Lost Soul Ultra 100 - The Gear

The fifth and final post in my series about running my first 100 mile ultramarathon:

I took a lot of shit gear with me for the race, largely because I didn't know what to expect and I didn't want to be without something during the race.  While the gear didn't run the race for me, having the right gear definitely made it easier and more enjoyable.

Shoes:

I wore my Columbia Ravenous trail shoes the entire race.  I had packed five or six pairs of running shoes, fully expecting to change them out at least once during the race, but my feet were doing so well in these shoes that I didn't want to risk upsetting them in a new pair.





Gaiters:

My gaiters are about as cheap as they come - $6 from MEC (the Canadian equivalent of REI, although I think MEC is much cooler).  No frills, no gimmicks, but they sure kept a lot of crap out of my shoes during the race.










Socks:

I doubled up on socks, and am thankful I did!  I started with a base layer of Injinji toe socks, and then added on a pair of Drymax trail running socks.  I'm generally very prone to blisters, particularly on my toes, but this combo worked fantastic for me!




Calf Sleeves:

I wore my Zensah calf sleeves the entire race.  Prior to the race, when I was dealing with my tendonitis, I only wore one to help with that issue.  I figured it wouldn't hurt to wear them on both legs for the race.  They had an added benefit of protecting my shins from all of the thistles and weeds that we ran through on the course.








Compression Shorts:

Under my regular running shorts, I put on a pair of compression shorts (cheap ones from Eastbay).  I figured my quads could use all of the help that they could get during the race.  Not sure how much of a difference they actually made for my legs, but I didn't have as much chafing as normal (although I did have some chafing that required attention while in between aid stations.  I made sure I was far enough ahead of this female runner so as to not subject her to watching me shove my hand down my pants repeatedly).






Arm Warmers:

For some reason, I didn't get nearly as cold at night as a lot of the other runners appeared to be.  I added on a pair of arm warmers and a toque, and I was good to go.  Never thought I would use anything that resembled arm warmers, but they sure were convenient to just slip on and off without even removing my hydration pack.








Hydration Pack:

I wore my Nathan HPL-020 for the entire race, even though I had packed several alternatives (handheld bottle and Camelbak waist pack) in case my shoulders/back got tired of carrying the weight.  I loved having the small pockets up front for my cell phone and licorice, and it was nice to have some extra storage in the back for emergency food, bodyglide, and toilet paper.






Poles:

I own a cheap pair of trekking poles from Costco.  They are definitely not the lightest pair on the market, but they did their job marvelously for me.  Probably about 50% of the 100k/100mile runners had trekking poles with them.  I'm not sure how I would have made it through the race without them.  Not only did they relieve a lot of weight from my legs, but they also kept me from falling over numerous times when I had lost my balance (especially late in the race when I was fatigued).





Salt Caps:

I wasn't as consistent with my intake of salt caps as I should have been, but I averaged one per hour the first day, fewer at night, and I have no idea how many the second day.  I didn't experience any cramping though, and I feel like my electrolytes were in balance (relatively speaking, anyway!).









Headlamp:

My headlamp is a relatively no-frills model, but it does have three different brightness settings.  I made it almost all the way through the night without changing batteries (maybe used it for 30 minutes or so on the new set of batteries).  It goes as bright as 50 lumens, whatever that actually means - all I know is it was plenty bright for me and it was comfortable.  I had a small backup light in my hydration pack in case something happened to this one.






Other Notes:
I had drop bags at each of the stations, with a complete change of clothing and extra food in them, but I didn't open them at all.  That was because I had my wonderful wife driving around to each station to meet up with me and make sure I was taken care of.

I packed a TON more stuff than I actually used during the race.  I didn't do a complete clothing change in the night like I had anticipated, and only used the one pair of shoes, so there were a lot of things that would have been better off being left at home.  Oh well, live and learn.  I had also brought my iPod with me, in case I needed the mental distraction, but I never ended up using it.  I would still bring it next time though, just in case.

Also, I broke a lot of rules on race day.  No, I didn't cut the course or cheat.  I'm talking about rules like "nothing new on race day."  Yeah, that one went way out the window early on:

• Compression shorts - brand new, hadn't worn them (or any other compression shorts) before.
• Gaiters - brand new, just tried them on 24 hours before the race started.
• Arm warmers - brand new, never used them before.
• Injinji toe socks - only worn them once, on a four mile run.
• Double socks - never tried it before.
• Taped feet - never tried it before, but am glad I did.  I'll write a post on it sometime in the future, but basically I put surgical adhesive and tape on the bottoms of my feet to prevent blisters.  Worked like a charm!
• Food - lots of new foods.  I don't have an iron stomach, but I didn't hurl either.  

Well, I think that's about it for the 100 mile recap.  I think I covered just about anything, but if there's something you're still left wondering about, send me a question and I'll try to answer it relatively soon!