469 Holly Worton ~ How to Crew for an Ultramarathon

Transcript 

HOLLY WORTON: Hello adventurers and welcome to the Into the Woods Podcast, episode 469. This is your host Holly Worton, and I am back with another solo episode. Today I am going to talk about how to help friends and family and maybe people you don’t know by crewing for them on a long training run or event. Now this is something that I wasn’t sure would be relative to a large amount of listeners but I think it is a really great experience if you have someone in your life you can help with this, I think it is really fun and it can also be helpful to get people to help you in your events.

So last month, maybe the month before, my husband ran and completed his first 100 mile race, which was the South Downs Way 100, here in South East England. And the South Downs Way is a trail that is very near to my heart because it was the first long distance trail that I walked and I really, really, love it and I think it is really beautiful and I loved the fact that he was running it, it is a route that I want to run myself one day and so it was a great pleasure to crew for him and have it be the first 100 mile race that he was able to finish.

So in this week’s episode I am going to talk about: what is crewing? Why you might want to do it. Why is it important? How to plan and how to do it effectively without going crazy from sleep deprivation and just how to make it be a really beautiful experience, I don’t know I really, really, enjoyed it.

So what is crewing for a race or another training event, like a long training run? Crewing is when a single individual or a team of people provide extra support beyond what is already provided by the race organisers. So usually in a race there will be specific check points along the way where you can meet a runner and provide them with food and fresh socks and fill up their drinks and this is often in addition to the regular aid stations but sometimes the crewing checkpoints will also coincide with the official aid stations – there will be separate places where you can meet your runner.

Crewing is important because it provides additional support. At the official aid stations you will get electrolytes, you will get water, you will get food and snacks, but they might not be the food and snacks that you want and it is hard to carry all the stuff that you need for an entire race. A lot of people do it and that’s fine, you have got drop bags at most events, and for a lot of people that’s enough. But some people like the additional support and not just the practical support but also the emotional support of seeing friends, family, loved ones or just a random person they met online (because that happens too!), at several points along the race. It can really help with the emotional aspect of running a long event and it can help with just getting through. So in addition to food and drinks you would also have fresh socks and fresh clothing and a chair and a table and coffee and different stuff set up based on what their needs are. So it adds that kind of additional support both practical and mental and emotional.

So usually when people are running an event like this and looking for crew they will reach out to friends and family but they can also reach out to people online. So people might reach out to people online like a facebook group or some other online group. Or last year when I was crewing for my husband on the North Downs Way 100 I met this woman who was crewing for this guy she had met on Twitter who had reached out to crew for her. She didn’t know this guy, he was giving her a couple of bottles of wine as a thank you and she was doing this major event for him.  

Crewing is a major responsibility and I feel like it is a big ask so I don’t know if I would be comfortable finding someone online, I feel like it is such a big help that I wouldn’t know how to thank them enough. And that was something that we were going through when we were going to be running this same race this year in August which I backed out of, which was the North Downs Race 100, we were both going to run it together which meant that we needed to look for crew and I don’t know, I am really bad at asking for help so it was a real struggle for me, which is interesting, because I find it really easy to help, especially someone like my husband for this, but I find it difficult to ask for help, so that’s my own problem, but it is a big thing to ask for, so if someone is asking you to crew for them I think this is a really useful episode to listen to so you know what it involves. For me it involved getting up at 3.00 or 3.30am on the Saturday and then we didn’t get home until 10.00 or 10.30am on the Sunday, and I was out in the car the entire time. I slept in the car, I didn’t really sleep, I kind of napped in the car, it is a lot, very full on. So this episode will give you an idea of what to expect.

And it is important to start planning as soon as possible. As soon as my husband or I signs up for a race and asks for assistance and we know that we are going to be crewing we get started. We have a big spreadsheet that we create and we kind of duplicate it for each event and then we adjust it for each event. At the very latest you want to start planning this at least a month, probably a couple of months before the race, especially if you want to check out some of the locations in advance. That has been important for me in the past, especially if we do a race in a place that I am not familiar with, like Snowdon. So plan in as far in advance as you can. If you have only found out that you are going to be helping a couple of weeks before the event, start planning immediately.

