I did not complete this challenge this 2nd time either. I went further than last year, but did not finish as I wanted. Unfortunately some serious headache came across, with ear problems. I might have injured my ear drums during a diving occasion, as I still have my ears whistling as I am writing these lines.
I was running very fine until the 96th km mark, when everything went a-wall. As I was approaching the 1800m elevation, I was already feeling a bit cranky, but when passed it, my body was just completely starting to giving up on me. It is like all of a sudden, despite the lot of energy you have, you just cannot access it. You still can eat, your stomach is fine, your muscles are responding, you have motivation, but your headache takes over and you cannot move faster then light-walking. Your ears are whistling, your brain wants to explode, each step you want to commit a suicide. A real cockroach crisis.
Either ways, I stopped at 102km. I waited a couple of minutes and ate a lot. I got a lot of offers from all the aid-station crew, to get medication and still continue. Old fellas like 50 to 75 years old. I could not believe it. They wanted to freckin give me all kind of medicines. I refuse to take anything in the last 15 years, not even a half aspirin, but painkillers or antibiotics never even came into my mind. Outside of one very serious sickness and dental injections, I have not taken any kind of real pharmaceutical product. I of course use some pharmaceutical grade, high end probiotics and supplements coming from a laboratory, but these are food derived high quality powders and pills.
You know how dangerous it is to keep on pushing yourself, when medicated ? Taking a blood thinning pill like aspirin, can lead to even internal bleeding. Or painkillers. They can mask your tendonitis caused knee pain and you might finish, but by chipping off pieces of cartilage from your knee. Anti inflammatory medication seems like a good idea ? It can shut down your stomach and your kidneys, leaving you vulnerable to all the stuff cumulated in you. You will not even able to buffer lactic acid.
If I wanted to take something it would have been, green clay or activated charcoal, ginger or cinnamon, extra digestive enzymes or probiotics.
I am not sure what these old aidstation people were thinking, but a race is not life and death situation. It is not about finishing, but comp(l)eting it in good condition. A 10hour death march on a 3hour running route is pointless. I do not see the actual purpose of it. It is not about mental fortitude or the DNF sign near your name. You remember light and fast ? This is all trail runners motto. Light and fast, to cover the most distance on technical terrain, the fastest possible. Not suffering from any kind of labouring injury, doing the death-crawl for hours on end and hindering recovery greatly. I did run for 19hours. I did really well, I was moving up on the field from 89th place to 27th and I think as I saw the explosion of the field between the 102 and 135km mark, I could have been in the first 10, if I was following my increasing and enjoyable pace.
I also had an objective in my mind. It was not finishing. It was competing and getting the most out of me. For some, these races are a challenge, I understand it highly respect it. For me it is a competition against myself in the view of others. Getting the most out of your inner and outer, while overcoming the « enemy » like a gladiator.
Recovery wise too, when doing a 27hour constant and healthy effort, you can get back to easy jogging after two weeks of layoff. But if you did injure yourself, if you did exhaust your endocrine system by doing a 13hour first half and a 25hour second half, your recovery might be up to a month and a half or more.
This is when you can hear people saying : "it took something out of me, I lost something up there, I am done with the ultras, cause it was too painful".
It is only 4 days after that big race. I am freckin' ready for the next challange and my legs are getting itchy. I respect the recovery though. I respect the joint and tendon damage, as it needs a lot more time than muscles. The endocrin and lymphatic system also needs a big recharging, with tons of quality minerals and vitamins from fruits and veggies with organ meats. Yesterday I ate kidney with beef heart. I love quality meat, however I feel better on a vegan/vegetarian diet, so my meat consumption is very very low, maybe 5 to 10 days a month. I eat about 1 egg a day and 3 can of sardines a week though with super minimal dairy consumption outside of butter.
The positives
I had cramps all over the place in the last 2 years. It was really killing my performances during races over 20km. It was a disaster. I absolutely hate this. For two years I had it every single time. Even night cramps. I tried finding solutions, I tried everything. I gave up a 7year long vegan lifestyle to see that eating a no grain, high fat diet would give me other strengths and recover me from permanent cramping. It got worst. I modified it, keeping it relatively plant based, but high fat, with carb backloading at the evening. Did not work. 100folded my salt intake and boom. All are good. Why would I say 100 folded ? My salt intake as a sweating hard charging athlete was 1kg for 2 years for 2 person. I was a believer that I can get all the minerals from veggies and vegetable juices and fruits. Yes you can, if you were a non-endurance low sweater
I realised that eating fatty, shuns salt even more from the body, than eating only fruits, grains and veggies. I tried magnesium and all kind of full mineral supplements. All kind of anti-cramp formulas and all sort of spice combinations and massages. Nothing worked.
