Race Report #2: The 50 run

TO INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF PURE JOY IN READING THIS BLOG, SCROLL DOWN TO MY RACE REPORT #1 THEN COME BACK UP AND READ THIS ONE...IT IS IN SEQUENTIAL ORDER OF MY WEEKEND OF RACING.

I knew that race #3 was going to be tough.  Not only was it 50 miles in length above 10,200 feet but it was also 14 hours after I finished the 50 mile mountain bike race.  I'm always up for a challenge.  In fact, the run isn't even part of the Leadman series.  Am I crazy?  Of course but why offer a 50 mile run the day after a 50 mile mountain bike and not mandate it as part of the Leadman series?  Don't know, which is why I added it.  

So after another night of sub-par sleep and having to wake up at 4:30am for a 6:00am race start, I was ready to embrace challenge #2 for the weekend.  As I awoke, my training partner informed me that it was raining outside.  As I peered out the window, I corrected him.  It was pouring!  The next thing out of his mouth was, "maybe they will cancel this race".  HA!  I said.  I politely informed my best buddy that this was Leadville and they don't care if it rains, sleets or snows. The race will be on so get your head in it.  To boot, there was a 40% chance of rain all day with a high of 60 degrees.  Yeouch!

I must say, my excitement was a bit less than on Saturday.  My body was tired and could have used about 2 hours of additional sleep.  That didn't bother me though.  I knew this day was good preparation for the 100 mile run.  I needed to get used to running while sleep deprived and fatigued.

My training partner had not wanted to run this race.  After finishing the mountain bike race the day before, he assessed the run and was faced with mixed emotions.  I told him that I would run the entire race with him.  He would not be alone.  This proved to ink the deal and we arrived at the start around 5:15am in the pouring rain.  We sat in our cars until about 5:50am, made a quick bathroom pitstop and I went through my neuromuscular and dynamic warm-up exercises before the shotgun went off.  The run followed the same course so I was well-versed and knew where I could run and would need to powerwalk/hike.

The gun went off and the 150 or so rabbits navigated the steep ski slope start.  Once we made it to the top, the race was on.  Now, I should designate my goals for this race before going any farther.  The cutoff time at the halfway point was 7 hours with a total cutoff time of 14 hours. My primary goal was to make it to the 25 mile mark in around 6 hours.  The main "push" of the race was the first half to make the cutoff.  Once I made that, the second half would be a "cruise" so I could get back to training as soon as possible.  Goal number two was to get in some good mental preparation training for the 100 run in 4 weeks.  My last goal was simple: have fun!  

We ran in the rain for about the first hour and fifteen minutes then, amazingly, the clouds parted and we were greeted with sunshine and partly cloudy skies.  I only had one short time where I wasn't feeling good in the first 25 miles, which I attribute to my sinus infection as my head did feel like it was going to explode at any moment, but after than 45 minutes or so, all was good.  Luckily, this was the one time when my training partner was feeling good so he was able to keep me from going to that dark place.

We were making unbelievable time without really pushing the pace.  We walked when we needed to but ran the majority of the first 25 miles.  We felt great at the 25 mile mark and came in at 5 hours flat! Can you even believe it?  We couldn't.  We had set around 6 hours so as you can realize, when we turned around in 5 hours we were ecstatic!  Goal number one was achieved!  Half the race was over and now we needed to shift into our last 25 mile mentality: be smart, stay aerobic and minimize the damage to the body.

We knew the climb back up Ball Mountain would be a doozy since we just did it the day before in bike shoes pushing a 27 pound mountain bike.  What we didn't expect was the feeling of it being harder with running shoes on not pushing a bike!  Wow!  It was a challenge but all of the vertical feet I climbed in training proved its worth here. Unfortunately, this is when my training partner started going to his dark place.  The altitude seemed to be getting to him and more specifically, his gut.  He wasn't drinking too much and not able to eat as much as planned. It was slow going on the climb to Ball Mountain and we had to take it easy on the next few miles as the rapid descent was also causing him issues.  