So the basis for our crewing is around this spreadsheet. We have this giant google doc that I set up because I love spreadsheets, and I share with him. We will actually sit down and have race meetings, which of course you can do online fi you don’t live with the person but we have meetings where we go through the spreadsheet and we discuss what needs to be done, what needs to be added and what needs to be adjusted and all the questions that come up along the way. So the different tabs in the spreadsheet are as follows:

Weather

We have different scenarios for cold weather and for hot weather. And this is really important because the runner is probably going to need more assistance if it is hot. And by hot it doesn’t get very… well it does get hot here but we define hot as more than 20 degrees, which for a summer race it is probably going to be more than 20 degrees out. But that just means you are going to need extra ice, you are going to need extra meetings/meet up spots with your runner, so that you can make sure that they are fully hydrated and iced up. So both times that I have crewed for him in the south we have used the hot scenario, and what we need to do, from the spreadsheet.

Location

I have all the different aid stations and where they are in the race in terms of mileage point and km point and I have all the points where I can meet him. I put that on the spreadsheet. I have got: what point in the race they are at, is it an aid station? Is it crew access? Is there a toilet there (because if it is an aid station there might be either a portacabin or fixed toilet. I have when the leader of the race is supposed to be coming through and my husband is estimated pace if he is running slowly, or if he is running fast. And then I have an empty column where I write in when he actually showed up. Then I have another column for the cut off time. So if he is running really slowly or close to cut off he needs to know that. That hasn’t happened but it is important to know. Then I have a final column which has the address, including the postcode of where the location is and then I have another spot below that explains exactly what the situation is. So a lot of times these aid stations will be set up in a farmer’s field so you will have the postcode to get there but then they kind of explain where to meet. So there is one  for example which said (and this is from the official race information): ‘on one side of the road there is a public car park under no circumstances park in the public car park, please leave this clear for the public’. And on the other side of the road is a single road lane called Hill Barn Lane, ‘if you are approaching this site drive up this lane and at the top, opposite the first barn take a sharp right into the field. Drive down into the field and the aid station will be there’. So these aren’t public stations they are farmers who have given a field that can be used for this event very kindly so you want to be really, really, respectful of showing up and making sure you are in the right place, and making sure that you are not blocking off access with your car or making this congested for the general public because that can engender the race going on in the future.

Official Crewing Points

And this leads me to another important point, one of the first things you need to do as well is to read the race rules. Because, crew are only allowed at certain points, if you hand a runner anything outside of the official crewing points you might disqualify the runner, so you need to know where you can help and where you cannot help. So, back to the spreadsheet.

Shopping List

We have a tab for the shopping list of all the food and stuff we need to buy.

We have a checklist for the stuff that I need to do as crew for the first half of the race, at the halfway point where we usually have a longer stop and then the second half of the race.

Agreed Personal Rules

We have another tab which explains the DNF protocol which is basically when he is going to permit himself to not finish the race if he is having a rough time, and the protocol we have arrived at for that is if he is not injured then he is going to go on. And we don’t even discuss quitting until 15 minutes after he has arrived and after I have done everything on the crewing tab which is giving him food, giving him water, maybe changing socks and making him feel better and then we can discuss how badly he is feeling. And again, if it goes to when he is injured then yes he will quit and if he is not injured he is going to keep going and keep going until he gets swept out of the race by the sweeper.

We have other personal rules that we have set up such as never quit at the aid station you want to, go to the next one and think about it there. So that is also a really important thing to know how to manage, because there is often going to be times in a race when a runner wants to quit and it has been really hard to be like, how do I manage this? How much do I push this person to go on when they are clearly miserable and how much do I say, ‘You wanna quit? Great.’ It has been hard for me to manage in the past. When he did the Snowdon race last year, he was clearly miserable, he got to the 50 mile point, it was the middle of the night, the weather had been miserable, he had kind of gotten lost a couple of times, gotten off track, that was demoralising. He was just miserable, his feet were macerated from the wet and he ended up DNF’ing and I think it was a good call, but at the time I just didn’t know, because of course when you go to hand in the person’s bib and the tracker at the aid station and then they go, oh well are you sure, what were his goals? Is he sure he wants to quit? And then it kind of makes you second guess and it is emotionally really challenging to know how much to push the other person and how much not to. So, that is why we have come up with our own kind of personal protocol that we are happy with: keep going unless you are injured until you get swept out of the race by the sweeper because you are going so slow.

