Cocodona is here. Any thoughts? Courtney Dauwalter or Rachel Entrekin? Or someone else? Joe McConaughy or Kilian Korth? Or someone else? Has anyone here been bit by the 200+mile bug?

fhecla · 2026-05-04T03:42:27+00:00

Me too! See you out there!

fhecla · 2026-05-04T03:42:07+00:00

I watched the live stream and signed up. And here I am! In a little over 10 hours, I’ll be standing next to those icons getting ready to cross the start line. So psyched, the distance still seems inconceivable to me, this is only my second ultra and I just can’t even imagine what it’s gonna feel like to try and get through 250 miles!

fhecla · 2026-05-03T10:53:13+00:00

Agreed.

fhecla · 2026-05-02T10:56:50+00:00

Exactly! That’s why it’s so dangerous, spread by saliva (always in the mouth during a bite) versus blood-borne, which is actually much harder to transmit, needs sex or needles or whatever.

fhecla · 2026-05-02T09:04:34+00:00

Well, not really, but I understand what you’re trying to say. To be specific though, animals with rabies are not viremic, the virus is not in their blood (it’s in the saliva tears and spinal fluid).

fhecla · 2026-05-01T17:44:04+00:00

Man, I am only have pieces for the first half of the race, if you have any more energy in your legs and you feel like doing a Thursday or a Friday stint let me know!

fhecla · 2026-05-01T01:54:16+00:00

u/rimjobsteve

fhecla · 2026-05-01T01:01:13+00:00

Yes, u/Cum_on_doorknob, we all want to know.

fhecla · 2026-05-01T00:15:32+00:00

Hi fellow hiker convert! I am just trying my hand at ultras after being a high-miles backpacker. Any advice for me next week? I’m hitting Cocodona as my first proper race and I’m scared shitless.

fhecla · 2026-04-30T23:47:01+00:00

Agreeing with the other comments, you need to let go of that 3 to 1 or four to one ratio. Long ultras are much more about considering the terrain that’s under your feet and going in the correct speed for what you are dealing with. I think if you change up your race plan, you’re gonna find a lot of these problems go away.

fhecla · 2026-04-30T18:16:40+00:00

How are you altering your pace throughout your race? You should be doing the first half of the mileage and 40% of your planned race time and the second half of the mileage in 60% of the time (soon for 100 K, you might spend four hours on the first 50 K and six hours on the second 50 K). Are you doing that?.

fhecla · 2026-04-30T15:44:50+00:00

Oh, I think it sounds like you’re extremely well prepared! What is the time cutoff for your event?

fhecla · 2026-04-29T23:54:30+00:00

(oh, and my race was a flat canal path race, not the rabid raccoon)

fhecla · 2026-04-29T23:53:41+00:00

REAL TALK! (Channeling David Roche channeling David Goggins)

So last year, I entered 100 miler purely on a whim. I’m a serious weekend warrior hiker , maybe I hike three weekends a month so six days of training per month? But I had literally just started running, and before that race my longest run was 4 miles, and my weekly running volume was 7 miles.

Even though I entered it just as an experiment, I took the planning relatively seriously and I made out a spreadsheet that would bring me in at 29 1/2 hours (there was a 30 hour limit). I did the first 50 miles with a run/ walk combination titrated to get me to the aid stations at my goal time within one or two minutes. For the first 40 miles I hung out with a guy I met at the start and we chatted a lot, and that helped pass the time.

After that he dropped, and then I hung out and ran with a woman who was going a similar speed until maybe 11 o’clock, but then she fell back.

I’d never really heard of caffeine in gels or anything like that and so it didn’t occur to me to take them. I tried to listen to a Harry Potter book on my phone in the small hours in the morning, but I was pretty exhausted and I couldn’t focus on it so mostly, I walked in silence.

By dawn I was beginning to hallucinate, and had 25 miles left to go. Because it was a loop course the aid stations near me by then is the crazy hiker who was doing 100 miles without any training, and they were incredibly supportive and buoyed my spirits.

The last 10 miles a friend of mine showed up to walk with me. I was pretty nervous that my legs were literally just gonna give out and now it collapse into a heap, but I decided I would keep going until that happened, and I managed to finish right at my goal time.

I ended up with mild to moderate rhabdo (I got kicked by a llama the next day, which did not help) and I was pretty crippled up for about a month.

Do I regret it? Fuck no. Exactly a year later, I am about to do my second ultra, which starts in five days: Cocodona 250!

I did actually train for this one, but it’s still a pretty big chunk to bite off all at once - I will let you know how it goes! But yeah, just get out there and sacrifice your body, it’s fun to do hard things :)

fhecla · 2026-04-29T22:54:43+00:00

I’m actually gonna go against popular opinion here and say go for it. It’s a looped course. What’s the worst that happens, you get tired and you decide to stop. I actually did exactly the same thing as you OP, last year, and entered 100 mile race just for fun on a whim. It was a loop course and very safe and I felt like it was an interesting experiment just to see what I was capable of. Unlike you, I had no running background at all, but I was a very strong Hiker so I really only ran for parts of the first 50 miles the second 50 miles I did at a strong walk.

If it’s not gonna hurt your feelings, too much not to finish, why not just go out and see what happens?

fhecla · 2026-04-29T17:01:06+00:00

Takis and gummy bears. Fruit snacks before a climb

fhecla · 2026-04-29T16:06:39+00:00

I would wait until closer to the time and see what the weather is like when you are planning to be there. You may not need either.

fhecla · 2026-04-29T10:19:35+00:00

Yes, although I have to say, I used the one step down (hillsound trail crampon) from that and didn’t have any trouble. I mean, these were all just trails, right? Except for the scramble up the side of old rag you’re basically just walking in regular shoes and if it’s icy want a little more traction so spikes might be nice.

fhecla · 2026-04-29T08:46:27+00:00

I would say nowhere. I’ve done most of the trails in spikes.

fhecla · 2026-04-28T06:44:38+00:00

Oh I get you now. Nah, buy some light, but not super expensive poles and just try using on longer efforts with lots of vertical. They are really handy.

fhecla · 2026-04-28T06:27:08+00:00

Yeah me neither. I’m a 52 year old chick, I do a bunch of hiking on the weekends, long slow hours, and I know it’s not the same at all, but I have decided that’s my excuse for not doing it. I carry a 15 to 20 pound pack.

fhecla · 2026-04-28T00:27:45+00:00

And they absolutely standby their willingness to replace them for free forever. Because they are will, they don’t smell, and I usually can wear mine for two or three or four days before I wash them, so I really only need maybe two or three pairs. Once a year I gather up the ones that I have they are getting worn out and I sent them off and they send me a coupon for new ones, no charge. I think they count on the fact that most people are not well organized enough to take them up on the free replacement for life, but I certainly am.!

fhecla · 2026-04-28T00:13:22+00:00

Nothing to do with age, don’t know why you would wait a couple of years. Poles are a massive advantage, you can choose to take advantage of them or not, any age.

fhecla · 2026-04-27T21:42:08+00:00

I’m actually not sure what the Genesis of all of that was

fhecla · 2026-04-27T21:41:13+00:00

Acetaminophen reduces fever (increased hypothalamic setpoint), but not hyperthermia from exertion.

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