We knew after making it to the top of Ball Mountain, we were only facing one more significant climb so we did share a bit of emotional reprieve.  However, true to Colorado summer weather, a storm was a brewin' and right as we reached the top of a moderate climb, it became very dark and gloomy.  My friend had been running with a man from Canada as I was a few steps ahead of them and as I was reaching into my bag for my rain jacket, lightning struck.  I didn't see it but the man from Canada did and very quickly looked at my while scurrying backwards and said, "what do we do now".  I responded, "you're not from around here are you?".  I told him that we are on top of a mountain, above treeline and had no shelter.  We had to get down as fast as possible.  "Just run", I said.

I looked at my friend and said, "man, I know you are not feeling good but we have to run now. No if's, and', or but's.  We need to get down."  It just so happened that Mother Nature thought it would be funny if she pelted us with BB sized hail.  Yeah, I normally go inside when hail starts coming down but what do you do when you have no shelter and you are staring at the clouds eye to eye on top of a mountain?  Yep, you run.  And run fast!  The only thing I could feel was the hail pelting the bare skin on my legs and my bouncing off of my head.  At times, I was running with one hand on top of my head trying to protect my ears.  Luckily, the bill of my running hat was protecting my face.

I made to the next aid station in about 10 minutes and quickly sought shelter under their tent. It was a smaller aid station with a few people volunteering and all were soaked but still had smiles to greet us.  As an aside, the volunteers around the course were awesome, even in the inclement weather, and I truly appreciate them being out there.  I provided my sincerest gratitude every time I saw them.  

Back to the hail.  After a few minutes at the aid station, I grabbed my training partner and took off in the now water flooded trail.  Socks and shoes were soaked but I knew that the storm would break as we got lower.  Mother Nature finally presented us with rain instead of hail and it was a sigh of relief!  There was a short reprieve from the rain which allowed us to dry off a bit but that didn't last long!

We made it to the second to last aid station which meant we were 14 miles from the finish, certainly a time to celebrate but not so for my training partner.  He was not in a good spot and we both knew that we had the very, very long dirt road ascent to 12,000 feet that seemed to never end before we were blessed to have downhill.  We knew what was in store for us and we progressed step by step.  My friend was getting slower and slower with his steps and I would walk ahead and then wait and repeat this a bit to try to be his rabbit.  About three-quarters of the way into the climb it happened for the third time: RAIN!  Grab the rain jacket again but this time, it was getting cold.  The previous rains were not this cold.  I had to revert to putting on my skull cap underneath my running hat. It felt like the temperature was plummeting as we rose in elevation.  After almost an hour of walking, we finally reached the top.  I assessed my friend's status and it was worse than when we began the climb.  

We had about 9-10 miles left with no major climbs, only descents.  However, the trail was a stream now and the weather was starting to sneak up on me.  It was at this time where I could not maintain my core body temperature.  I had all of my clothing on, it was pouring rain, cold and I had no warm beverages.  I knew we had about 3 miles to the final aid station and had hoped they had something warm to consume.

We ran what we could on the downhill to the last aid station.  Walked when the trail (and slippery conditions) forced us to.  I began shivering.  My friend was progressively getting worse.  What were we going to do?  Get down as fast as we could!

As we walked into the last aid station, we were greeted again by very positive volunteers.  No warm beverages though.  Not good.  I filled up my water bottle and rung out my gloves.  Seven miles left.  A very long seven miles.  I tried as much as possible to get my friend to run whenever possible.  Possibly for selfish reasons of staying warm and trying to get my core temperature up but that was a no-go.  He wasn't feeling it.  Gut was giving him serious problems now.  I had been here before, mentally.  I knew this feeling.  It hit me during the 100 years ago.  And I knew what to do: walk fast.  A good ultra-runner has an innate skill to walk fast when the opportunity arises and now was the time.  I told my partner to watch my heels and keep up.  

