Gearing UP for Ultraneering

Gearing UP for Ultraneering

by Ras Vaughan

Big Impossible Sounding Ideas

There’s a particular type of ill-advised, hare-brained scheme that resonates with me on a fundamental level. When an adventure of this sort first presents itself, whether via outside influence or internal genesis, I experience both a physical and mental response. The physical response includes the sound of blood rushing in my ears, chills up and down my spine, sharpening and narrowing of my vision, and racing heart. Mentally my response is along the lines of, “That sounds impossible. I have to give it a try.” I’ve come to think of projects of this sort as Big Impossible Sounding Ideas.

As intimidating as they may seem at first conception, I’ve learned over the years that Big Impossible Sounding Ideas can be deconstructed into smaller and smaller component parts. Those parts can then be evaluated and explicated until a way is found to make each of them possible. Then all of those little possibilities can be reassembled to make that Big Impossible Sounding Idea not only a possibility but a reality. This is a process which can take months or even years to run its course while my brain chews on the problem, evaluating information, formulating and reformulating plans, and passively letting possibilities bounce around my skull to see if any of them take root. And once I decide that something is humanly possible, the all-consuming question for me then becomes, “Am I the Human Being to do it?” That’s exactly how things played out when I first heard about Chad Kellogg’s idea for the Mount Rainier Infinity Loop.

The Cowlitz Connection and the Mount Rainier Infinity Loop

In 2015 Richard Kresser and I attempted a project I had dreamed up to combine the 93 mile Wonderland Trail around the base of Mount Rainier with a traverse of the summit. It’s not hyperbole to say that Mount Rainier is responsible for making me the man I am today, and I find myself continually drawn to it, persistently pursuing new ways to experience the mountain as completely as possible …

Read the entire article on the Altra Running Blog.

MAIL Caloric Burn vs Intake

Mount Adams Infinity Loop

Complete Caloric Burn Versus Intake

by Ras Vaughan

I have been fueling based on both dietary fat and stored body fat for almost five years now, since I began training for the inaugural Pigtails Challenge 200 miler early in 2012. (Here's my nutrition and fueling report from Pigtails, May 2012.) I find that fat based fueling helps me achieve a more consistent and sustainable level of performance. In addition, having my body habituated to prioritizing fat metabolization means that I can rely on fueling in part from my body's fat stores, which in turn means that I can carry and eat less food than the math would, at face value, imply. 

I assiduously saved all the wrappers, baggies, and packaging from my various fuels throughout the Mount Adams Infinity Loop. I did this in keeping with my Unsupported ethic of carrying all my supplies and gear from beginning to end, which, to my mind, includes carrying all of my trash until the finish. This also made it easy for me to reconstruct the fuel I consumed during a project by counting up the wrappers and portions of the foods I ingested. 

Below is an accounting of my total calorie intake, as well an estimate of the total calories I burned during my adventure. If anything, the caloric needs estimate is conservative. It only takes into account mileage with an offset for elevation gain. It doesn't take other factors into account that burn more calories to cover the same ground; such as cold temperatures wherein your body burns calories heating itself, or moving against a strong headwind. In all actuality, it's likely I burned a few more calories than I estimate here.

An obvious aberration in my fueling regimen is the SweetTarts. I have only extremely rarely had trouble with queasiness or upset stomach or feeling nauseous during high mileage, multi-day endurance adventures. What DOES sometimes trouble me is simply a lack of appetite. I try to take a "wierd food" of some sort on each adventure, something that tastes completely different and has a distinct texture or unique mouthfeel. This is how I first started taking toasted seaweed on adventures, and it is now a regular part of my fuel kit. I figured tart, chalky, pseudo-fruit flavored lozenges would fit the bill nicely, and they did indeed. 

SweetTarts were one of my favorite treats as a kid, and I still really enjoy them. I had forgotten I had them with me, and was quite stoked when I found them in my pack during the descent from the first summit. I realize, and freely admit, that they have almost no actual food value (or food ingredients), but they are certainly calorie dense. I'm not proud of them being part of my fueling for this adventure, but Kathy and I strive to be as transparent as we can be in recounting our adventures, and sometime that means having to publicly admit to enjoying a box of artificially colored sugar disks. Mea culpa. 

