As I stare down the barrel of my first 100-miler in two weeks, one of the main x-factors is not having any real idea when I should expect to reach aid stations, especially once on the second half of the course. This is key since I am my own crew and pacer, so I will be relying on drop bags.

Any advice from 100-mile vets would be appreciated (I have done my first two 50-milers this year (April and June)  ....

Cheers!

I was told to take my marathons time and multiply by 6 or 7. That worked pretty well for me. My best marathon was 4:33 and my 100 miler was 29:30. The first 26 miles were road and took me 5:30. Once I hit muddy trail my average pace dropped from 12's to 14-16's pretty quickly and got even slower overnight. You could look at the splits from a similar hundred for people around your expected finish time and make an educated guess but really anything can happen on race day so just roll with it! The biggest thing is to have fun!

I have never run a marathon (unless it was part of a 50k or 50-miler) on trail, so the best I can do is go based on the Lake Sonoma 50 (9:21 with 11,000 feet of elevation gain and loss) and the Leadville 50 (10:07 with about 7,500 feet of elevation gain but at altitude).

Since this is the Leadville 100, my realistic best case is about 26 hours, and I am hoping to get in under 29 hours so I am not pushing the cut-off). Since it is an out and back course, I am going to place drop bags throughout.

I would love to start with a light pack and a flashlight for the first bit, stash the flashlight at the 26 mile point along with a light jacket/vest depending on weather.

I might use handhelds and a belt going over Hope pass into the half way point and back. The bigger pack with more room for night clothing, headlamps, etc, will probably be at mile 60.

Other things to stash are spare shoes, shirts, bottles, lube, and lots of food.

I wouldn't worry too much about food. The LT100 aid stations are loaded with tons of options. But if you have very specific needs, you may want to stash something.

 

I drafted a 25 hour race plan for another first time runner. I can send it to you if you give me an email address. It gives a detailed course and aid station descriptions and advice on how to run each section of the race. You could modify the split times between aid stations to make it work for you. I could cut and paste it on here, but it's several pages long.

Thanks. I sent you a PM.

As for food, I am going to do liquid nutrition for a good part of it, I hope (hey, they don't have Hammer stuff, it seems)

Does the Leadville site track aid station split times in prior year's results? If so, that could be a way to estimate some things. It's what I did the years I ran MMT and it worked out pretty well. Used my expected finishing time than looked at other runners' splits from years past with a similar time, taking into account there would be some anomalies. With an out/back course it should not be too difficult to plan. The location for the flashlight/headlamp is the most important. Error on the conservative side. It's not like you can't carry it until it does get dark.

Watoni,  I don't have a guess as to pace.  Each run is so different.  I guess you may take your Leadville 50 miler and figure off of that, but of course slow it down a bit for the full 100.  Actually we need to get together and introduce ourselves because it's likely we may bump into each other on the course.  (I suggest the Silver Dollar one evening.)  I'm guessing that I'll only see lace_up once due to the out-n-back 'cause he'll be way up ahead of me.

 

lace_u, I just sent you a PM, would like to see that plan...  I may need a "way over the top" goal plan.  Ha, Ha.

You guys can find me at the Silver Dollar Saloon pretty much anytime. If I'm not there, ask the bartender (Marvin) where I am. He usually knows.