Addiction to stage races, severe foot pain, injury, infection, hyponaturemia, vomiting and nausea, diarrhea, rhabdomylosis, kidney failure, need for IV fluids, evacuation and hospitalization, heart attack, chest pain, dropping out, and death.

Rewards

Addiction to stage races, living big, experiencing cultural and geographical wonders, seeing remote parts of the world, sense of self-sufficiency and accomplishment, "forever" friends, extreme and unforgettable highs and lows, clairfying and exhilirating experiences.

Training

Principles:

• Consistency and specificity are key
• You are an experiment of 1:  do your homework, work with yourself and do experiments - figure out what's best for you!  There is no substitute for this.

General Guidelines:

• Start training 6 months prior
• Do 2-3 midweek runs, then one long effort (run, run/walk, or walk) on the weekend (15-25 miles)
• Increase your mileages over 3-4 weeks, then take an easier week for recovery
• Weekly training for the first 4 months will be 8-15 hours/week depending on your speed
• Be sure to include plenty of walking with your training.  You may plan on running the whole thing, but most everyone - even the fastest racers - will have to walk some of it.
• Include functional training 2x per week (lunges, squats, abdominal work)
• Start pack training 2-3 months prior to race
• Build up slowly with wearing the pack - don't get injured!

• Peak 2 weeks prior to departure, then taper
• Target a peak mileage 60-70 miles/week total (of walk/jog/run - on foot, basically)
• Do 50-75% of these miles with a pack
• Up to 20-22 lbs pack weight
• Include back-to-back long efforts (e.g. 25 miles one day, 20 the next)
• Expect to put in up to 20 hours/week, or more

Prior to Race:

• Be able to jog/walk 50K (32 miles).  Enter a 50K race!
• Be able to run/jog (no walking) 18-20 miles (no pack), no problem
• 20 miles of walk/jog with a 15-17 lb pack should feel pretty routine
• Do at least one 8+ hour effort, just to know how it feels mentally

Specificity (Depends on Race):

• Uneven terrain
• LONG uphills
• LONG downhills (6 miles or more - think Mt. Diablo, or Mt. Tam)
• Heat: schedule sauna sits 3-4x per week, starting 2 weeks prior to departure
• Elevation
• Sand (beach run/walks)
• Gravel
• Prolonged periods of flat

• Started training 2.5 months prior to the event, off the couch, with no prior running experience. (This person employed a personal trainer and went all-out.)
• Did not train with a pack
• Regular long-term runner, who did not increase mileage or train specifically for the race
• Trained only 25-35 miles a week running, with some cross training
• Got in only 2 or 3 long (5 hour+) efforts before the race

• Some people are just gifted or predisposed to endurance racing!
• In general, people who had success on minimal training were working off of a long-term endurance experience base.  As one highly experienced adventure racer once noted, 10 years of fitness means more than 10 months of training.
• It is possible that some (usually excellent) runners understate the degree to which they are training themselves - you just never know. 

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Equipment

Test everything in practice:

• Backpack
• Gaitors / gaitor attachment
• Race shoes sized up by 1/2 or a whole size - train in them!
• Hydration system
• Pack your race pack a week before departure - will it all fit?

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Food

General:

• Test all your food strategies in practice
• Do a 3-4 day food trial about 2-3 weeks prior to the race - eat only race foods!

Do experiments:

• What is your craving/tolerance of sweet vs. savory while running?
• What foods make you feel sick, or feel good while running?
• Find the optimal ratio for you - carbohydrate vs. protein vs. fats -- this varies wildly from person to person!
• Try experimenting with 'real' food (nuts, jerkey..) versus 'fake' food (powders, gels).  Some can get by on fake food only (seemingly simpler & often a weight savings) whereas others' bodies need real food, especially in the later days of the race. 
• Calorie/carb/fat/protien content & nutrition labels don't always tell the whole story!  Personal energy levels and digestive systems are ruthless dictators...and they don't give a darn about the latest sports nutrition claims.

Recommended Products:

     Fructose can cause vomiting for some people.  Two brands that offer products which do not contain fructose are:

• Succeed!
• Hammer Nutrition

• In combination, under race-like conditions. 
• Train with your race foods consistently to be sure they will work for you
• Again, do a food trial.  You might find out that you get sick of nuts after one day!
• Electrolytes
• Salt/electrolyte pills
• Energy drinks
• Bars, snacks

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Foot Care

General:

• Buy and read John Vonhof's "Fix Your Feet"
• Memorize the chapter on blister care
• Go to Zombierunner.com and order up your foot care kits/materials
• Practice several methods of blister care
• Practice with several kinds of tapes (micropore, kinesio-tex, etc.)
• Use tincture of benzoin to keep bandages affixed
• Practice getting your bandages wet to see if they will stay on!
• Practice with powder, hydropel, body glide and other kinds of anti-chafing products on your feet
• Experiment with different socks and sock combinations.  Some popular ones are Injiji, Wright Socks, and Thorlo.

Race Strategy

• Fix your own feet on-the-spot.  Do not make things worse by walking to get to doctors/checkpoints, that could be too long!  Also, the doctor may be occupied or unwilling to tape up your feet again.
• Do not plan to walk the whole thing.  This might be debatable.  What I will say is that your exposure to heat (terrain, elements, etc.) could be unreal. It is possible to do, but it just ends up being a massive amount of hours in the hot sun. Yeeeks!  Even slowly jogging 6 miles of race course a day will save you tons of time over the 6 days. 
• Move fast (i.e. jog/slog) when you can, walk when you can't.  Don't go bonkers, but don't worry about "saving yourself" for later in the race - the law of diminishing returns is in full effect.
• Do not show up injured - it will only get worse under the pressures of the race, and lead to other injuries, blisters, and exposure.
• Go light - use a small pack and pack only what you will need.  Clip off anything extra (buckles, straps, tags, webbing, etc.)
• Get lighter - lose weight if you can do so without compromising yourself - if nothing else it will be easier on your feet.
• Expect anything, regardless of what course setters, race directors, volunteers and other racers tell you!
• When you go for a pre-race checkup, ask your doctor for a course of Cipro and then be sure to also pack some immodium pills (not chewables).

That's It