Vest Packing list and mandatory kit

Next tab on the spreadsheet we have a packing list for all the stuff that needs to go into his running vest.

We have another tab that includes the mandatory kit and of course that stuff is also in the vest packing list but we also have it separately so we can make sure that he has the mandatory kit for the race so that he has got everything that he needs to have.

Blister kit

We have a special tab for the blister kit. Some of that is going to go in the car and some of it is going to go in the vest but we have to make sure that we have the blister kits with all the stuff for managing blisters.

Charging

We have another tab on things that need to be charged the night before. So that includes running lamps, so the main headlamp, backup headlamps, power-banks, watch batteries, all the stuff that has to be charged we have a checklist for that. So we know to charge the night before.

Car Kit

That includes all the stuff that is going to be in the car that I need to have in the car with me as the crew member and that includes all kinds of things, it is huge! It includes our Aeropress coffee maker, arm sleeves for him in case he gets chilly, blister kit, cables for all kinds of chargers, we have got a camping chair, we have got a big puffy jacket for him so when he comes into the aid station he puts it on if it is cool in the evening so he doesn’t get cold. We have a dry robe for afterwards, we have extra earbuds (and that is something we added this year when his earbuds died in the very first part of the race). Extra charges, extra power-banks, flask for coffee, flask for soup, gloves, we have a hole punch for his bib number, ice, ice chests, jet boil and gas, so that I can make soup and coffee, k-tape and then there is sticky spray for k-tape, Listerine, toothbrush and toothpaste, a massage gun, extra socks, tons of socks, nut butter, flip flops, a big umbrella, extra batteries, extra kind of long warm layers, fruit, protein powder, back up poles, back up gloves, a shaker for protein shakes at the end, extra shirts, shots and underwear, extra clothes, extra lamps, cool and hot sprays for pain. Another thing that we bought that worked really, really, well and I will link to these in the show notes, it is a garden sprayer for spraying weed killer and pesticides I think! But we bought it specially to spray him down, so I just filled it up with water and then you pump it and then it has a really nice mister and so I would spray him down because it was quite a hot day. Sun screen. I have got a camp table. I have got a timer, just so I know how long he is spending and he is not spending too much time. My husband wears glasses so we have to tons of those glasses cleaning towel things. And extra shoes, he changed his shoes several times during that race and yes, we had at least four of five pairs of running shoes in the car so that he could choose what he wanted. And that is also a really good option if the weather is wet and the shoes are getting wet. So really good to have shoes to change into if you are getting wet. If you have a shoe dryer, that’s another good option. When he was running the North Downs Way last year it was the middle of the summer, you you would think it would be super hot and it was not, it poured and poured and poured. Luckily the North Downs Way goes right by our house so between a couple of the checkpoints, I ran home and popped them on a shoe dryer and dried them out and I was able to get him dry shoes later on in the race. So that was really useful and I will link to the shoe dryer that we have in the show notes, because it is a super useful thing to have.

Emergency Contacts

Then we have got another tab with the emergency numbers for the race director and the medical crew. And that’s just something that the runner has to have on them, but I also want to have it on me as well.

Checklist for crew person

And then I have got my checklist for me, so all the stuff that I am going to need and this is something that I think a lot of crew forget, that you need to make sure that your needs are met so that you can help the runner. So if it is in the summer I have antihistamines as I was having a lot of hay fever. I bought Birkenstocks for my feet so that I could have my feet open and fresh and comfortable, but wore my Vivobarefoot closed shoes for the day, but I had the Birkenstocks in case I wanted them.

