Running IS an Addiction, Be Careful

I had a few friends who ran the Indiana Trial 100 with me as their first 100 miler and after their success, they were already talking about doing stuff like the Midwest Grand Slam next year. They had just accomplished a new level of running achievement and before their muscles were recovered, they were talking about the next level to achieve.

I contend this is a slippery slope, and I want to try to explain why. But first, a disclaimer:

I am about to compare running to a drug or alcohol addiction. But please do not interpret this as A) negative reference to those with serious drug problems or B) that addictions are healthy. I am merely trying to explain a phenomena that I have seen with ultrarunners and the similarities with drug and alcohol addiction. ---Please, do not be offended---

People try drugs or drinking because to makes them feel good, reduces stress, put them elsewhere emotionally. When you are doing drugs or alcohol you can do too much or you can do it in moderation.
Doing it too much leads to a certain tolerance and then you have to do more and more and eventually you have to start doing more hard core drugs. Think cocaine to crack. Meth. Heroin. You know the stories. Alcohol is the same way. If you drink a lot, you get a tolerance and need more and more and it starts not being good enough.

And you can never really go back a level. You never hear of a person who has a cocaine problem, goes to rehab, goes back to smoking dope and enjoys it and can handle that level. True alcoholics who drink serious liquor can not easily go back to enjoy 1 glass of wine with dinner.

Moderation, however is a good thing. Many people stay at one level for quite a long time and are happy with that level. There is a point in addictions that you start chasing level 'upgrades' faster than you should. This is where the problems really start.

Ok, so lets talk about running and why we even do it. All runners know of what is called a 'runner's high' that comes from the endorphins coursing through our blood when we have a good solid run. This is a totally natural thing and evolution has supported it. Nature wants us to exercise so we stay fit so we can catch our food. It's all good.

Eventually we grow to like it and want more, so we run more. We start running a little longer and it might take us 5 miles to get that feeling. Then we want more.

We enter an actual race. Get a bib and toe the line for actual competition. We scream through our first 5K and we feel awesome. The high we feel can last for days. We may even wear our race shirt to work the next Monday and talk about it incessantly around the water cooler, annoying our coworkers.

The 5K is the first step, the first real level of addiction. Think of it as your first beer.

Eventually for many of us runners, 5K's soon become not enough of a high. We start needing a heavier drug so we might start training harder and go to a half marathon, or even a full marathon. (Malt liquor for our example)

Do a few of those and then that high after each one subsides. You need more, so maybe a marathon in every state, or running marathons in consecutive days, or trying to run 30 marathons in 6 months to get another 'star'. (Wine, if you are following along)

Then, it gets really bad. because by now you really enjoy the 'moving up' getting closer and closer to the edge of the crazies. You like being unique, the 'weirdo' at the office. You enjoy being different and you want to be more different.

The next step in this addiction is of course the ultra marathon, 50 miles +. The difficulty starts getting steeper, but that is what you want. If it takes more effort, the payoff is going to be higher. (And yes, we have reached the hard stuff, liquor)

So you run a 100 miler and it feels AWESOME when you finish. Amazingly, the emotional high of finishing your first 100 mile race is quite similar to the emotional high many people feel after their first 5K and their first marathon. You feel on top of the world.

But by now, you have gone through quite a few levels of running, and you starting to actually enjoy the increasing of difficulty. You are changing drugs so fast, you enjoy finding higher levels. You are moving up so fast you have no intention of leveling off. Let's go crazy.

And there are levels to go to. You can do a series of hundos in a short time frame (the Original Grand Slam, or the Midwest Grand Slam). You can run the toughest footrace on the planet, Badwater. You can do the Badwater double, or heck, the Badwater Quad. You can do 150 or 200 mile races. You can race across the state of Tennessee, or run ocean to ocean.

My point is this, if you start chasing up the ladder to fast and not enjoying the intermediate challenges, you are going to run out of news drugs to try. I know friends who run their first Hundo and then do several and within literally a year, Hundos bore them and need something bigger. Going back down a level is never really in the cards.

My name is Mark, and I am an running addict. I suffered this problem in my own life. Once I finished my 50 state quest, I needed a new challenge and I went straight to Hundos, skipping 50 mile and 100K races (I have never raced either distance) but when I started taking the Hundo drug, I consciously decided that I was going to stay here and enjoy it. I was going to cap my racing to 3, maybe 4 Hundos a year, no more. I want the races to still be a big deal. I want to enjoy the training, the lead up, and the post race bliss. I want to still have those same feelings I did when I ran my first marathon. I have done 8 now, and I can already feel the high weakening.