I was in the zone.  It's hard for me to explain what this is but it is an out of body experience.  I was shivering uncontrollably now.  Teeth chattering and I could do nothing to stop it.  I didn't want to drink cold water because that sent more chills to my body.  It was still raining and I knew we had at least 2 hours to the finish if we kept up this pace.  Would my body be able to make it being this cold?  We forged on step by step.  I increased the pace as we got closer.  I could smell the finish line and the only thing I could focus on was sitting in my car with the heat blasting.  That was my motivation.  My inspiration.

Needless to say, the last 7 miles were very long for us but very positive in retrospect.  Throw away the hypothermia that I had, the gut distress that my partner and what you are left with is the most intense character building 7 miles of the weekend.  This was true grit.  There are no shortcuts at Leadville and we started adversity directly in the face.  

One foot in front of the other.  I knew when we had a couple of miles left and it was a sigh of relief.  I put my arm around my training partner and told him that he was going to finish and we were going to make it together.

The last major climb, as we faced on the mountain bike race, crippled us to a slow walk but we knew that after reaching the top, we were almost home.  We ran the last 1/8 of a mile to the finish line and I was able to quiet my shivering enough to cross the line with my friend, slapping him a high five at the line.  The volunteer in the timing booth ran over to us and asked who finished together.  I politely offered, "We started this race together, we finished this race together".  And with that, I looked at my friend and said, "You did it man!  Congrats.  You deserve it and you are now ready for the 100's".  

Then I disappeared to my car where I quickly changed my clothes, blasted the heat and curled up in the fetal position until I was warm enough to drive home to see my family.

The weekend was a success.  True to Leadville, it was nothing shy of tough.  It forces you to reach deep down inside and find that next level of motivation, of mental toughness, to simply cross the finish line and be rewarded with an internal "I did it".  There is nothing fancy about the Leadville races.  I do them to constantly test the physiological, psychological and nutritional limits of the human body. 

Total time: 11:54:15

Next up is the Leadville 100 mile mountain bike race on August 15, followed by the 10k run on August 16 then the big one, the Leadville 100 run on August 22-23!

Oh and yes, metabolic efficiency holds true once again!  Here are my hourly nutrition averages for the 50 mile run:

Calories: 152

Carbohydrate: 26 grams

Protein 3.5 grams

Fat: 3.5 grams

Sodium: 684 milligrams (about 300 under my hourly goal!)

Fluid: 16 ounces

No feelings of bonking at all.  Sustained energy levels the entire way. 

Until next time...

Coach Bob

coachbob@fuel4mance.com

Leadville Race Report: The 50 bike

WARNING: THIS IS A RACE REPORT AND MAY DETRACT AT LEAST 10 MINUTES FROM YOUR DAY.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK AND IF YOU ARE TYPE A, SIT BACK, RELAX AND ENJOY!  

This past weekend brought races #2 and #3 in my quest for accomplishing the Leadman series. I drove up to Leadville late Friday night with a 9am start to the 50 mile mountain bike race on Saturday morning.  I have realized that I do much better if I can drop into that high of altitude as close to race start as possible as I am not able to spend 10 days up there beforehand (although, I would love to!).  

After tossing and turning most of the night, my body finally decided to be in the awaken state around 6:00am.  I normally do not listen to music much but do enjoy to when I am prepping for a race.  I popped the earphones in and began to get all of my nutrition ready.  My training partner and good friend was also doing this race and it was his first ever mountain bike race. Needless to say, his nerves were a bit on edge but he was handling it fairly well.  For me, this was just another training ride.  I had done the Leadville 100 mile mountain bike race in 2004 and knew the mentality and the way things work in this type of racing.  But, as I would soon learn, this course was a bit different than the 100!

During the first race of the Leadman series, the marathon, a couple of weeks ago, I was running with a guy who was giving me a bit of info on the 50 mile mountain bike course.  He said it was much more difficult than the 100 and it was not a course for the weary or mildly seasoned mountain bikers.  Now, I know the terrain around the Leadville area from previous competitions but one thing keep learning is that there is always a more rugged, technical, mentally demanding and lung busting trail somewhere in the Leadville area.  That certainly held true for this course!

