More than a few weeks have passed since the Leadville Trail 100, and I've been thinking a lot about how things went, what I could have done differently, and where to go and what to do from here.
Push the pace?
At the LT100, and over my almost 40 miles of pacing, could I have pushed Chris more? Helped more to get an even better result than his 28:45 finish? BTW, you can read his race report here, and my pacing report here.
Well, I'm not 100% convinced I could have helped more. Chris is a veteran ultra-runner, and knows the course, and his abilities, very well. Based on his fueling, hydrating, and pacing plan, I expected him to come into Twin Lakes in good shape, but he came in with dodgy lungs. The same thing has happened to him in the past at Leadville, along with severe swelling issues, but fortunately this year wasn't quite as bad. There were times though when his breathing was so bad that he would start a sentence, but couldn't get more than a couple of words out. If it were that it was just his legs that were tired and sore - well, that's a different story - but his lungs, that's serious, and I was being cautious. At least he had no swelling issues this year. Sometimes, unprompted, he would try to jog/run, and would have to shut it down, so it wasn't like he really needed the motivation to at least try to run. Maybe I could have suggested more than the 4 -5 times that I did to maybe try a little run, but most likely it would have resulted in a well deserved 'Get bent!'
Hydration - too much, not enough, just right?
There is so much conflicting information out there to find about hydration. Some people say that in general, you're drinking too much, that you should just drink to thirst. Personally, I think that's not enough - at least for me. A co-worker of my wife's also participated in the LT100 this year. He got a DNF after dropping at Winfield. When I asked him what he thought was the root cause, he said; "I listened to the Doctor." I guess at the pre-race meeting (I wasn't there), everyone was told by the resident Doc that most people will over-hydrate and risk hyponatremia and/or hypervolemia - that you should only drink to thirst. So, he did that. Boom. Done.
Based on Chris's past troubles at Leadville, he and I did some research pre-race and could find nothing that didn't lead down the road of just more confusion and more questions. Add salt and electrolytes into the equation and it's a total nightmare. Here are a couple of sources we came across in our research;
http://www.irunfar.com/2012/07/waterlogged-a-dogma-shattering-book.html
http://www.irunfar.com/2012/08/waterlogged-part-ii-trials-questions-and-suggestions-regarding-hydration-and-ultramarathons.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasopressin
http://www.succeedscaps.com/articles/water_electrolyte_balance_table/ - I carried this chart with me at Leadville.
http://www.ultrarunning.com/ultra/8/8_1/fluid-electrolytes-101-re.shtml
http://www.hammernutrition.com/downloads/PUM.pdf - Hammer Nutrition's Little Red Book. A fantastic resource and one of the best nutrition and fueling reference guides I've found - though, I do think they cater mostly to marathoners and to triathletes.
And, in my opinion, one of the best and complete general ultra-running reference guides out there - the Western States 100 Participant's Guide (though it preaches drink to thirst!);
http://ws100.com/pguide.htm
With constantly changing conditions over such a long distance, well, that just adds even more variables in there. Hot during the day, cold at night, ascending, descending, pace, altitude, humidity, breathing rate, vomiting, urinating, defecating, etc., etc.. All these variables are going to affect you; your sweat rate, excretion rate, the rate at which you lose water just breathing... Now, I'm not saying pour as much H2O, or whatever your drink of choice is, down your throat as fast as possible (that would be extremely dangerous!) - but I think that once you are thirsty, it's already too late - you're dehydrated - and you and your performance are going to suffer. Can you bounce back from that with-in the confines of the race time limits? Maybe.
For both Chris and I, during our time together, we stopped A LOT for pee breaks. Like every 20 minutes or so I would guesstimate. We weren't drinking excessively as far as I was concerned (Chris had only 2 water bottles on him), and I chalk it up to the brain/body regulating fluid levels to maintain a proper hydration level. I think that your brain does a pretty good job of regulating your body - within limits - as long as you can keep things within moderation. On endurance events like this though, that can truly be a thin line. Hopefully you are in tune with your body enough, and have experimented enough in training, to recognize warning signs and know how to respond to them. I think with each passing month/week/run I get better at being able to do that - but I'm not there yet. Only way to get there is through time and experience.
Fueling - too much, not enough, just right?
