Training for your first 100K: gear & mind games
- Andy Hood
- Aug 6, 2023
- 14 min read
Welcome back, thanks for reading the first 2 parts of my journey to 100K, I hope you’ve found it useful. In Part #3 I’ll get down and dirty in the mind, it plays games with you during training and on the event, knowing how to tame it is essential. And I’ll enter the amazing world of running gear, exploring what I choose to wear and why. Let’s start with the mind.
Mind Games
What a topic. What A topic this one is, note the emphasis on the A there. There is a saying, ‘the body says yes but the mind says no’. Your tired, you had a late night, you got home late from work, it’s been a stressful day, there isn’t enough time, it’s too hot, windy, cold, rain, snow, ice (delete as appropriate) there are so many excuses why you will not go out and run today.
I’ve been there, I’ve not run, and I have always, always regretted that decision later. My mind is a powerful tool in getting me ready for the 100K and completing the 100, but it is also an evil, dirty, malicious enemy when it wants to play games with me.
Just knowing that my mind will play games is an important step in controlling it. I recognise when my mind is playing up or about to, perhaps it’s a time issue, the programme called for a run that will take me 1.5 hours, but my day has run away with me and left me with very little time. So how about a 30 minute run instead, I can fit that in.
Mind – ‘what’s the point, it’s just 30 mins, you were going to run three times that today’
Body – 30 mins is better than zero mins
Mind – ‘it doesn’t matter, skip it, you are tired too, it’s been a long day’
Body – ‘but I know I will regret not going and any run is better than no run today, it will also help me have some downtime too’.
Mind – ‘arrrrg you are so strong these days, you win.’
Shoes on.
The action of putting the shoes on can really help, as once on you are really in the mindset of the run.
Having the right gear to keep warm on cold days, dry on wet days and cool on hot days is also important, more on gear later.
In the Being Adaptable section, I spoke about my green and red dots on the training programme, these are a huge motivator for me, I really hate a red dot day and will do anything to prevent me having to pick up the red pen. Green is success, that means I achieved it today, even if the distance was adjusted, I will usually add the missed distance to other runs in the following days. An act so simple as a red pen, how can that be so powerful, not sure I can answer that but for me it works. Try and find something similar in your tracking to keep you accountable and keep your mind in check.
The mind games on the 100K were next level for me. But they only cropped up one major time and on the second 100 I was aware of when that likely would be and was better prepared for them. It happened at 75K.
At 75K I was many hours into the London 2 Brighton, it was a very hot afternoon, and tiredness was undoubtably a factor, my mind was saying it was time to give it a rest, why not just stop at the next rest stop which was a few KM ahead, you have already achieved so much. Ticking off the next few kilometres, 76…77…78 seem to go on forever, they seemed much longer than just 1000ft each. I had to find a way to reframe the next 20+K coming up.
I focussed my mind on how I was going to feel seeing the finish line come into view, how the sound of claps and cheers would lift me, how I wanted to text my family the picture of me standing (probably barely) at the finish gantry. I then broke the distance down into 5K steps, 80 – 85, then 85 – 90 and at 90K I was saying this is just a 10K run, I’ve done 10K so many times, so, so many times. And this all worked for me.
In conclusion those Ultra Devils, the demons from within will be powerful, they will creep up on you, know your strategy on how to tame them. Perhaps for you this might be walking for a while, or time for that special treat you have been keeping back, I love a Twirl bar and had a couple with me, it was an almost pornographic moment when I ate them!
Your training programme shouldn’t just be about the physical nature of running, it should include the mental aspect too. I expect many an ultra has come to a premature end because the mind was too powerful for the body, don’t let this be you. In your pre-event preparation understand how you may feel when tired, how do you normally react, what are the early warning signs and how do you, in everyday life, deal with mind games.
What is your Twirl bar moment?
Gear Choices
Just a look at my running sock basket gives an indication of the extensive, overwhelming, and often confusing choice of running gear available. In there I see socks from Injinji, Balega and Compresssport, and there are various different types within those brands, short run, long run, trail, hot day, cold weather. Running isn’t a cheap pursuit. I’ll start by listing my gear choices for both the most recent 100’s and then dive a little deeper into each and my reasons behind the decision.
