wow, what an eventful run on saturday. or more importantly, what a smooth, uneventful run is more like it. I am continuing in my deliberate methods to experiment, trial and error, to find the best practices to support my upcoming 50k. Just like the 50k partner relay at Bridle Trails taught me a lot in how to pack my gear drop bags for the aid stations, saturday's 22 mile run taught me some new tricks to deal with re-fueling.
distance runners talk about "hitting the wall" or "bonking". your body can typically store enough easily accessible energy (glycogen) to burn for approx 18-20 miles. then your body runs out, and needs to convert fat to energy. this is *way* harder to do, and your body wants to say "nope, forget this". your brain says "stop", you feel like hell, you get depressed, it all seems terrible, and you would give anything to just quit and lie down. yeah, that's The Wall. its coming, its just a matter of how long you can hold it off.
say your body burns roughly 800-900 calories an hour. You are only really physically capable of absorbing 250 or so calories an hour. so no matter what, you are on a downhill slide towards a crash. then couple it with the fact that running forces blood flow to your muscles and extremities and basically shuts down your digestive system. eat too heavy/hard, and you run the risk of throwing up, stomach cramps, and other GI issues that i just won't go into. your typcial energy gels can be taken roughly every 20-30 minutes (depending on your tolerance level). they are fast energy, super easy to digest, and roughly 100-150 calories each. taking in these calories is just an attempt to stave off the inevitable, to prolong the time you have before you hit the wall and your brain turns inside out. I have used gu roctane gels (added caffeine) for all my marathons, but i still always hit that wall, about 20 miles in, and its brutal.
and then comes the ultra. I remember reading an article that described an ultramarathon as "“eating and drinking contests with a little exercise and scenery thrown in." its seriously a calorie deficit activity, and you need to plan accordingly. most ultras have pretty well stocked aid stations with a variety of food. but you don't want race day to be the first time you try eating on the run. could make for a miserable DNF with gut issues. So for my last 3 really long runs (22, 24, 26), i am planning on carrying some real food and stopping, eating, then continuing. Saturday was my 22 miler. I convinced my good friend Jess to run this with me, and we hit the Centennial Trail in Snohomish. long, flat, no traffic, easy miles. 11 miles in, we stopped, and i ate half a PB&J sandwich and about half a cup of trail mix (peanuts, almonds, cashews, raisins, M&Ms). Then we ran out the remaining 11 miles. I tell you what, this was fantastic. of course my whole lower body body hurt like hell (hips, quads, hamstrings, knees, calfs, heels). legs felt pretty bad. but i never hit the wall. i never felt like i needed to quit, or start walking, or wanted to get hit by a car just so i could get a ride back to the trailhead. I definitely had some energy left in the tank when i finished. now, there are several factors in this: we ran a little slower pace (to save energy - this was training for both of us, not a race day), i added this new method of fueling, and just having company helped keep me positive. having someone to talk to for 3.75 hours of running helps keep you engaged and Jess and I had a good run. but i am putting a lot of credit into eating halfway through. I seriously didn't bonk, and i felt pretty damn good mentally/physically after we finished. stiff and sore, but really no worse than i felt after the 16 i ran last saturday. and nothing at all like how horrible i felt during long runs of comparable distance. none of the mental anguish, no unreasonable desire to just give up and quit.
so on my upcoming Long Runs (2 weeks from now, and 4 weeks from now) i am going to continue with trying to introduce more food while i am out there. i'm really excited about making this work. I am looking forward to packing my gear bags for the aid stations in the 50K Gorge Waterfalls. Combine my takeaways from Bridle Trail (the benefit of changing into clean/dry shirt, socks, shoes) and my new food strategies (eating solid foods every 10 miles or so), and I am going to give myself the best chance possible to finish this in a reasonable time.
