Here are 9 things to consider if you are about to attempt the Eastern States 100 Ultra-marathon:
- The first 40 miles are the hardest
Your legs are going to be worked. Don’t let this fool you into thinking you’re toast. Because your hiking muscles are sore, your shuffle muscles just got a rest for 40 miles, they’re going to take over for the next 60. It’s faster than a walk, slower than a run and you can go all day. Most people start out too fast and then death march the last 30 miles. Run light, smooth, and easy and if you do that? You’ll be going fast. There’ll be some climbs and descents these last 60 miles, but a lot more runnable sections too. Plus, you gotta go through the night.
- Go out fast, but slow down
The big climbs in the beginning cause congo lines – everyone walking single file behind one another. (hopefully, the person in front of you doesn’t stink)
There’s a big climb at mile 3. Mile 2 you dip into the woods. I like to stay in the front of the middle of the pack for the start of a race, or the back of the front of the pack. I often get passed by people too leading into the climb. I don’t want to start out too fast to give my body time to adjust to running, but not too slow to where I’m waiting in line to climb the hills…. Some people lose 20 minutes because of the Congo lines… It’s an art and different for everyone.
Just know if you’re passing people in the first few miles, you’re probably going too fast.
- It’s all about getting to the next aid station
It’s not a 103 mile race, it’s just running from aid station to aidstation. Sometimes that’s 5 miles, sometimes 10. Eastern states is going to chew you up and spit you out, so making the race more manageable helped me alot.
- Ask the volunteers what’s coming up.
Sometimes they’ll say “up, down, up” and describe the terrain
Sometimes they’ll describe the elements “Exposed section, and that sun is strong” got it. I dumped ice down my back and it kept me cool for the entire section. I also put a bandana on to keep the sun off my head.
All it takes is one nugget to help you and it’ll be worth it.
- Make aid stations quick
What do you need? Get squared up, refocused, and head back on your way. Aidstations are the only place you can really DNF so get out QUICK. You don’t want to forget anything, and you don’t want to dilly dally either. An art.
- Poles or no poles?
I never used poles but they sure looked like they would help. In fact, I ran this race in road shoes too.
- Carry more fluids than not enough
…. or a life straw. The worst thing you can do during an ultra is to run out of water and get dehydrated. It’s like running out of gas for your car. It does more harm than good. I carried 2.5 Liters of water and didn’t run out at all. I know on some of the longer sections, people only carrying a Liter of water ran out and eventually dropped out….
It might be an extra 2 or 3 pounds of gear, but I think it’s worth it to carry that little extra weight. If I finish 5 or 10 minutes slower, is that the end of the world? It’s better than a DNF.
- River crossing
Use two hands on the tether line, not just one. The two hands give you a lot more stability. If you go one handed you’ll fall all types of crazy (ask me how I know)
And have your electronics in a bag too, I didn’t expect to fall in but I went up to my chin (3 times)…
- Lights
The trails are dark, like dark dark, and the brighter the light, the better. I really like using a headlamp to shoot a direct beam out and picking up the trail markers, with a flashlight in my hand to light the trail in front of me. I carry a backup flashlight too just in case and all my lights run on AAA batteries, which I carry plenty of extras. Each light is about 400 lumens and that gets the job done for me.
Rechargeable batteries sound fun but they won’t last through the night, then what? You’ll be using your iPhone light if it’s charged, which isn’t bright at all.
My eastern states story
I turned to the guy next to me “Yo I’m worked right now, and we’re only 40 miles in”
“Yeah me too”
We’ve been bouncing back and forth all day, shot the shit a handful of times, and strolled into the hyner aid station together…
During the stroll in, I figured out I was running with the Ultra-legend Karl “speed goat” Meltzer.
One of the best tips he gave me was to “keep this shuffle pace going all day, not too fast, not too slow, this shuffle is faster than a walk. And by the back quarter of the race you’ll be picking people off”
I really took what he had to say to heart, running a steady race all the way through the finish, although it wasn’t easy. I was hurting, suffering, especially my quads. (I lost them coming into hyner aid station at 43)
I saw my crew at Hyner and was so grateful to see them. I was already feeling worked. How was I going to finish another 63 miles? I quickly let that thought pass without any attachment.
Just get to the next aid station
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This race was hard as hell. And the course before hyner was brutal. People say just survive the first 50k and they were right. A couple of thousand plus foot climbs with thousand foot descents. There were some runnable sections, so take them when you can.
I linked up with my crew, Corie and Champion, at mile 18. This was a cramped aidstation, and Corie somehow managed to execute flawlessly. She had a chair out for me just a few steps off the course with all the nutrition and gear I needed.
Aid station 5, mile 32, had vegan mushroom pierogies. They were crazy good, I probably had one too many and shortly after I started to have some major stomach issues… burping all loud, stomach feeling bloated, I couldn’t really run. So I took these next miles slower than I wanted too. I eventually stopped for 30 seconds and let it pass. It was a struggle for a few miles, but by aidstation 6, mile 39 I was good to go.
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After the hyner Aid station at mile 43 there are still some big climbs, but they stop being so frequent – with a lot more runnable sections.
Coming into Tomb flats aid station at mile 64, the rain was coming down hard and cold. I didn’t expect it to be cold during the day in August so I had no jacket with me. I tried my best to stay warm by moving faster, putting a bandana on, along with a buff around my neck. This worked for a while but I couldn’t move as fast as I would with the muddy trail. I told myself the second I feel my body get cold I need to stop and pull out the emergency blanket.
A few miles out from tomb flats, the rain was torrential, I shivered hard and immediately pulled the emergency blanket out. This saved me or I would have frozen up, something that almost made me DNF my first 100 mile race.
