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2013 Runner Update #3

The following email was sent to all 2013 WS runners on 5/16/13.

Race day continues to approach, coming at us in 43 days. I hope your training is going well and you’re feeling good about running from Squaw Valley to Auburn on June 29. I know anticipation may be high for you whether this is your first or 51st 100 miler. There are a lot of things for you to absorb so hopefully this update #3 will provide you with some information that is helpful and will ease some of the anxiousness.

The starter database is complete, bib numbers have been assigned, and the count stands at 411. If for whatever reason, you decide not to start the race, please let me know.

Medical

For going on 40 years, Western States has set the standard for medical care of its runners. We are very proud of our medical infrastructure. In addition to the start and finish there are ten medical checkpoints along the way. These are staffed with doctors, paramedics, nurses, etc. They are there to help you get to the finish. Your weight, pulse and blood pressure will be taken pre-race on Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and recorded on your wristband. When you get to one of the medical checkpoints, your weight will be taken. Recent research suggests that modest 3-5% weight loss during prolonged exercise is required for maintenance of appropriate hydration. Excessive weight loss suggests dehydration. Weight gain suggests fluid retention and in some cases may be associated with a serious medical condition (hyponatremia). How the runner feels and looks and his or her mental status is more important to the medical staff than a number on a scale.

Be sure to read the Medical and Other Risks from the WSER website. It has been updated to reflect the most recent research.

Race Week

There are lots of pre-race activities up at Squaw Valley. In addition to the regular WS sponsored clinics and activities, there is the Montrail 6K Uphill Challenge on Friday at 10:00 a.m. This is the second year for this event and if last year is any indication it will be popular again. No entry fee.

On Thursday evening after the WS Veteran’s Panel Discussion, the Squaw Valley Institute is presenting a talk by Diane Van Deren who, after a lobectomy in 1997 to stave off epileptic seizures, was left without the ability to understand the passage of time. Diane’s story is one of overcoming challenges that most ultra runners would have difficulty even imagining. This talk costs $10 with the proceeds going to the non-profit Squaw Valley Institute. You can purchase tickets online from Squaw Valley Institute at the link above or buy them at the door.

In addition, two-time Western States 100 women’s champion, women’s course record holder and Montrail athlete Ellie Greenwood will be signing posters at Alpenglow sports (415 North Lake Blvd) from 2-3 p.m. followed by a fun run and Montrail Shoe Demos from 3-6 p.m.

Race Day Webcast

Once again we will have close to real-time updates on race day via ultralive.net so your fans, family and friends can follow your progress. Webcast features include:

  • New look for webcast
  • Runners and general spectators can sign up for email/sms updates
  • Runners can activate Facebook wall posts of their splits if they want to
  • Runners can activate Twitter updates of splits

These features will be available the first week of June. Check the wser.org site for any news/updates for the live webcast.

WS Store

The WS online store is open for business under new management by Fleet Feet Sacramento. Look for many new items to become available in the next weeks. In addition to the online store, the store will be physically open at the Memorial Weekend training runs and up at Squaw Valley.

Montrail Ultra Cup

Western States is the final Montrail Ultra Cup event and the competition is heating up! Check the website for standings through Leona Divide. Standings after Ice Age will be updated in a week, so check back then if you made it over to Ice Age. Keep in the loop by following Montrail on Facebook and reading the blog.

Enjoy the last month or so of training. We’ll see many of you Memorial Day weekend.

Craig Thornley, Race Director

 

Posted in 2013 Runner Updates, Race News | on: May 17th, 2013 by Craig | Comments Off

Performance Rule on PEDs

We have added rule #18 to our list of Performance Rules for all runners:

18. The Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run is committed to keeping ultrarunning a clean, drug-free sport. Use of performance enhancing drugs or blood doping as defined by the USADA is forbidden. The Western States board reserves the right to disqualify a runner based on competent evidence of such use.

Posted in Race News | on: April 21st, 2013 by Craig | Comments Off

2013 WSER Research Activities

The following email was sent to 2013 entrants on 4/9/13

Want to know how you can help advance science this year at the WSER?

We have several studies again this year, and we need your help for these to succeed. Please read the information below so you are aware of the studies and opportunities to help advance science. Note that we would like to recruit study participants in advance of registration for Studies 1 and 4, so please contact the investigators if you are interested in participating in those studies.

