Outrun 24 (O24)

O24 had never been on my radar but a friend of mine has had this on his list for a while now. we decided we would get on the wait list and do it together. We both made it into the event but life happens and he was not able to come on race day. This years hard winter and spring made it a challenge to get ready for this event plus I had no idea what to expect out of my Achilles. The event was awesome and though I did not reach my personal goal I was very happy to get 65 miles with NO pain in my Achilles! The following is from my Hammer blog. I know its kind of lazy to just cut and paste it but with a new job I am struggling to find time to document my adventures. I am confident life will even out and my blogs will improve
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I went into this event after a great duathlon and Army Physical Fitness test. Given I have fought an Achilles issue for about 2 years I was excited to see how my body responds.

The event is a 24 hour 1 mile loop style race. I had a goal of at least a 100k but really wanted 100 miles. I was not willing to relapse my Achilles though, so I decided that with any twinge I would stop. I took a bunch of Hammer samples to the race director and had him put them in the race packets, he seemed happy about that.

The day was unseasonably warm but clear. I felt good and was fueled well. Really my only concern was that i had not had enough quality long runs. After chatting with a bunch of folks I started getting focused on the task at hand and at 8 am we were off for a long adventure.

I felt great on the first few loops, my crew even gave me a few stern talks about pace, I didnt feel that I was putting in much effort I was just fueled real well. along the way I ran with one of the race directors and a Hammer team mate, which was very awesome. I was on pace for the goal of 100 miles and feeling great.

By late morning the temperature had risen a lot, due to the tough long winter we have not had any warm weather training and the heat took its toll on the field. I was able to stay steady until around the 50k point where my hips started getting really tight. I stopped for a few minutes to stretch and see if I could get them loose but nothing seemed to work. I had only fueled on gels up to this point so I had a Hammer raw energy bar to get a few extra calories in.

The hips didnt get better and as evening set in the temperature cooled but I it was getting harder to take steps. I stopped for 10 minutes to elevate my legs to get blood flowing and took the time to take a nap. When I got moving again I knew 100 miles was not in the cards and decided to get to the 100k point and see how things looked.

At 100k my energy was good but hips were not working well so I did 3 more laps and called it a day. It was a great early season event and I used about 17 hours of the 24 so I was happy. Hammer fueled me the entire way until about mile 55 when it was clear my day would be ending a few hours early, thats when I enjoyed some pizza.

My fueling plan was to have 2 gels each hour and if I need more calories I would use the Raw energy bars. I drank Sustained Energy and used 1 Endurlyte an hour. I also took 2 Endurance amino's, 1 race day boost, 1Tissue Rejuvenator every 5 hours. I used Recoverite and Tissue Rejuvenator.

I am in the 2nd week of recovery since O24 and about 3 weeks out from the Duathlon and I feel great. I will be right back at it on Tuesday to start another training block! Thank you Hammer

#howihammer

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Gear:

Hammer race kit

Columbia Montrail Rogue FKT
Swifwick wool socks
Columbia Titan Ultra shorts
Amphipod handheld
Sunnto Ambit2

Fuel:
Hammer Gel
Hammer Sustained Energy
Hammer Raw Energy Bar
Hammer Tissue Rejuvenator
Hammer Endurance Amino
Hammer Race Day Boost
Hammer Recoverite
*later in the race Pizza

#Howihammer #Chaseadventure #hammernutrition #swiftwick #columbia

Returning to Blog

After a couple years with a website I have returned to the blog, just cant justify the cost of site and hosting.

2018 has brought me my 2nd year of support from Swiftwick socks and Columbia-Montrial as well as my 3rd year with Hammer Nutrition. 2018 Will also be a year that I try some different types of events. I have already done one duathlon, I have another on the schedule. I will also try a triathlon and a 24 hr running event.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of running in the New York Duathlon in Randolph NY. Here is a blog I wrote for Hammer about the event.
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This was my first event of 2018. My training has not been on point due to the very tough winter we had so I had a bit of concern about how my cycling would be. I also had an added level of concern since the very next day i would have my Army Physical Fitness test so I had to have some left in the tank for that.

When I got to the park that the duathlon would start I realized that it would be a pretty small event. We had a very cool and wet day, 45 degrees and misty rain then a down pour near the end of the event. This event was a 2 mile run, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run.

At 9 am we lined up to start and I came out in about 5th place and worked my way up to 2nd. I am still slow in the transition and came out 5th. I was able to get 2 spots back with in the first 5 miles then a guy on a tri bike blew by me and I fell back to 4th spot. I hammered hard but could not close the gap, the 3 in front of me obviously had spent a lot of time on their Tri bikes and just kept pulling away. I had not been on mine since buying it in Jan so I decided to use my road bike. Over the last few miles I did all I could do to keep close to 3rd place but I could no longer see him.

As I came into transition back to run I had 2 people real close to me and I heard my friend in the back ground saying " come on Rob, hurry up Rob" i had thought she was yelling because I had those 2 in transition with me, I found out later it was because she thought I could catch 3rd place on the run. As I made my way out on the last leg my focus was keeping 4th spot but at about the half mile mark I was starting to see 3rd place and as I was getting closer to the turn around 1st was coming back, a bit behind him was 2nd and by the turn around I had passed 3rd. Now in 3rd place I pushed hard thinking that maybe I had a chance for 2nd. That didnt happen but finishing 3rd in this event in these conditions made me very happy.

The very next day I took the Army Physical Fitness test and scored a 299 out of a possible 300 ( I am normally max it out at 300) but considering what I did Saturday I was very content and I had the highest score in my unit. Thank you Hammer for the continued support and great products. Now on to Out-run 24 in Ohio!

Hammer On

Rob

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Gear for race:

Hammer Tri Kit

Suunto Ambit 2

Topo running shoes

Specialized Bike

Specialized Helmet

Specialized Cycling Shoes

Swiftwick Vision Socks

Fuel:

Pre-Race

Hammer Protein Bar

1 Hammer Tropical Gel

During Race

Hammer Sustained Energy drink mix

After Race

Recoverite

Tissue Rejuvenator 

I hope to keep this blog up like I used to and hope you enjoy reading about my adventures. 

Hammer on and Chase Adventure