Upon exiting the hotel room to drive to the start, I noticed that our hotel had a tremendous view of Turquoise Lake.  Located in the valley of stunning mountain landscape, this pristine body of water is an icon in the Leadville area.  An icon that in 4 weeks will be a key part of the last race in the Leadman series.  After embellishing the painting that Mother Nature had created in front of me, it was time to head out.  

We arrived at the start with plenty of time to check in and get the bikes ready for action.  After putting my number on my bike and Camelbak, I did my neuromuscular and dynamic warm-up exercises and did a quick 10 minute spin with a short climb to get my legs ready for the start.

Most mountain bike races follow the pattern of being anaerobic as riders are vying for position before getting to singletrack.  Leadville is, let's just say, a little different.  You see, the harder and more physically and mentally challenging, the better when it comes to racing in Leadville. The start was a hike up a ski slope...no kidding!  About 450 riders lined up at the bottom and when the race director fired his shotgun in the air (this is how he starts all of the races), the anaerobic battle began!

My training partner and I had visited Leadville the weekend before to do some course recon which included the start so we knew what the hill felt like and how much we should push.  I don't know the exact grade of this hill but combine the rocks, loose footing and pushing a mountain bike up and you can imagine how high your heart rate gets.  And did I mention that the start was at 10,200 feet?  Okay, you the picture.  Interestingly, even under my controlled pace of getting up the hill, I was still about 30 seconds faster than I had done it the week prior. My main goal was to avoid sending my body into too much oxygen debt and I played that card well.  Felt great at the top and was ready to tackle the course.  What I didn't expect was the intense feeling of frustration.  There was the biggest bottleneck I had ever seen in a race as everyone mounted their bikes and this lasted for the next few miles.  To boot, I felt like I was in the Beijing dust storms.  The amount of dirt being kicked up from the riders was ridiculous.  In fact, I couldn't even pick a good line because I couldn't see the trail in front of me.

Fast forward to mile 8-10 where we climbed to about 12,000 feet.  Now, what I have been learning fast is that an altitude of about 11,000 feet is when my body begins to give me a little feedback about my lack of acclimitization.  The first signs are around 10,500 but it is not until around 11,000 where the head feels like it is going to explode.  Although, I should mention that on the Wednesday before the race, I had a "nice" visit from the sinus infection fairy.  Yeah, not the best timing but what can a guy do?  I had to finish the races.  Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend competing at over 10,000 feet with a sinus infection.  It's doable as I have proved but there are some very, very gloomy times.

Most of the climb to 12,000 feet was okay to ride and I progressed nicely for the most of it. However, since there was still quite a large pack, when one person unclipped and couldn't move off the trail, it caused a chain reaction and everyone behind that person was forced to walk. The very fast descent was soon to follow.  I was as cautious as I could have been on the dirt road, having passed many people with flat tires.  There were a ton of jagged rocks that took some serious bites out of tires.  In fact, I felt quite a few rocks compress my tires so much that I felt it on the rims!

From here on out, there was no real excitement until the top of Ball Mountain.  Luckily, we had ridden this part of the course the week before which proved to be a very smart move.  The descent coming off of Ball Mountain to the base of Mosquito Pass was extremely technical.  The kind of technical where you wonder how you actually made it down without being launched off the bike.  I made it down without incident since I knew what lines to pick but the interesting part about it was as I was descending, there were riders coming up.  Reminded me of the 100 mountain bike again-pretty gnarly singletrack with two-way traffic.  Not only did I have to concentrate on the trail but also on not taking anyone out!  Made it interesting to say the least.

