This race was a late addition to my schedule. My primary October race is Tussey mOUTaiNBACK 100 mile in 2 weeks, however I noticed on Facebook a month ago that they can cancel the race if less than 10 people were signed up for it. Well, there were only 4 of us signed up at the time so I needed a plan B. And fast.
Hainesport ticketed a couple boxes for me:
- Timed race (hadn’t done one yet this year)
- 48 Hours (new event for me)
- Local (68 minutes from home!)
The biggest draw for me is the 48 hour timing. I have a lot of experience running through one night and into the second day, but not a lot of experience running through a second night. I’m already signed up for two journey runs next year. One of them will require running through at least two nights and the other one possibly four or more. I could definitely use some more experience running through the second night and Hainesport provides me a safe environment to push my sleep deprived boundaries. And while there’s a whole goal section further down, my primary motivation is to see how little of the 48 hours I can spend napping. I’ve managed to get by with about 2 hours total during each of my 200 mile races, however I was just under an hour for my Mason-Dixon Trail FKT. I’m still very inexperienced at running for 36+ hours so I’m interested to see what my baseline sleep needs truly are. Sleep wants I’ve got a pretty good handle on, but needs are a different story.
How I Think About Sleep In Ultras
At a basic level, sleep is time. If I’m sleeping, I’m not moving forward. If I’m not moving forward, I’m wasting time. There’s a point though where you get so tired that you’re moving slower and by resting/sleeping you can move faster than if you didn’t stop. The balance is how much rest is needed to mitigate this. If you sleep for an hour, then you need to run a minute faster for the next 60 miles (or 2 minute quicker pace for 30 miles) in order to offset the downtime. Depending on how much you’re slowing down, one hour may be way too much or three hours may not be enough. There probably aren’t any hard and fast rules here. So far I’ve done several 10-20 minute naps and then I’ve also done a 2 hour block.
There are two exceptions to the straight time math listed above. The first is safety. Even though I may be moving at a relatively decent pace, if I’m starting to nod off and/or swerve around, then it’s time to sleep. Most of my 48 hour+ races are going to be journey runs on open roads and so my focus will be on safety rather than some theoretical pacing math. The second issue is neurological impairment from lack of sleep. This showed up during my FKT in poor decision making. The problem here is that it’s easy to say mental mistakes cost me an hour, but how much sleep would have been required to mitigate? These are the nuances that I just don’t have the experience yet to quantify. (and probably won’t for the next 10 years)
Hainesport provides me a very safe environment to test my sleep deprivation skills. The course is a 0.9913 mile loop in the Hainesport Township Park. You really don’t get any more controlled than this (unless you’re on a 400 meter track). I’m excited (and a little fearful) to see what I’m capable of.
Distance Goals (Round Numbers Only Please)
I mean. . . it’s a race, of course there are distance goals! Round numbers are great, but symmetrical numbers are even better so I’ll be targeting 200 and 200: 200K in 24 hours and 200M in 48 hours. For the math challenged, 200k works out to 124 miles. My 24 hour PR is 115 miles last year where I stopped about an hour short so probably could have gotten to 119. Five additional miles seems like a a semi-reasonable goal as I think I’ve got modestly better endurance now and the weather should be a little cooler (high of 70). The key to achieving this will be to stay rock steady with my nutrition, which should be a little easier on a 1 mile loop rather than a 3 mile one. I’m also planning to go out a little slower (11:30 pace vs. 11:00).
And then hold on for 200 miles over the full time 48 hours. The closer I can get to 124 miles on day 1, the easier this will be (#math). My gut tells me this will be the easier of my two targets, but they’ll both be a good challenge.
Regardless, I’m looking forward to setting a PR for the 48 hour format. Always a given for a the first attempt. Ha!