Pinhoti 100 - I'm Back!
Eight months ago I went to South Carolina for hip resurfacing surgery. After a couple weeks I could walk a couple miles a day with Cocoa the dog. By mid-April I was riding the stationary bike and slowing walking up and down small stairs at Harvard Stadium. At the end of August - 6 months post-surgery - I was allowed full activity without restrictions and began running pain-free for the first time since January 2018.
Hiking 100 miles is something I'd done twice in 2018. My hope was that this time I could do at least a bit of running (by which I mean light jogging). Pinhoti is the first weekend in November which also makes it the last chance to get a Western States 100 qualifier. I'd have to go a bit faster than I did at Massanutten and Grindstone in 2018 because of Pinhoti's 30-hour time limit, but I figured that Pinhoti was easier than the mud pit that was the Massanutten 2018 course and it has a normal morning start instead of Grindstone's evening start that makes people my speed run through two nights.
After lots of time on the bike and the stairs of Harvard Stadium during the summer, I was able to build up to a decent amount of running in September and October (with a peak of 62 miles two weeks before Pinhoti). The TARC 50k at the end of September went well, especially considering that I left home at 4am to bike 20 miles to the race. I love November Project so much that I was glad I was at the Summit Ave workout a week before Pinhoti even though I sprained my ankle after misjudging the step off a curb. After that there couldn't be any more running before the race - just letting it get better each day and hoping it would be ready on Saturday.
The course
The course was well-marked (only went off course once and only for a minute or two), has 3 major climbs, and is mostly narrow single track through the forest (which is lovely, but can get a bit monotonous). Towards the end there is more wide gravel road and it ends with a couple miles on pavement when you enter the town of Sylacauga. In general it is fairly smooth and runable, with some but not too many rocks and roots. After the long climb up to Bald Rock, there is a steep rocky descent called "Blue Hell". I'm sure some people can run it, but my quads hurt way too much after 40 miles so it was very slow but thankfully it is short and didn't last that long.
For $10, you can sleep on the linoleum floor at the Sylacauga Parks and Recreation center that serves as the race HQ.
Chasing the Decataur
Alex Nichols has a new column at iRunFar "Mantras for Your Mental Game"
Kyle Pietari won Run Rabbit Run asking himself "How bad do you want it?"
This year, my biggest training activity - physically and mentally - was 11 hours of overnight stairs from 7:15pm to 6:20am at Harvard Stadium at the end of August. Each trip around the stadium is known as a "tour", so I named the 10 tours I did that night as the DecaTour.
This workout would be my touchstone as a long, exhausting night of near-constant movement that would remind me that I could make it through the night at Pinhoti too. As I was pushing myself up Pinhoti's hardest late-night climb (2.3 miles that climbs 850' and contains a brutal 1/2 mile of switchbacks that goes up 385' @ 16% grade I started chanting to myself "Decatour, Decatour, Decatour" and realized that I had invented a new mythological spirit animal, the Decataur, whose strength could help power me up this hill and those yet to come.
The Decataur is related to the Minotaur, the Greek monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull. I didn't figure out how they are related or what combination of human and beast forms the Decataur. But I do know that the Decatuar is one tough dude who can get up the steepest of hills.
Strawberry banana GU is my 100 mile staple food group. Not because they taste great (they don't), but they taste good enough, I've never had stomach problems with them, and I bought a bulk purchase last year that I haven't finished yet. I started the race carrying 10 and had 10 more in each of two drop bags. Along the way I grabbed lots of m&m's and gummy bears at aid stations, ate some boiled potatoes, and had several cups of ramen late at night which was so good. One gu or something comparable every 30 minutes was my goal which I stuck to pretty well.
Time zones are something you cross in an airplane, right? Yes, but I found out this weekend that you can also enter a different time zone in a car. When I booked airline tickets to Atlanta and rented a car to drive 2 hours to Alabama, it never occurred to me that I'd be going back in time. As a result, I was 2nd in line at registration on Friday. Then on Sunday a combination of going back into Eastern Time, the race going longer because a construction detour added 3 miles to the course, and being too sore and tired to contemplate running through the airport resulted in my deciding to take a nap in a gas station parking lot and miss my mid-afternoon flight, taking an evening flight instead. But mostly it was because the time zones tricked me.
By Wednesday I was getting a bit concerned that I had broken some obscure little bone deep inside the foot, ruptured a tendon, or who know what. I had been keeping it elevated, soaking it in a bucket of ice water a few times a day, and letting it rest.
Then over the next day it beautifully began to deflate. The swelling went away. The pain went away. By Friday it was perfectly fine.