Phew!  Made it down to the turnaround and headed back on the out and back course.  I knew climbing up to Ball Mountain would be a hike a bike and boy was it ever!  Hiking in cycling shoes isn't the most efficient or comfortable but this part was simply not rideable, not even by the top finishers.  So, I focused my mind on the task at hand and began.  It took just under an hour to get from the aid station to the top of Ball Mountain and while it was a slow process, it was well worth it, at least for about 5 minutes, for the descent to follow.  Leadville is notorious for great climbs and descents and not a lot of flats and this proved true on this day also.  Go up or go down but no breaks for the legs with any opportunities for soft pedaling.

Once I made it to the final aid station, I knew I had 14 miles left to go.  But I also knew that I had the very long climb on the dirt road that I had traveled down a few hours ago.  Descending always takes shorter than ascending but I had no idea how long this road really was until my tires hit it for a second time.  I could see the base of the mountain (Mount Sherman) where the descent began but it appeared that the road just kept turning and turning and turning.  No straight shot here.  Nope, this is Leadville and Leadville doesn't know what easy means.

So I finally make it to the top of this road, rejoice a bit by consuming a bit of caffeine because I knew exactly what was in store in the next section-exhilarating downhills.  Ones that required a great amount of mental concentration (hence the intake of caffeine beforehand!).  

I am normally not aggressive on the downhills but am confident.  However, I knew that I needed to play the safe card since I was going to do the run the next morning and still had 3 more races to go in the series.  I had fun going down but stayed within my comfort zone.  I had a few guys pass me but didn't decide to ride outside of my boundaries.  Not on this ride.  The goal was to finish and feel good.  There were some surreal moments going down.  It was a complete out of body experience with the feeling of my tires "floating" over the trail from my downhill speed.  This was the highlight of my bike race and one that will always stay with me.

After wrapping my head around the adrenaline rush from the downhill, I had two additional climbs until I could claim the second finish in the series. Of course, true to the Leadville reputation, the last climb, about 1/2 mile to the finish, demanded respect and forced myself and the riders around me to navigate it by foot.  No worries, I knew I was close so I hopped off my bike and with a smile began the last trek uphill.

Upon crossing the finish line, I noticed a big party in front of me.  Bikes thrown across the grass, athletes with beers and brats in hand, everyone was enjoying some nice post-race celebration.  My unofficial time was 6 hours and 25 minutes.  I was happy but my focus immediately shifted to the 50 mile run the next day.  I immediately began my post-race nutrition and walked around a bit waiting for my training partner to finish.  As he crossed the line, I could see the feeling of accomplishment in his eyes.  This was one of the biggest things he had ever done and I was extremely proud of him.  Especially since I was the one who coerced him into signing up for the Leadman with me!

All in all, a great day.  No falls, had a great feeling in my legs still and was ready to tackle the run the next day.  A little rain fell briefly but it was a nice cooling rain that did not last long.

Oh, and as far as my nutrition experiment this year, it is still showing (with me) that improved metabolic efficiency works, even in race situations (at extreme altitude).  Here are my HOURLY totals:

Calories: 123

Carbohydrate: 31 grams

Sodium: 354 milligrams

Fluid: 16 ounces

Stay tuned for my next post about the 50 mile run!

Coach Bob

coachbob@fuel4mance.com

I love a challenge

Well, that and I like to challenge things.  More specifically, if you have been reading my blog as of late, I enjoy pushing sports nutrition research to the limits and really questioning it with my little n of 1 experiment of myself during this competition season.

You see, I have been doing something that I wouldn't have normally recommend to athletes: following mostly a Zone 1 by way of the FuelTarget which includes focusing on eating lean protein, healthy fats, fruits and veggies and significantly reducing intake of whole grains.  In fact, when I first began this experiment, I did not eat any whole grains for two weeks!  Now, it is minimal at best (2-3 times per week).

Anyway, I have been tracking my progress through energy intake during long bike rides and runs along with metabolic testing to quantify the experiment.  I'm not ready to make any conclusions just yet but I will say that I have not bonked on any training session following this eating plan.  And I have done long aerobic stuff, threshold repeats and raced at altitude (10,000+ feet).  What I am finding is supporting my theory (more on that after my round of competitions this summer).

