COMPETITION TIME - Mozart 100 NUTRITION, KIT and pre race THOUGHTS! S2E9

Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel. You join us in the amazing city of Salzburg in Austria because we're here to run the Mozart 100. So hello everybody, welcome to the beautiful city of Austria, of Austria, of Salzburg in Austria. You join us here on a very very hot day. It's around about 32 degrees which by my maths is around about 90 degrees Fahrenheit for all you Americans out there. It is a racing day but we're here for the Mozart 100 which is actually 112 kilometer race with around about 5,000 meters of climbing during the course. I'll put up the miles and feet stats on the screen now. Yeah, really exciting part of the Ultra Trail World Tour, a few races of which I'm doing this year to kind of dip my toe into the water a little bit more, try and become a bit more competitive in the world of ultra mountain running. We're here to take it all in, really good atmosphere. The course is going to be very very tough. Salzburg is around about 430 meters of elevation and yeah, we go up to a height of about 1,500, just over 1,500 nearly, near mile high. So big climbing all through the mountains and yeah, it's just about having fun. Right, I'm just gonna cross this road here. I think the very friendly Austrian people are leading me through. Yeah, so goals and things for the race. Well, it's really hard because I can't go out there and put everything on the line and smash myself to pieces because I need to start focusing on Berlin Marathon training and for me and my job and everything, that has to be the main focus of the year. So I just want to have a good race. I want to take my time, I want to finish strong, I want to go through the aid stations, sort of taking, as I say, take my time, taking on lots of good nutrition and just have a good result. I'm not worried about where I come or how long I take. I want to give it a good effort but nothing too crazy yet, which I think should be more than doable. We've spent a lot of time in mountainous environments and stuff this year so I'm feeling quite strong. The legs are strong but I'm in no doubt that this is going to be an incredibly tricky race in that sort of elevation, that sort of altitude and that sort of terrain as well. Yeah, we've spent a lot of time training in a similar sort of environment this year around the world which I've really enjoyed and really loved. So yeah, we're just about here. Have some fun, enjoy it, good medium effort and see what happens on the day. Of course I'll take my camera along all the way. I'm going to film it, show you guys how spectacular the course is and the country, the highs and the lows, the ups and the many many ups and the downs as well. And we're here, we'll see what happens. Right, we're heading up to the expo to get registered, get the numbers, so I'll see you there and then have a chat about kit and nutrition for the race later on as well. Right guys, we'll see you in a bit. Right guys, so we've got to the registration which rather bizarrely is in a sports shop called Hervis Sports. It's used to some of these really big expos that we go to but yeah, a little sports shop where you can go in, get registered, get the numbers and go through the little sort of safety checks and get everything sorted out. Right, we'll see you inside. Hello, the mates are 100. Thanks. Right guys, so we're all registered, number 139 for the Mozart 100 on Saturday and we're now on Thursday at the moment. So yeah, we're just going to head back into town, little jog back into town and once we get that we can talk about kit and nutrition for the race. So let's go. So yeah, before we go through the kit and nutrition, I've got a little competition, a little giveaway for everybody out there, all the subscribers and people watching the video. So if you want to win a hat, one of my new hats, perfect for all sorts of running and one of the new buffs. Really simple competition, just let me know what my finish time is going to be during the race. So let me know down in the comments below. You're going to have about 24 hours, but I'm going to have to cut this. All the sort of terms and conditions will be down in the comments below. Yeah, hat and buff to the person that gets closest or maybe even bang on to the finish time for the Mozart 100. So hours, minutes and seconds. As a rough kind of guide, it's going to be somewhere between 14 and about 22 hours. So yeah, let me know down in the comments with what you think my finish time is going to be. Okay, so let's have a quick chat about kit. Now I think it's really important to say first off that no kit is going to magically get you through the race. The best kit in the world is not going to make up for a sort of lack of training and everything, but it's there to help sort of make life a little bit easier. So yeah, I don't have any sponsors or anything. This is just all bits and pieces that I've cobbled together, but I just thought I'd take you through it to see what I'm going to be taking out there through the mountains. So yeah, first things first, I just want to talk about rain jackets. The forecast is beautiful day today, as you've seen, but the forecast for the weekend is not good. Sort of thunderstorms, probably a lot of rain. So it'll be quite exciting to take you guys through all of that, but for me, it's not really much fun. So yeah, I've just got my sort of Salomon S-Lab waterproof jacket. These are very expensive, around about £240, but yeah, I just find it really helps. It's very breathable, keeps me nice and dry and sort of warm at the same time. Don't get really sweaty inside. So yeah, kind of worth its weight in gold to have a really good solid waterproof jacket and I can kind of fit everything underneath it as well. It's nice and elasticated around the waist. So yeah, that's the waterproof jacket I'm going to be taking out. Also poles, something that not many people really talk