It was also great to have very few toe stubbing incidents. After Massanutten and Grindstone I got black toenails and my big toes were a mess. I also didn't repeat the blood blisters I got at Grindstone on the outside of both heels. I've been pulling my shoelaces much tighter and I think that helps keep the shoe in place and reduce my foot sliding around.
Hiking 100 miles is something I'd done twice in 2018. My hope was that this time I could do at least a bit of running (by which I mean light jogging). Pinhoti is the first weekend in November which also makes it the last chance to get a Western States 100 qualifier. I'd have to go a bit faster than I did at Massanutten and Grindstone in 2018 because of Pinhoti's 30-hour time limit, but I figured that Pinhoti was easier than the mud pit that was the Massanutten 2018 course and it has a normal morning start instead of Grindstone's evening start that makes people my speed run through two nights.
After lots of time on the bike and the stairs of Harvard Stadium during the summer, I was able to build up to a decent amount of running in September and October (with a peak of 62 miles two weeks before Pinhoti). The TARC 50k at the end of September went well, especially considering that I left home at 4am to bike 20 miles to the race. I love November Project so much that I was glad I was at the Summit Ave workout a week before Pinhoti even though I sprained my ankle after misjudging the step off a curb. After that there couldn't be any more running before the race - just letting it get better each day and hoping it would be ready on Saturday.
The course
The course was well-marked (only went off course once and only for a minute or two), has 3 major climbs, and is mostly narrow single track through the forest (which is lovely, but can get a bit monotonous). Towards the end there is more wide gravel road and it ends with a couple miles on pavement when you enter the town of Sylacauga. In general it is fairly smooth and runable, with some but not too many rocks and roots. After the long climb up to Bald Rock, there is a steep rocky descent called "Blue Hell". I'm sure some people can run it, but my quads hurt way too much after 40 miles so it was very slow but thankfully it is short and didn't last that long.
Friday night lodging
For $10, you can sleep on the linoleum floor at the Sylacauga Parks and Recreation center that serves as the race HQ.
Pros:
- This is where the buses leave from at 4:30 on Saturday morning. Hard to miss the bus if you are already there
- Roommates will make sure you don't oversleep (why someone set their alarm clock for 3:30 I'm not sure)
- There is a Walgreen's open until 9pm that is just a mile away so you can buy earplugs and while I was there I got a couple Bobo Bars for breakfast the next morning. I would be eating plenty of banana strawberry gels during the race. The last thing I needed was to start my day eating them at 4am.
- I remembered to bring an eye mask
- It costs $10
Cons:
- Sleeping on the floor. Sure you can bring a sleeping bag and air mattress, but you are still sleeping on the floor (and the air mattress and inflatable pillow that I brought both had slow leaks)
Alex Nichols has a new column at iRunFar "Mantras for Your Mental Game"
Kyle Pietari won Run Rabbit Run asking himself "How bad do you want it?"
Last year at Massanutten 100 I vowed to "Always Be Closing"
This year, my biggest training activity - physically and mentally - was 11 hours of overnight stairs from 7:15pm to 6:20am at Harvard Stadium at the end of August. Each trip around the stadium is known as a "tour", so I named the 10 tours I did that night as the DecaTour.This workout would be my touchstone as a long, exhausting night of near-constant movement that would remind me that I could make it through the night at Pinhoti too. As I was pushing myself up Pinhoti's hardest late-night climb (2.3 miles that climbs 850' and contains a brutal 1/2 mile of switchbacks that goes up 385' @ 16% grade I started chanting to myself "Decatour, Decatour, Decatour" and realized that I had invented a new mythological spirit animal, the Decataur, whose strength could help power me up this hill and those yet to come.
The Decataur is related to the Minotaur, the Greek monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull. I didn't figure out how they are related or what combination of human and beast forms the Decataur. But I do know that the Decatuar is one tough dude who can get up the steepest of hills.
Munch Munch Munch
Strawberry banana GU is my 100 mile staple food group. Not because they taste great (they don't), but they taste good enough, I've never had stomach problems with them, and I bought a bulk purchase last year that I haven't finished yet. I started the race carrying 10 and had 10 more in each of two drop bags. Along the way I grabbed lots of m&m's and gummy bears at aid stations, ate some boiled potatoes, and had several cups of ramen late at night which was so good. One gu or something comparable every 30 minutes was my goal which I stuck to pretty well.