So today's run was a 26.5 mile run on the trail.  Took my 4 hours and 42 minutes.  Good efforts at times, aerobic the other. 

Hourly nutrition totals for today's run were:

Calories: 55

Carbs: 7 grams

Protein: 2 grams

Fat: 2 grams

Sodium: 1023 milligrams

Water: 26 ounces

I continue to amaze myself that I can sustain myself on so little for so long.  Metabolic efficiency.  Enough said.

Stay tuned!

Coach Bob

coachbob@fuel4mance.com

My journey has begun

WARNING: THIS IS A RATHER LENGTHY, BUT ENTERTAINING (AT LEAST I THINK SO!) ACCOUNT OF MY LEADVILLE MARATHON RACE REPORT.  OKAY, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.  NOW READ IT AND ENJOY!

Today, July 11th marks my journey to becoming a Leadman.  Leadman is a series of races in Leadville, Colorado at an elevation of 10,200 feet.  The official series includes:

July 11: marathon

July 25: 50 mile mountain bike

July 26: 50 mile run (this is optional and not part of Leadman but I am doing it because it poses a significant challenge!)

August 15: 100 mile mountain bike

August 16: 10k run

August 22-23: 100 mile run

Yeah, a bit nuts but that's me!

Anyway, the marathon was today and my goals were to have fun, test out my Achilles (have been having problems with that for almost two years) and just race smart.  It was great because my wife was also running it as well as a good friend of mine. 

I spent Thursday afternoon and Friday in Minneapolis doing a few presentations for USA Triathlon.  Not the ideal scenario before a marathon at over 10,000 feet!  But, I try to minimize the time as much as possible with only being gone from Colorado about 22 hours.  Yes, a very quick trip!

I got home Friday night, prepped for the early morning drive up to Leadville and hit the sack around 9:30am.  Didn't sleep that good which is normal for me before any race.  Woke up at 4:15am.  My wife didn't appreciate that because we agreed to wake up at 4:30am.  My body was up so couldn't really do much about that.

I will provide my nutrition info at the end of the blog so stay tuned...

We arrived in Leadville around 6:45am and checked in.  I took my wife and friend through a good neuromuscular and dynamic warm-up and we checked the weather and our clothing.  It was 51 degrees up there so we shed our long sleeve tops and ran in the short sleeves.  Keep in mind that we were to summit a "small" pass (more on that later) so we needed to be ready for any type of weather.  You go that high in the Colorado mountains in the summer and you don't know what Mother Nature will throw your way.

Okay, so I looked at the course profile and have been up to Leadville for previous races but never this marathon.  I knew we started running uphill but were we in for a HUGE surprise!

8:00am rolled around and the race director fired his shotgun in the air (typical race start in Leadville!).  I could see where we were running and there was nothing but up.  No worries, that's how my runs start at home so I thought I was adequately prepared.  HA!  Little did I know that this "up" lasted for just over 3 miles.  The first 3/4 of it or so were on pavement then we hit dirt road and then it was jeep road with nice (read: big and sharp) rocks littered on the trail.  Actually, that was pretty typical most of the run.

I tried not to go into oxygen debt too much at the start but the course forced my hand.  I was in the top 30 after the first few miles and was feeling pretty good.  Achilles didn't bother me too much, at least not more than normal!

I am a sucker for beautiful mountains and landscapes and this course did not disappoint.  My only regret was that I couldn't take my eyes off of the trail for too long for fear that I would incur a serious ankle sprain due to the loose rocks.  I managed to get a few "Kodak moments" with my eyes.  I highly recommend spending some time up in Leadville.  They have endless trails and beautiful lakes, mountains and great people.  Anyway, back to the race.

I was feeling pretty good the first 10 miles.  Had to sprinkle a little powerhiking in with running because the trail would turn vertical at a bat of an eye but all in all, legs were feeling okay.