RAS' COMPLETE CALORIE LIST FOR MOUNT ADAMS INFINITY LOOP:

Total calories consumed during Mount Adams Infinity Loop

Trail Butter Expedition Espresso 2.5 x 760 = 1,900 calories

Honey Stinger Waffles 6 x 150 = 900 calories

Picky Bars Smooth Caffeinator 2 x 200 = 400 calories

Peanut Butter Crackers packet 2 x 200 = 400 calories

Honey Stinger Cherry Cola Energy Chews 3 x 160 = 480 calories

Toasted Seaweed Snacks 3 x 30 = 90 calories

SweetTarts throwback box 2 x 780 = 1,560 calories
Instant Rice 1 cup x 390 = 390 calories
Instant Refried Beans 1 cup x 384 = 384 calories

-----------------

6,504 total calories consumed

Caloric needs for Mount Adams Infinity Loop

6,600 calories = 66 miles x 100 calories per mile

2,000 calories = 20,000 feet (round estimate) elevation gain

                        x 100 calories per 1,000 feet of gain

5,000 calories = 2,000 daily baseline metabolic calories x 2.5 days

-----------------

13,600 total calories burned

Overall Caloric Burn Versus Intake for Mount Adams Infinity Loop

13,600 total calories burned

6,504 total calories consumed

-----------------

7,096 calories total caloric debt accrued

MAIL Complete Gear List

Mount Adams Infinity Loop

Complete Gear List

by Ras Vaughan

The Mount Adams Infinity Loop was my second foray into the very rarified discipline which Gavin Woody has dubbed "ultraneering". The simplest definition of this would be something along the lines of, "A route of greater distance than a standard marathon which includes terrain which necessitates the use of mountaineering skills, methodology, and/or gear." As often happens, I found myself carrying a pack full of gear for a 56+ hour, 60 mile double summit traverse and circumnavigation of Mount Adams which was substantially smaller and lighter than those being worn by other climbers for a single summit bid. In saying this, I'm not judging the gear choices of others, simply presenting the juxtaposition of techniques. 

What I was attempting, and what fascinates and exhilarates me, is the minimalist, fast and light, alpinist end of the spectrum, as evidenced by the list below. In putting together my kit for an adventure of this sort, I make every effort to avoid carrying things which serve only one purpose. Rather than carrying a number of very specific pieces of gear, I attempt to assemble an extremely flexible and versatile collection of tools and materials that can be configured many different ways to deal with any number of unforeseen circumstances.

Since this project was solo and unsupported, I did end up carrying a couple pounds worth of batteries and chargers for the electronic equipment. Much of this would be unnecessary on a trip for the pure joy of it. I end up carrying extra gear such as a SPOT transponder and GoPro in order to document my efforts and to provide some degree of interactivity for friends, family, and the general public to follow along. This comes with being a public person and a sponsored athlete, as well as an FKT player.

MOUNT ADAMS INFINITY LOOP COMPLETE GEAR LIST:

Here's a complete list of all the gear (non-food) I used:

Nathan Journey Fastpack (preproduction test model)
Nathan Insulated 750 ml bottles (qty 2)
Nathan 2 Liter Bladder
Altra NeoShell Lone Peak Mid High insulated, waterproof trail running shoes
Altra Performance Half Zip Long Sleeve Shell 
Altra Everyday Shorts
Montbell synthetic puffy jacket
Western Mountaineering Flash Pant
Sugoi Insulated Running Tights
Injinji Trail 2.0 midweight toe socks
Smartwool midweight socks
Smartwool Arm Warmers
Seven Hills Running Shop shirt by Pearl Izumi
Kahtoola KTS Steel Crampons
Julbo Glacier Glasses
Outdoor Research Expedition gaiters
Black Diamond Polar Icon Headlamp
Black Diamond gloves
Bluewater 48" webbing sling
Camp Corsa Aluminum Ice Axe
Needles 50k buff (gift from Kathy)
REI merino wool liner gloves (didn't use)
Cheap Fleece camo hat bought in a mini mart years ago
Black Diamond Ultra Distance Carbon Z Poles
Duct tape wrapped around each trekking pole, 6 feet x 2 = 12 feet total
Black Diamond Vapor Helmet
SPOT Transponder
REI ultralight 10 liter Drysack
Sony Walkman mp3 player
Asio Altimeter watch
Garmin eTrex 20 gps
GoPro Hero3+ camera
Nokia Lumia 930 smartphone
EC Technology Power Bank 3.7V/22400mAh/82.8Wh charger
Sony walkman 16gb mp3 player
Sea To Summit titanium spork
Ziplock screw top container for soaking dehydrated food
spare OR gaiter for use as a skidplate for seated glissades
550 paracord to rig above mentioned gaiter in place, 3 meters
Energizer Ultimate Lithium AAA batteries (qty 6) for SPOT transponder
Duracell Quantum AA batteries (qty 14) for headlamp and gps
caffeine pills 200mg (qty 15) used 6
ibuprofin pills 200mg (qty 24) used 12
numerous ziplock baggies

