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