This is part of a series of posts regarding how we prepare, plan, and train to complete the 100-mile Ultramarathon Umstead 100. Our series for this event: Collecting Laps: one lap at a time to 100. For all the ultrarunning series, here, follow the link. Training for a 100. Alternatively, you can also follow our Podcast so you don’t miss the weekly summary post.

---

As we look ahead, the calendar is marked with key winter races. For many in our area, the Frosy 50k, Ghost Road event, Occoneche Relay, and Tobacco Road Marathon in early March stands out as a perfect opportunity, not our final exam. It is our Dress Rehearsal. We have spent the last two plus months building our systems piece by piece: we defined our ‘Why’, engineered our pit stops, audited our gear, and calculated our energy equation. Now, we put it all together under the pressure and unpredictability of a live race environment.

The goal of this dress rehearsal is not to set a new personal record. The goal is to execute your 100-mile race plan on a smaller scale and gather invaluable data. It’s a chance to see what holds up and, more importantly, what breaks. A failure here is not a failure; it’s a lesson that saves you from a DNF in April.

Assessment:

Before any major performance, you must run through a final systems check. Think of this as your Pre-Flight Checklist. The objective is to ensure that every plan you’ve meticulously built is ready for deployment. Go through your notes from the past weeks and confirm your readiness for each component:

• The Logistics Plan: Is your “Pit Stop Protocol” ready? If you’re using your car as a personal aid station, is it organized for maximum efficiency? Do you know exactly where your lube, spare socks, and backup headlamp will be?
• The Fueling Plan: Is your nutrition laid out and ready? Do you know your target calorie intake per hour? Are your A-List foods and fluids packed? Have you decided at what point in the race you plan to introduce caffeine?
• The Gear Plan: Is your complete race-day outfit selected, from your shoes and socks to your shorts and shirt? Have all these items been tested on long runs? Is your “Anti-Chafe Toolkit” prepared and accessible?
• The Mental Plan: Revisit your ‘Why’. Write down your key mantras. What specific mental strategies will you deploy when the run gets tough? Who will you think of to keep you moving forward?

This checklist ensures you are starting the event with intention and purpose, not just hoping for the best.

Planning:

With your systems assessed, the focus shifts to execution. Your plan for this dress rehearsal should be guided by two principles: trusting your training and documenting everything.

Document Everything: The real prize from this event is the data you collect. Immediately after the race, while the sensations are still fresh, perform a detailed debrief. What worked perfectly? What piece of gear failed? At what specific mile did your stomach start to feel “off”? What was the first food that sounded good at the aid station? This detailed post-mortem is what will allow you to make the final, critical adjustments to your Umstead 100 strategy.

Trust Your Training: Now is not the time for wild experimentation. Execute the plan you have built. Wear the shorts you know are comfortable. Eat the A-List gels that you know work. Run the first half of the marathon at your planned 100-mile effort to truly simulate how that pace feels. The goal is to validate the systems you’ve worked so hard to create. Resist the temptation to get caught up in the race-day hype and run someone else’s race.

Diabetes Learning Notes:

For us, this dress rehearsal is the ultimate Integrated Systems Test. It’s the day before our goal race where our fueling plan, our insulin strategy, our gear, and our race-day adrenaline all come together. This is our prime opportunity to see how the entire system functions under real-world pressure.

Your T1D Pre-Flight Checklist is non-negotiable and contains life-critical items:

• Is your “T1D Redundancy Kit” fully stocked and packed? Have you double-checked your insulin vial and meter batteries?
• What is your target blood glucose for the start line? What is your specific strategy to manage the almost-certain BG spike from pre-race adrenaline?
• What are your planned basal rate adjustments or bolus strategies for this higher level of intensity? Have you written them down?

When it comes to Executing the T1D Protocol, your goal is predictability, not a PR. A 4:30 marathon with steady blood sugar is an infinitely more successful day than a 4:15 marathon with three hypos and a massive rebound high. Use this race to answer your most important questions: How did your pre-race meal and insulin timing actually work with race-day nerves? Did your A-List fuels perform as expected at a higher heart rate? Did your CGM and pump sites stay secure with heavy sweating? Download and analyze your CGM data post-race. This data is the most valuable information you will gather in your entire training block.

This week’s actual numbers:

Week 14	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
Plan	Stretches & Rolling	6	5	6	Rest	18	16	51
Actual	Stretches	Rest	7	Stretches	Stretches	20	12	39

Next Week Plan:

Week 13	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
Plan	Stretches & Rolling	6	5		6	18	16	51

---