You will walk. Make the most of it.

Most of the uphill sections of the course are just too steep to run on unless you’re gunning for a sub-14 hour finish. This is the part where you stay in second gear. Don’t change your pace and always walk as fast as possible while taking short steps. Let me say it again in case you just glazed over that little tidbit of information – TAKE SHORT STEPS. If you try to go uphill like you’re taking two stair steps at a time, you’re going to unnecessarily fatigue your legs and you’ll pay for it later. Put it this way… can you do lunges for 20+ hours? Okay, then don’t take massive steps uphill. Take short but quick steps and don’t stop moving. We’re going to do another repeat of words here. Don’t. Stop. Moving. The second you tell yourself it’s okay to stop midway up the mountain(s) is when you set yourself up for failure. A quick 10 second break will drift into a 20 second break the next time, then a minute… and then you’ll be hating yourself many hours later when you missed a cut-off by a couple of minutes that could have been prevented if you didn’t stray from a controlled short-step pace. Take it from me… I missed the last cut-off at the Ultra Beast by four minutes in 2013. To look at that in perspective, that was an entire years’ worth of training and preparation gone in just 240 seconds. Also, while you’re going uphill in a forced walk, this is the time when you can afford to take off your pack and grab some nutrition or adjust your gear a little. Don’t even attempt that while running or you’ll tumble down the mountainside. Speaking of running…

When you can run… freaking run.

So you just made it to the top of a mountain and there’s a nice, slightly downhill trail that you can briskly walk down. The temptation to take it easy on your legs will be there, but you need to start running. I’m sure you heard that you only need to go at a sub-4 mile/hour pace, but the math for that is a little flawed. I’ll go into the math later on but for now just look back up at the title of this paragraph and run when you can, albeit controlled and cautious especially for the first half of the course. The second half of the course will be a lot more forgiving and you will even get to run on some relatively flat service roads. This isn’t time for you to walk and enjoy yourself. This is the time when you need to run while the opportunity is there. There was a 7 mile stretch of service road leading up to the second crew station that I probably ran 90% of. If I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t have had the very small time cushion to squeak by the final 1am cutoff with just 15 minutes to spare in 2017. Take every opportunity to run, ESPECIALLY if it’s on a very easy trail that doesn’t have a sharp elevation grade. Your legs might not be able to move that fast, but you need to move them as best as you can.

I refined my uphill cadence and ran a lot faster on the downhill and slight uphill course sections in 2019 and I crushed my previous finish time! I think I’ve stressed the point enough. Run when you can. So we’ve talked about the course a little bit, now let’s talk about you.

Train specifically for this race.

The stair stepper is your best friend. Much like the Spartan UltraBeast, most of my training for this race was done via the stair stepper, minus the upper body training. My workout consisted of 70 steps per minute for 45 minutes, and then I’d do a 30 minute stationary bike ride at 15mph, and then back on the stepper for a 45/30/45/30/45 minute rotation. It’s a brutal grind, but so is this race you’re preparing for. However brutal the training was, it paid off. Whenever I’d be going on the uphill section of the race, I’d just equate it to another stair stepper session that my body was very well adapted to. In fact, I think there was only one section of the race where I was going uphill for longer than a 45 minute stretch, which was only at the beginning section of the course (that’s from mile 3.4-7.2 on my Strava). Any other uphill section of the course was easier than what I had trained for! Since I live in Florida, I didn’t have elevated trails and hills to train on so I’d run through UCF campus and go up and down their parking garages. If you really want to prepare for this event, you’ll find a way. I had zero cramping issues on the course just because I trained very well in addition to keeping my nutrition on point.

Ultrarunning is an eating contest

If running a 5k burns around 350-500 calories, what the heck is going to happen to you after a couple of hours when you don’t have any calories left to burn? Pig out on as much as possible in the days leading up to this event and especially during the event. On one of the 7 mile stretches I ran out of calories and I immediately felt the ill effects of bad nutrition. I began to hallucinate colored spots on the corners of my field of view and I kept seeing red and black bugs on the ground plus the common dizziness and general feeling of lost hope that accompanies the ol’ bonk-out. As soon as I scarfed down some cookies at the next aid station I could feel the energy immediately return to me and I was perfectly fine afterwards. Some people can’t break past a nutrition bonk-out, so do whatever you can to prevent that from happening. Some people brought a watch that beeped at them every hour. No matter where they were when it beeped they would stop what they were doing and eat. Bringing a baggie to stash aid station food in 2019 PAID OFF BIG TIME! DO THIS!