Blanket or sleeping bag, I brought a sleeping bag and ended up using that. I opened it up and I wrapped up in that to sleep in the car. I brought a buff, to use as a neck warmer or head band or whatever. I had eye drops for hay fever, fleece as a mid layer, a bunch of food for myself. I had a hat for the son and a hat for the cold. I had my own headlamp, because you are going to be moving around a lot and getting stuff in the dark, insect repellant which I don’t think I used. A pillow, for sleeping in the car. I had extra power banks. I had my puffy jacket, that had a sleep mask which was very, very, useful for sleeping in the car. Sun screen for myself, which actually I forgot and had to buy, and waterproof jacket and waterproof trousers. This year I didn’t need my waterproof but last year, when I was doing the North Downs Way and it was pouring and pouring and pouring with rain, it was very useful to have full waterproofs because I was outdoors for quite a while. There were several checkpoints where I had to walk from the car with all the stuff and meet him on the trail and so I couldn’t just sit in the car because I didn’t know exactly when he was going to be coming through, I had to be sitting outdoors in the middle of a field with all the stuff.

So make sure that your needs are met and that you are warm and hydrated, protected from the sun and just you are absolutely comfortable and in good shape so that you can help the other person. Do not forget yourself, remember to take care of yourself.

Runner’s Goals

And finally the last tab on that spreadsheet is the runner’s goal, so what are their goals for the race? Usually we have three goals, the goals for this race was: to finish, to finish in under 24 hours and the third was to finish in under 21 hours, which was a very ambitious goal. So always know what the runner’s goals are so you can help keep them on track and meet the runner’s expectations.

So again, before the run remember that you are going to be sitting around or standing around a lot. So be safe, make sure that you have everything you need to be comfortable. Bring lots of extra layers for yourself. So there was one race were I planned to wear a base layer, a light fleece and I had my waterproofs and by chance I grabbed my down jacket as I was walking out the door and this was crewing for a long training run for him but the weather was terrible and I ended up wearing all my layers that day. I was wearing my base layer, my fleece, my down jacket and my waterproof. So make sure that you have extra stuff because the weather can change, especially if you live in England and stuff might happen during the day. Especially if you are going to be out all day long and especially if you are doing like a 100 mile race where you are probably going to be out for at least 30 hours from the time you leave the house until the time you get back.

So stuff you need to know in terms of your planning. I have told you about our spreadsheet but then there are some other practical stuff you need to know. Know how to get to the different meeting points along the trail, so have all the addresses, the postcodes and maps if you need them.

You need to know approximately what time the runner will arrive at each checkpoint. And runners are going to arrive at different paces so that is why we have a slow pace and a fast pace but we also have the time the fastest runner is going to go through. So I know that he is not running to win the race and there is no way he is going to come through a checkpoint before the fastest runner, he is not going to be the fastest runner. So I have the perimeter to know that I definitely don’t have to be there before this time. Know the runner’s route and have the GPX file available to you if it’s not a fixed rail like the South Downs Way or at least look over it so that you know where they will be. Then most races, or many events, will have a live tracker so you can actually go on the website and see where your runner is on the map and that is invaluable, I was looking at that constantly during the day just to make sure that I knew where he was in relation to the next place that we were going to be meeting and what I needed to do between now and then.

Review the kit list with the runner and ask sure they have got everything they need. If you are a couple, add it to your weekly shopping, if it someone you don’t know make sure you have bought all the stuff they need to buy. That is their responsibility but as crew you want to make sure that they have done what they need to do beforehand so that you are not scrambling on the last day. And I think that is especially important if you are crewing for someone that you don’t know that well.

Look at the weather and know what the weather will need based on this. If it is hot more hydration, if it’s raining, waterproofs. If it is cold more layers. And that applies  to you as well, what are you going to need based on the weather? And again the weather could change, so make sure you have got more stuff for hot weather and more stuff for cold weather and more stuff for whatever weather you think you need. We have a really small car and we managed to think everything in there. The car was packed but it was fine. So you should be able to fit everything you need into your vehicle.

Again, you need to know your runners goals, are they looking to just finish by the cut off time? Do they want to finish by a certain time? Are they looking to set an FKT? If this isn’t a race and they are just doing this for themselves? What are their goals for the thing that you are crewing for?

You also need to know how long the runner wants to spend at each checkpoint so you can hurry them up if needed. We never seem to comply with this! But before this race we set a rule that for the first half of the race he was going to spend five minutes maximum at each stop. Then at the halfway point he was going to spend ten minutes maximum at the aid station and then the second half of the race ten minutes maximum for the second half of the race. That did not happen at any time. There was never a point where he spent five or ten minutes, we really went over time on this. And this is important because this adds time to the runner’s time to the race.

