the rollers with about 10 miles to go in the race and saw Kim and Topher who told me Drew had moved up into 2nd at Driver’s Flat and was only 2 minutes back. Not even kidding, I almost gave up here. 2 minutes is nothing for freaking Drew to close. He would only need to run 12 seconds per mile faster than me to catch me by the end, or 20 seconds per mile faster to catch me by No Hands, and I didn’t feel amazing.

It was all out from here, turning my legs over as fast as I could. I was moving ok but nothing out of this world. I thought at best I was holding off Drew to the same gap, but all it would take is me having to walk up one of the last two ~600ft climbs to get caught. I shuffled up the climb out of Mammoth Bar and thank god I saw Mike halfway up it taking photos. You never want to walk for the camera. I tried my best to bomb down the cruiser to the Confluence aid station and saw David Roche there who said I had a 7 minute gap on 2nd place at Mammoth Bar. I seriously couldn’t believe it and still was not ready to celebrate.

About 20 miles prior, I told myself if I didn’t get caught by Robie Point I would win this race. I kept that mindset the whole way to the last climb and it was only until halfway up it when I made that infamous right hand turn off the trail onto the road that I actually started to believe this was going to happen. It freaking happened. I am the HOKA DACIA UTMB WORLD SERIES NORTH AMERICAN MAJOR BY SUUNTO BY WAHOO IN HONOR OF JIM WALMSLEY champion.

I will be running Western States. This will be my 4th year in a row. 2021 I DNF’d. 2022 I slept for 2-3 hours at ALT and finished in 59th or something. 2023 I finished 11th, 5 minutes outside the top 10 in 16:15. Recalling that last performance, DBo said it was “nowhere near my potential” which I don’t think is how I would have ever thought about it. I never really thought I would come close to that time I ran last year, but I am hoping Dylan is right and something big is around the corner.

I think most would classify me as a “newer-age” runner who has recently broken onto the scene because I’m on the younger side of the sport, but I’ve actually been around for a while. I ran my first ultra almost 9 years ago and I’ve raced at high-level races for the last 5. I’ve experienced a few highs but nothing crazy. I’ve experienced an absurd amount of lows. My path to putting it together at this race has been long, drawn-out, and gradual. I absolutely love that and hope I have another 9 years of up-and-to-the-right growth still in me… Back to the grind.

2024 Canyons 100k - 1st place, 8:44:30
https://www.strava.com/activities/11278480226

Black Canyon 100k.

When Craig Thornley walked up to me after I crossed the finished line and asked if I wanted to run Western States, I cried. Not because he handed me a Golden Ticket and my dreams turned to reality, but because his next words were “too bad”.

I’m writing this to remind myself why I did not get anywhere near a Golden Ticket last weekend. The easy cop-out answer would be that the top three are just purely much faster runners than me and this is a course made for a marathoner/road runner. If that were true though, I think I actually should have placed a lot lower than I ultimately did. This is an attempt to play back the race mile-by-mile and remember what I did wrong to avoid making that mistake again.

I’ll start by saying I think I had a really solid run. I picked up about 40 places from Antelope Mesa at mile 7 to the finish. It’s just that having a solid run doesn’t mean anything in these races. You need to have the run of your life. I did not give myself the opportunity to have that run by starting out conservative and trying to remain as relaxed as possible in the early miles.

While I think the strategy would have served me well in a hundred miler, sixty-two miles is just not enough time to really reap the rewards of being that conservative, especially in a field as fast and as fit as Black Canyon. To compete and give yourself a shot at glory, you need to do something dumb and hope it sticks.

There is such thing as being dumb within your limits. There is no need to lead the race and push the pace, but if moves are being made by guys you know you can run with and have no notoriety behind their name around blowing up, you need to go with them or at least remain contact. At Bumble Bee aid 19 miles into the race, I was 13 minutes off the lead pack. That is 41 seconds per mile slower than the lead and that means over the next 43 miles I would need to run on average 18 seconds per mile faster than the lead to catch back up. That’s not even including stops and that is implying I’m having a perfect run with no lows. It is a massive deficit to make up when you stop and consider the caliber of runners you are trying to chase down, and you are banking on some of the best runners in the world to make critical errors that slow them down in a 7.5 hour race.

When you think of ultrarunning, 7.5 hours is a sprint. Can people get rocked and have spectacular blow ups in 7.5 hours. Yes for sure. Will that happen to veterans who have ran through execution of this race every day for the last month? Probably not, but it still could. It happened to some and I felt really good about myself passing them late in the race. I actually could not believe it was happening and assumed I had run well into the top ten given who I was passing. I think those were unfortunate fluke performances by those guys though and something you can never bank on is someone having a bad day. You must come into these races knowing that every person on that line is ready to have the best day of their life and you need to have that day too. That is championship racing and that is why it is so damn exciting.