Take care of your damn feet

Even if you’re the most swole and fit fella out there, your feet are going to feel the effects of running 75 miles. That’s just a simple cause-and-effect bound by biology and physics. Ultra running is a chaotic and insane trial that breaks every person in some way. Your feet are going to need the best care you can provide. If you’re feeling hotspots on your feet (you will), you need to take care of it at the next aid station no matter how painful or uncomfortable it is to take off your shoes and socks. I’d highly recommend a generous application of Trail Toes whenever you’ve got the opportunity. Bring extra socks and shoes to access at each bag drop or crew station in case the situation calls for it. I’ll go into more personal detail later but for me, my feet were swelling up and I needed to change into a larger shoe. Knowing what I know now, I should have listened to my feet and switched shoes. I learned from this and when I ran it again two years later I had shoes with more padding and slightly less traction and I didn’t lose a single toenail and only had a very tiny blister on one foot. However you want to prepare for this event, the next subject is of crucial importance…

Don’t try anything new

So you’ve made your 5th stop at REI or WalMart while you’re out there the days before and those brand new socks look really nice, or that calorie-laden snack you’ve been dying to try looks like a nice thing to put into your drop bin. No matter how tempting something is, do not try it for the first time when you’re out at an ultra. I’ve seen people with horrifically blistered feet because they decided to break in a new pair of shoes or socks, or vomiting endlessly because they discovered that their stomach actually doesn’t agree with perkey jerkey and fireball whiskey at mile 50. Use your tried and tested methods out on the course. Trying new things should be relegated to your training sessions only. As a quick example, I decided to try out wearing two pairs of socks after the second crew station. That lasted for about one mile when my swollen feet were trying to burst at the seams of my shoes without any regard to my heel blisters. In 2019 I decided to hit the whiskey at the second aid station instead of the last two, which turned my stomach into a furnace of regret.

Learn from my mistakes. Here is what I should have done on my first GDR. (With an update!)

Lose more weight

I had way too much muscle above the waist that I never used at this event. In addition, I could have probably dropped 5-10lbs of fat around the belly just by eating a little more responsibly in the months leading up to this event. Every single unnecessary pound becomes an immense burden when you’re running non-stop for an entire day. Imagine climbing the steps of the Sears Tower with a 30lb wreckbag over your shoulders, now imagine how much less of a hedonistic suckfest that would be if you got to drop that on the ground before climbing. Lay off the Nutella and PBR, alright?

How’d this go in 2019? I was only eight pounds lighter on the second go-around and it made a world of a difference. Highly recommended!

Would I change anything still? Yes. I could have still dropped my bodyfat % down a little and my upper body was still too muscle-heavy.

Put the knee brace on earlier

In the six months leading up to the Death Race, I had problems with my right knee. After 15 miles the right tendon would start flaring up in an intense pain that would cripple me to a walk. I wish I would have put on the knee brace beforehand instead of once I started to feel the pain. Doing that would have brought my speed up considerably. If you’ve got an injury, take preventative measures.

How’d this go in 2019? I heeded this advice and it worked 100%. I crushed the uphill sections of the course and my knees felt just fine thanks to the brace!

Bigger shoes

I forgot that feet swell up during these things. I should have worn shoes that were half a size larger. Had I done that I could have double-socked it and prevented many of the blisters and busted toenails that I’m currently nursing.

How’d this go in 2019? Just a half size difference and not wearing thin OCR mud shoes absolutely saved my toes. Only a tiny pencil eraser sized blister on one foot occurred!

Have pockets

Many times during the run I wanted something in my camelback, but I didn’t want to take it off and dig through my pack so I just dealt with the inconvenience until I got to an aid station. In hindsight, I should have had pockets on the side that I could easily access for things like snacks and salt tabs.