London 2 Brighton – weather: hot and sunny
Shoes: Hoka Clifton 8 (first 50K), Hoka Speedgoat 5 (50 – 100K)
Socks: Compresssport
Shorts: Nike Trail
Underwear: T8 Commando
Base Layer: Nike Pro
T Shirt: Ironman technical
Long Sleeve: Nike Trail (worn as the sun went down)
Headgear: DHB summer bandana skull cap / Compressport visor
Sunglasses - Tifosi
Pack: Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest 5
Misc: buff
Race to the Stones - weather: mixed, humid with rain
Shoes: Hoka Speedgoat 5
Socks: Compresssport
Shorts: Nike Trail
Underwear: T8 Commando
Base Layer: Nike Pro
T Shirt: Nike Technical
Waterproof Jacket: Proviz
Headgear: DHB summer bandana skull cap / Compressport visor
Sunglasses - Tifosi
Pack: Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest 5
Misc: buff
Shoes are a good place to start, they are probably one of the most important pieces of gear runners buy, certainly the most I spend money on. When I was in bed recovering from the cancer operation my Dad purchased me the audio book ‘Shoe Dog’ by Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, shoes have come a long, a very long way since those original trainers of the 1960’s/70’s. Every iteration of a shoe brings with it some new advanced feature designed to propel you forward keeping you injury free, or so the claims go.
I approach my shoe choice carefully having made several mistakes in the past. After the Land’s End run I has a full bio-mechanical assessment which included an advanced gait analysis and foot measurement, that was very useful. I’d mostly chosen a size 10 shoe, but my feet are actually about a size 9 so allowing for a half size up I have recently gone for 9.5 in two pairs, the Hoka Clifton 8’s and the Speedgoat 5’s. Both are a great fit. At the time of writing, I have just retired the Clifton 8’s and replaced with the Clifton 9 in the same size, a vastly improved shoe over the 8.
Largely I have been brand loyal to Nike, their shoes fit me, are comfortable and I’ve had several of their products in the rotation including, Temp Next% for faster runs, React Infinity for everyday runs, Invincible ZoomX for recovery days and the Zegama for trails. Never had a bad Nike shoe, apart from the Terra Kiger 7 which was awful, and I ditched after a couple of trail runs. I have experimented with other brands but largely not enjoyed them. Hoka are now in the rotation with 2 shoes, and they are suiting me, which is why I choose them for the 100K’s.
It was important I felt comfortable in the shoe for many hours, what works at 10K can be horrid at longer distances, a shoes with soft foam to soak up the impact was top priority. The Nikes in my current rotation didn’t fit the bill, the Invincible ZoomX v3 has amazing foam and is super soft, but the shoe is too heavy and thinking how many times I will lift each foot during a 100 those extra ounces add up to many many kilos. I took the Hoka Clifton 8’s on some 26 mile and some 50K runs, they performed well, were comfortable, light but soft and responsive, so that was an obvious choice. On the London 2 Brighton there is a bag drop halfway, this enabled me to switch out shoes, the second half of the event takes in more fields, paths and some stony ground too so I decided to wear the Hoka Speedgoat 5’s from the halfway point to the end. The first half of this event takes in a lot of pavements as it navigates out of London and through several towns and villages, a road shoe was therefore perfect.
Hoka Speedgoat 5’s were the chosen shoe for Race to the Stones, there is no option to switch out gear halfway, poor show by the organisers I think, so the shoe needed to be good at 90K as it was at 9K; Speedgoats are so comfortable. They performed to perfection.
Shoe Conclusion
Test them and test them again. Get in runs on terrain you are likely to encounter on your 100K to see how they perform, run for many hours in them, do some back-to-back long run days. Seek advice from those in the know, such as running stores. This single, well double really, piece of your kit is likely the most important.
Socks. As important as the shoes. Over the years I have tired many brands and types within the brands. Similar to shoes, socks I would choose to run a 10K in I would be unlikely to run a 100K with. And a pavement run would be a different choice to trail. I have runners love for Compressport, discovered them a couple of years back and have trail socks, compression socks, pro-racing socks from their range. They suit me, and my feet love them. Many of the socks in their range have micro-dots on them, little raised bumps that absorb some of the impact – does it work? It seems to as my feet are always comfortable.
