Sarah’s Western States Report

Sarah Lavender Smith’s Report from Western States

Since her name was drawn in December, URP co-host Sarah Lavender Smith has been planning and training to run her first Western States Endurance Run. In many episode over the past six months, she’s shared tips on her fitness, diet, and ultimately, anxiety about the big race.

sarah lavender smith western states — Sarah on the trail

In this interview, Sarah’s on the other side of the mic and I get to ask her about how the race was executed. Did her planning and training work out? What went right out on the trail? What went wrong? Sarah set a goal of sub-24. How did chasing those splits work out?

We talk about her crew chief Errol “Rocket” Jones, her pacer Clare, the impact of having her family present for a big race, and the feeling of crossing the finish line in one piece with her goal achieved.

Sarah and Errol "Rocket" Jones 10 minutes after her finish. — Sarah and Errol “Rocket” Jones 10 minutes after her finish.

It’s been fun having Sarah co-host so many shows over the past two years, now with this adventure under her belt (buckle), she’ll have even more insight into the training and mindset of successful ultrarunners.

Sarah Lavender Smith’s Western States Episode Notes

Here’s Sarah’s blog, but I’m guessing she’s too busy running the beautiful trails in Telluride to update it this week.

Note from interview: Sarah mentioned that while chasing Billy Yang up the canyons, she believed he was with Aliza LaPierre. Sarah emailed me after the chat and let me know it was actually Anna Mae Flynn. She had mis-remembered some details.

Here’s Matt Flaherty’s music site.

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9 Responses to "Sarah’s Western States Report"

Cary Stephens says:

July 6, 2016 at 12:07 pm

One recommendation for running in the dust at night is to move the headlamp to the waist.

Reply
Teresa Smith says:

July 6, 2016 at 1:07 pm

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S S L S!
Thank you Sarah for bringing up the salt/to/water ratio. I NEVER know if I’m taking too much salt or too little. My hands get very swollen well into the race. I’m a heavy sweating lady so it’s a guessing game.
Did you drink sports drink & water? You said you held back on the soda but could you elaborate more on what you did drink.
Did the heat affect you? Did you sweat plenty? (From the pics you look dry)

Reply
1. Sarah Lavender Smith says:
  
  July 6, 2016 at 5:13 pm
  
  Hi – I recommend Jason Koop’s new book for a detailed discussion on this; his advice helped me get the balance right. I stopped taking salt pill and only got salt and other electrolytes from gels, Clif blocks, and salt at aid stations (usually a piece of banana dipped in salt). I did indeed sweat a lot, so I lost a lot of salt & fluid through sweating, but I must’ve replaced it correctly because I kept peeing like Goldilocks — not too little, not too much, just right, and just the right color. My fingers swelled a little in the canyons, but not as badly in the past; in the past, my face has gotten puffy, which is a more serious sign of fluid retention. I drank mostly sports drink — I started out w/ VFuel’s drink mix, then switched to the Clif drink available at aid stations; and I also drank plain water. I didn’t drink as much as I thought I would — the two 17-oz soft bottles were always plenty between aid stations — because I paid attention to the amount of saliva in my mouth, and if I was able to form spit, I figured I was adequately hydrated. It seemed to work well. After dark, I started drinking ginger ale and Coke more than sports drink, but we also were pushing the pace more then, so I needed the quick-burning sugar. I also had gels after dark, which kept up the electrolyte intake. Hope this helps — good luck!
  
  Reply
  1. Teresa Smith says:
    
    July 7, 2016 at 9:58 am
    
    Sarah, I had not heard of Koop’s book so thanks for passing that along. I used to take salt/electrolyte tabs but stopped when I switched to Tailwind. BTW Tailwind has a ton of sodium! I have VFuel gel that has a subtle taste and has a thinner consistency and makes it easy to swallow. Sometimes when drinking sports drink it leaves a taste in your mouth and makes you thirstier. So I switch to water for awhile. I have DNF’ed a 100 miler because the extreme hand swelling so I need to get as much information before my fall 100 miler. Thank you! And love that your children popped in for the finish at Western States!
    
    Reply
Catching Up During and After the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run | The Runner's Trip: Run Long, Travel Far, Discover More says:

July 6, 2016 at 2:06 pm

[…] in luck! Eric of Ultra Runner Podcast interviewed me on June 30, four days after the finish, and you can hear our interview here. In a conversation that proves I’m a blurter in need of a filter, I recount how I made up […]

Reply
Ultramarathon Daily News, Wed, July 6 says:

July 7, 2016 at 6:24 am

[…] You’ve heard Sarah talking about her Western States prep on the show, now hear how it all went down. Sarah Lavender Smith’s Western States Report Episode. […]

Reply
jack crossfire says:

July 7, 2016 at 9:15 pm

She’s a lot more accomplished than some of the guests.

Reply
1. eric schranz says:
  
  July 8, 2016 at 5:23 pm
  
  She sure is. Writes, runs, travels, parents, coaches…
  
  Reply
  1. Sarah Lavender Smith says:
    
    July 10, 2016 at 7:44 am
    
    … procrastinates, yells at kids, has one too many beers and bag of trail mix during Netflix binge, falls asleep after reading only two paragraphs in book …
    
    Reply

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