The North Face

Jul 28 | Western States 100 – my thoughts from the race…

By The North Face

5am, 27 June 2009
Squaw Valley to Auburn
100.2 miles on a mixture of single track trails and fire roads
18,000ft up, 23,000ft down

Western States completely lived up it's reputation as the biggest and best 100miler in the US. It’s undoubtedly up there in the world standings too. Why? Because it has all the attributes of a great race and more; a historic route (it was used by prospective gold hunters to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains when they headed west in the mid 1800s), wild terrain, plenty of climb and descent, beautiful scenery, well-stocked aid stations with the most enthusiastic volunteers I have ever come across, a river crossing, extreme temperatures, a highly competitive field - the list can go on and on.

My race was like a dream. I took so much pleasure from actually being in the race - from taking part, from running the fabulous Western States trail - that despite all the low points I went through, I loved every single minute.

What I enjoyed most was the great sense of freedom that the wild surroundings provided. Most of the time I was running solo, it almost felt like I wasn't taking part in a race - just me, the trail and the environment, moving along as gracefully and efficiently as I could, enjoying the scent of the pine and the muted silence from the wooded surroundings.

The sense of freedom was helped by running lightweight. The Xenon double bottle waist pack was a perfect choice keeping bottles securely stowed and hands free to eat. The Voza trail shoes equally rose to the challenge, providing a great balance of comfort, lightweight speed and protection. It was a setup that worked well and allowed me to concentrate on running the race rather than worrying about kit and comfort. When I negotiated the notoriously hot series of canyons I also grabbed an E50 bottle holder. Filled with ice and water I used it to dowse myself down, keeping my core temperature as low as possible despite the soaring temperatures on the trail.

The race itself was an exciting affair. I paced it well, moving through the field consistently over the course of the race to a point where I could challenge for a top 3 spot in the last few miles. That I did, moving into 3rd place with a mile to go and ultimately finishing just 2minutes behind the 2nd place runner in a time of 16hours 54minutes.

The finish at Placer High School Stadium in Auburn made all the effort, all those long hard training runs and all the commitment worthwhile. It had been an incredible experience, one which I felt privileged to be part of.

- Jez Bragg

Jul 20 | Additional Equipment

By The North Face

- Keep in mind that it can be very cold on top of the mountains, especially during the night. It may be useful to have gloves and headband or bonnet in your backpack

- Take walking sticks with you! They can also be very useful for the downhill running, you have a better foothold with the sticks, especially in the case the paths are muddy

- Don’t forget a jacket that keeps you warm in case of rainy weather

- Take the best and lightest headlamp with you, you can get

- Absolutely necessary: trail running shoes! Wear them a lot of training kilometres in advance so that they get more flexible and that you know, where the critical points for blisters are. Before starting the race: make a flexible tape on the critical points to avoid blisters

- Take plasters with you!

- Elke Streicher

Jul 13 | Training

By The North Face

- One important thing is to get accustomed to backpack running in order to avoid excoriation on your back and to get the feeling for running with a backpack. Think in advance about the equipment you will need during the race and run with this fully loaded backpack. This will give you experience of where you put things most effectively, e.g. the bars should be simply accessible without having to drop off the backpack and to loose valuable time.

- Prepare yourself on being on the track such a long time. Forget the times of the usual races, you are at the UTMB, you will need double time for the same distance.

- Sure, it is very useful training in a hilly environment and prepare for the altitude difference, but you can also do that with mountaineering, this will give you a good feeling and experience for the rocky trails and train you for the downhill running on loose stones

- Very important seems to me to learn how to cope with sleep derivation - you will start in the evening and most probably you need to survive two nights - it would be helpful to do in advance a 24 hours race - so you can learn how to overcome the fatigue!

- Try to focus training on being on the track a lot of hours and not necessarily to make a lot of kilometres, an essential point is to learn to be patient and enjoy the way!

- Elke Streicher

Jul 13 |

By James Pearson

We had a lazy start today, arriving at the cliff at 4pm, just as a huge thunderstorm developed. The gentle breeze turned into a gale, and Em and I were quickly chilled to the bone. Earlier, in the 30 degree campsite, I had shrugged off Emily’s advice to take a sweater, a choice I was now regretting. I really wanted to try Bah Bah Black Sheep, and so sheepishly asked Em if I could climb in her hoodie in exchange for my waterproof shell.

What a sight! Me swinging around getting blown all over the place wearing a skin tight girls hoodie, and Emily lovingly shivering away below on belay duty in multiple multicoloured shells. I went bolt to bolt as quick as I could and happily found the moves not to bad, linking the route in a few sections.

The route is a strange affair, with very varied climbing and an unusual crux. There are two points I think may prove difficult on a redpoint; the jump after the crux moves, and a dynamic lock at the end of all the hard climbing. We only have a few days left in Ceuse before moving north to Chamonix so I’m not getting my hopes up too much, just enjoying climbing in a new area.

Jul 13 |

By James Pearson

I opened one of my last posts on my other blog talking about slackness but I feel my blog activity of late has redefined the word. As you may already know, throughout April and May I was part of The North Face Summit Series Road trip and since time was incredibly short, I didn’t feel a pressing need to complete my personal blog, especially since we were already writing a daily account for the trip. Unfortunatley, this habit carried over once I returned home, days turned into weeks, weeks to months, and here we are, a long long way down the line with very little said.

The truth is you haven’t really missed much. I have been trying to maintain/improve upon the stamina I found during the roadtrip, which has mainly involved tedious circuits down the wall. But gains feel minimal and slow coming, and motivation is often hard to come by. Giving up and going bouldering or trad shuffling is certainly a tempting alternative but if I can break through this wall I hope the grass will be a lot greener on the other side.

To celebrate Emily finishing Bar school, we are currently on our first climbing trip together in two years. Six days in and we are camping at Ceuse which is wonderful. Believe it or not, this is my first time at the crag and it is certainly living up to expectations, both the routes and the walk in.

Long walks are most definitely not my thing, and on the first day I was really feeling the pain; especially after leaving the car keys in my sack at the top of the hill and having to do the entire thing twice!