Welcome to Trail Tested, a monthly column from entrepreneur and athlete Jack Espy as he trained for the grueling Leadville 100 ultramarathon. Trail Tested followed Jack along his journey to do his first 100-miler to see what his body is capable of and what his mind can endure. Throughout his training and post-race, he’ll be giving us a rundown of gear he’s been putting to the limit.
CONSIDERING I RAN a 100-mile ultramarathon, my body held up surprisingly well. I didn't get a single blister, which says a lot about the socks and trail shoes I was wearing and about staying on top of foot care throughout the race. My biggest issue was my right knee.
I started experiencing pain around Hope Pass, somewhere around mile 45. Luckily, I had packed a knee sleeve in my drop bag at the next major aid station around mile 50, and getting that on made a huge difference. Outside of the knee pain, my body stayed tough through all 100 miles.
I definitely hurt, but I never reached a point where I felt like I was completely breaking down. I’m gonna give a rundown of how I kept fresh on race day as well as how I’ve been recovering since I crossed that finish line of the Leadville 100 back in August. I used a handful of different tools at aid stations throughout the race, but the ones I relied on most were a knee sleeve, a Hyperice massage gun, anti-chafe ointment and spray, and Biofreeze.
The leg sleeve became especially important because I had been dealing with some lingering pain in my right knee from a previous 50-miler. I used the Flytex leg compression sleeve. The compression helped the knee feel more secure and manageable as the miles added up.
Anti-chafe ointment was another must. I used Skin Slick and Body Glide. I stayed on top of lubricating my feet and toes throughout the race, and somehow made it through all 100 miles without a single blister—the Hoka Tecton X 4 had a big part to do with that as well.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