And then, as I was descending into the London Mine area, I saw it.  The climb up Mosquito Pass, all 13, 185 feet of it!  "Wow!" was my first thought.  Okay, I summited Hope Pass during the 100 mile run so I knew what a lack of oxygen (lower partial pressure to be technically correct) meant and I knew how to deal with it.  I filled up my water bottle at the last aid station and off I went to the summit.  It took me an hour to travel about 3 miles in which I ascended roughly 3,000 feet.  Wow, that was a shocker but not really the challenge.  The main challenge was coming down.  After thanking the volunteers at the top for being out there, I turned around and began my descent.  I don't know if you have ever had anyone throw rocks at your quads while you were walking on loose shards of glass but that's about the closest analogy I can think of to describe the way my quads felt.  

One thing to note...I like running downhill and even though I know the eccentric action will haunt me later, I prefer to pick runners off descending...much easier sometimes than catching them on the uphills (sometimes!).

So, I finally get to the bottom of Mosquito Pass and I celebrated my 16 mile journey (in my head, I kept running!).  And then it happened.  As Emeril says, "BAM" there was another decent climb.  Somehow, I didn't remember it being that vertical when I was descending it.  I tried with all my might to run where I could and powerhike the rest.  I stopped at each aid station to get some "goodies" and didn't really experience a lull the entire time (read: the caffeine helped but stay tuned for info on that!).  I made it to the location where I had to run around Ball Mountain again and the hills (up and down) were extremely unforgiving on the legs.  With each step my post-race muscle soreness factor would increase by 10-fold.  I knew it but kept running.  I just wanted to get to the finish line!

You see, I did have a starting goal.  Primary goal was to go under 4:45:00.  Secondary goal was to go under 4:30:00.  

After a gnarly descent from the back side of Ball Mountain, it was time to make one of the last significant climbs, powerhiking (if I can call it that).  It was a tough climb at about 21 miles into it.  I did manage to survive it and then it happened...Bob found "The Zone".  Yep, that infamous Performance Zone.  I'm pretty good at putting myself there but this race with the intense hills detracted my attention often and thus I couldn't get in the right frame of mine.  I believe it was the last 3 miles that were plagued with intense rocks-big and sharp-with a steep grade that shifted my mental focus on nothing but the ground. 

So there I was...in "The Zone" and I must say that I was feel like a locomotive without brakes! I attacked the last 3 or so miles of the course with the visual memory of what was in store for me but I accepted the challenge.  Off I went like a cheetah chasing a gazelle.  I saw one runner in front of me about 100 yards...pick.  Next runner was a few steps in front of him...pick.  I was a runner on a mission.  About 1.5 miles from the finish, I saw two runners ahead of me, probably a good 800 and 1200 meters away.  My next goal...yep, you guessed it...pick and pick.  The second one was tough.  I used everything I had to pass and remain in front of him.  Definitely at threshold going downhill.  See, most people relax on the downhills.  Not me.  It's that darn competitiveness I have built into me.  Can't help it.  I see someone in front of me late in a race and I do everything in my power to get in front of them.  That's the way I roll!

Here's the finish line about 1/2 mile downhill on asphalt.  My legs feel like they are not attached to my body any longer and my breathing is so labored I could hardly hear my head about ready to explode.  This was probably one of the toughest parts of the race for me.  I could taste the finish line.  Heck, I could visually see it (and that is usually never a good thing!).  But I had to muster enough energy to hold off the runner I just passed and still try to hit my time goal.

The race director announced my name as I crossed the finish line with the small crowd cheering.  Evidently, as someone told me after I finished, I was running pretty darn fast coming down that street to the finish line and they were all shocked.  That's just "The Zone".  As I look down at my watch I realized that I did achieve my primary goal of going under 4:45:00.  My official time was 4:43:11, good enough for 20th overall and 9th in my age-group.  While I didn't make my secondary goal of a sub 4:30:00, I realized that was okay.  I mean, I do have to compete in a 50-miler in two weeks and have a 30 mile training run in 3 days.  Time to recover the body now.