Right now, I still love the 100 mile distance. I am training hard for it and getting better, always learning from my mistakes and successes. It is still a lot of fun and challenging. Of course I am going to run Badwater. Of course I will probably run across the entire state of Michigan. Of course I will run across the entire United States. I am just trying to take my time and enjoy each challenge. I don't want to run out of new drugs before I die.

There is a lot of marrow to be sucked out of each level of running addiction. Take some time to enjoy each one or you will run (ha!) out too soon.

2013 Indiana Trail 100 Results (Or: How to Embrace the Suck)

18:19.56
2/57 overall (152 started)
1st male overall

The Indiana Trail 100 is the first ever trail 100 in Indiana and it was put on by a set of top notch crew of race directors at Chain O' Lakes State Park. All that was controllable was done perfectly. Absolutely everything about this race (except the weather and the trail) was perfect.  The fact that they got 250 runners the very first year is amazing in an of itself.

The RD’s had several training runs over the last 6 months including a nice run the day after Thanksgiving  so people could come get a feel for the trail, and I went down for two such runs. It was nice because it helped me to know how much hill work I should be doing. The course was 6 times around a 16.6 mile loop with gentle rolling hills through beautiful terrain. One of most beautiful trails I have been able to run on. However, when it rains, there a few wet crossings. When a monsoon rolls through, like it did 2 days before the race, it gets bad. Really bad.

The race personnel changed the course the day before the race to avoid water hazards that were over waist deep, but that meant some brand new trails were being blazed by the runners. Yes, there was some actual bush-wacking done during the day. At night, that would cause some problems. At the pre-race briefing the night before, we were told that the trails were some of the worst conditions that the RD’s had ever seen, and they have been running these trails for decades. That was not a good sign at all.

On my way into the area on Friday, seeing the ‘High Water’ road signs was not a good omen either. I choose to stay at Brick Ark Inn only 10 minutes away from the race. Misty and I had stayed there back in November and loved the hospitality of Tammy the innkeeper. She was very accommodating for the runners who were staying there, getting up at 3:45 am on race morning to make us breakfast.

My ace crew chief (my lovely wife) was unable to attend this race as my step son had major back surgery 3 days before. Luckily, I have enough experience that I spent some time making drop bags for myself the week of the race. Knowing it would be cold and wet, spread over the two drop bags (start/finish and at mile 9 of the loop) I had 5 full sets of clothes. Extra everything just in case. Turns out, I only did 2 costume changes all day long. At noon I removed one long sleeve shirt, going down to 2 layers. Then, at 7pm, I added a long sleeve shirt. That was it. During the warmer parts of the day (mid 40’s) when the sun was out, I would sweat just a bit, but when the sun went behind a cloud I would get a little cold. I surmised from those observations I was ok.

I have recently changed to a ketosis diet, so food at my drop bags were low-carb tortillas with butter, blackberries, blueberries, cheese sticks, hard boiled eggs along with some salami. I ended up eating only the tortillas and berries, nothing else sat well in my stomach, but that was no great surprise. I also had my standard first-aid type of things at both aid drop bag locations. I was well prepared.

I was able to follow my aid station gospel to a tea, never being at any one of the 23 aid stations (the entire race total) for more than probably a minute. I always knew what I needed when I rolled in, and often had a friendly stranger help me get pills out of bags, but that was about it. I truly believe this method is one of the huge reasons for my success at this distance.

Knowing that it was going to be wet, I wanted to avoid wearing socks, so I decided to start the race with my Vibram Spyridons. I added some 2Toms sports shield which really helped. I packed 4 other sets of minimalist shoes in my drop bags just in case, but decided early on I was going to keep them on as long as possible. I did not expect to keep them on until the very end. I have never done a 100 miler in the same set of shoes before. It certainly shaved off some time, not having to change them out. I did some research (after the race of course), and before this race, the farthest I had ever run in a pair of Vibrams was only 29 miles. Hmm...

Ok, so lets talk about the weather. The temperatures were in the low 30s at start with a light snow and the winds up to 20 mph most of the day. The high for the day was in the low 40’s in afternoon and when the sun went down the temperature plummeted down into the 20’s.