This year, 100 yards away from tomb flats aid station mile 64, we got to wade across pine creek.
“You’re gonna want to put all your electronics up high” the guy said.
This was a really cool experience, knee to waist deep, I slipped and busted my ass 3 times, going all the way up to my chin.
My crew pulled through again at this aidstation: coffee, food, batteries, change of clothes and shoes, sat in the car to get warm and after about 45 minutes I was back on my way. I would see them again at aid station 12, mile 80, Blackwell – which felt like a hail mary to get there.
It was 9:30pm at this point, and dark. Headlamps came out just before the creek crossing, around 8 pm.
Mile 73: I rolled into cedar run. I was pretty beat up. I changed my batteries, refilled some water, used a theragun, grabbed some sour patch kids, and kept it moving. Yes this aid station had a theragun! My right knee was killing me and I blasted the lower part of my quad to break some of that acid up. This was the bee’s knees because it fixed my knee problem for most of the race.
There was a steep and punchy climb leaving cedar run, taking the wind out of my sails but the dope ass aid station rep assured me that it was short and I’d be cruising along just fine.
Mile 80: There was a big, technical-as-hell descent coming into Blackwell, every step hurt. I actually used a stick as a trekking pole to take some pressure off my right knee. The people with poles really looked like they were cruising and I was desperate to try anything. The stick did help me maneuver downhill a little more gracefully.
The stick and I made it down the descent, I thanked the stick for its effort and tossed it to the side. The aid station was less than a quarter mile away, and this was pretty much the last time my knee would hurt for the rest of the race.
Massaging the legs out really helped. I’m not one for massages during a race but my legs were so worked I was looking for anything to fix them. I’d eventually start to hand massage my quads on the trail.
It had to be close to 4 am at this point. I was worked, but my happiness took over seeing the crew. Fueled up, hydrated, rolled my legs out.
I wasn’t really eating much either, I would slam 400 calories of a protein shake at each aid station and this might have been my saving grace.
This aidstation was also the last time I would see my crew until the finish. We laughed that there’s only one way for me to get there and that’s on foot, that I couldn’t drop even if I wanted to. I had no idea how I was going to make it 23 miles to the finish. I was tired, beat up, hurting.
I never wanted to quit, I just didn’t know how I was going to make it there, 23 miles is a long way.
Leaving the aid station, I got lost for about a mile total. I don’t even know how. Shook it off and kept going.
Along this stretch, I noticed every time I took a sip of water, I would have to piss. I figured it was because of how much salt I was taking.
**LMK if you can provide any input: I’d taken a copious amount of salt throughout the day, and it seemed like my body didn’t like that. Too much salt is something I don’t plan on doing again. I wasn’t hurting or anything, it was just more annoying that I had to stop and piss, it was like my body was trying to get all the salt out of me or something? I feel like it’s a balance with these ultras. I used to drink too much fluids and slosh around, eat too much food and have stomach problems, (which I did during this race) and finally, it was too much salt, which had me pissing every minute and was definitely not good for my kidneys.
Mile 85: A mile before I got to sky top aidstation 13 I decided to put my feet up and take just a one minute nap. It was still dark, but I could see the sun about to peek. It just felt like my body needed to reset. I did most of this night section by myself.
After the one minute nap, I jolted up and was on my way. I made it to Sky top. It was light out and to such a great surprise my buddy Aaron was there. We shot the shit the second I walked in.
Aaron is tough as nails, ran Tahoe 200 just three weeks before Eastern states 100… I met him at the end of Hyner 50k. He’s got great vibes, tons of experience, and gets to fuckin’ work. He helped me dig deep at hyner, and he’d do the same for me at this race too.
As soon as I rolled in, plopped down, got my feet up again and the aid was asking what they could do?
My stomach was pretty shot so I just went with water…
I asked them if they had any coffee? They did. Perfect.
Aaron asked if I wanted a caffeine tablet instead
“How much caffeine does this have?”
“200mg”
I took the caffeine tab with a couple big swigs of coffee to really make sure I was good to go.
Aaron was getting ready to leave, I didn’t really need much else here so I shot up too.
He asked, “Are you leaving now too?”
“Yeah, let’s fucking roll big bro”
And we were off. The gong hit and we were back to work.
These last 18 miles were nothing short of magical. I was so spent, and Aaron helped me dig so deep, deeper than I ever went before.
It was cool how he did it too. It was like he was a shaman, guiding me into deep caves within myself, but allowing me to explore the cave by myself.
He wasn’t fishing for me, but teaching me how to fish – How to dig deep, to give more, to become friends with pain, to take a mental edge when I have an opportunity presented…
We stopped at mile 93 for a quick minute, I did my routine, plop down, get my feet up – the aid people were funny at this one “Don’t sit in the dirt! You’ll get dirty!”
*then I roll back onto the dirt* “I’m already filthy!”
And just like that, we were back on our way. Digging deeeeeeep.
We blew through the last aid station at mile 99
4 more miles to the finish. We went all out. Aaron started to pull away and finished four minutes before me.
Most of this section was runnable, with the last mile or two being hopscotch down the mountain into little pine state park.
The finish was surreal.
I’m worked.
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It’s been a few days after Eastern States 100 and I feel surprisingly good. I thought I would’ve been more wrecked. I’ve been doing calisthenics, yoga, bike riding, and keeping my daily 2 mile streak alive. Lots of rest and naps too.
No injuries, just beaten. But every day I get better. I’m starting to get used to these things it feels like. My body’s like “oh we’ve been here before”
After my first 100 mile race, I couldn’t stand for two weeks. And after this race I was walking miles the next day?
Our bodies are incredible.
Joe DiAndrea 