ewolcat wrote:Well after running numerous half marathons and full marathons I have decided to make the jump to a 50K ultra marathon. I will be running the Lost Soul Ultra marathon in Lethbridge in September. Any advice for a new to ultra runner? Any advice from anyone who has run the Lost Souls.
Thanks for any help you can give (since all my non-runner friends just shake their heads and call me crazy)!
Fantastic! (You're crazy.)
I have nothing to add about this race, specifically, but since you ask for "any advice to a new ultra runner", and it's apparently quite hot, I can tell you what helped me a lot during 60K in the Grand Canyon, where it reached 40C. I generally don't do well with heat, so I was concerned. But I came out totally fine, with no (noticeable) dehydration and a really great recovery. (I was up until midnight that night, and enjoyed Vegas until about 2am the next night!
)
What worked for me (granted, we weren't racing!):
Fuel & hyrdation: I was carrying 2L of water in my pack, with two 500ml soft flask bottles with Nuun in my chest pockets. I had salt pills and two packages of Honey Stingers in a single ziploc at easy access. I sipped water very frequently, and made sure I sipped the Nuun every 15 minutes or so. Every 30 minutes or so, I ate 2 or 3 chews. I'm sorry, but I can't recall how often I took the tablets. I ate about 1800 calories of food (chews, almond butter and jam wraps).Oh, and a lemonade.
Clothing: I think this was super important. I had a white hat and a light coloured long sleeved shirt (one of those Columbia ones that claim to keep you cool). Every chance I got, I wet the hat and my sleeves, as well as a buff that I kept on my neck. I didn't want to wet the rest of the shirt, as I feared chafing.
Another thing I did during a rather tough and hot ultra was to grab a block of ice at an aid station. I meant to put it in my pack, but it was too big, so I carried it in the buff I had for cooling off. I carried that piece of ice for nearly 10km, and it felt sooooo good on my neck!
Have fun!