Because of the heavy rainfall two days before, There were ~35 water crossings and ~60 unavoidable mud stretches were what made it this course so rough. What’s even better (worse?) was that they were spaced out evenly over the whole course so you never had to go much more than half a mile before you got muddy and/or wet. The water crossings were usually calf/knee deep and the water was relatively clean, so after a good mud section, the water would clean it off nicely. I’m being sarcastic of course. :) I was reminded of my previous worst-ever-race-conditions, the 2012 Winter Beast of Burden. That was just cold. This was wet AND cold. making this the worst running conditions I have ever run in, at any distance.

The race course was well marked, and yet I still made a wrong turn on the first lap, which added at least 10 minutes to my time. And of course, it was an obvious turn complete with big white sign. On my second lap, some large sticks were put in the way there, so I knew then I was not the only person who went wrong at that turn which made me feel a little better. :)

To bring in some elite runners, the race offered a $25,000 prize for anyone who could break the US 100 mile trail record which brought out a few speedsters, including the eventual winner, Michelle Yates. With there being a 50 mile distance as well, I started behind the lead pack of 8 people and let them take off. I have done this enough times to know, it is not who is in the lead at mile 3 that wins. I wanted to get into my long-term pace as fast as possible. While I walked/jogged through the muddy parts, I still ran the uphills, even after mile 50. My switch to minimalist running and the subsequent shortening of my normal stride helped. I have been doing a lot of hill work which also helped.

The aid stations were great, always with workers willing to help, though I needed little. For everyone of my laps, except the last, I followed this simple routine:

Start/finish: Swallow 3 Hammer Electrolyte pills, 2 Hammer Endurance Amino pills, 1 Anti-fatigue pill and then leave the aid station with 20 oz handheld filled with flavored Hammer electrolyte laced water and something solid & small to eat (small bag of fruit for example) while I walked out of the aid station. Because of these supplements, my muscles never cramped (the electrolytes) and my brain never faded either (the amino acid pills)

Mile 4 aid station: Drink 1 cup of water.

Mile 9 aid station: Refill the handheld with same custom concoction (I made 2 gallons beforehand) making sure I drank the entire 20 oz since the last major aid. Again, grab something solid and small to eat on way out of aid station.

Mile 14 aid station: Drink 1 cup of water.

That's it. No need for a complicated plan. So short and simple, even I can't screw it up.

I carried my iPod from the very beginning and ended up listening to techno from about mile 50 until the end pausing it only to chat with runners I was passing and aid stations workers. It kept me moving, even when I was power-walking to the beat near the end.

As expected, I did not touch 80% of the stuff in my drop bags, but that is a good thing. You never know what you WILL need, so I pack pretty much everything, knowing full well I will not touch much of it. Before a Hundo, you never really know what is going to go wrong (something always does) so you must prepare for all reasonable scenarios.

At the end of lap 5, there was only about 15 minutes until sunset and I knew life was going to go from bad to worse. While I could walk around many of the mud spots by bush-wacking a little bit, at night it was harder to find the right detour, so I ended up going through more mud than I did any of the other laps. And it was way colder. And I was tired. There is no pill or food that could cure the 'my feet are cold and wet and I hate this course' problem I was having. Experience and unwillingness to quit kept me going. At no point did I even think about stopping, but slowing way down was contemplated.

Being on a ketosis diet as an ultrarunner gives me one small advantage in that at the end of race a little carbs serves as extra-special fuel. So I drank some Pepsi at the aid stations and only water in my handheld the last lap. I will be honest, I didn’t feel like it helped, and it made my stomach upset I think. Though, my stomach gets upset at the end of all my Hundos.

Once the sun went down, the temp dropped quickly into the 20’s and I started getting even colder, but kept slogging. I was down to power-walking most of the loop, but even that still at 15 min/mile pace. Keeping your arms up really makes a difference when you hit that stage.

A word about the overall winner, Michelle Yates. She is an elite runner, and while this was her first 100 mile race, she has won the 50 mile and 100K national championships as well as qualified for the Olympic trials. I did not mind losing to her at all. The fact that she beat me by less than an hour is pretty awesome, actually. I would like the record to show, that my lap 5 split was the same and my lap 6 split was faster than hers :)

At about mile 88, I passed a couple of people and as I said ‘good job!’, one asked me if I was Mark Ott. I said yes, and she said to her running companion “I told you, he’s the male overall leader”. What?! She told me that the leaderboard said I was in the lead after lap 3 and 4. I was on my 6th lap (she was on her 5th) and I didn’t even know there WAS a leader board. I found it later inside the aid station tent that I never went into :) I knew nobody had passed me (actually, no one passed me all day long) and now, for the first time I knew I was the leading male. Crap, now I had to try not to lose it. I hate pressure.