about, but yeah, the black diamond carbon poles. It's going to be really massively helpful trying to get through five odd thousand meters of climbing with these. A little bit dodgy because there's probably going to be some electrical storms out there, so I don't really want to be out there waving these around too much. But yeah, it's going to get some advice on how sort of dangerous that might be, so I potentially might leave them at home. Yeah, we'll have to sort of check the weather forecast. But yeah, really good thing to have out on the mountain. Shoes, I'm going to be taking the Hoka Speedgoat 3s out. These are the same pair that I won the South Downsway 50 in. Perfect, really good sort of cushioning for those long distances, lots of great traction on the bottom as well and just super comfortable shoe. A lot of these things I just want to take out whatever is the most comfortable option for me. I've actually bought some of these newer Salomon bottles. They're not really meant to go in the Salomon ADV 12 set vests, but I seem to find they're going okay. So if you've watched some other videos and I've been ranting about the Salomon bottles, these ones with a slightly wider opening seem to be working fine. So yeah, those with the 12 set vest sort of going to pair up really nicely, be able to carry sort of a litre of water up the front and I just have an extra bottle for an extra 500ml in the back as well. In terms of sort of taking you guys along for the ride, well I've got the GoPro with like the external microphone as well, so a couple of batteries. GoPro Hero 7, yeah just running along, vlogging like that. I've got the Garmin 945 watch, so that's going to have the full mapping capabilities on there. It can take, so you'll see on the screen, a little line to follow, sort of has distance to go, all the elevation to go, all the data I'm ever going to need on my wrist. The battery should be fine on it, but I will take the sort of backup sort of anchor little charger that I've got, so if the battery does get a bit low I can just shove that in and it keeps on recording as I'm running along as well. So there's some of the fundamental bits and pieces of kit that I'm going to be taking along. Everything will be linked down below, so yeah you guys can have a check out there. If you want to ask me any questions about kit for your upcoming races, then let me know down in the comments. Really helpful, so yeah, hopefully be helpful, but sort of take you through some things that I really like and sort of give you guys a bit of advice. Right, let's move on to talk about nutrition. Right guys, so finally we're going to have a quick chat about nutrition. What are we taking out with us on the course? Well, I've got about 40 odd gels. I'm obviously not going to carry this all at the same time, but there's one actual drop bag that you can visit twice during the route, so that's going to be mainly full of the Science and Sport Go Energy gels and then some of the GU Roctane gels as well. I'm just going to try and get as many of those down me as I possibly can out on the route. I'm then going to have just some like general snacky things, some nuts, which I haven't even bought yet, and some biscuits and things. Just kind of those things that I think, what will I really want to be eating then? And in terms of what's going in the bottles, as you've seen in the last few videos, just some of the Science and Sport Beta Fuel. I won't be able to have that all the way through the race, but sort of a combination of that and some water, some flat coke. Yeah, and probably all of those things will keep me going throughout the race. The fitness is there to be able to do a lot of these races. It's absolutely fine in the strength of the legs, but my nutrition always lets me down. So just going to have as much, as I said in the other video, just take it nice and steady. Make sure I spend at least 10 to 15 minutes at every A station, properly refueling before I leave. And also what I didn't mention earlier is my little iPod. So we've taken that sort of through the mountains as well, just full up of all sorts of podcasts and things. Ricky Gervais' podcast from about 2002, I think is what is on here at the moment, this age old thing that's kept me through and kept me sane through so many races. You can't even buy these anymore. So if anyone's got one for sale, I could do with another one because they're hard to even find on eBay these days. So yeah, that's a little summary of the sort of kit and nutrition for the race. So there we have it guys, they're all my preparations done to get ready for this magical race, the Mozart 100. I think what makes these races so amazing is when you stand on the start line, you've really got no idea if you're going to make it to the finish. And that's what keeps me alive. That's what keeps the fire burning inside. It's just going to be the most amazing day out and adventure and to take you guys along for the ride and the run and the amazing atmosphere out there on the course. So the sun is setting on another beautiful day here in Salzburg. And finally, I just want to thank you guys for all the support you give. Everyone that's been out there buying hats and buffs and plans on the website, which I have just redesigned at the moment, so go and check it out. It's amazing and I couldn't do all these wonderful things without you. I know that when I'm filming the race on the weekend through all the storms and the rain or maybe sunshine, we just don't know yet, you guys are going to be that X Factor out there. So yeah, just a massive thank you. And I guess there's nothing left to do. We've just got to get a couple of early nights, get some sleep and then five o'clock in the morning we'll be on the start line down there in the centre of Salzburg, heading out as the sun comes up with everybody out there trying to realise their dreams. So as usual guys, thank you so, so much. I'll see you in the next one.