Superior 100 Mile Endurance Run

               Hi Ultra World! Below is my experience in the 2022 Superior 100. Overall, I finished 2nd Female and 6th Overall in a time of 26 hours and change. Hope the feedback on pacing, training, crew and nutrition can help another runner take this course and crush it!

Pacing: The first 5 miles were my fastest of the whole race (sub 9 minute miles) so that may qualify as “going out too fast” lol, but these are also some of the most flat miles you will encounter over the next 24-30 hours. This is some pavement/asphalt to get to the trail, so just go with it! I remember feeling very “on top of” my pace, so it’s okay to have your first few miles be your fastest on a course like this one. Once we hit the trail and through to the first and second aid stations I was frequently checking in with my body, asking questions like ‘does this feel too fast? As well as saying reminders of ‘all day pace’. I POWERED through on the uphill’s, even making it up to Bean & Bear in 38 minutes. The section I had prepared myself to be really challenging – from Silver Bay to County Rd 6 (miles 23-42) was one of my quickest, feel-good sections. The downhills were a little sketchy due to the wetness (this was a very rainy day) so I took them conservatively to prevent an early fall. When the trail was flat I “took the trail”, any opportunity I could to just RUN it. There was no walking in miles 1-57.

Form/Course Specific Training: It’s hard to find vertical training near the cities in Minnesota. I took advantage of a .5-.75 hill in a state park I love and would run repeaters up/down it for 60 minutes at least once a week (to achieve 1500-2,000 ft in a 60-65 minute workout) Surprisingly, it was the flat sections that proved to be a challenge in the second half of the race for me, giving some pain in the knee area. Uncommon though, as I have run this course twice. Trekking Poles helped significantly in miles 55 forward. Specifically allowing me to power up Carlon’s Peak. I didn’t use them prior to Mile 55.

Nutrition: What did I use for aid station food/hydration? What did I bring with me? Any nausea, cramping, dizziness? I feel I had a very strong nutrition plan for this race day that was executed in a way that powered me through to the finish. I can do gels, so I took pre-dominantly gels to get the 300 calories an hour I am partial to. Took my first gel at Mile 5. I carried 1.5L of Tailwind for every section of the course, so I was sipping on this the entire 26 hours. I had 3 different single bottles of Perpetuem, but it was chocolate flavor and by the third one on Mile 55 or 60 it made me feel a little ill so I told my crew no more of that. I went through 26 GU’s (variety) & Gel’s (Maurten), 2 PB&J’s, a Cup of Noodles, a bowl of hash browns, and 2 chocolate chip cookies. I believe I had excellent nutrition, never an issue with a sideache, nauseous or dizziness. When my mood started to drop (mile 73ish) I ate everything I could find in my vest knowing it to be probably my calories in a deficit after a long full day of running. I felt better as a result by Mile 78 and could pick it up again. I didn’t really use any of the aid station food, not because it wasn’t fully stocked (because it is) but because my crew understands what I need, we prepare accordingly and it moves me through the aid stations quicker.

Going into the race, I had two key portions of the race I wanted to “nail” and I did. The first was the Silver Bay to County Rd 6 stretch (20 miles with only a drop bag and no access) and the second was Temperance to Sawmill (uphill, mile 80 into the race. Take a ton of calories from 75-80 to prepare you to power up). I moved very quickly up Temperance. Back in 2021 I walk crawled up this and felt very defeated, and like there was no way I could still run another 20 miles to finish. This year, I ran every inch. The sun was still down and besides climbing the large rocks by carlton, I moved as quickly as I could. So encouraging that same course can produce different experiences with adequate course specific training, or focusing in on traditionally difficult section of the course (by reading up in places like Ultra crew Hub) and modeling them in your training (or visualization exercises)

I didn’t hit a “low’ as far as wanting to quit or being unable to fathom “completing the rest of the distance” – all feelings so strong in my memory from 2021. Some of the toughest sections for me were the stretches between 70-100 that were flat. I just couldn’t get my stride going again. My body just tightened up even though, during this race, I was adamant about not sitting down at the aid stations, even to change my shoes at mile 51 I hit the curb just long enough to change them, then popped back up. I wanted to keep the momentum going. My crew later said that Sugarloaf was one of the toughest sections for me as far as actually running. I think I had done too much walking in Crosby, the section just prior, that it was hard to return to my gait again. I preferred the uphills or downhills.

For this race, I emptied my tank. At Oberg I knew if I could run the last 7.1 miles in 2 hours I would get sub 26 hours. ame short of that, but it’s good to do race match and give yourself some within race goals to shoot for.

Random takeaways that I hope could help someone else: I used an older pair of trail shoes for the race, wanting to not be a rookie and run in new shoes. But these were too small, needed 1/2 size bigger. Toenails were destroyed as a result. Need to go a half size up. I gained 7 pounds on race day then lost it all within a week following the race. Your weight swings. Get those calories in! Pick a crew who knows you better than you know yourself. Mine ignore me when I say I am sick of tailwind and just want water. It’s important if you aren’t feeling dizzy/nauseous but it’s an emotion preference, that your crew stick to the game plan.

Because of this awesome crew, I spent less than 1 minute at the aid stations until Mile 77 headed into Cramer it started to be about 3-5 minutes with food intake.