My Moab Red Hot 55k Race Plan

Gabe Peterson · February 11, 2017 9:48PM

Race Plan: Moab Red Hot 55k

Goals:

My love of Moab, UT is well chronicled. It is one of my favorite places on the planet. I finished last season with my first 50-miler there at the Dead Horse Ultra in November. I can’t think of a better way to start what portends to be an epic season than with the Moab Red Hot 55k

My fitness is not where I anticipated it would be. Through December and early January I was the sickest I’ve been in years, limiting me to minimal training. I was also stupid busy with work as the division of the medical device company I work at was spun off as separate publicly traded company, and I led the IT team. I was able to claw my way back the last few weeks.

My plan is to treat this as a long training day, albeit a fun one in an epic location. This is in route to the Antelope Island Buffalo Run 50-miler next month, which I will treat as a race. The goal is to build a solid run foundation early in the season for the Leadman competition this summer.

Picture from a run along part of the race course on Poison Spider Mesa in 2015.

Gear Checklist:

There are no drop bags allowed for this race due to the remoteness of the course. That simplifies things in that I don’t have to plan what to put in drop bags. However, it means I must carry everything I need and there will be no contingency of backup gear along the way.

Running Gear

· Hoka Clifton 2 running shoes (to absorb the pounding from running over slickrock) and socks

· EN visor and running sunglasses

· Aftershokz headphones

· Salomon S-lab running shorts

· Salomon long sleeve running jersey

· Race belt with S-tabs, basic first aid, and Advil in pocket

· Garmin Fenix 3 and HR strap

Running Vest

· 6 Gu Salted Caramels and Gu Chomps in front pockets

· 2 soft flasks with 17oz of Tailwind Nutrition

· 2 soft flasks with Tailwind powder but no water in right and left zipper pockets – I’ll fill these with water at aid stations

· Phone in left zipper pocket with music playlist ready to go

· Light weight running jacket in back pocket, or wear it at start if cold

Race Morning:

· Wake up at 6:00AM

· Eat + coffee up

· Apply sunscreen

· Depart by 6:45AM to get to race start by 7:00AM

· Drink sports drink on drive, stop drinking an hour before the race

· Huddle in car until 10 minutes before race start at 8:00AM to stay warm

· Vega pre-workout supplement 15 minutes before start to get pumped up

Race:

Strategy

Moab Red Hot has approximately 4000ft of elevation gain over about 34 miles. I’ve run parts of the course. It shares the first 4.5 miles with Dead Horse from last year, and I ran the last few miles on Poison Spider Mesa. My take is that it will be 95% runnable. However, it will have long stretches of slickrock. Running on the slickrock can be more jarring than pavement. I've done a few road runs to prepare, and I'll wear my cushiony Hoka Clifton 2 shoes for protection. The course profile is on Trail Project.

The weather forecast has the temperatures in the high 30F range at the beginning, warming into the 50s towards the finish. There is a possibility of rain – and even snow. Since there are no drop bags allowed in this race, I’ll have to carry all my gear. I have a hooded ultralight running jacket that should help insulate me from the elements.

I followed the below strategy for Dead Horse, and it worked brilliantly. No need to fix something that isn’t broken.

1. Go stoopid easy, or stay in my box. Completely ignore pace – it's just an output in trail running. Keep my heart rate at or below 145 BPM. I averaged 138 BPM for Dead Horse, but I’m planning for a higher HR due to the shorter course and being slightly undertrained. If I break into the 150s, I start striking matches. Walk if my HR hits 150 or my RPE-meter is telling me to.

2. Stay on top of nutrition. If this means loitering at an aid station for an extra minute or two, then that's fine. I'll have two extra 17oz soft flasks with Tail Wind powder to fill with water at aids stations and reload along the run. I’ll feed off the course once those are spent.

3. If something is bothering me, take care of it right away. For example, if I feel a rock in my shoe, stop and take it out. This avoids that minor annoyance turning into a debilitating blister later.

4. Remember my One Thing. This will probably be the most undertrained I’ve been going into a 50k, so there’s a good chance that it’s going to hurt like hell at some point. There will be a day when I can't do this crazy shit – but that is not this day.

Navigation

I'll have the course downloaded to my Fenix 3. However, if it should die, memorize the below trails.

Approximate Distance	Waypoint
Start to 5 miles	Gemini Bridges Road
5 to 13 miles	Metal Masher
13 to 17 miles	Arth’s Pasture
17 to 18 miles	Gemini Bridges Road
18 to 22 miles	Gold Bar
22 to 28 miles	Golden Spike
28 miles to finish	Poison Spider

Nutrition Plan

I'll rely primarily on the nutrition that I'll carry. But if something looks good at an aid station, I'll go for it.

Aid Station Number	Miles	Miles to Next AS
1	5.5	7.5
2	13	4
3	17	6
4	23	6
5	29	5 (finish)

Target: Consume about 250 calories per hour.

Nutrition	Frequency	Calories / hour	Total calories
2-3 oz of Tailwind	Every 1 mile	~200	1600
Gu gel with caffeine to stay alert	Every 1-2 hours	50-100	500
Gu Chomps	As desired	~50	400
S-tab salt pills. Take one if hands start feeling chalky.	As needed	0	0

Closing Thoughts:

This will be a great way to start the 2017 season! Thanks for reading!

Peter Noyes · February 12, 2017 1:40PM

I love the idea of carrying empty soft flasks pre-filled with powder. I might steal that one. I hate messing around with separate baggies of powder and trying to refill bottles/flasks.

Any plan for additional water? 4 17oz bottles of liquid would not be enough for me. For myself I would carry an extra handheld of just water, or drink extra at the aid stations.

Gabe Peterson · February 12, 2017 4:55PM

Peter, please do. When I read that drop bags were not allowed, I was worried that I wouldn't have enough nutrition. The sports drink on these events is usually super diluted. I've taken the packets of Tailwind on long runs, but it always was a mess getting it into the soft flask. One morning it occurred to me to just put the powder in there in advance and fill it with water at an aid station. If this works out, I'll use it again for long training runs and other 50k races to avoid the hassle of drop bags.

I usually go through about one soft flask per hour when it's cool out, so I'll switch to whatever they have on the course once the four flasks are done. That translates to probably two soft flasks from the course.