On both the 100’s I switched out socks at the 50K point, keeping my feet dry and comfortable, and relatively smell free. As I mentioned earlier, I saw many people who had chosen a heavy towelling type sock which absorbs the rain and made them take on the appearance of just coming out the washing machine without entering a spin cycle.
Again, play around with socks. I have Injinji toe socks in the basket but for me these are too heavy and the wrong material for anything over a 10K run.
Pack. You are going to be wearing the pack for hours and hours and hours, it will jiggle about, it may rub you raw and at 50K you may wish to launch it into the nearest bush and stomp off. When I selected my pack, an Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest, I made the decision not to skimp on quality. Amazon list hydration packs with some storage for nibbles from under £20, but I couldn’t see that being comfortable.
The UD Mountain Vest is outstanding, I have the version 5. It is light, has plenty of well thought out storage pockets, can hold bottles on the front or a 2L reservoir in the back. You may not think storage pockets are a big consideration but let me tell you they are. When you are hours into an ultra, you are tired and your brain is in a fog, fumbling about in a poorly designed pocket becomes very annoying. I opted for the Mountain Vest as it gives a little more storage than the Ultra Vest, this I have found useful for carrying a set of waterproofs, some additional snacks and illumination for the darker hours, I use an Ultraspire Waist light.
I’ve used the pack dozens of times on longer runs, trail runs, multi-day runs like the run to Land’s End and on the two ultras this year. Packing for an ultra is important, think carefully about what you will need and when, placing the items in the pack in the order you are likely to use them. I also put everything in waterproof bags, it keeps the contents dry but also makes it easy to pull out a bag and access its contents rather than having to search the many loose items in the pack.
I ran the last two 100’s with a 2 litre reservoir, I like to drink frequently and measure if I am taking in enough fluids by the number of wild wees I have to do! Taking the reservoir out and refilling at aid stations can be a pain and I have decided on the next 100 to use my 2 500ml soft flasks that are held in the front pockets, with the frequency of aid stations on the events I will be doing this should be enough fluid. I will have to rearrange where I hold my phone and the two gels bottles and for this, I have a Compressport waist belt.
Quick note on underwear. On both the 100’s and in the forum posts after I heard many people talking about being rubbed raw down below. Your regular pants are just not going to cut it for the kind of distance you are going to undertake. I spent a lot of time researching products and opted for T8 Commandos, these are a super lightweight underwear that as the name suggests feels as if you are going commando, although it does hold my vitals in place and stop any wiggling about. I have run in these for a few years now and never had anything approaching a rash. It is again one of those products that at 100K will feel very different to anything you wear on your 10K’s. I’ll conclude by saying think carefully, research and try before you attempt your ultra. Sores between your legs will stop you.
Maybe a good time to talk about Chamois cream too, as a cyclist I used to use this on my butt all the time, for running I apply all around the vitals area and to the feet too. It prevents friction and works very well for me.
And to the rest of the gear, there are more choices of shorts, tee’s and long sleeves than there are pizza toppings. Run long in your chosen gear to make sure it is comfortable over many hours. I will usually wear a base layer, Nike Pro, to wick away sweat, I find it keeps me cool in the hot hours and a little warmer as the sun goes down. I also carry a Nike Trail lightweight top, it keeps the chill off as the sun sets if you are running into the darker hours.
Conclusion
That’s probably all I have to say for now on gear, no doubt more will spring into my mind, and I’ll write a follow up post. My top tip is that you think about how your chosen gear will feel and perform after 5, 8, 10, 12 or more hours, time and distance have a way of showing up the shortcomings in any gear choice.
You may well be itching to know how the two 100K’s went after all that thought and preparation; they both went extremely well, and I enjoyed the experience. I’ve written separate Race Reports for each which you can read on the Blog, but here is a synopsis from a viewpoint of what I learnt on each.
London 2 Brighton – May 2023
In the main my gear choice was spot on, not a single blister or ache in the foot, and being a very hot, cloudless day, my base layer did its job perfectly. The visor cap and DHB bandana kept the sun off my head and my Tifosi sunglasses were as they always are a dream to wear.
