Nutrition for Ultrarunning

Sooo...a week and a half ago I ran 100 miles.   I had no stomach issues, no cramping, no problems really.  Weather varied from high 60s to low 40s at night, dry and sunny.  I stayed very close to the pace I had predicted, and finished in 23:53.  My weight was within a pound at the finish of when I started.  I probably drank 2.5 gallons of water, had to pee 4 times and go #2 once.  I drank 5 bottles of my drink mix (recipe below), as well as a couple cans of Coke and Diet Coke, a couple slices of pizza, some peanut butter pretzels, potato chips, some chocolate, a tortilla with cheese, and other small amounts of aid station snacks.  Not much really.   

Here's my blog if you missed it: https://hikerdawn.blogspot.com/2022/03/buffalo-run-100-mile-24-25-march-2022.html

I finished with a couple blisters which didn't bother me during the race.  I'll lose a couple of small toenails which also didn't bother me during the race.  My right Achilles is sore and my right knee, but every day brings improvement and my quads are finally feeling like they won't break if I do a deep squat.  My sleep took about a week to get back to normal, I would nap at odd times but then couldn't sleep at night, but all good now.  My energy was fine within a few days, and I was energetic and wanting to do things but still limping from a little heel pain.  In other words, I feel mostly fine now and really to get back to training, and I credit a lot of that to the supplements and nutrition plan that I use to replenish my lost nutrients.  

Without further ado, here's my nutrition plan....key supplements are randomly linked below to show you the specific brands I like.

Week before Race:  

Before really big races, I try to take all my supplements more often, just to top up my nutrients and make sure I have the ingredients I need to perform well.  If you're not healthy at baseline, then attempting to do something like a really long race will be too much of a stress on your body.   In the week before a race, I add extra  Colostrum, Digestive Enzymes, Creatine, oral BPC-157, Electrolytes, Essential Amino Acids, Salt, and Magnesium.

Breakfast:  

I'm not a big fan of eating much on race morning.  You do you.  I always drink my Keto hot chocolate, which I mix up myself from heavy cream powder, butter powder, cacao, allulose sweetener, collagen peptides, a tiny pinch of borax, and a little salt.   Sometimes I have a little unsweetened yogurt with berries, nuts, and chocolate chips.   Sometimes I don't.  

30 Minutes before Race:  
I usually make up a little baggie of supplements that I'll take an hour or so before the race start.   The timing doesn't matter that much.  This includes Creatine, Colostrum, BPC-157, Digestive Enzymes, Electrolytes,  Essential Amino Acids, and Kava (this is a liquid).   This is the time to liberally rub AMP PR Lotion on the muscles you think might get sore.  For shorter races, this is also the time to chew some 2 mg nicotine gum, or drink some caffeine.  

During Race: 
On really long races, like the 100 miler I just did, I will actually carry a baggie of supplements and take a handful occasionally.   Shorter races there's no need.   These include chewable Colostrum, BPC-157, chewable Electrolytes, Essential Amino Acids, Digestive Enzymes, Nicotine Gum, Caffeine Mints, and Kava.    I try to race without a pack where ever possible, and most races I start with just a little baggie and an empty drink mix bottle.  Definitely depends on terrain and distance, but don't be that guy with the 3 liters of water sloshing horribly from side to side in a badly fitting backpack.   You want to be fast?  Be light.  

My drink mix bottles contain a serving each of: 

UCAN superstarch

MCT Powder

Essential Amino Acid powder

Colostrum powder

OSMO Electrolytes.   

I put all these in a 1/2 liter soft flask, fill it at the first aid station, drink most of it, then refill it once or twice.  So I guess I'm drinking about 1- 1 1/2 liters of water for each drink mix.  Word to the wise:  not all flavors go with all other flavors.  Choose wisely.

After race: 
Honestly, do whatever feels best.    I'm usually not hungry for hours after I finish something really hard, but that's me.  The most amazing thing I had to drink on a 100 miles bike ride day during RAGBRAI was a cold beer handed to me by a child at mile 99 as I rode into town in 100 degree weather!  And I don't drink beer.  