How’d this go in 2019? Sweet mother of god yes. Just a tiny pocket made it much more convenient to access nutrition. Ladies, I now know of your plight when it comes to those fancy dresses. Pockets are yuuuuuge.

Bring a to-go bag for the aid stations

A small Ziploc bag to stash aid station food in would have been amazing. My safety runner did this and had no trouble keeping a full stomach. The food they have at these stations is downright amazing, and to have a consistent supply of grilled cheese and bacon slices with you during the run is nothing short of a koala bear crapping a rainbow into your brain.

How’d this go in 2019? By far the best idea since the discovery of sex. No nutrition bonk-outs and my energy levels were through the roof.

Would I change anything still? Yes, a better quality bag. Mine had gotten holes in it but I still salvaged enough food to keep me going.

Better socks

Get a good pair of socks and don’t even look at the price. I had a worn out pair of injiji toe socks that were starting to rip from previous runs. Sure enough, my big toes tore through the socks by mile 20 and my big toenails are currently paying the price. I’d suggest toe socks because your toes aren’t rubbing against each other through the entire event, which will prevent some blisters from forming.

How’d this go in 2019? Not wearing worn out socks that ripped was phenomenal, imagine that! I still wore toe socks, but they were much more rugged.

Fill my bladder to 2L, not 3. WITH EXCEPTIONS.

I thought the time between aid stations was going to be much longer than reality. Never through any section of the race did I come close to drinking 3L of water from my camelpak. Having a 2L bladder would have been plenty enough to last between stations and it would have been much less of a heavy burden. 3L of water weighs roughly 5-7lbs depending on what you’re holding it in.

How’d this go in 2019? NOT OKAY. Why? It was hot as Satan’s taint this year. I went dry on water three times and I wished I used a 3L pack during the afternoon heat. I brought only a 2L bladder and it wasn’t enough.

Would I change anything still? To be safe, I’ll just bring a 3L sized bladder and only fill it to 2L in the cold mornings/evenings and to the brim in the afternoon. If the temperature goes over 70, you’ll need to fill that all the way to 3L.

Swapped shoes at mile 44

This was a big one for me. I had shoes with a wider toe box but less traction waiting for me. Unsure about what the terrain was going to look like for the remaining 30 miles, I opted to keep my smaller but more tractioned shoes that worked well in the technical terrain that I had ran in. The last 35 miles of the course were drastically different and less technical than the first. If you’ve got more comfortable shoes with lesser traction, bring these for your second crew station!

How’d this go in 2019? Since I picked better shoes from the beginning and not these super thin OCR mud shoes, I kept my Salming Trail Series 3 shoes on the entire time. I had a backup pair of Speedcross 4s in my drop bin just in case but I didn’t need to swap shoes for this time. Still I would recommend having backup socks/shoes in each of your two drop bins.

All and all, the end result of heeding my past advice landed me a freaking sub-21 finish. This was just from making very small tweaks.

Why people DNF



This list isn’t all-encompassing since I’m sure there are other minor reasons out there, but these are the more salient issues that I personally witnessed that caused people to DNF the most.

Not pacing oneself

Too many people went too fast out of the gate. I saw people zipping past me in the first ten miles that I slowly sauntered by just miles later and never saw again. You are out here for an entire day, don’t blow it. I deliberately had my friend Kris run in front of me for the first 8 miles just because he has a better grip on his pacing than I do. Sure enough, I found myself creeping up on his ass when I wasn’t paying attention.

Not looking where you’re going

This is especially important when it’s dark out. I saw so many people smashing their toes and rolling their ankles on the errant roots and jutting rocks that littered the first half of the course. Don’t ruin what you prepared for months in advance and ran hours into only to lose it all in a split second lapse of focus. I deliberately ran without any music for the entirety of the race just to force my mind into the tedious monotony of staring at the terrain attentively. It’s only 20+ hours of suffering you have to go through for a lifetime of pride. Don’t bring your phone or any distraction and keep your eyes on the ground. Leaves will cover most of the things you’ll trip over, so step cautiously.

Not eating enough

This is a no-brainer, but even I mentally retreated from this lesson. Ultrarunning is an eating contest. You MUST keep eating. The aid stations have more than enough nutritional needs, so eat it all up!