Master Amino Acid Pattern supplement (10) used all 10, 
    could have used 90 but didn't have the budget for it

Mount Adams Infinity Loop COMPLETE - Only Known Time

Mount Adams Infinity Loop Completed
Only Known Time of 56 hours and 20 minutes
Solo, Unsupported

A Combined Double Summit Traverse And 
Circumambulation Of Mount Adams

Official Start Time - 12:02 PM Saturday, September 24, 2016
Official Finish Time - 08:22 PM Monday, September 26, 2016

Total Distance measured by Garmin eTrex 20 - 60.01 Miles

                                                                     

by Ras Vaughan

At 12:02 PM on Saturday, September 24th, 2016, I began at the intersection of the Killen Creek Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the High Camp Trail on the north side of Mount Adams. This was a three mile approach from my car, so I did not plan on resupplying in between loops, as this would add a six mile out and back. Therefore, the entire Mount Adams Infinity Loop was unsupported. I didn't place any resupply caches or forage or accept trail magic, I carried all my food and gear from the very beginning to the very end, didn't drop off any trash, and I only refilled my water from natural sources.

I had never before set foot on either the North Cleaver or the South Spur routes, but I had lots of route beta from SummitPost.org and other sources. The Class 2 scramble up the North Cleaver was fun and interesting and only got challenging when I accidentally veered off the proper route momentarily. I saw three or four other climbers descending as I was ascending.

Summit Number One, 7:00 PM was very cold and wet due to very high (50+ mph) winds and low clouds enclosing the summit. It was too cold and wet and inhospitable to stop for any reason, be it eating or taking pictures. It was growing dark as I traversed the summit. I was the only person on the summit as the sun began to set, and, consequently, the last person down that day. Once I reached the summit I had a GPS track to follow down the South Spur, although this was unnecessary because of the easy to follow boot track and glissade chutes. I hiked and ran through the night, napping briefly at random intervals. 

I completed the first loop and reached the start/finish Killen Creek/PCT/High Camp Trail intersection at 8:00 AM on Sunday, September 25th. I changed out to my daytime layer, repacked my kit, and began my second assent a little before 9:00 AM. The second climb up the North Cleaver was sunny and warm and uneventful. I saw no other climbers during my ascent, and was frequently following my own footprint from the day before.

Summit Number Two, 6:15 PM was much sunnier, far less windy, and triumphant in sentiment. It was much more tolerable, so I was able to shoot a short video and take a few photos. Again I was the only person on the summit, and the last person down that day. A surprising amount of snow had melted since the previous evening, leaving the uppermost slopes bare rock. However, I was still able to glissade for about 2,500 feet of the descent.

Once I reached the Round The Mountain Trail I turned East for a mile or so, and then found a spot to lay down and nap for a couple of hours. I started moving again around 3:30 AM on Monday, September 26th.

Bushwhacking & Route Finding Across The Gap was more fun than I had expected, and easier on a technical level. However it was slow going, and for long sections I was only making a mile or so per hour. I saw a large Black Bear in the Hellroaring basin just after sun up. The next basin north was even slower going, sidehilling across scree and moraine. The creek crossings were easier than I had expected, until I came to the Big Muddy. I got stuck here for more than an hour hiking up and down the creek trying to find a safe rock hop to get to the other side. I eventually succeeded, and after another short bushwhack connected with the Highline Trail, putting the end in sight, figuratively. 

