Now that it has been more than four months since my race and this has been 90% written for a few months it seems about the right time for a blog entry...
On January 9th I did a race very different than anything else I have attempted before. I headed to northern Wisconsin during the coldest time of the year to race 80 miles across a frozen snowmobile trail. The Tuscobia 150 has two distances, 80 miles and 160 miles. This is the first year it was not 75 and 150 so the name has not yet changed. There are three divisions, bike, ski, and run. A race like this has some mandatory gear requirements due to the extreme conditions. The required gear that I carried is:
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| Big Agnes Hahns Peak SL -20 Sleeping Bag |
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| Big Agnes Air Core Insulated Mummy Sleeping Pad |
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| MSR AC-Bivy |
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| Reflective Vest - I chose one with a large front pocket to hold all my food. |
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| 3 Red Blinkies to Deter Snowmobiles from Running You Over |
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| Black Diamond Polar Icon - I like putting the batteries on my back instead of head and four lithium AAs last all night. |
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| Titanium Esbit Stove - The lightest possible stove to melt snow for water in an emergency. |
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| Esbit Tablets |
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| Toaks Titanium 550 mL Pot - Lightest possible pint pot |
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| Stormproof Matches |
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| Lard - You are required to finish with 3000 emergency calories. Most people take a jar of peanut butter. I chose 334 grams of lard since it is the lightest possible 3000 calories. |
The required gear keeps you from freezing if you have to stop on the trail. Of course the goal is to keep moving and finish the race. Here is the rest of my gear/clothing:
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Northern Sled Works Racing Pulk - The same thing every man asks for on his 30th birthday.
PVC Poles - Homemade with eye bolts on the end caps. Crossed for more control.
Old hip belt - I bought an old pack for $5 at a garage sale years ago and ripped off the belt. |
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| Black Diamond Z Trekking Poles - Helps to keep moving forward with less than ideal footing. |
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| Salomon Skin Pro 3 - This pack fits very compact against my body so it fits nicely on top of my base layer and under my jacket. Wearing this water pack inside my jacket keeps it from freezing. |
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| Generic Fleece Facemask |
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| Smartwool Neck Gaiter - Can rotate it as it freezes up. |
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| Outdoor Research Svalbard Beanie - Has windstopper material around ear band, very warm. |
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| Icebreaker Sprint - I am in love with merino wool as a base layer. There is no other option in my mind. |
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| Marmot DriClime Jacket - My favorite running jacket. It is all I need on top of my base layer down to zero degrees if I am moving well. |
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| Patagonia Nano Air Hoody - This is the best overall jacket I have ever owned. It is a great insulation layer to add when I start slowing down. It is very lightweight and has a great hood. |
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| Westcomb Shift LT Hoody - A hard shell when things get wet or I need extra wind protection. The Neoshell is very comfortable compared to some other materials. |
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| Brooks Running Mittens - I have had these a long time. They have been repaired at least once, but they are warm by themselves down to zero when running a good pace. |
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| Outdoor Research Alti Mitts - The ultimate mittens. Just the Gore-Tex shells are really warm. Add the Primaloft inners and you should have toasty fingers in temperatures well below zero. |
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| Icebreaker Oasis Leggings - Once again merino wool as the baselayer. |
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| Nike Drifit Running Pants - I have had these for ten years. |
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| Marmot Stretch Fleece Pant - Insulation layer to add when it gets cold or I slow down. |
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| The North Face Thermoball Snow Pant - This is the emergency insulation layer if I need it. It results in less mobility though. |
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| Smartwool Ultralight Sock - Merino base layer of course. |
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| RAB VB Socks - Pretty much a plastic bag. It creates a warm and sweaty micro-climate for my feet. |
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| Woolie Boolie - These are the socks I run in year around and I use them as my insulation layer. |
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| Asics GT 1000 3 GTX - The Gore-Tex version of my tried and true running shoes. This keeps my insulation layer dry from the outside while the VB sock keeps it dry from the inside. |
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| Outdoor Research Wrapid Gaiters - Keeps snow from getting to my ankles. |
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| IceSpikes - Ten of these in the bottom of each shoe guarantees no slippage. |
Now I can finally get to the start of the race. Most people stay in the town of Rice Lake where the race finishes. At 7:00 AM a bus takes the 80 mile racers to the town of Park Falls. After just over two hours the bus arrives at the start and everyone has time to get organized in the school gym before the 10:00 AM start. At the race start I believe the temperature was in the teens which would be the warmest it got for the race. The race starts for a little stretch through town and you are quickly on the beginning of the Tuscobia snowmobile trail. The trail is groomed and packed down by snowmobiles which makes for a good surface for dragging a sled. The fat tire bikes took off and were out of sight quickly. The few skiers mingled in with the runners. I was averaging 12-13 minute miles while alternating jogging and walking. The first 34 miles went very smooth and I averaged 13:48 over this stretch. At 34.75 miles is the only checkpoint of the 80 mile race and I arrived there around 6:00 PM. Kendra and Carson were there to greet me.
