Adam Chase will be competing in the TransRockies Run on August 23-28. On this 6-day stage race through the Colorado Rockies, up to 150 teams of two will cover 113 miles in this spectacular running experience. The TransRockies Run will take teams from Buena Vista to Beaver Creek, through the heart of the White River and San Isabel National Forests. The course includes a mix of singletrack and forest road with nearly 25,000 feet of elevation gain (reaching altitudes of over 12,500 feet). Adam has given us his 6-tips for running/preparing for such an event.

1. Stage races like TransRockies Run, Coastal Challenge, Rock and Ice Ultra, the Himalayan 100, or the Trans-Alpine Run are all about recovery. The daily legs are short enough that you can actually run them relatively hard. To succeed at an event like this you need to be able to hit each run with vigor and that means not trashing your legs. Or, if you do push it and are sore, which will likely be the case, it is about soaking in cold water – which is easy to do at TransRockies, as there are plenty of running streams with wicked cold water – eating well soon after finishing, hydrating, relaxing with compression clothing on and elevated legs.

2. Training for the stress of multiple long runs is best accomplished by brick sessions where you hit it hard on a Saturday and then turn around on Sunday and go long again and then, instead of going light on Monday, you tack on a third session just to get your body used to the feeling of running sore and tired. That really pays off when the race comes around and you’ve racked up weeks of that kind of training.

3. Sleeping well in a camp site is not easy for everyone. It helps to bring ear plugs and a warm enough sleeping bag. You’ll be tired but it is incredible how loudly some runners snore at night.

4. TransRockies brings with it a special challenge: altitude. If you can acclimate by training or sleeping at a high elevation or in an altitude tent, you’ll be a lot better off because those who come to the race from sea level face a real challenge. If you can’t take the time to acclimate, be sure to start out slow and see how you feel as the miles and even days pass and you adjust.

5. In Europe many of the multi-day stage racers use trekking poles, especially on the steep Alpine ascents. There is a reason for that: they really help to take weight off your legs and over rugged courses with many climbs that can really make a difference. At one day of the TransRockies course will lend itself to trekking poles and I will likely bring some Nordic-style ones that weigh almost nothing but that will help a lot.

6. Towing. Since one partner will have his or her strong days and the other will too, it is best to take advantage of that and share the load when one needs some help and the team can go faster together. This, of course, is old hat to adventure racers but people were quite surprised when we used it the first year of the TransRockies and won by a strong margin.