Mostly on my mind is, how much is too much? I've read in different places that the body can only process about 250 - 300 calories per hour. Any more than that and, under these extreme endurance conditions, you're probably gonna puke or have some tummy troubles. Other people I read about, they're taking in as many calories that they can, as often as they can (mostly at aid stations where the supply is endless). What way is the right way to go? If you don't fuel enough you'll bonk. But, if you're burning anywhere from 500 - 1000 calories (maybe more, maybe less - and I've read that you burn more calories, faster, at altitude) an hour, and you can only process 300 an hour - the inevitable will happen. Toast. Is it possible to throw 500 - 1000'ish calories down your throat in an hour and not spew? Can your body actually process that much? Maybe elite folks can. Schlubs like me? Probably not.
I've given some thought to just taking in as much gel, carbs, etc., as I possibly can on my long runs just to see what happens. Then I go and read something like this;
http://www.meandmydiabetes.com/2012/08/11/western-states-100-low-carber-wins-ultramarathon-steve-phinney-and-jeff-volek-study/
Earlier in the year I was doing the glycogen debt training thing, and I was eating paleo as strictly as I could (which wasn't very strict most times on weekends). During that time, I was running fairly strong too - on a low-carb diet and no-carb training. In addition to testing taking in as many calories/carbs as possible, I think I need to get back to trying this again too. Running without carrying a ton of gels, chomps, bloks, etc., has huge appeal to me. I've got enough fuel on my body (fat) to carry me a LONG ways. I just need to train my body to utilize it efficiently, and efficiently enough to carry me long distances at a decent pace (not walking). The potential risk there, according to some, is muscle cannibalism.
With all that being said, at Leadville, I think that my mixture of gels, potato chips, Roctane/GU drinks, and ramen noodles worked very well for me. I never had any stomach issues, no tummy/GI issues, no bonk... nothing. Pace and HR probably had a lot to do with me not bonking, staying out of glycogen debt.
Electrolytes - too much, not enough, just right?
I've never been one to suffer from leg cramps. I can count on one hand how many leg cramps I've had in my entire life and not one of those fingers would be for when I was running. Chris told me that at one point on Hope Pass, he had to sit. While sitting, his calves were twitching uncontrollably, so he popped some salt caps and that fixed him up. Other than that, he avoided salt caps. That was his plan going in, and I think that it was a good one. We had talked a lot about salt, and that it was critical to not over-do it. It was going to be a reactive process, instead of proactive, and that worked. One test I've read about, and actually had an aid station volunteer tell me to try during a race, is to lick your arm. Does the salt taste good? If it does, then you may need salt. Does the salt taste bad? If it does, you may be over-doing it on the salt. Personally, I didn't take any salt-caps while performing my pacing duties. Like Chris, I got enough from all the nutrition/fuel that I took in over my 12+ hours on the trail.
So, what was my biggest challenge on the trail? Probably just the length of time on my feet. My legs were tired and they were sore - but that's 12 hours at Leadville (or anywhere really) for you. More fitness and more training would have helped, sure, but there aren't too many people that can say that that wouldn't help. Having more opportunity to train at Leadville altitudes would have been huge, but you do what you can with what you have. I get to train at 6,000' every day so can't complain much. But training at 9,000' - 12,600' is a whole different ballgame. And the climbing, well ya - there's the climbing that you can't duplicate anywhere. Would hydrating more, or taking in more calories have helped? Not convinced of that. Was I over-hydrated or over-fueled? Not convinced of that either. I'm pretty sure that my nutrition, fueling and hydration were dialed in just right. Equipment, gear, etc.? I wouldn't have changed a thing.
Since Leadville, it's the oddest thing, but I've been longing to run in the mountains and for climbing - most specifically - Powerline. I'd really like to try out Hope Pass too, but I've done powerline two times now, and each time kicked my arse. I'd like to get to a point where powerline isn't such an arse kicker for me - but that may never happen. I'm not a great climber, and I can probably only improve at it, so that is a positive!
My main takeaway from all of this, and I've said it before, is that 'Everyone is Different'. You have to experiment, be prepared to fail, and to struggle, but at the same time learn and gain knowledge. I still have a TON of that to do...
As far as my first-time pacing experience... Would I do it again? Yup. In a heartbeat. It was an amazing experience, and can't thank Chris enough, for asking me to be a part of it with him, and for my family for supporting me!
What's next? I have the Bear Chase 50 Mile Trail Race on September 30th. It will be my third ultra and my second time doing it. I'm going to use that as a gauge. A gauge for what? If, with my family's support, I should attempt the LT100 next year myself...
No comments:
Post a Comment