Time to go into some details. I’ll outline things aid station to aid station for simplicity. My nutrition plan was as follows to account for 500mL fluid, 800mg Na+, 65g CHO per hour. Historically having bad GI issues, I operate on the lower end of carb intake which has worked well for me in races like Western States, especially when the weather is warmer:

• 500mL soft flask of Gnarly Fuel2o (500mg Na+, 25g CHO)

• 1 Maurten 160 gel (40g CHO) or 1 SIS Beta Fuel gel (40g CHO). After halfway, used caffeine-based gels as well but similar overall carb intake.

• 2 Sprays of BOA (300mg Na+)

Start to Antelope Mesa (miles 0-7.6): The infamous delayed start. Honestly who fucking cares. That did not feel like a big deal at all. I liked it actually. It calmed the nerves. Of course the pace started out hot. 6:17 first mile for me and probably 6 flat for the front front. I was happy where I was at. There was a critical point here around 1.5 miles where I saw Tim and Jared slowly try to bridge up to the back of the front group. I thought about going but before I could convince myself it was a good idea, the trail turned very muddy and I could feel myself over-exerting to try to make the move, so I stayed back and Jeff and I exchanged one-liners about how we are exactly where we want to be, at the front of the women’s field. Things felt great there and we weren’t running slow. Yeah it was muddy but whatever. Factors that affect everyone in the race should be considered neutral.

Antelope Mesa to Hidden Treasure (miles 7.6-12.8): Jamming with Jeff. We ran this downhill windy section at about 7 minute pace. Looking at Hayden’s Strava, seems like the lead pack was around 6:20 average. The frustrating part of this is just not knowing. Obviously I can run 6:20 miles downhill, but there is no knowing how that will make me feel at mile 50. It definitely made some people feel terrible way before mile 50 but all it takes is 3 people hanging on for you to lose. I guess that is the point in these races. If you don’t take those risks and play with the unknown a little, you will not be giving Craig a hug at the finish line.

Hidden Treasure to Bumble Bee (miles 12.8-19.2): Rollers on this section and carnage was already happening. I had no idea what place I was in but it felt far back. I started to get a little anxious especially rolling into the aid station and hearing the front was 15 minutes in front. I switched from a vest to hand bottles at Bumble Bee thinking it would feel nice to have some weight off my back. I’ve been down this road before and I swear if I ever tell myself that double hand bottles is a good idea ever again I’m quitting this sport because it just means I have an inability to learn from past experiences. It’s a small microcosm but trying to rock double hand bottles again is exactly why I started this blog - I. Keep. Making. The. Same. Mistakes. I like my vest. I love my vest. You are a vest boy, Rod.

Bumble Bee to Gloriana Mine (miles 19.2-23.8): I really started to feel the pressure here and decided it was time to start working. I hit my highest heart rate of the day at 174bpm (Polar Verity Sense armband sensor) up the climb out of the aid and tried to sustain that intensity for a little bit through the rollers to Gloriana. It is interesting to think how much extra energy I spent through this section in “chase-mode” running at a higher intensity, than if I had just run faster downhill in the beginning and had relative contact (5-8 minutes instead of 13-15) with the front group.

Gloriana Mine to Deep Canyon Ranch (miles 23.8-32.2): It seems like the field really started to string out here. Around every corner there were 2 or 3 guys shuffling along that I was able to pick up. I felt fresh and felt like I was going to have a good day. I was running around 7:20-7:30 pace through this singletrack which is what I visualized doing in my race prep. It felt sustainable. The hand bottles really started to bug me here as opening up gel wrappers became messy. I dropped a gel at one point and fell behind on fuel. This section is long without aid and is very exposed. I took a wrong turn at mile 26 with another guy and we went down fire road for about a minute before realizing the singletrack was above us. This cost about two minutes but not a huge deal. At mile 31 my watch beeped at me again telling me I was of course. I had downloaded the GPX from the previous year which was slightly different, so I flipped it for about 30 seconds before the guy behind me told me we were going the right away. About three minutes total lost in this stretch of the race due to navigation errors. Meanwhile I was starting to feel the fuel deficit as a result of the dropped gel and was slightly dizzy while my legs felt like bricks. Definitely suffered a minor bonk here but turned it around after seeing crew at Deep Canyon.