I reached the intersection of the Killen Creek Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the High Camp Trail for the third time at 08:22 PM on Monday, September 26, 2016, to establish an official Only Known Time of 56 hours and 20 minutes for the Mount Adams Infinity Loop.

Summit Number Two, self-portrait.

Facebook/Instagram Updates from the trail during  the Mount Adams Infinity Loop:

What a Blessing to be a Hominid! Give Thanks for Life!

What Does an Ultra Have to Do with a Marathon?

What Does an Ultra Have to Do with a Marathon?
 The Problem of Accurate Terminology in Trail Racing

by Tim Mathis

     The spiritual motivation for this post comes from a conversation I had with a friend at my job the other day, which I’m sure a lot of ultra runners can relate to.   I’m a nurse in a children’s hospital, and there must have been rumors going around, because he approached me on our unit and said, “Hey, I need to ask you something?  What’s the furthest you’ve run?  No, straight out, did you run 100 miles?!”  

     When people ask you things like that, a million thoughts flash through your head.  I think most of us are at least a little worried that saying “yes” to this kind of question will lead our peers to assume that we’re a little bit off.  I work on the psychiatric unit, and the guy who was asking me is a therapist, so it’s even worse - I’m sure he had at least five categories of illness he could immediately place me in just based on this short exchange. The question must be on a diagnostic questionnaire somewhere: “Do you hear or see things that other people don’t?  Do you worry that others are out to get you?  What’s the furthest you’ve ever run?”

     But at heart, the main reason that I felt uncomfortable answering “yes” to my friend’s question – even though I completed the Cascade Crest 100 Mile Endurance Run last year – is that it isn’t really true.  Like most people who complete a 100 mile race, I actually didn’t run anything like 100 miles.  I’d estimate that I ran 75 max, and I definitely didn’t do that continuously.  
   
     During the race, I stopped for sandwiches, walked pretty much anything with even a slight uphill slope, drank a beer, and spent significant amounts of time sitting in lawn chairs.  Even when I was technically “running” on the flats and downhills, my pace couldn’t be classified as anything more than a jog, and was frequently more of a shuffle or a labored hobble.  If you want to really talk about running, I’m not sure I’ve ever continuously run anything much over a half marathon.  After that, you can be sure that I’ll be stopping to walk on occasion, wandering through aid stations, and sitting down from time to time if no one is looking.  I have absolutely no inhibitions about hiking.  Maybe I’ve run a marathon.  I’ve completed dozens of ultra-distance “runs”, but I’ve never really run one.  Not all the way anyway.

     Despite all that, for simplicity’s sake, I said “yes”. The guy laughed, slapped my shoulder, and walked away.  “That’s insane, man!”  

     “Running” an ultra-“marathon”?  

     Outside of work, in the bizarre social circle of ultra runners that I live in, conversations about terminology seem to keep coming up.  I know several people who are participating in the Tahoe 200 Ultra that is being put on by Candice Burt this Summer, and some folks aren’t clear what it should be called.  Clearly, 200 miles is a different animal than 100 miles, or 50 or 31, so shouldn’t it be called something other than an “ultra”?  Is it an ultra+ or a mega-ultra, indicating some kind of affinity to its shorter brethren?  Or alternately, is it a stage race?  The vast majority (and maybe all) of the runners will sleep during the race for some amount of time, after all.  
   
     Along different lines, a conversation keeps arising about the pretentiousness of referring to oneself as an “ultrarunner”, as if moving for longer distances somehow makes you superior to other types of runners.  Even if your neighbor was really good at their job, and spent more time doing it than any of their peers, wouldn’t you think they were a Grade-A turd if they insisted on referring to themselves as an “Ultra-banker”, “Ultra-waiter”, or “Ultra-teacher”?  Deep inside I cringe a little bit every time I hear someone refer to themselves as an “Ironman” (I know  you’re just a swimmer/biker/runner/tights-wearer), but I’m no better with my claims to be an “ultramarathoner”.

