100 km del Passatore: goals and race plan
Managing intensity and pacing, fueling, hydration, and gear
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It’s race week.
3500 runners.
100 kilometers.
The most beautiful scenery.
Weather forecast all over the place.
I’m excited to finally give another shot to Passatore.
Below are my race goals and plans to manage intensity and pacing, fueling, hydration, and gear.
Race plan and goals
Here are my goals for Saturday:
C goal: finish
B goal: sub 10 hours ("maintain my bib", as the first 250 finishers get to start in the first block next year)
A goal: as close as possible to 9 hours (or a bit quicker!)
As the weather conditions are still a bit unclear, but it looks like it might rain a bit and it won’t probably be as hot as it could be, I feel like I have a chance to run a good race, and to get near my A goal. Let’s see. Ultras can be unpredictable, but I have done the work and I am ready to put it to the test.
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Pacing plan / managing intensity
I will use heart rate (together with perceived effort, obviously) as an intensity limiter.
I find heart rate useful for these long events as it can be tricky at low intensities not to overdo it, hence I have planned to run at 135-140 beats per minute, based on trial and error during long runs and experience from last year's 100 km in Biel (https://strava.com/activities/9236250055/overview…). This is 72-76% of my maximal heart rate.
I am working (i.e. training!) to be able to handle a slightly higher heart rate in the next years, but this is the current limit, I think.
In training, I did try different things, including pushing hard on long climbs (up to 158 bpm or top end of marathon pace / tempo runs for me), then easier on the downhills, and managed to run ~60 km at 145 bpm, with plenty of climbing. At the end, I was mentally tired but I think I had more in me physically, so maybe I can get there in the near future (workout here: https://strava.com/activities/11329757913/overview…).
Passatore is hilly so the strategy changes based on the grade, and I will allow heart rate to go up to 145 bpm or even a few extra beats when uphill, especially at the start when it is warmer (3 pm), then keep it < 140 bpm on the near-flat sections, and just try to save my legs on the downhills, trying to make up some time while running easy. I plan to run the whole time unless I have some issues, as I've been training plenty on the hills and I am reasonably efficient at this point, even at decent grades as we will have at times in the race (e.g. a 10 km climb at 5-10%). This is a road race, so it's all runnable if we train well.
Managing intensity with heart rate makes sense until about 60-65 km, at that point, it will just be perceived effort and hanging in there while heart rate drifts.
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Fueling plan
After plenty of trial and error, with nausea, muscle cramps, and other issues I experienced in the past few years, I settled on 1 gel every 6 km as my fueling strategy, with no other food. This would make for 16 gels over 100 km, plus 1 before the start. I am using gels with 30 or 40 grams of carbs, alternating them for the first half of the race, while going with 30 grams for the second half of the race.
I have planned 3 gels with caffeine (one at approximately 25, 50, and 75 km). I have tried this protocol before, and had more or less this same amount of carbs (or slightly less but at the same frequency) in all my long runs at race pace (see Strava for details / frequency of long runs: https://strava.com/athletes/12073735/training/log…).
In the days before the race, I will eat normally until Wednesday, then have mostly carbs for the 48-72 hours prior to the race.
Hydration plan
I cannot bear to drink anything but water for a race this long (otherwise I get even more nausea), so I do not drink carbs nor do I drink electrolytes, but I take electrolyte pills from Precision Hydration (mostly sodium) and separate my food and my hydration. Hard to be sure about these things, but I think the pills have been helpful in the past 2 years, given my high sweat rate and sodium loss.
I have planned 1 pill every 12 km for this year, so half of what I normally do, as the last few times I felt a bit too thirsty. In terms of water, I have planned to go by thirst, and sip water when having gels or pills, for obvious reasons. Environmental conditions will determine how much I will drink.
Gear
This year for the first time I will try not to race carrying all my stuff, but trust a friend on the bike, as everyone does in this race (at least if you plan to race). I do have some trust issues and backup plan in place, and I will start with enough gels to run ~50 km, but no hydration pack, water, extra clothes or headlamp.
I will use a Coros Pace 2 watch, an old iPhone mini for location, a Stryd (for pace) and a Polar Verity for heart rate, probably. For the rest, just a cap, t-shirt, shorts, socks and shoes that I've tried and tested over long distances many times.
I will not use supershoes, it's already hard enough for me to wear them during a marathon (I have no arch / flat feet, and they tend to be very problematic, I opted for Saucony Tempus).
Tapering
I kept my training volume high, including intensity, until last week, as I always do when I feel well. This week, it's time to get the legs fresh, and a few days are sufficient for that.
Monday off, Tuesday an hour of running, Wednesday a bit longer (maybe 20 km), Thursday off, Friday 40 minutes with strides. Saturday, 100 km. No intensity this week as I went hard last Saturday and there's no time for me to recover from that and do more high-intensity work (frequency of hard workouts is 3 every 14 days for me).
I am also doing another two sessions in the sauna, for the passive heat acclimation protocol I discussed before (Monday and Tuesday), and one strength session (Monday), then I will take a break from these as well for the 3-4 days before the race.
My resting physiology shows some issues recently, I think a combination of getting a bit sick last week, the high load, and change in temperature. Nothing to worry about.
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that's a wrap.
See you out there!
Marco holds a PhD cum laude in applied machine learning, a M.Sc. cum laude in computer science engineering, and a M.Sc. cum laude in human movement sciences and high-performance coaching.
He has published more than 50 papers and patents at the intersection between physiology, health, technology, and human performance.
He is co-founder of HRV4Training, advisor at Oura, guest lecturer at VU Amsterdam, and editor for IEEE Pervasive Computing Magazine. He loves running.
Social:
Twitter: @altini_marco.
Personal Substack.
Hi Marco!
I've read most of your posts over the years, and I love how you share your knowledge about HRV and running.
Your personal journey (and weekly journal) is inspiring; it beautifully connects science with practical experience. Besides that, it’s a great personal story, with ups and downs on the road to where you’re now: as prepared as can be on the starting line of your beloved Passatore.
I just want to thank you for all these contributions and think this is a fitting moment.
I hope the race is everything you envisioned and that you have an amazing adventure! Enjoy!
Koen de Bakker