I was passing people at a good clip, so I was trying to keep an eye on every headlamp I passed and making sure the lamps never got closer behind me. I had no idea at all how much of a lead I had on the #3 runner, so I assumed they were right behind me, so every time I looked behind me and it looked like the light was getting any closer, I would pick up my speed a little bit if not outright running. At about mile 95 I caught up to two guys but they were moving pretty quick. Turns out, they were on lap 5 but still moving good. I got into a good pace with one of them and we power-walked the last 5 miles of the loop together keeping each other company. It took my mind off the awfulness of the trail.

I finished the race and went into the aid station tent for the first time. Boy, was it warm in there! RD Mike came over and gave me my awesome winner plaque and congratulated me. It was a great feeling, but then my nausea set in. I have a track record of always getting sick and my blood pressure dropping bad at the end of Hundos. After sitting for about 5 minutes, I had to go puke, but on my way out the tent, I sortof sat down. Quickly. ‘Medic!’ was the next word I heard someone say and in short order, I had two EMT’s on me asking me questions and putting warm blankets around me. About 5 minutes later I was in the back of an ambulance trying to convince the EMT’s that I didn’t need to go to the hospital. They were pushy about it, but I explained to them that A) This is normal for me and B) The conversation with my wife would be much worse if I went to the hospital. When they were finally able to get a blood pressure on me (it took them a little while), it was 88 over 42. They got concerned and even tried to trick me into letting them take me to the hospital against my will (key word: disorientation) by asking me questions (confirming my street address, for example) just to see if I would get them wrong. In my delirious state I kept telling them ‘Please stop. My head is fine and I am thinking clearly, I just need to stabilize’. They did not trust my experience of my own body I guess, but they were doing their job, so no foul.

Of course, I had yet to deal with my feet. The feet that have been cold and wet for now almost 20 hours. Once the medics released me after almost an hour, I went back into the tent and carefully removed my Vibrams and before I put a pair of dry socks and shoes on, I hold my feet up to the heater to try to warm my toes. It was not working. I decided I need to get stable mentally ad physically so I can go back to the B&B and take a shower and get some rest. I left everything including my award and buckle and drove the 15 minutes back and carefully took a shower. The warm water on my toes was excruciatingly painful. Houston, we have a problem.

Turns out, I had real life case of frostnip on my toes, and all 10 of them were completely numb. The pain coming from the de-frosting was the most pain I have ever experienced in my life. It really did feel like someone had cut off my toes. I ended up having to soak them in lukewarm water for 30 min just to make it so that I could rest, as sleep was impossible. Oh, and I was wandering around my room at the Bed and Breakfast sobbing like a baby it hurt so bad to move. Luckily no other soul was awake to hear me grovel.

I got up about 7am the next day and had a little breakfast before heading back to the race to get my stuff and chat with folk and cheer on the other runners. In looking at the leader board, I could tell it was a rough night. The final race results tell the tale. In the 100 mile race, there were 152 starters, only 57 finished, with 20 of those over 29 hours and only 3 finishers under 20 hours. For those of you who don't know, that means it was a tough race.

I am not sure what helped me out the most, my switch to minimalist footwear, my ketosis diet, my HSW training, or my mental attitude and experience. It was certainly some of all of those things. I am just glad I get to keep the title “Pretty good Ultrarunner”. That’s all I really want.

Race report from #1 finisher, Michele Yates       Race report from #3 finisher, Paul Stofko
Race Report from Rick Simon                   Race report from a friend, Andrew Siniarski

Stomach Issues in Ultramarathons (or: Another Easy DNF Fix)

A few weeks ago, many of my friends attempted the 100K and 100 mile distances at a race in Wisconsin. More than a few of them DNF'd partly because of 'stomach issues', which is honestly a common DNF reason. While many people who run hundos train their legs for the race, they do not train their stomachs. I offer the following suggestions to make race day easier on your tummy.

Anyone who knows anything about marathons has heard of the dreaded ‘bonk’ which happens to many a rookie marathoner ,usually around mile 20. The cause is pretty simple to understand and involves how many carbs you can jam into your body.

Your body converts the carbohydrates you eat into stored glycogen in your muscles. Even if you are a large person, it turns out you can only pack about so much into your muscles before they are ‘full’. Depending on who you ask, this is about 2000-3000 calories. This fact is why marathoners will ‘carbo-load’ before a big race packing that glycogen in as tight as possible. It is also well known how much energy it takes to run 26.2 miles, which is (amazingly) about 3000 calories. What that means is that most marathoners who carbo-load and/or take only a small amount of carbs during the race have little problem getting to the finish line.

