Michael: My Handheld

The bright bitter cold;
The sun as a false angel
Promising relief.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Run. That means drop all your sh.. And get the heck out of here.

That’s why I’ve never used a handheld. I figure if I’m running I should be moving along at a good clip for a good reason and I don’t want to be holding on to anything that might slow me down.

But this past year I’ve been holding a quiver of orange flags as part of my job marking trails for a wellness center’s hiking group. And, yes, I do feel that it slows me down.

So why am I going to start training with a handheld and possibly start making use of it during longer trail races?

Because for some long events it might not be a bad thing to be reminded to take it a bit easier and slow down a little. I’m particularly thinking this might be a wise move for a 100k, and I have one of those coming up next week.

The record time for the Sycamore 100k is just a little over 12 hours. That’s just barely above fast walking pace. With my tendency to start out overly aggressive, I’m thinking it’ll be wise to switch it up and start this event with a handheld that will hopefully tamp down my adrenal response at the start of a race and get me more into a “relax, let’s take it a bit easier this time out.” mindset.

Another one of those fun experiments that make long trail events just as much of a head game as a physical challenge.