I've been intrigued with point to point routes since learning about The Speed Project race last year and then finding out about this TX route from @mattjohnson__. I always thought the Supported time was best fit for the content crowd and their crews so I built my plan around Self-supported.
My route can be found here - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/49864015. I drove the route a month ago and took notes of key turns and planned out my stops.
I had 7 planned stops @ 10 miles, 20 miles, 34 miles (got to include Buccees), 46 miles, 58 miles, 62 miles and 69 miles
My first attempt was on 3/7 and ended at 100K - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/18473953747. 100K being 2x my furthest run to date. My biggest mistake on my first attempt was wearing my original Nike Alphaflys and the aggressive narrow midfoot becoming unbearable to run on from 35+ miles on. It also was an atypical night with high 60 temps and high humidity. The first attempt became a training run with 3 key lessons learned: adjusting my nutrition plan, wearing a cushier daily trainer and choosing a cooler night with lower humidity.
Yesterday's approach to nutrition was:
- Water: 1 L of liquids in my pack from each stop
- Salts: The Right Stuff hydration packets for the early stops then beer salt for the latter half
- Carbs: 1 caffeinated Maurten gel per stop supplemented with Gatorade, a powered carb mix I had or sugars from some coke/ginger ale
All my FKT data can be found here - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/18606294784
The goal was to not walk thru the first 62 miles given the challenges of the first attempt. After that the mantra changed to imagine if I could maintain it for the full route. I arrived at the capitol to a crowd of officers who watched me run up to the door and were very interested in hearing about the run.
The biggest concern was always the overnight traffic along the route. On both attempts I figured out that it is the morning errand crowd that really does not like people running towards them on the frontage road.
Thank you to my wife! These attempts have been stressful on the family and she has been key for both. The second attempt landed on my daughters spring break so she too got to be a part of it and run with me from the park gates to the Texas Capitol door.
o7 o7 o7
Willy P