Not doing the math

So, at the mandatory pre-race meetup there were a few people speaking to the crowd of nervous runners (present company included). One person said something that I almost raised my hand to correct, but I didn’t want to be ‘that guy’ so I kept my silence until I got behind the keyboard like all internet warriors do. He said that 75 miles divided among 24 hours equals about 3.175 miles per hour, or basically running a 5k per hour. This sounds incredibly easy, and he even said he walked about 4/5 of the course. Though probably true on average, the math did not add up on certain sections of the course. This pace was only valid under the following conditions:

1) You took 0 seconds break at each of the aid stations, and

2) There were no do-or-die cutoffs at any of the aforementioned aid stations.

On average, I took about 9 minutes break at each aid station in 2017, which equates to 1 hour and 30 minutes added to my total time (there were 10 stations). That brings the needed pace up to 3.33 miles per hour. Not too big of a difference, but it’s incredibly hard to irk out that pace in the first half of the course, which brings us to the second point. The second crew station (Winding stair) had an incredibly strict time cut-off, and for a good reason. The race director didn’t want the slow people out there all night, causing a burden for search and rescue. Your pace per mile to reach that station had to be in the 4mph range, which wasn’t easy trying to pull off in the steep uphill and downhill sections of the course leading up to it. I’m pretty sure a lot of people kept thinking back to the 5k/hr pace and took it easy, only to discover that the true math was a lot more crushing when 8:30pm hit before they reached Winding Stair. The second do-or-die cutoff for me was the very last one – Nimblewell. In 2017 I got there at 12:45am, just 15 minutes to spare before I would have been DNF’d at the 1am cut-off. That means that if you made that cut-off you had at least 4 hours to run only 9 miles. So do the math for each section of the course, okay? Find the pace you truly need to go, and try your best to stay a little above that (but not too fast, pace yourself) to give yourself a little bit of a cushion in case you have to go slower than normal at a future leg of the race. Yes, I am aware that there is a section of this whole article that’s telling you not to go too fast, and yet here I am telling you to pick up the pace. Welcome to the Death Race.

2019 update: There were 9 stations this year and my break time average at each station was 4:30! That’s a little over 40 minutes versus 90 minutes compared to my last GDR run. That alone shaved 50 minutes off of my finish time. See what I mean?

Thinking outside of the present moment

This is the mental aspect of ultra running that many of you have no doubt heard about, but it needs reiteration because I heard a lot of people voluntarily quit at aid stations when they had plenty of time to finish. This isn’t just hearsay; my safety runner who volunteered at Winding Stair for five hours before I met up with him saw this happen first hand! Why would anybody in the right mind voluntarily drop, save for any obvious injuries? They thought too far ahead, or too far back. Thinking too far back into how far you’ve run so far will lull your mind into a false sense of accomplishment. It will make you think that you’ve earned that extra 5 minutes at the aid station or an easy walk through a section of the course that you really should be running in. Thinking too far ahead will just make you overwhelmed at the daunting task that lies ahead. I’ll admit, I let these thoughts creep into my mind at around mile 20. The thought of having to do those 20 miles not once, twice but almost THREE times over was insane. Granted, the first 20 miles were significantly harder than other 20 mile sections, but distance was all the same. Do NOT let those thoughts creep into your head. The hours will melt away if you only focus about taking that one step in front of the other. Thinking about that is the only thing that will benefit your current situation, so focus on that with laser precision. After all, the difference between a flashlight and laser is merely focus. You all have the ability to complete this race. Just live in the moment, and don’t be distracted from the noise. Whenever I found myself in a dark place, I would always repeat the following mantra in my head:



“Where the mind goes, the body will follow”

[2018 update] - I’d like to add on to the above section a little more, because it needs to be re-emphasized after what I witnessed as a volunteer this year. To those who were there, my group was handling morning-check in while pounding beers at 4am (hi). Every registrant had an underlying facade of insane nervousness, which was understandable. What totally baffled me was the amount of people who physically showed up to check-in, only to explain that they are not racing. Excuses ranged from “I don’t think I’m trained enough for this” to straight up “I don’t want to do it”. I kid you not.





