Trail Runner’s Gear – Geoff Roes

TrailrunningSoul – We’ll go top-down. Did you use any headwear? What kind of headlight did you use during the night hours?
Geoff Roes - REI lightweight running baseball hat during the day. Switched to a NUUN visor once the sun went down and i was no longer worried about burning the bald spots (which seem to keep getting bigger) on my head.

I used 2 headlamps. A Princeton Tec EOS on my head and a Black Diamond Spot around my waist.

In terms of the clothing you wore, something special to mention about your tee, shorts, etc?
In hundred milers I like to wear hiking shorts with lots of pockets rather than actual running shorts. I use the pockets for gel flasks, trash, pills, gloves, jacket, etc. Much the way one would use a waist pack but being all in separate pockets on my shorts my things I’m carrying don’t bounce around as much.

The race was a technical jungle course. What shoes and socks did you choose to tackle the trail?
Montrail Odyssey on the feet. They kick ass in the mud. They have the best traction on roots and mud of any shoe I’ve ever used and they are very porous so they let the water out really quick. Unfortunately Montrail stopped making them last year but I think the new Montrail Wildwood are going to be a good alternative to the Odyssey. I love the way the Wildwood feel so far but I just got my first pair this week so they certainly need some more testing.

Injinji socks = no more blisters between my toes. I did get blisters on the balls of my feet because I forgot to put some extra moleskin padding down there like I usually do.

On your race report you say you took 300 calories per hour. Were did those calories came from? Also, any pre-race “delicatessen” your want to share with us?
I consumed about 3,500 calories of PowerGel; 1,500 calories of Hammer Perpetuem; and about another 1,000 calories of random things from aid stations (bananas, cantaloupe, boiled potatoes, and chicken broth). For electrolytes I took down about 35-40 endurolytes and about a half dozen NUUN tablets.

You also talk about bladder and bottles. Did you use both during the race?
Yeah, when it was hot during the day and I was taking in more than a gallon of water per 20 mile lap I was wearing a Nathan HPL 028 vest with a 50 ounce bladder and carrying a 20 ounce bottle filled with perpetuem or nuun. Once it cooled down I ditched the bladder and carried two 20 ounce bottles – one with water and the other with perpetuem or Nuun.

Any other piece of gear you did use on the race you’d like to point out?
Nope, I think that pretty much covers everything.

And finally, anything you would have brought that you didn’t? Anything you wouldn’t bring again?
Nope, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything and I used everything I had with me.

Thanks for sharing this with us Geoff!