Further Experimenting:

I just read a book about how important salt is for athletes, The Salt Fix by Dr. James DiNicolantonio. He advocates adding up to 1/2-1 teaspoon of salt per hour of exercise.   He just shoots it from a plastic baggie with a water chaser!   I'll be experimenting with extra salt from now on, and I might make the switch from OSMO to LMNT, as LMNT has much more salt in the formula, OSMO has almost none.  But in the end, OSMO is short for osmolality (potential speed of gastric emptying) and I'll go with whatever makes my stomach happier.  Listen to this podcast for more info on salt and for a free sample of LMNT.  https://hubermanlab.com/using-salt-to-optimize-mental-and-physical-performance/

I'll also experiment with KetoneIQ:  The folks at HVMN have a new product out, liquid ketones in a more digestible form, which raise your blood ketones for 5-7 hours after you drink it.    This new product is a vast improvement on their first liquid ketones, mostly in the price, which was originally $30 a serving (it's under $4 now).   Taking these liquid ketones while fasting helps you get into ketosis much faster and lowers your hunger levels as well.   Taking them with carbs while exercising can give your body two different systems to access at once for energy, but taking them for recovery is also supposed to be beneficial.  Finally, taking them before bedtime with perhaps amino acids, can improve sleep as well as raise your HRV.   Lots to unpack in these statements and this podcast goes into much more detail.  

https://bengreenfieldlife.com/podcast/michael-brandt-podcast/

You also might have noticed I've mentioned Kava a couple of times.  I threw up a blog about it here:  https://hikerdawn.blogspot.com/2022/01/kava.html  On the 100 miler, I wore a mouthpiece fitted to my lower teeth, which lets me close my teeth and strengthen my spine while still breathing through my mouth.  The problem is, when I run really hard, I have to open my mouth to get more air, which negates the benefit of the mouthpiece.   But...I noticed that after drinking a shot of Kava, my airways seemed to be open a little better, and I could then run with my teeth closed on the mouthpiece and still get enough air.   That seems pretty amazing.  Kava causes a slight numbness in the mouth for a few minutes after drinking it but the breathing effects with my mouthpiece lasted for a long time.  

Also, I'm not going to tell you that I do anything illegal.  But there are some microdoses of plant medicines out there that have amazing benefits for both life and long runs.  I would be amiss if I didn't mention them.  The fact that some of these are illegal, yet alcohol is not, tells you a lot about how screwed up our government really is.   Here's a bit of information to get started. https://bengreenfieldlife.com/article/ben-greenfields-microdosing-compounds-2/

I'll be switching over to Ironman training for the summer, so I'll be doing more biking in the heat.  With this new research, I'm gonna try using my drink mix + LMNT + Ketone IQ + Kava in my bike bottles.   

In 2018 I wrote about what I use to fuel myself for long runs.  Amazingly, not that much has changed.  And yet, some of it has.  But I suggest you go back and read that one too for more details.  Perhaps I was more verbose back then.

https://hikerdawn.blogspot.com/2018/08/nutrition-for-spartan-racing-low-carb.html

Buffalo Run 100 Mile, 24-25 March 2022

I think I felt I needed a bit of retribution for how badly the first 100 went, almost exactly 11 years ago now.    Perhaps after that long I had forgotten how hard it was and needed to remind myself!   Or I could just blame Jim for putting the idea back in my mind!

I had to go look up my 100 mile stats from 2011.  I looked at my blog posts from around that time, and also realized that I had run 4 marathons and an adventure race in the month leading up to the 100.  Jeez no wonder it tired me out!

https://hikerdawn.blogspot.com/2011/05/housman-hundred-101-mi-28-29-may-2011.html

Here's my pre-100 blog in 2011:

https://hikerdawn.blogspot.com/2011/05/ready-or-not-housman-100-here-i-come.html

And the post-100 blog in 2011:

https://hikerdawn.blogspot.com/2011/06/100-miler-aftermath.html

My criteria for choosing another 100 mile distance was short:  flatish with good weather.   Preferably near home.   The Buffalo Run on Antelope Island fit the bill, even if two weeks beforehand, we had run the 25k race out there in snow and freezing conditions.  

My backup race would probably have been the Salt Flats 100, but since the weather was looking glorious, it wasn't necessary.   I actually couldn't have asked for better weather for a race.   Lows in the 40s, highs in the 60s, light winds, sunshine, dry trails, no snow.    The day before would have been a little chilly, the day after would have been too hot and windy.  Today was juuuuust right.  

Jim dropped me off shortly before the start with a couple of drop bags and a last lick from the dog.   I was sending a bag with some extras to the furthest point on the course, but otherwise kept everything I needed at the start/finish area.   The course was broken up into 2 sections, each done twice, so I would see my drop bag 4 times at the start finish and twice down at the Ranch.   