Marty Hoffman, MD

WSER Research Director

Study 1. Investigation into the cause of ultramarathoner’s eye (The ultra-eye study) 

Have you ever experienced visual problems during an ultramarathon? The Ultra-Eye Study is directed at determining the underlying cause of these problems. If you have had visual problems during an ultramarathon, please take a short survey at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Ultraeye

You may participate in additional studies during the Run whether you’ve had visual problems during an ultramarathon or not. But, we are especially interested in getting those with prior vision problems to participate.

If you agree to participate, you will undergo a short (approximately 10 minute) series of eye tests once during the couple days before the Run, and then again shortly after finishing the Run. If you have abnormal findings after the Run, you will be asked to return for repeat tests until the abnormal findings resolve.

The study is under the direction of Dr. Marty Hoffman. Please contact him prior to the Run to participate in the study at (916) 843-9027 or martin.hoffman@va.gov.

Study 2. Gastrointestinal distress in runners participating in the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run

Gastrointestinal (GI) distress is a common problem in ultrarunning. In 100-mile ultramarathons, GI symptoms are the primary reason for dropping out among non-finishers and are the second most common problem impacting race performance among finishers.

At this year’s race, we are doing a study to investigate the frequency and causes of GI symptoms. The more participants we have, the better. In fact, it will be ideal if every WSER runner participates in the study.

Participation includes simply completing a short, on-line, post-race questionnaire. You will receive an e-mail after the race with a link to the questionnaire. It will ask you to provide information about your GI symptoms during this and prior races.

If you have any questions about this study, please contact Dr. Kristin Stuempfle (kstuempf@gettysburg.edu or 717-337-6448) or Dr. Marty Hoffman (martin.hoffman@va.gov or 916-843-9027).

Study 3. The impact of training longevity, gender and age on the 12-lead ECG of the veteran ultra-endurance athlete: An aid for pre-participation screening

The 12-lead ECG is a quick diagnostic test that provides us with important information related to the health of your heart and is used routinely for pre-participation heart screening in young athletes.

At this year’s race (24-48 hours prior to the race) we will be undertaking a study to establish the normal 12-lead ECG criteria for the veteran endurance athlete. The ECG will take 5 minutes while you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire as well as having your height, weight and blood pressure taken. If considered appropriate (usually 10% of the screening population), we may invite you for an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) to improve the sensitivity of the screening – this will take an additional 20 minutes.

So if you are over 35 years old and want to know more about the health of your heart please volunteer for this study – the more participants we have the better. We can be found in the registration area on the Thursday and Friday before the race.

The study is under the direction of Dr. David Oxborough. If you require more detailed information or wish to participate in the study please contact him prior to the Run at d.l.oxborough@ljmu.ac.uk.

Study 4. The impact of completing the Western States 100 mile Endurance Run on right ventricular function: A focused study on athletes completing in less than 24 hours

In 2011, we published data from the WSER highlighting a possible negative impact on the right side of the heart following completion of the race. This appeared to be in runners who completed the race in the quickest finishing time and therefore in order to build on the success of that study, we are proposing to repeat the study in runners who complete the race in less than 24 hours.

You will be required to have a 12-lead ECG and echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart), have your blood pressure taken and height and weight recorded 24-48 hours prior to the race, within 1 hour of completing the race and at around 6 hours into recovery. Each testing point will take approximately 20-30 minutes.

If you are interesting in learning about the health of your heart and the cardiac impact of completing the WSER, please volunteer for this study. We are looking for approximately 20 participants. Please contact the study director, Dr. David Oxborough (d.l.oxborough@ljmu.ac.uk), prior to the Run to participate or to get further details about the study.

Study 5. Injury pattern among 100-mile ultramarathon runners

Our knowledge and understanding of common injuries and illnesses during ultramarathon training is limited.

At this year’s race, we are doing a study to investigate the frequency and causes of common injuries and illnesses during training. We are hoping to get every WSER runner to participate in this study. This is a multi-center study involving at least one additional ultramarathon.

Participation includes simply completing an on-line pre-race questionnaire which should take only 10 minutes to complete. You will be asked to provide information about your training pattern, and injuries and illnesses encountered during training and prior races. You will be notified by email of the link to the questionnaire about 2 weeks before the Run.

If you have any questions about this study, please contact Dr. Morteza Khodaee (Morteza.khodaee@ucdenver.edu or 720-848-9056) or Dr. Marty Hoffman (martin.hoffman@va.gov or 916-843-9027).

Study 6. The relationship of foot strike pattern, stride parameters, and creatine phosphokinase during a 161-kilometer ultramarathon

You’re most likely aware of discussion about barefoot/minimalist shoe running and foot strike pattern.  We examined foot strike pattern at the 2012 WSER and had some fascinating findings. We will continue this work by capturing video at several locations during the 2013 Run. You need not do anything special to participate in this study other than run single file through our filming zones. Since we will be relating foot strike pattern with blood CPK concentration, we also encourage everyone to take advantage of the opportunity to have your blood work done immediately after finishing.

