UROC 100K (2017) // Ranger Beads, I Wuv U!

Race was good and fun. New personal-record distance! Beat my stretch goal by almost half an hour. Got new and deliciously obnoxious hardware:

Ate at least a whole pizza afterwards. Curled up by the firepit, at one point trying to reheat cold pizza over the grate.

Single-legged stepped-up onto the podium, hopped down, and didn’t blow a quad.

No new toenails for the collection, but a couple of wicked blisters.

Best of all, though, I managed to bust through my usual mid-ultra doldrums and disheartenments and keep up a nice and steady pace instead of crashing and crapping out in the last ten miles like at Bel Monte.

Thus, ranger beads – I wuv u.

Given that, like, 90% of the tiny amount of traffic here is due to a comparison between LaRue and GORUCK rifle cases, you’re probably familiar with ranger beads. If not, here are a few links.

Every ten (10) four-count steps (so, “left, right, left, one; left, right, left, two…”) move a little bead over. After moving all nine beads, next time move one of the big beads. Then start moving the little beads back. When all nine big beads are moved, the next time a big bead would be moved, switch directions on those, and you’ve got a thousand counted out.

Of course, I do wear a GPS watch, so I wasn’t worried about distance, per se. But ~2 miles (1,000 counts per cycle, 4 steps per count, 2’6″ to 3′ per step) is enough of a chunk to seem like a chunk, but still short enough (<30 minutes, usually, unless it’s hella uphill) not to turn into a drag.

Bottom line, it’s an instantiation of the old saw “How do you run a thousand miles hundred kilometers? One step at a time.”

1. Something to focus on other than legs, stomach, feet, chafing, etc.
2. Kept the cadence up. Even when I walked a stretch, keeping up with “one, two, three, one; one, two, three, two…” kept the pace brisk.
3. Built-in timing. Some of the slightly uphill sections I’d run 80/90, walk 20/10, repeat. Was practically automatic with the beads instead of having to look at my watch. Also a good way to keep up a steady eating and drinking pace. E.g., drink every 100, eat every 1000.