The first section was a hilly 20 miles, and we had done this exact section just two weeks beforehand.  I knew how long it would take me and I could plan my pace accordingly.  The second section was 30 miles, a big out and back along the Great Salt Lake that was more or less flat.   Then just as darkness was falling, if everything went to plan, I would do the hilly loop again in the dark.   If I could keep it together, I was hoping for a sub-24 hour finish.  That's kind of the holy grail for the 100 distance and usually the cutoff for whether you receive the coveted belt buckle or not.  

The perfect weather at the 10 am start let me run in just shorts and a T-shirt.  I may have been the only one not carrying a pack, with a single water bottle in my hand.    The start was uphill, gently, for almost 3 miles.  I debate with myself every time I do these races, to run or to walk?  But I couldn't afford to give up 1/2 hour walking at the start.  I needed to bank some time for later when I would be hurting.  I ran.  I felt good.  So I kept running.   It wasn't the fastest I've run the loop but not the slowest either.  My goal was less than 4 hours and I popped back into transition at 3:40.  

Here I picked up my pack with a fresh drink mix bottle, a little bit of food, some supplements, and my phone.  In retrospect I wish I would have grabbed my poles as well, but it all worked out in the end.  I wasted a few minutes digging through my box and then walking up the next hill drinking a diet Coke, so I gave back some of my spare pennies of time, and I crossed exactly 20 miles at 3:55.   But as promised, the trail along the lake was really flat, so I could run almost all of it.   I had actually planned on a run/walk strategy, but the very flatness of the trail made it hard.  My body, as it got tired, settled into a 12 minute mile running pace, which is fine except thats only 5 miles an hour.  If I wanted to get any time to rest and walk, I needed to run faster.  That's where the poles could have helped me out a bit.  

My friend Karen arrived on the island with pizza in the late afternoon, and met up with me at the Ranch down on the southern end.   It was a fairly warm afternoon, and I was getting thirsty again.  There were 20 aid stations on the course, and I was filling up my 1/2 liter water bottles at each one, plus at times slamming a Coke or Sprite.  Every 3rd bottle of liquid or so, I would add my drink mix back in my bottle.  It's an amazing concoction which keeps my stomach happy and my body fueled.  I figure I filled up about 20-25 half liters of liquid during the race, about 2-3 gallons of water.   For the record, I had to stop and pee just 4 times during the race!  

But drink mix is not pizza.  There's something about eating real food which also makes the body happy.  After I left the Ranch, I ran the whole 17 miles back to the start/finish area.  Partly because I felt really good, and perhaps because I was slightly behind schedule.   Also because I hadn't grabbed a headlamp (distracted by pizza) and it would be dark if I didn't hurry it up.  As it was, Jim and Karen found me with a light about 3 steps before I couldn't see my feet anymore, but by then I could see the finish tent.  

So I was slightly in the slower estimate of my pace as I arrived at the halfway point.  It took 10:25, and now it was time to prepare for a slower, cooler night section.  I pulled on tights and a sweater and a windbreaker, added hat and gloves, poles, ate more pizza, and changed shoes while Karen shocked my legs with a massage gun.   Then we set off together for a 20 mile adventure in the dark.   I immediately regretted putting the extra clothing on, and while juggling pizza, poles, and lights, I took most of my layers back off again quickly.   I really regretted the tights but they were such a pain to take off that I wore them the rest of the race.  But my biggest mistake was eating almost a whole peppermint patty on that uphill.  It tasted good, but it didn't set well in my stomach, and I was careful to not eat anything else for a while.  A fizzy can of Coke at the next aid station helped.  

Since there were only 53 people doing the 100 mile distance, you can imagine that everyone was pretty spread out by then.  Although I had led the women's race for about 4 glorious minutes (!) I had settled into 7th for most of the first half.  Then I passed a girl puking along the trail in the late afternoon.  I felt bad but she said she was doing fine and didn't need anything.   So Karen and I didn't see many people near us, but the leading men were coming back from the 20 mile loop already, and we also saw the leading woman a short time later.  I'm sure she beat me by 5 hours or more!   We also met people just coming up the loop as we were finishing it 4 hours later...a testament to how spread out everyone gets along the trail.  