The study is under the direction of Dr. Marty Hoffman. Please contact him at (916) 843-9027 or martin.hoffman@va.gov is you have any questions.

Posted in 2013 Runner Updates, Race News, Research | on: April 10th, 2013 by DrHoffman | Comments Off

2013 Runner Update #2

The following email was sent to all 2013 WS runners on 3/26/13.

Race day is fast approaching. We just passed the 100 days to go mark! I hope your training is going well. Race prep is going well from our end and it looks like this will be a normal course year unless we have a freaky spring. This second runner update is to answer a few questions I’ve been getting and to update you on a few things.

  • Service Requirement - These signed forms are due to me by May 15, 2013. Please don’t wait until the last minute to send them in. Signed documents may be scanned and emailed to me so no need to spend $30 to overnight ship it. The WSER board instituted this requirement in 1998 to help the sport of ultrarunning. Trail work or volunteering at any organized race is accepted.
  • General Information Form – We ask that each runner fill out a general information form so Tropical John Medinger doesn’t make stuff up about you as you run the last 250 meters around the Placer HS track. The form can be found here and either snail-mailed or emailed to me. He’ll say just about whatever you write so have fun. Always a good idea to list all the people who have supported you in your quest to get to the Placer HS track.
  • Pacer Request Page – Thanks to Gary Wang, the creator of realendurance.com, and the WSER webmaster, Ian Doremus, the pacer request page has been up for a couple of weeks. There are many pacers offering their pacing services. Pacers are not required, but can be a real help in the middle of the night when your brain isn’t as sharp as it may normally be.
  • Bus from Placer HS to Squaw – If you are without crew and need a ride back to Squaw Valley on Sunday after the race, we will have a bus that will leave Placer HS at 3pm on Sunday and take you back to Squaw Valley. Send $45 to me to reserve your spot. The bus is usually not full so you might be able to get on without a reservation but reserve a spot to guarantee a ride.
  • Trail Work Days – The WSER Trail Crew has had two successful work days so far and there are three remaining. If you plan to work in April, May, or June you’ll need to fill out the volunteer form to work on federal land before the work day. Instructions for filling out the form and signing up to help are here. For those of you who have helped or will help, the WS community thanks you.
  • GU Roctane Drink instead of GU Brew – Our longtime sponsor, GU Energy, is going to provide us with Roctane Ultra Endurance Energy Drink and Roctane Ultra Endurance Energy gels. Roctane Ultra Endurance products are the premium energy source for committed endurance athletes who are experienced and competitive and undertake long (4+ hours) or intense (above lactate threshold) efforts.
  • Memorial Weekend Training Runs - This weekend is going to be a lot of fun. The Saturday run capacity has been increased by one bus so sign up if you haven’t. If you want to arrange your own transportation and use the aid stations you can also sign up Saturday morning at Foresthill Elementary School beginning at 5:45am. The Sunday and Monday runs still have space available and you can signup at ultrasignup. We are really excited about the festivities we have lined up for Sunday evening in Auburn. First off, co-owner of Firetrail Pizza and four-time finisher Jed Tukman, will have his mobile wood-fired oven cooking pizzas to help you recover some of the calories you consumed the previous two days starting at 5pm. At 6pm we’re gonna show the 1983 WS race followed by a discussion with Jim Howard and Jim King, facilitated by Andy Jones-Wilkins. Whether you’ve never seen this Desperate Dreams video or watched it 25-times like I have, we are in for a treat. Everything will take place at the Canyon View Community Center at 471 Maidu Dr in Auburn. You’ll have to buy your pizza, but everything else is free.

Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any other questions.

Train Smart.

Craig Thornley, Race Director

Posted in 2013 Runner Updates, Race News | on: March 26th, 2013 by Craig | Comments Off

JimFest

The 1983 Western States race still boasts the closest top two men’s finish in the 39 year history of the race. Arguably, it is one of the best races ever at WS, and lucky for us it was recorded on DVD on Desperate Dreams II.

1983 Desperate Dreams DVD

1983 was a huge snow year so the alternate snow course had to be used for the first time. Returning champion Jim King hammered through the snow early to open up a huge lead over the field at Red Star Ridge, including 36 minutes over 1981 co-champion Jim Howard. But by Duncan Canyon aid station, King had fallen back to 15th after getting lost for 45 minutes in the snow. Undaunted, King moved back up the field to join Howard again at Dusty Corners and Last Chance (in 3rd and 4th place). King then hammered the canyons, and arrived in Michigan Bluff in first place, 27 minutes ahead of Howard who was still in 4th. King’s split from Last Chance to Michigan Bluff was 2:13! For comparison, Jurek’s split on his CR run in 2004 was 2:19.