So, for me there was no magic formula. Nothing could help, just plain old stupid salt. I was not having enough sodium in my diet. I eat really pure, like no processed foods at all. I mean, I eat a pizza, like 2 times a year, no biscuits, breads or bagett, no chips, no cakes and croissants, no salted butter and super minimal cheese. Mostly when I drink a glass of wine. Though as haven’t drunk alcohol at all for 10 years, this eliminates cheese too :D
I finally just measured out 3 moderate teaspoons of Himalayan sea salt for each day and I was putting this on my salad, and drank 1.5l of water enriched with electrolytes every day. I could also up my normal fresh water intake to around 2L to 4L a day. So my salt intake went up, my water intake and absorption went up, my recovery went through the roof, I did not have any cramps and my flexibility improved. My clear wee frequency went down, from 18 times a day to like 12. That is huge, that finally I was sweating properly, I was holding on to fluids for bodily functions and was feeling better.
So I started doing this only 3 weeks before this race, and it worked out like a charm. I love the taste of fresh fruits and veggies, so now I back off salt a bit, but next time I am doing a race, I will do the exact same.
- 500 ml boiled potato water with salt and magnesium every am
- 3 tbsp of salt a day
- 1 small scoop of magnesium every night, about 1 to 3 grams, depends how it falls into my scoop
- Half of my daily water intake with an electrolite tablet Hight5Zero
- Some organ meats
- Various breathing techniques, practiced at home, but during the race too
I could hammer the descents every single time during the 100km I completed, with no cramps at all. I had some signs of muscle tightness, but doubled up my salt and water intake for 2hours, was forcing myself to a breathing pattern and avoided unnecessary movements while shortened my stride.
Cramping is caused by electrolyte imbalance, muscle imbalance, nervous system fatigue or damage, by movements what you have never asked from your body before, like walking 100km, doing 1000m high hills over and over again, in heat with a heavy back pack while drinking a coffee every 3rd hour, lack of sleep, lack of water and too high blood acidity, high impact, bad breathing patterns and so. However, never from one single factor, but from the mixture of multiple factors. The human body, during high performance, is very sensitive to changes. You might have slept 30minutes less a day in the 7 days leading up to the race, ate a little bit less salt than usual as you purified your diet and drank just one dl less water a day than usual, cause you upped your herbal infusion intake. This is enough to throw a curve ball into your nervous system and get you into trouble. You can hack this with spicy foods and water/salt intake, but once you got a cramp, that muscle will be susceptible to get it again, till your next complete recovery cycle.
During the race I also started using more likely liquid nutrition. I was hesitating between Skratch and Tailwind. It is basically the same. Dextrose, salt and natural flaworing. Skratch was more accessible and cheaper, so I went with it. I never tried before the race, ever. I did not even know the taste of it. I added two scoops to each of my bottles for 7hours, as it was hot as hell, then I went with half a bottle of Skratch and half a bottle of plain or electrolyte enriched water. This was a great experience that even in very serious 30°C heat I am able to perform with no signs of cramps. I was just so happy to see that I can get anything from my body without taxing it too much.
I also popped a salt pill every hour during the day and every 2 to 3 hours night time from Elete.
I also popped a salt pill every hour during the day and every 2 to 3 hours night time from Elete.
Each 6 hours I ate a sweet potato with salt, cinnamon, ginger and cayenne. It woke me up, gave me heaps of energy and kept me going for hours on end. I also started taking coffee at the 10hour mark. Just a small shot, to keep me awake, followed by half a liter of water to dilute it. I drank 3 during the whole race and it worked well. About 3 x 50mg of caffein. 5 hours apart. I am not a big coffee drinker, I have one a day, each morning with fats and that is it. I drink infusions, but not really with tea or mate. More likely herbs I collected mself.
So at the end of the race, even if the altitude caused me to quit I was happy to see, that yes, I can manage my race, with no stomach issues, no cramps and no unmanageable low points.
Failed, but satisfied and learnt a lot, about ultra-race dynamics and about myself. Important points:
- I am a flat lander, despite the mountain running experience I accumulated in the last 5 years. Rolling hills, sharp turns, technical descents and douschgrade downhills (fake flat) with gradual runnable uphills are my forte. I need to move high up to the mountains for multiple weeks, months, years on end to get my legs used to these long and steep walking climbs.
- If I did a long race next year like this, I would choose more likely something not at altitude what is a lot more runnable, but still technical. Like the UltraMarin what is flat, but ankle breaking terrain, with a lot of stairs and roots and pebbles and rocks as it circumnavigates a bay in Bretagne.
- Slightly increased salt intake during life, with some elevated special days if trained hard. Reasonable salt and magnesium charge, the 3 weeks leading up to the race. Increased mineral intake during races from electrolyte tablets and from liquid hydration products.
Links:
http://highfive.co.uk/product/hydrate/zero/ - my water-booster for non-caloric solutions
http://eletewater.co.uk - Salt Tabs I used every hour during the day and every 3 hours nighttime
https://www.skratchlabs.com - Quality hydration and fuel powder from basic d-glucose
http://www.tailwindnutrition.com (co.uk)
http://www.fitoform.com/omarine.html - Natural salt concentrate in a purified seawater form
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_chloride - Nigari for topical and internal charge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_sulfate - Epsom salts for bathing and for intake too