I was happy not to see the hilly loop again in daylight, instead we could just hope that we were already at the top of the interminable switchbacks.  I was feeling pretty good, still, which boded well, but it was hard to run at night.  Our headlamps were fine for hiking, but I had a powerful handheld light for running...but I needed to use my poles to get a little extra ooommph.   As is the way of things at night, we didn't want to stop and mess with fresh batteries for the headlamp so we didn't run as much as we could have done.  So we finished about 2 am, which was right on schedule but not as good as I had hoped.  Karen went to grab a few winks of sleep, and I grabbed a fresh flashlight and set off again for the flat section.  For variety, I even put some headphones on and listened to a podcast for a while.  But all I could manage was this shuffling run, sort of a race walk where my feet weren't leaving the ground at the same time.  

I really only needed 4 mph to finish on time.  That seems really easy but it's faster than I could walk and not much different that my shuffling run.  Plus it was finally getting a little chilly.   I was keeping up with the pace but barely.  All I could hope was that daylight would give me a little energy and relief.   And I'm very happy to report that it did.  There's something about being able to see the trail properly, all the little rocks and bumps that come out of nowhere at night to stub toes and inspire memories of faceplants.  

At 6 am I was leaving the Ranch with 17 miles left and less than 4 hours to do it.  But I could run again, at least a little better than I had been.  At 7:30, Karen and Jim showed up for a morale call, and Jim ran the rest of the way with me.   I left everything from my pack that I could live without, hat and gloves and lights and phone and food, and immediately felt better.   It was a glorious morning and together we recalculated our pace as we went along.  I tried for a 10 minute cushion, but walking at all really ate into it.  So I ran as much as I could, in short sections.  I knew the finish would be fast, and we enjoyed the trail around the headlands.  Even the colorful piles of puke along the trail didn't deter me, but I could tell someone else was having a purple and red sort of bad day.  

With 15 minutes left on my clock we could see the finish tent.  I managed a 6 mph pace for a short way and came in feeling strong at 23:53!  Bonus:  Now I never need to do 100 miles in a day again!   To put that in perspective, I usually average 800-900 miles of running a year.  So this was 12% of them in just 1 day.  

For a lark, I threw a glucose monitor on my arm before and during the race.   I'll make a more in depth post on my experiment with this soon, but here's some interesting data.   I did a short fast a week before the race, hence the low readings on the left, then ate low-carb for a while, the steady middle graph, then recorded my 100 mile run.   Lots of carbs and a high effort level gave me the highest readings I've ever had.  

Buffalo Run 25k, Antelope Island March 11, 2022

 

The forecast the week before this race was looking pretty horrible.   There was snow on the ground by our house, more on the way, and temperatures might be in the single digits on race morning.    The fact that it would be calm for race day was like frosting on a mud sandwich.  Karen started muttering about how much she had paid for the entry fee, Jim was thinking of not doing it entirely and going to St. George for the weekend, and I was just really tired from a couple of weeks of having visitors and lots of travel and a couple of Spartan races.  

And yet, somehow most of the snow melted, the sun was shining, and it was 25 degrees for our 9 am start.  Not so bad, after all.  We had all decided to come and race, although our backup plan was to carry crampons and trekking poles in case the trails were slick and icy.     

Karen soon disappeared ahead of me as I started much slower than usual.  I never saw her again, but she had a great run, winning her age group and finishing in 2:58 for the 16.6 miles.   Jim and I were more or less going the same pace for a while, and even ran together a bit, which might be a first in a race!   He would pull ahead of me about halfway through, and I didn't have the energy to catch him again.   He finished in 3:19, which was 12 minutes faster than last year, and 29 minutes faster than 2 years ago.  

I had decided before the race that I needed to take it easy.  I had done two speed workouts that week on the treadmill, and was just tired, mentally and physically.   So I dropped a minute or two per mile slower than usual, and checked out the scenery.  There was a few inches of snow on some of the trails, but it was fresh and crunchy and not slick in the least.   My crampons and poles stayed in my pack.  In fact I finished the race with same clothes I had started with; tights, long-sleeved shirt, and a windbreaker.    I took my gloves off after a while, but the temperature didn't get much above freezing and I wasn't running hard enough to get too hot.  

I finished in 3:21, which was a good prep for the big race coming up.  In just two weeks I would be back here again for the 100 mile race, some of it on the same course.  In the meantime I'll be resting up, stretching, and hopefully eating very healthy!

Website for the Hundred:   https://www.buffalorunadventures.com/buffalo-run/

Here's the results:   https://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=86556

 

Spartan Arizona Super and Sprint, February 26-27, 2022

Oddly,  I know a lot about the quality of mud in many locations around the country.  Thanks to Spartan, of course.  The fact that it took two days to wash the mud out of my hair after racing in Colorado Springs has caused me to not want to go back there and race again.  And I don't even have much hair to worry about! Well, the tiny little cactus spines in my palms from the barbwire crawl might also have something to do with my reticence as well....   