King’s lead over Howard remained around 30 minutes through ALT by which time Howard was now comfortably in 2nd place. But Howard was not running for 2nd place. Only 7 minutes behind at Hwy 49, Howard threw down the unbelievable split of 56 minutes to the finish, catching King right before the white bridge and finishing 30 seconds ahead of King. This is still the fastest split ever run for that section. 5-time champion, and 25-time finisher, Tim Twietmeyer says that even if we dropped him off at Hwy 49 fresh, he couldn’t run 56 minutes.

Jim Howard at the finish of the 1983 WSER.

We are going to show the 1983 race on Sunday evening of the Memorial Day Weekend Training Runs. We’ll follow that with a discussion with the two Jims, facilitated by 8-time finisher Andy Jones-Wilkins.

  • What: 1983 WS Desperate Dreams screening, followed by a discussion with Jim Howard and Jim King, facilitated by Andy Jones-Wilkins.
  • When: Sunday May 26, 2013, 6-9pm
  • Where: Canyon View Community Center, 471 Maidu Dr, Auburn, CA
  • Cost: Free
  • Food: Firetrail Pizza will be on site selling pizzas.
Posted in Race News | on: March 4th, 2013 by Craig | Comments Off

2013 Research Studies

The research studies for the 2013 WSER have just been determined and are now posted on the research page.

Six studies will be taking place that will examine a variety of issues including a couple areas receiving considerable recent media attention – potential cardiac damage from high volume exercise, and potential benefits of different foot strike patterns. To learn more about the first issue, our colleagues from the United Kingdom will be returning to the Run after completing studies here in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Regarding the later, we will expand upon our foot strike analysis at the 2012 WSER, where we saw indication that those who used a forefoot or midfoot pattern had higher blood creatine phosphokinase concentrations at the end of the race compared with heel strikers. Other studies will further examine the extent and causes of gastrointestinal distress during the Run, the frequency and underlying cause of vision cloudiness that sometimes occurs during ultramarathons, and types and frequency of injuries in those training for a 100-mile run.

There will be more to come on how you can participate in the various studies and contribute to our advancement of science.

Marty Hoffman, MD

Posted in Race News, Research | on: January 29th, 2013 by DrHoffman | Comments Off

Dec 8 Lottery Details

Updated 12/5

As posted on the lottery applicant page, we have 2295 total lottery applicants for the 2013 race.

122 applicants with four tickets = 488 tickets
207 applicants with three tickets = 621 tickets
480 applicants with two tickets = 960 tickets
1486 applicants with one ticket = 1486 tickets

Total tickets in the hat = 3555

Here is the list of tickets (178 page pdf)

We are going to draw 270 unique names in the lottery and then an additional five from the lottery within the lottery. That is, the folks in the audience who have not been selected up to that point. Based on 3555 total tickets and 270 names drawn, the odds of getting selected have been updated as follows:

one ticket odds = 7.9%
two ticket odds = 15.2%
three ticket odds = 21.9%
four ticket odds = 28.0%

We used a Monte Carlo simulation to calculate these updated odds.

The lottery will take place at the Placer HS auditorium. We will begin introductions a little before 9am and start drawing names right at 9am. We expect to be done by 11am. Note that there is no food or drink allowed in the auditorium (water ok).

As names are pulled from the hat, they will be posted at ultralive.net as close to real-time as possible. There will also be a live video feed.

For a little historical perspective, here are the number of lottery applicants and ticket counts  in the lottery since 2000.

2000 583
2001 556
2002 529
2003 638
2004 740
2005 791
2006 841
2007 1,048
2008 1,350 Fire year
2009 337 out of 390 returned 54 two-time losers, 34 autos for a total of 425 entrants
2010 1,693 Last year for two-time losers
2011 1,786 First year for multi-tickets in the hat. One ticket: 1286, two tickets: 500
2012 1,940 One ticket: 1221, two tickets: 461, three tickets: 258
2013 2295 One ticket: 1486, two tickets: 480, three tickets: 207, four tickets: 122

Posted in Race News | on: December 3rd, 2012 by Craig | 1 Comment »

New WSER website

If you’re reading this, you noticed that we have a new website. It’s been a process that began about six months ago. We hope you find it easy to navigate and filled with useful and interesting content. One of the challenging issues web designers face today is the wide variety of devices used to view websites. This site has been designed to be viewed on a variety of browsers so don’t be surprised if it looks different on your phone, tablet, and desktop browser.