A Geography Lesson
Time zones are something you cross in an airplane, right? Yes, but I found out this weekend that you can also enter a different time zone in a car. When I booked airline tickets to Atlanta and rented a car to drive 2 hours to Alabama, it never occurred to me that I'd be going back in time. As a result, I was 2nd in line at registration on Friday. Then on Sunday a combination of going back into Eastern Time, the race going longer because a construction detour added 3 miles to the course, and being too sore and tired to contemplate running through the airport resulted in my deciding to take a nap in a gas station parking lot and miss my mid-afternoon flight, taking an evening flight instead. But mostly it was because the time zones tricked me.
What I wore
It was unseasonably cold over the weekend, with lows around 30 on Saturday morning and overnight Sunday. I sat in the warm school bus that drove us to the start in Helfin until just a few minutes before the 7am start.
- Patagonia Sleeveless Capilene Cool Daily Shirt - I've recently become a big fan of Patagonia Capilene. Handles sweat very well without getting all saggy
- Pearl Izumi arm sleeves
- Ibex wool liner gloves
- Arc’teryx Norvan SL Hoody - nice and lightweight, provides a bit of warmth, fits very nicely without restricting movement, but not sure it is the best possible lightweight rain jacket, especially considering its cost. I wore it for the first couple hours of the race then packed it into its little bag and put it in a waistbelt pocket
- Saxx underwear - I never would have known about these or tried them if it hadn't been for Andrew Skurka's glowing review. They are as good as he says they are
- Ultimate Direction waistbelt - great way to carry my Black Diamond trekking poles which are essential for my climbing, and also a nice place to carry gels and other stuff because I didn't wear a vest during the day
- Ultimate Direction Hydro Skin Short - these are a very comfortable way to carry two 300ml water bottles which was all I needed because the weather was cool and my hydration plan for this race was to "Use thirst to guide hydration" instead of thinking I needed to drink a certain volume per hour. These shorts did get too stretchy in the 2nd half of the race, maybe because of all the m&m's and gummy bears I was stuffing into the lower thigh pockets. I pulled the shorts up high on my thighs to get them to stay in place and it was fine.
- Injini socks
- Altra Lone Peak shoes
Then it got cold! Those mittens were key!
At aid station #7 (Cheaha Lake, Mile 42) I had my first drop bag. It had:
- Lights - the headlamp / waistlamp combo is so nice. The waistlamp provides a steady light just in front of you while the headlamp illuminates things off in the distance (like course flags)
- Petzl headlamp
- Ultraspire Lumen waistlight (I have the 600 which is plenty bright, I see that they now have new "800" models)
- Warm Ibex wool arm warmers
- Long sleeved Patagonia Capilene thermal top
- Salomon thin microfleece hat
- Ibex wool long underwear (I never put this on, but it was good to have just in case)
- Now I will rave for a while about the Outdoor Research Alti Mittens. My hands get cold, and when they get cold I am not happy. Over the years I've bought lots of $75-100 mittens that too often disappoint. $200 for mittens does sound crazy, but these are worth it! They have an outer mitt and an inner mitt liner. The liner is what I wore overnight at Pinhoti and it was great. I didn't even mind when someone asked me if I was wearing oven mitts. I also carried some charcoal hand warmers but did not use them.
With this gear and the Norvan jacket zipped up, my temperature was fine overnight. It is amazing how after just a quick stop at an aid station (2 minutes or so) it feels so much colder than before stopping.
The aftermath
The outer, lower sides of my quads were very tight and stiff. After a couple of days they were fine.
Of greater concern, my right foot hurt a lot. And it was very swollen. The pain went from the ball of the foot back towards the heel and was massively painful when bringing my toe towards the shin or putting any weight on the front on the foot while walking. It was bad enough that I got out of the closet the walking boot from years ago when I broke my 5th metatarsal.
The aftermath
Of greater concern, my right foot hurt a lot. And it was very swollen. The pain went from the ball of the foot back towards the heel and was massively painful when bringing my toe towards the shin or putting any weight on the front on the foot while walking. It was bad enough that I got out of the closet the walking boot from years ago when I broke my 5th metatarsal.
By Wednesday I was getting a bit concerned that I had broken some obscure little bone deep inside the foot, ruptured a tendon, or who know what. I had been keeping it elevated, soaking it in a bucket of ice water a few times a day, and letting it rest.
Then over the next day it beautifully began to deflate. The swelling went away. The pain went away. By Friday it was perfectly fine.
It was also great to have very few toe stubbing incidents. After Massanutten and Grindstone I got black toenails and my big toes were a mess. I also didn't repeat the blood blisters I got at Grindstone on the outside of both heels. I've been pulling my shoelaces much tighter and I think that helps keep the shoe in place and reduce my foot sliding around.
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