     And while the term “marathon” has come to refer to a distance (26.2 miles or 42.2 kilometers) pretty generically, I personally think that it’s misleading to associate what happens in “ultras” with what happens in marathons by referring to them as “ultramarathons”. In most cases, it isn’t as if an ultra is just a marathon with more distance added.  In some ways they’re harder due to added distance and (usually) elevation gain and the occasional mountain ascent/descent, but in other ways they’re easier because no one judges you if you stop in the middle for a several mile stroll while drinking coffee and eating a bunch of cookies.  

     This is especially true with 100+ mile distances: when you can finish a race under the cutoff time while also getting a decent night’s sleep in the middle, it doesn’t have much in common with, for instance, Meb Keflezighi’s seemingly miraculous 2 hour and 10 minute speed sessions.  At the same time, it seems to do some amount of disservice to a mountain runner like Killian Jornet to compare him to a guy like Meb who destroys flats and asphalt.  They’re both beasts, but they’re clearly different breeds of beasts.  And culturally and spiritually, many “ultras” are no more “marathons” than my “stopping to eat a bacon pancake” during Cascade Crest was a “run”. 

     As it is though, trail runners are hamstrung by our terminology.  If we want to explain to our peers what we do with our weekends, there’s not a lot we can say concisely other than that we “run” “ultramarathons”.  I’m a firm believer in the need to delineate things – to distinguish what we do on the trails or in the mountains from what hikers do, or from what road racers do, or even from what those who race shorter distances do – but personally, I think that it would be great to start a larger conversation about terminology regarding these things we call ultras.  

     My proposal: Foot Races and Foot Tours
  
     Stylistically, I’m more into the classics and the old-school than the cutting edge, so my preference would be if we just stopped with the “ultrarunning” talk altogether, and went back to a designation that has a simple 1800s kind of vibe – Foot Racing.  If we’re organizing long events where the goal is to move overland without the aid of vehicles or other mechanical aids to locomotion, just state the distance and the approach: a 100 mile foot race, or a 5 mile foot race.  It’s all just movement on two feet, and an attempt to see who can cover the course the fastest.  

     But because I love nothing more than coining new terms (my goals in the trail running world relate as much to contributing to the community lexicon as to completing races), I would also like to suggest a new term, which describes other events and activities that don’t involve podiums and speed goals.  Drawing on ski terminology, I like the idea of referring to self-supported or unsupported long distance outings on the trails as Foot Tours.  The term is in the spirit of “foot race,” and complements it.  It’s basic, old-timey, descriptive and unpretentious, and it can be applied to a variety of activities.  It can encapsulate both hiking and running, and one-day or multi-day outings, but it suggests that a lot of ground is being covered.  And for some reason, if a guy at work asked me what I did over the weekend, I would feel more comfortable telling him that I went on a 30 mile foot tour than a 30 mile run.  

     As much as I’d like my own terminology to catch on, if I’m being realistic, the fact is that we’ll probably always be stuck calling what we do “running” “ultras”, because once something’s been branded in the public consciousness it’s almost impossible to make a change. At best we might be able to come up with a name for these new kinds of events, like Tor de Geants and the Tahoe 200 - that fit in a gap between 100 milers and multi-day stage races (any ideas?  I got nothing beyond “Foot Race”), but it’s still fun to have a go at coming up with something a little more apt, and a little more honest.

Tim Mathis lives in Seattle and is a regular contributor to UltraPedestrian.com. He has been running trails with his wife Angel for a couple of years.  One time they ran across Spain fueled mostly on pastries and espresso.  He blogs occasionally at alittlerunny.blogspot.com and has contributed to Uphillrunning.com and Trailrunner Magazine.

UltraPedestrian Podcast Episode #003

UltraPedestrian Podcast Episode #003

   

Ultrarunning & Trail Culture for the 99%

FREE DOWNLOAD HERE

Ras discusses supported vs self supported vs unsupported

Heather Anderson Anish Hikes gives us a peek inside her record setting thruhike of the Pacific Crest Trail

Brandon Lott shares his experience of running the 350 mile Iditarod Trail Invitational

Kathy gives a crew and pacing report for the Lumberjack Endurance Runs

Hosted by Ras

FREE DOWNLOAD HERE