Morning Trail Run

Kodiak 100 Miler by UTMB (tied for 6th overall!!)

Pacing Millwood for Danny and Rosemary

Teton Crest Uppercut FKT

‘To land a vault, you have to believe you can land a vault.’

After two prior DNFs in attempts to go 100 miles in mountainous trail races, a part of me was wondering if I was a delusional egotist to think I have a chance in hell to run a 100 miler in 20 hours - that’s what my projected A goal splits read on a paper I handed to my wife Mariah. When anyone else asked, I’d say under 24 is my goal, I don’t even know if I truly believed it was possible, however, ‘this time it will be different,’ is not something I believe in, unless significant changes occur.
After a DNF in April due to my stomach completely blowing up and some post covid complications and a month long expedition to Alaska in July, I dedicated August, September and beginning of September to running. As little as it seems, it was enough to practice my race nutrition on every long run, run a lot more in the heat, add strides/speed intervals, volume I can absorb, get more specific workouts and a few big days to practice with all the gear I was planning to use. I almost fully abandoned climbing! Original, I started to climb because it seemed impossibly hard, but after years of doing it, climbing first ascents on big mountains became a lot less of a challenge, especially compared to trying to perform up to my potential running a 100 miler, with little running history, it seemed insane. I knew I can walk it in 30 hours, but to keep pushing reasonably hard for the duration of the event was my goal. Different people with different fitness want different things out of different races they run. For me, what motivates my training is to continue learning about small tweaks I can make that will help me became a more universal athlete. I believe the aerobic gains and fueling knowledge I gained in training for this 100M race will directly transition into alpinism, in the future, and the day I had proved to me that potential I believe I have is not a delusion. I begun to run to prepare for the Goliath, which is now the biggest ridge traverse in the western hemisphere. After putting in fraction of aerobic training I am able to absorb now. After the traverse itself I had a moment of enlightenment wondering if Goliath is possible after such minimal preparation, what can be possible after years of dedicated training, learning from what some of the best endurance athletes do? Things significantly more grand than Goliath…

Came into the first aid station in about 120th place from 299 participants.
After that, I ran with a bunch of cool people, passing only when someone seemed ready to be passed or if we leave aid stations at different times.
I used all of my own nutrition this time so it made it a little less efficient and my kit heavier. My plan was to take in 350-400 calories an hour with 1000-1200mg of salt, since I tested my sweat concentration to be precise, and if I use aid station stuff I can’t even have a ballpark idea if I’m taking too much or too little. I also practiced with what I consumed so it was important to eat same things I have experience with. UTMB’s sponsor is NAAK which is a shame because I and most people I talk to don’t have good luck with their drinks. :/ Knowing how well concentrated aid station drinks are is also a total mystery that I don’t want to rely on for a race I’m putting so much time, effort and money into.
Based on my moving time, I finished the distance in just under 20 hours and had just over an hour of aid station stops. Which is a lot. My final elapsed time was almost exactly 21 hours. I don’t know if I will run many other organized races, as I’d like to get back into climbing and alpinism and be more dedicated, but I enjoy running and if I do, would be helpful to be more efficient in my stops. Would help to raise a ceiling more and become a better runner, as well as to have more durable body with a few more years of PT.
I can’t be much happier about all the people I’ve met and had a chance to chat with during the race, am super grateful to all the volunteers serving whiny toddlers in expensive outfits in the middle of the night, my wife Mariah for being my one and only rock and Alyssa Clark  and her husband Cody for offering to pace, as well as babying me after the race. I wish I had those hours to get to know them better, who knows maybe we would have pushed it to top 5😝😎🥳 but to be real, my running fitness would probably not allow me to cut 1.5 from my time. Maybe 20 minutes from aid stations, maybe 15-20 more minutes if I pushed myself a little harder, but to push my pace much more with the fitness I have now, would not be wise. You gotta be ambitious yet realistic. For starters, I need to figure out what causes my heart rate to jump so much on the start line and to fix that. 

As far as the race goes, three big curveballs I got were starting with a heart rate about 10-15 beats higher than my normal for the same effort/pace, getting pain in the same area I had a stress fracture in 2021 and not knowing where my pacers were at mile 60 and 80. Pain in my foot was what led to my first DNF. This time I had a pair of shoes half a size larger to change into, which seemed to fix the issue after I saw Mariah 60 miles into the race. Issue begun about 45 miles into the race.
My pacers didn’t show up because my provided bib was not functioning well or something which led to me being marked as DNF instead of giving my estimated time of arrival to my crew. It would be super helpful to have a person to run with and help me get through the aid stations faster, since I had to mix all of my own electrolytes, as I carried and used my own food. However I didn’t get too bummed since I was not even expecting pacers while on the way to the race! It was a last minute offer and I turned up the volume of my headphone and didn’t let it get to me. 

After working up the field slowly, I finished in a style I can’t be happier about - holding hands with another good human after running about 5 of the last miles together. I’m not much of a competitive racer, but I surely did push myself on this day, so did he and trying to go 30 seconds or a body length faster than the other person seems kind of petty for a 100 mile effort. If we are happy with our company and effort, there is no reason to speed up or slow down, especially as we kept on actually running. As the last 0.2 miles came into the view I don’t even know if I wanted to finish as much, the celebration of this training block was coming to an end, the journey that started in 2021 was coming to an end. On to the next chapter…I don’t know what the future holds, but it won’t be easy! :)

Top Sports

Vitaliy M.

Kodiak 100 Miler by UTMB (tied for 6th overall!!)

13 Photos

7 Comments

Splits

Sign up to view more activities from Vitaliy M.

Morning Trail Run

Kodiak 100 Miler by UTMB (tied for 6th overall!!)

Pacing Millwood for Danny and Rosemary

Teton Crest Uppercut FKT

Morning Trail Run

Want to see more?

The #1 app for runners and cyclists

Sign Up for Free. Track your progress and reach goals. Join 100 million active people on Strava.

See More from Vitaliy