Deep Canyon Ranch to Black Canyon City (miles 32.2-37.7): I needed to come back to life at Deep Canyon. My legs were responding slow which was a terrible feeling knowing I was still so far off the lead, which had turned into 20 minutes at this aid station. Drank Coke and took 2 Tylenol, which always seems to snap me out of it. The first 1.5 miles out of this aid felt terrible. I felt sluggish on the flats, and the downhills were drilling my quads. Climbing felt great though and there were some steep fire road rollers out of there that I noticed I was cruising up. I knew this was going to be my strength on the day. The caffeine and anti-inflammatories kicked in about mile 34 and it was go time. The out and back section to the aid station was epic because you could see and count how many places you were away from some people. In this stretch I saw Tim, Ryan, Cole, Jared. Matt, and a number of others which gave me the perception I was in a good place. I took the aid station quick, filling a flask with Coke and headed out ready to catch those guys, which turned out to be a mistake. This was a critical aid station I took way too fast. The next strech to aid would be over 8 miles, had a good chunk of the course’s climbing, and was exposed. I need to drink a full flask here and fill up both of mine. Instead, I still had half a flask full so I didn’t refill it, and just filled the other one with Coke. The writing was on the wall.

Black Canyon City to Cottonwood Gulch (miles 37.7-46.4): Passing guys and climbing very well. Until I wasn’t. Around mile 41 I hit a minor wall on the climbs that felt very manageable. I was still running downhill pretty well and none of the climbs were really that long. At mile 42 I started having excruciatingly painful calf cramps on the uphills that I could tell were a direct result of hydration. It was a sneaky day for weather and I did not stay on top of it. The cool temps initially made it seem like heat wouldn’t be a problem, and it wasn’t really. the exposure really took it’s toll though and not refilling at that last aid station came to bite me in the ass. Calf cramps on the climbs robbed me of my strengths. There was a lot of shuffling on the ups until the aid station, where I took way too much time at (slightly over 2 minutes) but absolutely needed to. If I had managed my hydration better, this stretch would have been a big game changer for me to make moves in the race. I had been flying up the earlier climbs and my energy levels were good throughout so I could have kept that same pace and intensity going if there were was no onset of cramping. When I analyze data post-race, the big thing I am looking at is heart rate over pace on a graph - which Coros EvoLabs helps visualize very well. I know I hit very avoidable lows and bonks when my heart rate drops in a race because I’m unable to pick up the intensity. My heart went from a very steady 150-160bpm right before this low to 120-130, and chances of running to a top ten finish at best went out the window.

Cottonwood Gulch to Table Mesa (miles 46.4-50.8): Good lord this stretch hurt. Just managing the cramps and trying to get to crew as efficiently as possible. Got some fluids in at the last aid but definitely not enough. I needed caffeine and to overdose on Sodium. Felt absolutely shot running downhill too.

Table Mesa to Finish (mile 50.8-62.2): I knew this stretch would be critical. Tylenol, Coke, Caffeine Maurten, and Skratch Wellness (800mg Na) at this aid brought me back. Dani told me Janosch made up 20 minutes from here to the finish last year and I knew I had to make myself hurt. The first mile out of that aid was terrible. My mind was in a bad place and I could sense I was going to get caught here. Once the fuel from the aid kicked in I was able to turn it around. Still not happy with how fast I did the last climb - I feel like I had more in me. Cramps would come and go but held it together to finish ok. My splits through this stretch really should have been a minute per mile faster if I fueled better and didn’t let myself get to that rough place around mile 45.

I finished the day in 14th place ultimately - my worst finish ever in a Golden Ticket Race (I finished 5th at the 2019 Black Canyon, 4th at the 2022 Bandera, and 4th at the 2022 Canyons) but a PR in the 100k distance. There were key errors in last weekend’s race I was effectively able to identify through replaying the race and putting my thoughts down in this post and something I hope to continue to do for all of my A races moving forward. It is a bittersweet start to the season. How nice it would have been to knock out a Golden Ticket and coast the rest of this half of the year to Western States. On the other hand, this gives me more opportunity and motivation to race more in the next few months, maybe even trying again for another Golden Ticket at Canyons.

While I’m unhappy with how I raced and know I have more in me as a competitor, a big early season effort is always something to be excited about. The mistakes I made are so avoidable if I let myself learn from them and I’m starting this year off with unreal baseline fitness from a massive effort like this. 2024 is just getting started and there is a lot to look forward to.

2024 Black Canyon 100k - 14th place, 8:19:55
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