When you ‘bonk’ you have run out of glycogen and while your muscles are trained to use that as their primary fuel source, your brain also needs it. When it runs out, your brain goes foggy. Bonking is a physical and mental problem. Your body does have a backup system to keep you from dying and that is the fat you have stored. And there is a lot.

In ultramarathons of 50 miles and longer, life is much tougher than a marathon. Even if you jam 3000 calories into your muscles the days before, you are gonna burn through that in the first half of a 50 mile race. That means you are going to need to consume a few thousand calories during the race to prevent bonking. For a 100 mile race it is even more.

Getting all those calories via liquids (gels or XYZ-ade) is generally not enough as they are not that calorie dense. This is why most ultramarathoners consume solid food during their longer races and why aid stations are usually stocked with all sorts of delish solid foods which generally have oodles of calories per serving.

Your stomach, however, is not built to process solid food while you are running. Think ‘fight or flight’. You are definitely ‘flighting’ while running so your insides are busy converting stored energy into usable energy. When you consume solid food while running you are asking your body to suspend that (important) process to do something very different, convert consumed food into stored/usable energy.  This is why right after a big meal you just want to sit, not go for a run.

And that is why (I posit) that many people get stomach issues that slow them down and/or cause a DNF in an ultra. I further propose that these issues can easily be solved with simple training, and you don’t even have to become a ketogenic athlete to do it, but of course that would be best :)

The first solution is simply training your body to consume solid foods while running. I know, I know, it sounds simple, but it is commonly overlooked by ultrarunners when training. When they are doing their long runs (generally 20-30 miles) they run it like running a marathon, having a good dose of spaghetti the night before and consuming gels and energy drinks during their run, and very rarely attempting to eat solid food, simply because they don’t have to eat solid food to get through that workout.

I am a huge fan of the concept ‘train as you fight’ which means you want to train your body both physically and mentally for as many race day issues as possible beforehand. That means you need to practice eating on the run, but more importantly, you need to practice eating solid food when your body needs it.

Again, if you are running 20-30 mile you can get away with only liquid fuel during the run because your body has a good chunk of glycogen stored because of your normal diet. So, let us remove that. You need to start your long run depleted. The day before a long run, avoid carbs, in fact, maybe even skip dinner and go to bed hungry. Wake up, have your coffee and then go for your run. You will run out of stored fuel quickly maybe only 5-10 miles, which is what you want. You have just put your body (mentally and physically) in the same boat you will be in at mile 40+ and you didn’t have to run 40 miles to get to that point.

Now, as you are hungry and running is when you start testing your foods. Yes, you are testing, because we are all an experiment of one. You want to try every solid food you have ever heard of people consuming during an ultra. Jello. Beef Jerky. Hard-boiled eggs. Cookies. Gummi worms. Fruit. PB&J. Grilled cheese. Spaghettios. You are testing different thing to find out what YOUR body can handle under those conditions, and more importantly what your body cannot handle. When do you want to find out that food X makes you want to vomit, during a 20 mile training run or mile 60 of your first Hundo?

I know in my training, I figured out (after 5 Hundos) that I did best with fresh fruit. It is a simple food and my stomach has little problem breaking it down while running. The more ‘complex’ the food (read: processed) generally the harder it is for your body to break down. So chocolate chip cookies might look good and taste good, but there is a good chance your stomach will reject them.

The goal here is to get a list of things you can and cannot eat. You avoid the cannot foods at aid stations and you pack your drop bags with the can foods. It’s really that simple, but not as simple as the other solution, which is training your body to not need as much solid fuel to make it to the finish line. Burn the fuel you have on board, fats.

As I said earlier, we can only store 2000-3000 calories as glycogen in our muscles, but we can store (depending on who you believe) 40,000+ calories of fat energy in our bodies. You have plenty of fuel on board, but your body is not used to using it.

You are born with the ability to burn carbs or burn fats. In modern society, we consume plenty of carbohydrates to get us through our day so our bodies rarely have to use fats as a fuel source. Your body can make the switch of course, the most obvious instances being when you bonk in a race (you don’t keel over and die right then) or when you are stranded on a desert island with only water and you survive for a week or so with no food. In both cases, your body’s survival mechanism has kicked in. Your body loves you THAT much.

