Pre-WM100: Spencer's Attempt

With a date change and a few other moving pieces, the opportunity arose for me to take a swing at the White Mountain 100. Over the past couple seasons, I had the chance to pace a lot of people doing big runs in the White Mountains. From AT speed records to a few WM100 attempts. Training alongside a few people who have either gone for it or are going for it, I have seen and felt the fitness from these folks. The WM100 has always caught my attention but with climbing trips and focusing more on climbing objectives, it has always been too big of an objective to attempt. With a month spent at altitude chasing big alpine rock climbing objectives, maybe just maybe, I am ready for an attempt. 

Go Light or Suffer.

Amassing gear, my light and fast approach is often taken to the extreme. I have been seen up high in the alpine in nothing or next to nothing from time to time. I am assembling my gear with this in mind. Broken down into sections, I can go as fast and as light as I boldly dare. Roughly broken up into 5 sections, with a road crossing roughly every 20-26 miles my kit can be whittled down to the bare essentials. With an eye on the weather, t-shirt, shorts and a windbreaker will be tucked away for the daylight hours. With the evening showcasing tights, gloves and a heavier top. Highs in the 60s and low in the 40s, risks can be safely taken with the amount of clothing I can bring. 

"Training" run from earlier this summer.

Gel-athlon. With an overwhelming amount of sports nutrition and sports nutrition advice in the world, I tend to take it all with a grain of salt…..So to speak. I tend to air on the side of comfort over science in longer and longer events. When morale is low, sucking down a gel on a windy ridgeline at 2am does not motivate me to keep going. I will try and strike a balance between gels, powders and supplements with real food. Bacon, nuts, jerky and candy will make up the real food. Aid stations will be stocked with normal food so I will supplement if my taste buds require different stimulation. 

Below the summit of Mt Washington.

Mindset heading in. With only 7 days of prep beforehand, clearly I have not “trained” with this goal. I have spent the summer mostly focusing on alpine climbing. I spent 2 weeks in the Canadian Rockies climbing in a few different areas. My time there culminated in a 12 hour day running the Rundle Traverse. A skyline traverse with rock climbing up to 5.4, that I free soloed, 3 rappels and over 10,000ft of vertical gain in 15 miles. After a couple weeks at home, I drove out west to meet another buddy and spent another month in the alpine of Colorado and Wyoming. I spent about 20 days climbing, running and sleeping above 8,000ft. A majority of those days involved 6 miles of hiking to the base of a big wall, climbing 800-1,000ft on routes rated between 5.8-5.10 and hiking back out 6 miles. My partner and I implemented speed tactics, with minimal weight, gear and speed climbing tactics to move quickly. I left the west feeling that my summer was over and I can shift focus to sport climbing and easy running….. If only the WM100 did not have to get rained out on September 5th. 

It feels like a massive mountain is in front of me.... luckily I climbed a few this summer.