The mud in Mesa, AZ dried a stiff layer onto my gaiters and shoes until they could stand up without any propping.  Thankfully there was no dunk wall (although it was listed on the race map) or I would have been able to use my shorts and shirt as a display without needing a mannikin.   Actually, there was only about 20 feet of gooey mud on the whole course, and the rest of it was dry and flat as a day old pancake.   

It made for fast running, and I had my fastest average pace ever for a Spartan, just about 10 1/2 minute miles.  12-16 min per mile is more typical for me if there are actual hills.   The course was in a newly built sports center just East of Phoenix-Mesa airport.   Aside from a few spiny trees, the only bumps in the whole race were man-made obstacles of wood and metal.   

The biggest bummer of the weekend was that I ran smack into the first obstacle on the course, a 5 foot wall, and really banged a nerve in my wrist.  It still hurts now a couple weeks later but I went on to finish 4 Spartan races over the weekend so obviously not life-threatening!

A newly clarified rule for this season was that you had to attempt each obstacle.   So I actually tried the Olympus wall, and to my surprise, I finished it!  Who knew.  Then I threw away that advantage by missing the spear throw and slipping off the bar in the multi-rig.  In my defense, my hand didn't slip but the whole bar rotated 360 as it wasn't held by chains but rather tie-down straps.  I was more careful the next time I went through it and was fine.  

Even with the penalty loops, I still managed first place in my age group, due in some part to the fact that the National Series race was also today in Jacksonville, Florida.  I love that course and was partly sad I wasn't there instead.  I do miss slogging through the Florida mud!  

So 6.3 miles on the Super distance in 1:06:09, which didn't seem so bad, so I did it again right away.  Spartan is allowing multiple laps again this year for season pass holders, and I had to stick around for the awards ceremony anyway so it was an easy choice.  My second lap was at an easier pace but with one less penalty loop so I finished in 1:11:40.  And that's with a bit more waiting with a mass of Open racers at the obstacles.    I missed Olympus this time but got everything else.  

Sunday morning had me back again, a little tired and sore, for another perfect day of racing.  Warm but not hot, dry and sunny and not a speck of mud on the dusty Sprint course.   It was only three miles, but I tried to ration my speed a little bit, and was neck and neck with the woman who finished just behind me the day before.   She gained a few seconds on me near the finish, but missed the spear, and so I finished 1st again in 34 minutes.    That didn't seem like it was enough exercise for the day, so I ran it for a second time.   

Of course, running with the Open racers in the second round, I had to fight my way through crowded, slower teams of people helping each other through the course.  One particular team all seemed to be afraid of heights, and I got stuck behind them on the vertical cargo net.  It's about 10 feet high, and there were people stuck all over it (not moving) in various states of seeming paralysis, like water bugs on a screen door.   Bless their souls, the team members below them on all sides were cheering about as loud as I have ever heard at a Spartan race.  

My next big events is an attempt on a 100 mile race in late March on Antelope Island near my house.    I'm currently hoping that our recent snowfall melts off, as running on icy trails wouldn't be in the cards.  We will see.  https://www.buffalorunadventures.com/buffalo-run/

Red Mountain Traverse, Snow Canyon State Park

My favorite trails are always the ones with a challenge.   The first challenge of doing this trail was figuring out if it was possible.  I troll quite a few trail map Apps, and only one of them (onXBackcountry) even showed that this was doable.    So we did it.  

Karen and Limhi had stayed with Jim and I a couple of days in St. George after our night backpacking in Kolob Canyon.   As promised, the weather was warm and nice, and we did this hike in a T-shirt and shorts.  Amazing.  

Snow Canyon State Park, NW of St. George Utah, is a great place to visit and there are plenty of trails in the main park that are shorter and more scenic than this one.    To start, we dropped a car at the Toe Trail at the southern end of the plateau overlooking Snow Canyon to the West.  Then we drove through the park and exited the north end, parking at the Snow Canyon Overlook Trail.  Plenty of people were doing this shorter option, which was a rocky trail to an overlook at the north end of Snow Canyon.  It was spectacular.   We continued on, catching a few more glimpses of the valley below us.   

The route was supposed to be 11 miles total, mostly flatish but with a very steep descent to the car down a cliff.   About 4 miles in, the trail turned into deep sand, and looked like nothing more or less than a perfectly straight sand dune by the ocean.  Except we were on top of a plateau with a few scrubby cedar trees and a lot of rabbit tracks.    