So for the first half of the race, I am just looking at my spreadsheet and I can see that there was one aid station where we actually saw each other for ten minutes, but of course in the first half of the race we were hoping to spend a maximum of five minutes. So it really helps to have that timer to know that the time is up and try to move them on. At the half way point we were hoping to spend ten minutes and he actually spent 39 minutes, which was pretty wild. He did a full clothing change there, sat down and I had to change his shoes and socks and then he eat some food and drank, but it was still way too much time, that was way, way, too much time. And in the second half of the race as well, we did a little bit better at some of the aid stations, there was an aid station where we just met for ten minutes. During the dark, I think it is a lot easier to move them on, because it is dark and you cant see that much, you just want to swap their drinks and shove some food in their face and get them fresh shoes or socks or whatever if they need. So there were actually a couple of times during the night where we just had ten minutes at each aid station and that actually got better as we went through. I think we spent more time in the first half of the race, just because we were getting into the swing of things. But it is really, really, important to have that timer and know how long the runner wants to spend at each checkpoint so that you can hurry them up. And sometimes they will say, ‘I don’t care, I need to do this stuff’, and that’s fine, it is their race, but it is important to remind them about the time.

So as you are driving around between these different checkpoints be sure to arrive early. So the very first time I crewed for him, he was doing a 40k training run. We estimated when he would arrive at each point and both times he showed up half an hour earlier than planned. So thankfully I was in the area but I had to kind of scramble to get to the meeting point. So after that I learned to show up early. Be in the area, be in the car park, you don’t have free time between checkpoints, really. You need to always be thinking about, where is the next checkpoint? How long is it going to take to get there? What do you need to do between now and then? And then just drive.

During this race what I ended up doing was, if I didn’t have anything to buy, like emergency earbuds which was quite a scramble and we were really lucky to find those, I would just go straight to the next aid station, the next checkpoint, that I could go and I would just stop and park and set up my table and chairs and just sit there and wait for him to come through. Sometimes that meant waiting for an hour and sometimes that meant waiting longer, but I would rather show up early and just sit than be there late, because if you are there late, you are not doing your job and that can be really, really, stressful for the runner.

So what we do is, I open up the trunk of the car, it is like a hatchback, and we have all these big boxes that we have with different stuff. So we have got boxes with the pain manager, we have got boxes with the drink, we have got boxes with the snacks and so I separate the sweet and salty foods so that they can just grab what they need. We always make up sandwiches beforehand and I have got boxes of sandwiches. I have got a checklist of questions that I ask. Before he arrives, I refill all of his water bottles so that I can just swap them out and I am not actually refilling his bottles when we are there. So we have got at least four soft flasks. He takes off his vest, gives it to me, I pull out the empty bottles, put in the fresh bottles and he has got that. I replenish any food supplies and give him any gels that he needs, reapply sunscreen and chafing bomb if he needs it. I handover the headlamp and batteries for the later stages of the run, because he usually doesn’t carry those from the start. If it is getting dark, swap out the sun glasses for regular glasses and add any layers of clothing that he needs. And, as I said, know their pace, know what their ideal pace is, their minimum rate pace and keep track of their pace, did they come in sooner or later than expected? Why? Are they going too fast? Do they need to pace themselves more? What is the big picture of how the run is going so that you can help them trouble shoot if needed, because you don’t want them to burn out in the first half of the race and not be able to finish.

So it is helpful to have a list of questions that you can ask your runner. So, every runner is going to have typical pain points, maybe they have problems with their knees or their back, ask them, how are those body parts? Are you in pain? Are you doing well? How is how hydration? Did you run out of water? Did you have some left over? Are you drinking enough? Are you hot or are you cold or do you need ice? So this was another thing we have this really great bandana that I will link to in the show notes, that we got online and it is like a triangle bandana with a zipper and you can fill it up with ice and then tie it around your neck. So in the beginning part of the race, I would always fill that up for him as well and tie it around his neck. So, do you need ice? What foods do you need? Do you want sweet or do you want salty? Do you have any hot spots or blisters? Is there any chafing or any sunburn? Do you need a change of socks or shoes? Is there anything wet that needs to be changed? And like I said, always have extra shirts, socks and other clothes. It can be such a great feeling to swap out sweaty, hot, disgusting clothes. I remember when we did a 100k last year I only changed my shirt and my shorts at the half way point, I should have brought a full change of underwear and everything, but I didn’t realise that I was going to have an actually changing room to change in and I thought I would be running off in the bushes to do it! But, it was such a great feeling just to put on fresh shirt and fresh shorts, it was so nice! And that can just really boost your morale when you are running, so always have lots and lots of extra clothes.

