Testimonials

Almost Ready!

Less than one week to go and I'm just about ready! I've been holding onto a little illness for the past few weeks but it is gradually leaving my body. My hope (and prayer!) is that it is completely gone by Friday. Lots of rest and low stress this week will hopefully do the trick.

This past week saw 5 days of pure rest (to try to shake this cold), a 12.5 mile trail run on Saturday and a 11.3 mile trail run on Sunday. I felt like I could run all day on Saturday. Sunday was more of a struggle because of the heat but I made it through! I tried to keep my heart rate low on both runs and walked a good portion at times to remain aerobic. It's crucial at Leadville to depend on aerobic energy as much as possible and walking seems to do the trick...most of the time. Put a 9.5% grade hill in front of me on Sunday's run and it was everything I could do to try to stay aerobic! Forget about that! It would have taken me crawling on all fours to get my heart rate low so since the hill was no longer than about 3/4 of a mile, I just decided to maintain a high heart rate for a few minutes. Good training for the last hoorah up the 12,600 foot Hope Pass climb at Leadville this weekend. Imagine having your heart rate so high that you cannot hear yourself breathe because of the intense lub, dub, lub, dub sounds coming from your chest region...then multiply that by about five-fold and that's what summiting a 12,600 foot pass at mile 46 feels like! You get the point...

Physically I'm ready, I just need to get my immune system healthy. Mentally, I've never been so ready to start a race. Unlike two years ago when I did this race, I am looking forward to embarking on the journey because I actually know what to expect along the way. I was scared of the unknown in 2005. This year, I will conquer the known! Nutritionally, I should be ready. I mean, c'mon, I'm a sport dietitian right? Yeah, that's what I thought a couple of years ago also when almost all of the food I packed did not sound appealing and for the first time in my life, I bonked. Well, I'm two years older and wiser this time. I know my body better and will be packing a variety of products. I thought you would find my nutrition list entertaining so enjoy!

Race day nutrition offerings (what my crew will have in the crewmobile during the race for my choosing):
-Poptarts (must be the Poptarts brand, frosted strawberry as those are the lowest in fat and contain no trans fats!)
-Red vines (they pack a caloric punch per vine...70 calories!)
-Skittles (these saved my life in 2005 and are my "go to" food now)
-M&Ms (I doubt I will use them but will have them for the extra fat and calories just in case)
-Cheese sandwiches on white bread (nice and bland, a great break from sweets and a great thirst stimulator!)
-Mashed potatoes enriched with a good amount of sea salt (I had these at the top of Hope Pass two years ago and just about stayed at that aid station forever because they were so good. Now, they will be with my crew at every stop)
-First Endurance EFS Shots (liquid energy and electrolytes)
-First Endurance EFS sports drink
-First Endurance Ultragen (a post-workout drink but one that I may use on the course)
-First Endurance Pre-race (a mental stimulator with caffeine that has worked wonders for me during my training)
-Clif Shot Electrolyte beverage, lemonade flavor
-Gatorade Endurance sports drink
-Accel Gels
-Carbboom gels
-First Endurance EFS energy bars
-Bakers Breakfast Cookies (mocha cappuccino and caramel apple!)
-And to finish it all off, a bag of crystallized ginger in case the food processor I call my stomach gets a little upset!

Now, I certainly won't eat all of these items but it's good to have this variety because what I like at mile 20 may not be the same as mile 80. I like to cover my bases if you can't tell! The worst thing that can happen to a sports dietitian is to not finish a race because of not having foods that work for my body. Although, in a 100 mile race, nothing is guaranteed!

Thanks for reading. My next post will be a recap of the race...it's probably not going to be up too soon after I finish as I will need some R&R!

Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com