The Sluice Box 100

I have so far completed the half of the Alaska Slam, Susitna 100 and White Mountain 100. With two summer races left, brings new challenges ahead. 

The course discrimination reads, "the potential for getting lost on the trail is HIGH". With my sense of direction guess im getting lost, was my thought. Definitely going to bring a map. 

I have never ran a summer 100. The Sluice Box 100 is my next 100 miler. This will be three out of four 100 milers to complete this year. The distance is familiar but the conditions will be the biggest challenge. I love winter running. It took two years of year around running before I realized, winter is the most comfortable time to run. There is less chafing, snow trails provide no real concern for footing and Im comfortable breathing the cold air. Developing a strategy how to over come the summer conditions has been on my mind for the last two months.

 My strategy throughout the race is to be comfortable despite the heat. Ill change out clothes frequently, fresh socks and shirts with the help of my Dad Pat Laws as my crew member. The Sluice Box allows people to crew for an individual racer. Racing crew serves a lot like a pit crew in NASCAR but instead of jetfuel ill be digesting gues and bars. A crew can be one or more people. Typical responsibilities would be to refresh the racers water bottles, pack food, change socks, lance blisters etc... depends on what you agree on. I'll probably be doing my own lancing to spare him that enjoyment. Im hoping the frequent clothes change and using something called Blistop spray (kind of top secret and cant really talk about) will prevent chaffing and blisters. 

Second consideration is the terrain i have been training on. My pre race training vs now has changed. I started out 90% road 10% trail for the winter races, now 90% trail and 10% road is my method of training. I like to train in the conditions im racing in. Winter training was normally long runs on the road and sometimes Dan Moler for hills. Now the training will call for speed, foot work and hills. The terrain will be technical,  the downhills will be fast and the uphills will be frequent. To be ready for this shift I have put in a lot of trail running and less into road. As a result my stability muscle will get stronger and hopefully have more runs then injuries. 

My last thought to bet the heat in Fairbanks is sauna training. I need to better climatized to dry hot conditions. While in a sauna I just need to raise my heart rate up by jogging in place to get the affect.  Start off with just a few minutes and a letter of water and gradually increase time. 

Looking at the map this looks to be my most challenging course but I think with the aid of my father out on the course, tons of water stations, and possibly my method of training will lead me to success. 

The Sluice Box will be June 28th.