Rebecca Mountain 50 Mile Prerace Analysis 2018

Rebecca Mountain 50 Miler:

Well… I got peer pressured into running my first 50 mile trail race on September 8, 2018. I’ve never run more than 20 miles and have only been training full time since May 2018 for the planned 40 mile AT trail run in November. I guess we (my buddy and I) decided to enter this race for the adventure. We couldn’t just wait for November to come so we decided we wanted to challenge ourselves first with a 50 mile run. The November trail run will be different as it will be unsupported (Blog Post) and will have twice the amount of elevation (~9,000ft). The R.M. 50 will either define us as ultra-runners or will destroy our dreams of completing the 40 mile AT trail run.

About the RM 50:

The Rebecca Mountain 50 Miler takes place along the Pinhoti Trail System within the Talladega National Forest. It is a point to point trail run, starting at Porter’s Gap Trailhead and ending at Lake Howard, some 50 miles later. The run follows the Pinhoti trail from Porter’s Gap to Bull’s Gap to the Trammel Trailhead, then the course turns off on a gravel road to connect you with the Lake Howard Trail System. Total elevation is around 4,600′, with the arduous climb coming within the first 6 miles, almost 1,100′ in elevation gain from mile 3 to 6.4.

Finishing Time Calculator: At the end of the post you will find a shared Google Sheet. I created a “calculator” based on the GPS elevation data to help you forecast what your finishing time will be. While it is not perfect, it should give you a rough calculation. The total elevation per mile ‘buckets” that I made up could use some refinement. Check it out to see what your time will be.

Important Links:

Race Website | Ultra-Signup | Elevation Profile | Aid Stations

Gear List:

Below are the working lists that I have made for the run. These are just my ideas for the gear that I should think about bringing. I might not bring everything, but wanted to jot them down as something to think about. I’ll write a new post once we attempt the run on September 8th and will provide a list of all the gear that we brought.

Gear I’m Carrying:
– Cascade Mountain Tech Aluminum Hiking Poles
– Hydration Vest Pack
– 2x 500ml AONIJIE Flexible water flasks
– Hydration bladder
– Headlight (maybe)
– Wahoo Elemnt Bolt (GPS)
– Rain Poncho
– Strips of duct tape

Nutrition:
– 15x Clif gels (Citrus, Raspberry, Mocha)
– 5x Jelly Belly Sports Beans

Hydration:
– 3x SOS hydration powder

Drop Bag:
– Extra pair of thick socks
– Vaseline and/or anti chafe stick
– Sunscreen
– Extra pair of shoes
– Extra pair shorts
– Extra shirt
– Clif Gels
– SOS hydration mix
– Battery bank charger for wahoo bolt and cord
– Bug spray
– Duct tape for blisters

What to wear:
– Vest pack
– Shorts
– Thick socks
– New Balance Nitrel v1 FuelCore Shoes
– Lightweight shirt or tank top
– Nike ball cap
– DIY ankle covers to keep debris out
– Sunglasses
– Sunscreen

Finishing Time Calculator:

The Data: I downloaded the GPS data from Wikiloc and exported only 500 GPS points, which worked well with this 50 mile race. Each GPS point ended up being 1/10th of a mile. Then I calculated and summed the elevation change between each 10th of a mile to get the total elevation change (up/down) for each mile.

How it works: I created these total elevation change buckets, which are not based on anything, to help you forecast your time. On the spreadsheet below you are able to enter the minutes per mile that you might average for each total elevation bucket. Then it multiples the number of minutes by the count of miles that fall within the buckets to get the total time. Then you can change the time you might take at each aid station. Then it adds all the minutes and divides by 60 minutes to get number of hours.

The Chart: The chart shows the profile of the race (total elevation change per mile) and the estimated time that you entered.

Set magnification to 50% to see the entire sheet. The Google Sheet is only editable while using your laptop. Mobile might work, but I wasn’t able to edit any of the cells. Thanks for checking out my post!

-thebidon