When the dune ran out, so did any semblance of trail.  Soon we were down to just one set of fresh tracks in the sand, which the guys named after a prominent Mormon pioneer.   Weird or not, the tracks kept going mostly South, so we followed them.   We were soon off the recommended GPS track as well, but the top of the plateau wasn't terribly cliffy, so it didn't really matter.    It became a game to keep following the tracks through sand, rock and scrub.   It was a beautiful, desolate place, and I'm happy I had a GPS to show our location rather than relying just on a map and compass.  It's so easy to get off course with nothing to go by.  

We meandered through winding dry washes, over slickrock, and through more dunes.   Finally the cliff down came into view, along with more tracks and an actual trail leading down.  It was really steep, but rocks rather than scree, and I didn't hate it.   We finished at the car in 5 hours and almost exactly 11 miles, which Jim called a miracle.  He claims my mileage is usually underestimated.  I have no idea why he would say that!

Kolob Canyon Winter Backpacking, Feb 17, 2022

My friends Karen and Limhi were between jobs and itching to go do something interesting.   Winter backpacking fit that bill, so we got a $5 reservation for a permit to camp on La Verkin Creek Trail down by Kolob Arch in the National Park.   It's hard to get a permit for this in the summer, but on a Thursday in the middle of winter, I'm pretty sure that we were the only group camping in the entire valley, which can hold up to about 50 people a night.   The only really screwy part is that although the reservation is done online, the Permit needed to be picked up at the main Zion HQ office before the hike, since Kolob is part of Zion.   Yeah, 2 hours of extra driving to go pick up a piece of paper that could have been emailed to us.  Your federal government at work.  Ask us privately if we actually did that.  Ha.

The weather smiled on us, literally, and it was COLD and a little windy, but otherwise not very wintery at all.  The trails were mostly dry and not snowy, with just a little mud that was frozen on our way out the next morning.   The trail starts at about 6000 feet of elevation and descends down to about 5000, so it was a nice easy trail, with some red cliffs along the side that did look like they should be part of Zion NP.   Otherwise, the trail wasn't terribly exciting, and probably not one that I would fight for to do again.  

About 2/3 of the way to our campsite (#8), we picked up a glacier-colored stream which was really beautiful.  And cold.  Keeping our feet dry meant not going beyond the side trail to Kolob Arch.  But that turned out fine since time was slipping away and the days were still short.  

We dropped our packs at #8 and headed up to the arch.  It wasn't much more than a goat track along a nice stream, heading up into towering cliffs.  The arch itself may have been the largest arch in the world, but it was thousands of feet above us and rather...underwhelming.  That's ok, this trip wasn't about the destination, but the journey.  

See that really big arch...which looks tiny cuz it's really far away

Back at our packs, we left campsite 8 and wandered back to 6.   This wouldn't have been possible in the crowded summer, but we really were the only ones down there that night.  More rule breaking, oh no!    #8 would have been a nice shady cool place in the summer, but #6 was a sunny spot right on the stream and perfect for a winter day. 

What was exciting were the mountain lion tracks we found in multiple locations around our campsite that evening.   They seemed pretty big, too.   Karen and Limhi were both awake in the early morning and say they heard what sounded like a child screaming.  Typical mountain lion sound I guess.  I'm happy enough that I slept through that!

For a one night trip our packs were rather large, but winter camping is no joke.   Karen brewed us up some apple cider drink mix with a splash of Fireball, and we added clothes as the sun and heat went out of the canyon.   Jim had insisted I bring his down sleeping pad and mummy bag, and I wasn't sad I did.    We all heated water for our Nalgene bottles to throw in our sleeping bags, and put on all our clothing to watch the stars come out.   Limhi put on some down pants that were warm if not fashionable (!) and I brought out a puffy jacket that was 3 sizes too large but who cares I was cozy.  

I may have been the only one to get a decent nights sleep, but we were all happy when the sun finally came up in the morning.   I was warm enough until I put my frozen hiking shoes on, and then I lost the battle of heat, and walked the first couple of miles with frozen extremities.   More cat tracks later, we finally hit a patch of sun, and it's amazing how fast we were removing layers.   Add some uphill trail back in, and we finished in a t-shirt.   Although we still marveled at the ice crystals coating the tiny stream as we made multiple crossings of what wasn't much more than a trickle of water.  

All in all I would say I do prefer a nice warm day to a cold night.