The team involved in making this a reality is from all over the US. I am humbled to have such incredibly talented and dedicated people working with me to bring this new website from a concept that began when I interviewed for the RD position last January to a reality today.

  • Ian Doremus, from Eugene, OR is the principal designer of this site. I’ve built several websites with Ian over the years and he’s got a knack for incorporating photography into his designs. He has spent countless hours working with me on this new site. Ian will soon be the new WSER webmaster.
  • Richard Goodwin, from Colfax, CA has been the WSER webmaster for 13 years. He wrote the original webcast which was cutting edge at the time. Richard is stepping down as webmaster and looking forward to being just a “regular race-day” volunteer in the future. Richard has helped with the new website, while concurrently maintaining the old site. His contributions to WSER have been recognized with a Friends of the Trail and a Little Cougar Award.
  • Ted Knudsen, from San Rafael, CA is the new WSER Chief Technology Officer. Ted does all the behind-the-scenes work to keep our domains, servers, and everything tech-related running smoothly. He is the guy who developed the world-class webcast platform ultralive.net and has played a critical role in this year’s lottery. Ted is a WS Friends of the Trail recipient.
  • Tim Smith, from San Antonio, TX, is a professional web designer who specializes in wordpress and has been our technical consultant.

Retiring race director Greg Soderlund, the WSER board, and Research Advisor Marty Hoffman also contributed to the new site. In the very near future you’ll see contributions from Ten-Day buckle holder and owner of realendurance.com Gary Wang. Photographer Luis Escobar contributed many photos.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the cadre of friends who reviewed the site. Thanks to each of you.

Now for a little of the technical details if you are interested:

  • The site is hosted on Amazon’s Elastic Computing Cloud. A small instance runs the apache webserver, while a micro instance runs the mysql database.
  • We are using WordPress as the CMS with a variety of plugins and some custom code.
  • The theme is a custom responsive theme. It uses media queries to ask the browser what its capabilities are and then renders the appropriate layout of the content.

We will continue to develop and add content. If you have ideas or suggestions on what we can do better please let us know.

Posted in Race News | on: December 1st, 2012 by Craig | Comments Off

Soderlund Retires Jan 1, 2013

Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run Race Director Greg Soderlund, who has led the world’s oldest and best-known 100-mile trail run through an unprecedented era of increasing popularity, prestige and worldwide renown, has announced his retirement, effective January 1, 2013.

Soderlund, who began his career at Western States in 2000, will oversee the December lottery and then will retire. Craig Thornley, who served as assistant race director in 2012, will take over for Soderlund.

“It has been an honor to direct a pinnacle event in the sport of ultrarunning for the past 13 years,” Soderlund said. “I will continue to be involved with the event and will assist Craig and the Western States Board in any way I can. The past 13 years have been a remarkable journey, and I thank the Western States Board for their trust and guidance. I have been inspired both by the runners and our 1,500-plus volunteers and the amazing growth the sport has experienced over the last decade. I extend a special thanks to our tireless and selfless volunteers — without their dedication to the runners there would be no event.”

Under Soderlund’s direction, Western States has seen its annual lottery swell to nearly 2,000 applicants. Working closely with presenting sponsor Montrail and the Montrail Cup series of Western States qualifying races, Soderlund’s efforts have fostered greater competitive depth of the elite men’s and women’s fields. In addition, the race’s trail maintenance efforts, volunteer ranks, medical research agenda and sponsorships are all at record levels.

The 2012 edition of Western States was just one example of Soderlund’s focused, athlete-centered race direction. Men’s and women’s course records were set by Timothy Olson and Ellie Greenwood, while the race also saw a record number of finishers and the most sub-24-hour silver belt buckles ever awarded in the race’s 39-year history.

“Greg has set an incredible standard for 13 consecutive race cycles,” Western States Board of Trustees President John Trent said. “Our race has been blessed to have someone of Greg’s abilities directing our race. I may be a bit biased, but I believe that Greg is the best race director in the country.

“The thing I will remember most about Greg is his belief that every runner who toes the starting line at Squaw Valley on the fourth Saturday of June should have the experience of a lifetime while running our race. Amazingly, for 13 historic race cycles, he’s always been able to accomplish that goal. For that reason, and much more, Greg’s legacy is simply remarkable.”

Posted in Race News | on: September 7th, 2012 by Craig | Comments Off