I found filling up the 2l reservoir a pain, I knew it would be, taking it in and out is a fiddle. Being a hot day, I was very conscious not to run out of fluids. I also found that I had to take out the gear in the pack to put the reservoir back in, there just wasn’t enough wiggle room otherwise.
Having a drop bag at halfway was amazing, it meant I could go lighter, my light for the darker hours I didn’t need to carry on the first 50K and my spare nutrition was in the drop bag too. I needed to think a little more about food, as several hours in I knew I needed to eat some real food but just couldn’t bring myself to eat it. I had two bites of a sandwich, but my brain was turned off to it. I did manage to eat bananas and I have a sweet tooth so never have problems with chocolate (love the Freddos, thank you AC Events!) and biscuits too jaffa cakes are lovely any time of day.
The other major learn was my spare hydration tables, they turned to powder due to all the shaking about, I switched that up to packets of powder, individual portions, for the next event.
I was never afraid to walk for a bit either, I usually did after an aid station for a few minutes and at other random times when my body felt it needed a different speed. Not racing for a time meant these periods of walking didn’t weigh heavily on my mind.
As darkness fell it was time for some illumination and that came in the form of my Ultraspire 800 waist light. I had tried headlamps and dislike the way they feel, the pressure on my head whether actual or assumed is not for me. The waist light is excellent and can only be likened to a powerful car headlight, so much so that a couple of people I was running behind turned to see what was coming up behind them worried they would be run over any moment by a silent tractor coming across the field we were in.
And what of those Ultra Panics, well they struck me on my very first 100. Sitting eating breakfast at 4am my mind was already trying to find reason not to go, I had to force down my porridge and banana. Then on the train journey to Richmond they struck once again, over running engineering works and a delay of at least 30mins, this would potentially impact my start time. I managed to tame my mind and the train got underway in time for me to easily make my start wave but be prepared for the unexpected on event day.
I’ve just registered for London 2 Brighton 2024 so I must have enjoyed it. And I did.
Race to the Stones– July 2023
Was to throw a very different set of circumstances at me, no drop bag half-way and plenty of rain for many hours. Again the feet were perfect, shoe choice vital, as was sock choice and the spare dry pair I carried too. But the saving grace, my Proviz waterproof jacket, it kept me 100% dry and warm, there were many, many people who got very wet, very cold and had to be pulled from the event. It’s only when you stop at an aid station, your heart rate decreases and reality hits that you realize how wet and cold you have become. Thankfully that didn’t happen for me.
I’d taken the learns from the London 2 Brighton, carried spare hydration tablets in power sachet form, which was brilliant. I still had the reservoir and had found a better way to fill this. But will still switch out to the soft flasks on the next ultra.
I over planned on the spare batteries for the waist light, having been allocated a late start time I predicted to be running in the dark for some time and carried two sets of spare batteries. I got into an earlier start wave and didn’t need those in the end but had to carry them all the way. It’s only a small amount of weight be when calculated how many times you lift that over 100K, that small weight turns into kilos. A drop bag halfway would have been useful as I could have offloaded them.
Did the Ultra Panics strike again, yes, they did. As I woke at some unearthly hour, I found my phone had not charged overnight, why this night of all nights did it decide to do that. I needed a full charge; I wanted a full charge. As I headed to breakfast at the B&B I left it charging, switch it to low power mode and thankfully at the 100K finish line I had around 15% battery left.
Both ultras went well, I felt prepared physically, mentally and in terms of gear.
Conclusion
Don’t underestimate the distance you are about to run, the time it will take and the toll it will take on you. Preparation is your key to success, break each area down, the running, the mental games, the gear, the nutrition, try lots of options finding what works for you.
Run on terrain similar to your event day and get out in the dark when training. You are likely to run in the dark on a 100K, don’t let the event be the first time you have done so.
I rested for a couple of days after both, starting back with a gentle 5-mile run, watching out for any niggles I’d not yet detected. All was good after London 2 Brighton, I have a slight IT band pain after Race to the Stones, not enough to stop me. I am doing some specific exercises to work the IT band and hope to resolve it soon.
The ultra is your day, your way. They are your legs and it’s your body, do what you think is right.
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