A Tahoe Rim Trail 100 race report by Bryce Montano

In conjunction with being relatively new to the Dukes Track Club and mostly just showing up to Michael Thomas runs, it would be prudent to introduce myself to those who do not know me. My name is Bryce Montano. I’m a 28-year-old who enjoys trail running. I didn’t run track or cross country in high school nor was I a collegiate athlete. I primarily stick to trails, and I am not a fast runner. As far as Dukes are concerned, I’m sort of an oddball.   

Four weeks prior to TRT100, I was finishing up a training run in the foothills when I strained my calf. I had just come off of a major build week in my last block before the race.  My doctor suggested that I take a few days off and I would be fine to run again later in the week. As the days progressed, I continued to try and run with little reprieve from pain / clicking sensation. With two weeks left until race week, I shut down almost all workouts completely. Instead, I focused on rehabbing, going to the chiropractor, and stretching. As most of us do, I started to worry that I was losing fitness and that my calf would not hold up for the run.

As race day arrived, to my surprise, I had a fairly calm demeanor given that I was now almost convinced I would not finish. Normally I am a wreck before races and usually do not sleep the night before. This time was different; I got about 6 hours of sleep and woke up with a feeling that I didn’t really care if I didn’t finish. I was content with simply going out and running for as long as possible. Throughout the week I had continually warned my pacer Geoffrey Tweed that I may not be able to finish the race. He replied with the same thing he had been saying all week with a smirk, “You’re going sub 24”.

As the gun went off at Spooner Lake, a smaller lake adjacent to Lake Tahoe, I almost immediately felt calf tightness. I immediately felt like I would be ending my day sooner than I had even anticipated. However, as the miles wore on, I progressively noticed my calf tightness less and less. 10 miles in, I didn’t feel anything. With calf pain no longer an issue, I started to enjoy myself. All too often, I tend to not pick my head up, take in the scenery, appreciate the volunteers or even simply smile. This time, I felt like I was actually aware of my surroundings and appreciative that I was running pain free.

Most of the first 50 miles were pretty uneventful with the exception of catching up with Tweed at mile 30, and a massive climb up to the top of Diamond Peak Ski hill soon after. The ski hill has about 1500 feet of gain in less than 2 miles. I would have to do that same ski hill again at mile 80 in the dark which made me feel a bit apprehensive.

I came into the mile 50 aid station at almost 11 hours on the dot. I knew at this point I was going to finish and I was going to finish under 30 hours. Here I refueled, picked up Tweed as my pacer and we were off in less than 5 minutes.

As we continued to peel off the miles, I did my best to maintain a slightly slower pace than the first 50 miles. We held around 12-13 minute pace between the aid stations which to any road runner is essentially walking and to be honest, there was a fair amount of that. The Tahoe 100 course features almost 18,000 feet of ascent and 18,000 feet of descent. My strategy for much of the course was to power hike any hills or climbs that I could not see over and run the rest at ~9 minute pace. The TRT100 course is extremely runnable and the terrain is not technical at all. In fact, it is very similar to 365 in Albuquerque, with the exception that there is a lot more fine-grain sand on the trail that makes for a lot of particulate in the air. The 50 miler and 55k both run over the same course as the 100 distance.

Tweed and I came into the mile 80 aid station just after 11:00 PM with a new goal that I was going to finish sub 24. A friend of ours by the name of Cara, who had left a Ragnar event in Tahoe the same day to come help crew me, met us to help me refuel and go. Cara was super helpful the entire day and served as a mule for transporting gear and nutrition between aid stations for me. As I was leaving, Cara mentioned that I was top 10. Although I was surprised to hear this, I was much more focused on coming in at sub 24. I had just under 6 hours to accomplish this which included the Diamond Peak ski hill climb.

I’m not sure if the first or second time was harder, but by the end of the ski hill climb, I was not sure I could run anymore and complained to Tweed. Tweed listened to a lot of my bitching that day and maintained the same attitude of “Keep moving, keep hydrating, keep eating”. I should mention that a lot of my success was due to my fast transition times in aid stations. I never spent more than a couple minutes (less than 5) at any of the aid stations. I didn’t change clothes, gear, etc. When entering an aid station, Tweed would grab my bottles to be filled, I would pound some food and grab some to go and we were off. He really set the pace in and out of aid stations, which I was super thankful for.

At mile 93, Tweed and I came into an aid station manned by some Boy Scouts who were so badass! They had the most organized aid station with an incredible food selection. These young men had been up since the morning prior and were still helping out with smiles on their faces. We exchanged high-fives and they helped me get the things I needed. I quickly slammed some Doritos, PB&J and Coke and made it about 30 feet outside the tent before I gave it all back. But I felt great after that puke! For the last 7 miles Tweed and I had to exert a concerted effort to not only maintain a pace that would bring us in under the 24 hour mark, but also to fight off some approaching runners who were also trying to go sub 24. I hate getting dropped in the last few miles of any race.

We came into the finish line at 23:50:11, meeting my goal and also finishing 8^th overall. More than anything, I was happy to have finished.

Bryce & Geoffrey Tweed

100 miles - 23:50:11 - 8th OA

In closing, I want to say that I owe a lot of the successful execution of my race plan to my pacer Geoffrey Tweed,  our single crew member Cara, and the volunteers at the event – all of whom went above and beyond what they were asked to do. There is a vibe of positivity at trail running events that you don’t really get from other events like triathlon and may not have time to notice when you are blazing through a road race. The volunteers are so supportive and are there to help you reach your goal. The positivity and selflessness is incredible.

I also want to thank the Dukes who I have learned so much from over the past year with regard to training, recovery, and just being overall great people to talk to and experience running with. Thank you all!!!

Short notes

·         Nutrition

o   First 50 miles were comprised of Tailwind for electrolytes and calories and bananas. My average intake of calories was around 150-200 per hour.

o   Last 50 miles I backed off the Tailwind because of issues I have had in the past with their products over a period longer than 10-12 hours of continued use. They actually wrote a great post on it: https://www.facebook.com/tailwindnutrition/posts/1473654239392845. I ended up switching to ginger ale, bananas, rice with coco aminos, boiled potatoes and the occasional candy bar. I had zero nutrition issues.

·         Hydration

o   I had some hydration issues near the mile 65 mark and I was stupid to not notice that I was not peeing enough during the course of the run. I was able to catch back up after nearly doubling my intake for the remainder of the run with roughly two bottles every 1-1.5 hours.

·         Gear

o   No change of clothes / pack /etc

o   Headlamp

o   Poles for ski hill climb

o   Ran with a pack and carried two bottles

o   Portable charger for watch (Gotta have the 1 strava file)