I knew from here on out I would only slow down now that I had been dragging a 21 pound sled for 8 hours and it was already getting colder so I took advantage of the warm building at the checkpoint to put on my Marmot stretch fleece pants under my running pants. I also made sure my nano air hoody was strapped on top of my gear for easy access. I ate a grilled cheese sandwich, refilled my snacks (nutty bars and little frozen wienies), and refilled my water bladder with my VegaSport electrolyte mix. 18 minutes had passed quicker than I realized, but I headed out to take on the remaining 45+ miles.
After getting the body heat back up, my body started to get tired as expected and I started to slow down. The body temperature drops with the lower effort level so I put on my Patagonia Air Hoody and Arctic Mitts with the inners. The temperature outside was dropping quickly and there was also a little breeze. My miles were now between 17 and 20 minutes each. While the mitts were keeping my fingers warm, I was struggling a bit when I had to take them out of the mitts to eat, drink, or adjust clothing. I wish I had put everything on and arranged it nicely while in the building because right now my facemask/neck gaiter/hood were a frozen twisted mess and I did not want to remove my mitts long enough to fix it. I really wanted one more warm place to stop and collect myself. I knew the town of Birchwood was my best bet, but I did not have it in me to get out my phone's map I prepared to check the distance. So I kept trudging along hoping every light in the distance would be Birchwood. As it got later I knew my chances of getting into a building were slim since the pizza place and gas station/convenience store had closed.
After what seemed like an eternity I reached the town of Birchwood after 3:00 AM. When I saw the owner of Paul's Pizza Den waving me towards his restaurant I was beyond excited. There was a 160 mile biker currently stopped there that was having issues keeping his toes warm. The owner proceded to give me a hot chocolate that was heavenly at this point. I took off most of my clothes and rearranged them nicely, tucking them in appropriately and getting everything just right. I drank and ate since I had been avoiding that to keep my hands warm. After about 30 minutes and a big thank you I packed up and headed out again. In the time I was there several others had also stopped there for a break.
Immediately after leaving I felt rejuvenated and put together a few good miles. Then my body remembered exactly what it had been doing for the last 19 hours and once again things slowed down. My back was getting pretty sore, pulling the sled was putting stress on places I do not normally have issues with when running. At this point the wind chill was also approaching negative 30 degrees. These last 16.5 miles were tough. I did not eat or drink anything and just kept moving fast enough not to turn into an icicle. My average pace over this section was around 20:00. The official finish is inside of the KOC hall since nobody wants to sit around outside. I finished with a time of 23:09 which was good for 5th place. 20 of the 36 runners to start the 80 mile finished.
Afterthoughts:
My gear all worked out pretty well. I would like to perfect a way though to eat a few more calories while keeping even my arctic mitts on. This was a new challenge and a way to actually get excited about winter and snow. I learned a lot and there is a lot of room for improvement if I decide to do the race again. I already promised Kendra I will not be doing the 160 next year.
Since I took so long to make this post I am already two weeks out from my next race, the Kettle Moraine 100 mile run on June 4th. Training has gone very well and I will try to get a race report out a little quicker this time.
