aggiespartan said:

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The voice is perfect

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLXjo2pxWRO/?igsh=MWw4NG90Y2x3ZWtiMA==

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i knew exactly what this was going to be before even clicking. lol.

coop-aero-06 said:

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Owen Kellogg said:

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Questions:
-Is this gain going to be insane? Even my steepest training runs aren't that steep (258 ft/mile)?
-Any concerns with my fuel plan? I'm a little worried about taking down that many as I've never done it.
-What else should I be asking about???

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That gain is pretty insane. I've run Broken Arrow 50k twice and it's about 9,000 feet of vert, and it's pretty crazy. Relentless climbs. A good rule of thumb is that your weekly training should include roughly the same vert per mile as your goal race. So get out there and stack up the vert in the last month leading up to the race.

Fueling is a very personal thing. The best advice is whatever you're planning to do in the race, you need to be practicing it in training runs.

Sounds like you're in a good spot to train. Keep it up for the next few weeks and you'll do great!

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Agreed on the fueling. You need to be practicing with that amount of carbs. I'm not sure you have time now, but I would have slowly increased my carb intake over the course of my training. That's what I did on this last training block, though i was only shooting for ~75g/hour. I think 90+ is overkill for most people. If you've not done that many carbs and then just jump to 90g/hour, you are likely going to crap or vomit your way all the way through the race.

That is a lot of gain, but just remember, you are going to have some miles that are going to be like 75ft and then others that might be 500ft. Outside of Barkley Fall Classic, which is a whole different animal, the worst I've done in a 50K is about 7K. There was definitely hiking on the steep stuff, but there was still a lot of runnable terrain. It really just depends on how that vert is thrown at you. It could be very runnable with several very steep/big climbs. Or the vert could be more evenly spread across the race. How that vert is distributed across the 31 miles makes a big difference.

As for "what else," don't plan your hydration (and even nutrition) by mileage. Look at the course and see what sections are going to be more difficult. You could have a 6 or 7 mile section and a 3 mile section that will take the same amount of time. A lot of people make the mistake of assuming "its only 3 miles" and don't take enough fluids. And don't just account for the vert in those sections. If you can do any recon, know whether or not those stretches are technical or not. It also easy to see a 3 mile descent and think, "oh that'll be fast." Then you get there. Your quads are shot from earlier miles, the entire stretch is covered in baby heads and loose rock, and you find yourself descending slower than you were climbing earlier. The beauty of trail running!

Lavaredo 120K with UTMB just started. That's where Courtney is this weekend.

so far, she's 1st in the women's race but 23rd overall. She's gained about 7 spots over the last couple of hours. Ben Dhiman is in first. Apparently he's a Saucony athlete. The men have passed the 50k mark. Women are almost there.

I like Ben. He's another American who lives in Europe so a lot of people don't know who he is.

They are going out HOT.

The men are killing it.

There's going to be some amazing carnage.

Crazy that Rod is sitting in 10th and is ahead of his splits from last year.

Owen Kellogg said:

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I'm 1 month out from my first ultra (50k). I'm excited but nervous!

Background:
-Pikes Peak 50k on July 26. It's got 8100' of gain.
-I've ran 4 road marathons and lots of trail half marathons, but nothing with this much gain.
-I'm training in decent elevation as I live in Golden CO.
-I'm peaking now at 21 miles long run, but only ~36 miles/week
-fuel plan is Precision Fuel 90 gram packs ~1/hour early plus what they have at rest stops, and saltstick tabs

Questions:
-Is this gain going to be insane? Even my steepest training runs aren't that steep (258 ft/mile)?
-Any concerns with my fuel plan? I'm a little worried about taking down that many as I've never done it.
-What else should I be asking about???

Cheers and TIA!

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Thanks for the insight everyone!

One more question re: trekking poles. I think I'm ready to buy a pair! Any advice on brand and (dumb question here) how do I actually use them? Seems like just on the up hill walk/run parts.

During today's long run, I realized I'm very inefficient at walking up the steep parts. And several guys passed me walking but using poles. Ha!

Black diamond and Leki are probably the most popular. I can't offer much advice on how to use them other than don't trip on them (personal experience). There are some YouTube videos out there about how to use them effectively.

Practice with poles. If you don't use them properly, they will potentially slow you down.

Looks like David is out.

Won't surprise me if we see more on both sides. Already lost Martyna.

Love seeing Des Linden pacing stringbean

Heather Jackson out.

AggieOO said:

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Heather Jackson out.

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heather is such a ray of joy in everything she does. Sad to see her drop. Quick hook after unbound 360 to be recovered and in trail running form for WS.

Hell of a race by Caleb Olson!

Hans looks like he's in a world of hurt. Averaged over 15 min miles on his last section. He's got 5 miles left to hold onto a top 10 spot. He should be ok, unless the wheels are completely off.

Looks like Ryan is going to pass him.

Pretty sure the wheels are off for Rod, so that might be the saving grace for Hans.

They said he was dry heaving right after Hans passed him.

Decent chance Peter Frano passes him too.

I hope he has a bunch of people to run in from Robie Point with him.

Hans is safe for top 10. He's through Robie.

Women's race has been great too. Fuzhao ran such a patient race.

The only person I knew running dropped at Last Chance. I really wanted her to finish. She got me through the end of javelina.

Sounds like John Kelly isn't doing very well. He said his attempt isn't dead but it's on life support. Can't move his foot. I know what that's like.

My buddy's 50+ record is safe. Jeff Browning was about an hour too slow. I thought for sure he'd break it.

He was flying at the beginning of the race. A lot of people dropped off quickly in the last 20 or so miles.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLfm1dCPGfv/?igsh=MTUydXE3MmowdGw4dg==

Heard him talk about it in his post race interview.

Marathon running: “Kipchoge just passed mile 18. He’s moving at 15.4 mph and his last 5k split was 14 minutes and 32.45 seconds!”

UltraRunning: “So we think Kilian is in 3rd place but we aren’t sure. We lost him on camera but think he’s through mile 60? Check back in one hour.”

— Brady Holmer (@B_Holmer) June 28, 2025

AggieOO said:

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Practice with poles. If you don't use them properly, they will potentially slow you down.

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And if you don't practice with them, 2 out of 3 people using them will break them (at the same time) while on an unplanned snowy trip to the summit of a mountain.