100K Trail Aid-Station Rehearsal: A Stop-Time Plan

The short answer

Practise a 100K aid station as a repeatable decision sequence: arrive under control, check your body and course status, refill the items the next section requires, leave with one clear next action, and settle back into movement without a surge. Measure time so stops do not become accidental, but never rush past medical, weather or safety needs.

The official athlete guide owns aid locations, mandatory gear, drop bags, crew access, waste rules, cutoffs, water and food availability. Stored race data and another event’s checklist are not enough. Build the rehearsal only after verifying the current edition.

Translate the course into station jobs

For every official aid point, write:

• distance and elevation to the next point;
• expected darkness, heat, cold or exposure;
• the official cutoff and your honest buffer;
• water capacity needed for the next section;
• available food versus items you must carry;
• required gear or clothing changes;
• crew, pacer and drop-bag rules;
• the safest exit if you should not continue.

Ultramarathon nutrition guidance emphasizes individualized planning and rehearsal rather than a universal menu.1 The amount carried depends on duration, environment, gastrointestinal tolerance, event provision and the athlete.

Use a three-part station card

1. Arrive

• Slow before the station rather than stopping abruptly.
• Identify the correct table, bag or crew zone.
• Ask: Am I thinking clearly, moving safely and able to continue?
• Respect volunteers, other athletes and the marked flow.

2. Service

• Refill fluid for the verified next section.
• Replace planned food and essential gear.
• Address a small foot, clothing or equipment problem before it compounds.
• Note the next cutoff, distance and route feature.

3. Leave

• Confirm required items are secure.
• Dispose of waste only where allowed.
• Walk or jog out under control.
• Take several minutes to restore rhythm before changing effort.

Put the card in the order items are physically handled. Fewer decisions usually beat more pockets.

Distinguish four kinds of stop

Aid-station efficiency is not a rule to continue through danger.

A four-rehearsal progression

Rehearsal 1: kitchen-table sequence

Lay out only permitted items. Walk through refill, food, layer and exit checks. Remove duplicate tools and containers that have no defined job.

Rehearsal 2: easy-run stop

During an easy supported session, stop once at a predetermined location. Complete the card and continue easily. Record missing items, spills and decisions that took too long.

Rehearsal 3: long-run stations

Create two or three modest stations during a long run. Use the race pack and planned food. Keep the session recoverable and avoid turning friends or public facilities into unauthorized support.

Rehearsal 4: conditions-specific station

Add one verified challenge: darkness, a clothing change, a longer next section or a planned drop bag. Do not add heat, darkness, unfamiliar food and sleep loss together.

Build a stop-time budget without false precision

For each rehearsal, record:

1. arrival-to-service time;
2. service time;
3. service-to-exit time;
4. unplanned problem time;
5. first ten minutes after exit.

Then ask which seconds were waste and which protected safety or performance. Searching for a bottle is waste. Slowing to treat a developing foot problem may be valuable. A stopwatch is a diagnostic tool, not the station boss.

Checkpoint research in ultramarathons shows that pace and stopped time interact with terrain, athlete level and later-race slowing, but observational results cannot prescribe one station duration.2 Use your course and rehearsals.

The ultra cutoff planner can model how moving pace and planned stops use the buffer. It cannot predict weather, congestion or medical events.

Rehearse fueling choices

Create a small menu of familiar options that have already worked during similar training. For each, record carbohydrate estimate where known, fluid, sodium only where relevant to the individualized plan, texture, ease of carrying and gastrointestinal response.

Do not use race day to test a supplement, concentrated drink or large intake jump. Guesses about sweat rate, sodium or hydration can create risk in both directions. Weather, body size, acclimation and access change the plan. Sports-nutrition position stands provide ranges and principles, not a personal prescription.1

If persistent vomiting, inability to keep fluids down, severe abdominal pain, confusion or worsening weakness occurs, use the event’s medical process.

Use a crew handoff script

Where crew support is permitted, give the crew one card:

• ask the same short status questions;
• present only the next-section items;
• do not introduce surprise food, medication or gear;
• name the next cutoff and section;
• respect the official crew zone and instructions;
• escalate concerning symptoms to event medical staff.

The athlete makes the continue/stop decision with the event process. A crew’s job is not to pressure someone past a safety boundary.

Train the restart

Many rehearsals end at the refill table, but the next section begins immediately. For ten minutes after leaving:

• walk if that is the planned terrain decision;
• restore breathing and posture;
• avoid a compensatory pace surge;
• check that bottles, pack and poles are secure;
• confirm food timing for the next section;
• notice whether a treated problem is improving.

Ultra fatigue has physiological, neuromuscular, biomechanical and cognitive contributors.4 A slow, deliberate restart can reveal a problem before the next remote section.

Heat, darkness and sleep boundaries

Heat acclimation evidence supports planned repeated exposure, not improvising extreme heat in one rehearsal.5 Night running adds lighting, navigation and attention demands; practise it separately first with the 100K night-running guide.

Sleep deprivation can impair endurance performance, while study protocols and responses vary.6 Do not stay awake all night merely to make an aid-station rehearsal feel “real.” Practise the sequence under normal fatigue before adding any event-specific overnight context.

Stop and seek help

Use event medical support for chest pain, fainting, severe breathing difficulty, confusion, inability to stay warm, heat illness signs, major bleeding, severe allergic symptoms or an injury that makes movement unsafe. Trail-running reviews describe diverse injury and illness patterns and heterogeneous evidence; a checklist cannot diagnose them.7

Final rehearsal audit

• Every item has a next-section job.
• Every station uses official current facts.
• Routine stops have a stable sequence.
• Problem stops are allowed to take longer.
• Crew instructions match event rules.
• The restart is practised.
• Waste, drop-bag and assistance rules are understood.
• A stop decision is defined before motivation becomes the only input.

This guide is educational, not medical advice. It does not replace the athlete guide, event staff, qualified nutrition support or clinical care.

Choose 100K trail and your event date in 26weeks.ai so fueling, long runs and recovery can adapt around completed work. Start training with 26weeks.ai.

References

1. Tiller NB, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: nutritional considerations for single-stage ultramarathon training and racing. 2019. (PubMed)
2. Belinchón-deMiguel P, et al. Pacing and checkpoint performance in a 100-mile trail race. 2025. (PubMed)
3. Bossi AH, et al. Pacing strategy and time stopped in a hilly ultramarathon. 2017. (PubMed)
4. Garbisu-Hualde A, Santos-Concejero J. Limiting factors during an ultra-marathon. 2020. (PubMed)
5. Racinais S, et al. Exercise-heat acclimation and heat-illness prevention review. 2013. (PubMed)
6. Craven J, et al. Sleep deprivation and endurance performance. 2022. (PubMed)
7. Viljoen CT, et al. Injury and illness among trail runners: systematic review. 2021. (PubMed)
8. Knechtle B, et al. Nutrition, gastrointestinal and performance considerations in ultramarathon running. 2018. (PubMed)