My friend finished and my wife did great, finishing in 5:31:41, good for 79th overall and 4th in her age-group.  I am extremely proud of her for I was the one who roped her into this marathon and I know that this was the toughest terrain she has ever run.  

On the way home, we stopped at a river to take a 6 minute ice bath and I decided to just go ahead and take a full bath.  Ah, that felt good but my wife looked at me like I was crazy. Actually, she knows I am, she just accepts it now!

As far as nutrition, continuing on my journey of improving metabolic efficiency, I was pleasantly surprised with what my body accomplished today on the following totals:

These are per hour:

152 calories

25 grams of carbohydrate

4 grams of protein

5 grams of fat

494 milligrams of sodium

My nutrition consisted of 19 ounces of water , SaltStick electrolyte capsules, roughly 14 ounces of Coke, about 15 M&M's, 1/2 of a First Endurance EFS bar.

It was nice to justify that my improved metabolic efficiency works in a race setting where heart rate and intensity are high.  

Breakfast consisted of plain yogurt, whey protein powder, blueberries, olive oil and peanut butter at 4:30am.  I drank 20 ounces of water on the drive to Leadville and had 1/2 of a First Endurance EFS bar about 1 hour before the start.  Nothing else.

Am I defying sports nutrition research?  Good question.  What I can say is that with my improved metabolic efficiency and ability to oxidize fats at higher intensities, I do not feel as hungry during training and racing and require fewer calories and carbohydrates.  Just something to leave you with to ponder...

Thanks for reading my "novel"!  Now it's time for bed.  Surprisingly, I am a bit tired now.  :-)

Coach Bob

coachbob@fuel4mance.com

First race

My first race of the season is fast approaching.  The Leadville marathon which marks the journey of my goal of becoming a "Leadman".  Throughout the past couple of months I have been altering my nutrition and with good progress in the attempt at making myself more metabolically efficient.  

I have trained my body, through nutrition and training, to utilize more internal fats for energy as proved by the last two training runs.  To recap since the numbers are quite shocking and nothing that you would expect...

The last two longer runs (40.5 miles and 19.5 miles) I have consumed an average of 93 and 27 calories per hour, respectively.  That equates into 15 and 7 grams of carbohydrate per hour! Normal sports nutrition recommendations are a minimum of 30 grams per hour.  Am I defying science?  Don't know but I have to say that my energy level is sustained during the runs and today I pushed the limits by doing some aggressive threshold repeats of 30 minutes, twice, up a 2.6 mile trail that climbs 1200 feet each time.  

Part of my question to myself was if I could maintain intensity while feeding a bit less and today I answered that question.  Looking back I think a few more calories would have been better toward the end but I lost very little performance the first 3 hours of my run.  The last 45 minutes is when my energy became a bit less and pace slowed about 15 seconds per mile.  Still, not a bad adjustment.

All in all, my GI distress has been significantly minimized during my runs due to lower calorie intake.  My main focus is on my hydration and electrolyte status and I am nailing it most of the time.  This has been maintaining my performance from my perspective.

Still some unanswered questions.  Will do another metabolic efficiency test on myself this week before the marathon but Saturday is the true test.  Race conditions always change things. 

Stay tuned...

Coach Bob

coachbob@fuel4mance.com

Metabolic efficiency

My experiment of one is progressing nicely.  No whole grains or processed foods (except for my son's birthday cake!) for 2 weeks and now very minimal per day.  This is enabling my body to improve my usage of internal fat stores as energy during my longer training.  

I'm gearing up for the Leadman series in Leadville, Colorado so it is beneficial to be able to teach the body to use more fat during exercise.  So far so good.  Metabolic testing proves that I am becoming more efficient and from the likes of my calorie and CHO intake from my 40.5 mile trail run on Monday, everything is spot on.  

I only consumed 93 calories per hour with 15 of them being from carbs...interesting, eh?!

Until next time...

Coach Bob

coachbob@fuel4mance.com

www.fuel4mance.com