So that is pretty much it. I think it is really important, especially if you have mobile coverage wherever you are doing the race. Always be aware of the facilities that are available around you. So, before I met him for the first stage, the first checkpoint, his headphones died, so after that I ended up finding this Tesco extra superstore where they sold cheap headphones and I got him a couple of pairs of those and then rushed to charge them in the car, before I met him at the next point. So that was really good, it was really useful, but I spent quite a lot of time on my phone trying to figure out where I was going to be able to find this shop that was big enough to get headphones. I also had to replenish ice during the way and had to find a way to pick up that and I had to get more sparkling water. So always be aware of what facilities are nearby in case you need to buy more things.

That women that was crewing for this guy she met online kept saying he was craving some kind of popsicles or something along the way and so she kept running to the store to get those because they don’t last very well in an ice chest. We have tried that and they just don’t go well and so she was constantly buying those throughout the day because that’s what this guy craved. So be aware of what you need. And also it can be useful to be aware of what mobile coverage is available in the area before the race. So in races like the North Downs Way and the South Downs Way those are fairly populated areas where you will have pretty decent coverage but when we were in Snowdon last year for a Snowdon ultra, I had zero coverage and it was really difficult to know where he was, because I couldn’t get the tracker on my phone because I had no signal. As soon as I left the Air BnB I was out of touch and out of communication, so that was really, really, difficult and apparently our coverage, there is no signal in east of Wales or at least that part of Wales so everyone was saying, ‘oh if you don’t have Vodaphone you wont have coverage here’. So I would consider, if I was going to crew for a race next time, getting an extra chip and maybe doing a pay as you go kind of thing just for that trip. Just so I could have mobile coverage, that’s something that was really, really, challenging and I think that would be important for me. So find out if there is low coverage wherever you are going and find out whatever coverage you do need to be in touch with your runner.

We were in touch through the South Downs Way constantly. He found it easier to leave audio messages for me and then I would send him a text message back but yeah it was constant communication, whenever he needed something or whenever he wanted hot coffee or hot soup, there was a section where he was running all through the night and then I saw him for the first time after sun rise and he had asked for hot coffee to be ready and I had that for him. But yeah, it is really, really, important to be in communication as much as possible.  

So that is all for now. I hope you found this interesting and useful and I also want to do a blog post about this and include my links to my spreadsheets and stuff but for now I will give you links to some of them most important products we used like the sprayer and the shoe dryer and the bandana ice thing so you have an idea of what I am talking about and you can look at getting those things if they are useful to you.

Finally, one last thing that we realised, we have two little ice chests and we put ice in both, but we also had those ice blocks, those plastic things that you freeze and we have decided that next time we are going to it the food with the plastic ice blocks and the drinks with the actual ice, because some of the sandwiches got wet from the actual ice and that was very disappointing! So I don’t know that’s just a logistical thing that we are going to do for next time because it was very sad to have soggy sandwiches! It just got into the plastic containers or something… So you will learn every time you do this things that you want to tweak or improve for next time but for now I think that is more than enough for you to get started.

This is something I really enjoy doing, I really enjoy when he helps me when I am on a long training run or a race and I really enjoy doing it for you. So I hope that you have found this interesting and useful, if you have any questions please drop me a line, you can email me at [email protected] or find me online and get in touch there.

And that’s all for now. Just a quick reminder that I am still accepting applications for podcast guests if you are interested in being a guest, you can head over to https://HollyWorton.com/pitch and fill out the form there and the same goes if you know anyone who would be perfect for this show, please feel free to send them the link. That’s it for now, remember to visit hollyworton.com/469 for the show notes on this episode. Happy trails to you.