However, if your body is not ‘practiced’ in that using-fats-for-primary-fuel-source process the ‘shock’ of the transition is rough, especially when you are deep into a long race.

People who follow a ketosis diet actually exploit this fact and eat very few carbs. I am such an athlete. I have trained my body to burn fats as my primary fuel source from the get-go as I have no glycogen on board. In effect, my body ‘bonks’ about 0.5 miles into every run I do. Since my body has made the adjustment (which took a few weeks) it is little problem for me. The benefits are numerous, but I will not go into that here, you can read about it in my previous post on ketosis.

Most of my readers have no desire whatsoever to go keto, and that is totally cool, but you can still benefit from the concept. You need to train your body to run on fats when the need arises. Think of it as training the backup system ‘just in case’. If your body has never really used that fat-burning-system until you are at mile 50 of a 100 mile race, of course it is gonna be rough.

So how do you train your body to burn fats? Simple, do a carb depleted run (much like our first suggestion) but this time instead of consuming solid foods containing carbs, you simply drink water and make sure you are getting enough electrolytes. That’s it. You are trying to bonk and more importantly, you are running THROUGH the bonk with no carbs.

Its gonna be rough the first time, just like the first time you ever ran 15 miles without stopping, but like that workout, it will become easier every time you do it. And once again, on ultramarathon race day when you run out of stored glycogen (you will at some point, I promise) your body will transition over and start burning through the HOURS of fat energy you have stored up. You will probably be consuming carbs during the race, but the fat burning process is gonna help you go the distance.

Ultramarathons are tough, but when you recognize that your training has to be changed more than simply ‘run more’ you will have a much better chance of finishing. DNF’ing is to be avoided at almost any cost. But that is for another post...

Nutritional Ketosis (or: Why I don't eat any carbs. Ever.)

     So a few months ago I had a long talk with Mike Morton who is an elite ultrarunner and we chatted about a bunch of things but one stood out, nutritional ketosis. You can google it, but here is the short loosy-goosy scientific explanation.

     When you eat sugar/carbohydrates, your body converts this into stored energy in the form of glycogen in your muscles. This form of fuel is what you need to sprint, run up a flight of stairs or throw a baseball. Generally, you can only store enough glycogen in your muscles for about 3-4 hours of heavy use (running) which is A. why people carbo-load before marathons and B. why people 'bonk' at mile 20 of a marathon. 'Bonking' is what happens when your body runs out of glycogen and your brain (needing that energy) no longer has it. You go fuzzy and get really tired. Your body has run out of the primary fuel source it is used to using (sugar/carbs) and then goes into starvation mode, burning fats.

      Now, you can only store 3-4 hours of fuel in the form of glycogen in your muscles, but there is literally DAYS worth of fat energy stored in, well, your body fat. Your body has that (literally) for times of starvation. Most people know you can go a few weeks without eating any food (but you need water for the conversion) no problem. generally, in modern society we never have to tap this storage because there is plenty of food to go around. 20,000 ago people were not eating 3 square meals a day. Nor were they eating processed food, but I digress.

       So this 3-4 hour issue is a big deal for ultra runners like myself. When you are running for 18, 24, 30 hours at a shot you obviously have to be continually jamming carbs down your gullet to get enough calories (because your body has that pesky glycogen as a primary fuel source) which is not an easy feat.\r\n\r\nSee, anyone who has ever been to a big family dinner knows you eat your food, then your body wants to sit and digest it. Nobody goes to Sunday dinner with the fam then immediately goes and runs a marathon. Your body is good at turning digested food into stored fuel OR turning stored fuel into burnt fuel. You were never built to do both at the same time.

     There are work-arounds such as finding things that your body can digest easily (fruit works great for me, gels for other people) but it is still fighting your bodies natural processes.

     So here is where ketosis comes in. Put simply, you convert (adapt is the technical term I guess) your cells to burn fat as the primary source of fuel, not the back up. It takes some time (a few weeks) of eating a low-carb diet (<50g per day total which is the amount of carbs in 1 Milky Way candy bar) for your body to make the switch, but then, when you go out for a run your body is burning fat from the get go, the fuel source that you have oodles of just lying around.

      You obviously have to be very very careful, eating the right food and keeping close track of your diet and such, but it is doable. It is different than the Adkins diet in that A. it is a long term solution, ketosis being more of a lifestyle instead a of a temporary diet change and B. people do Adkins wrong. Many people cut down on the carbs and increase protein intake too much which harms their liver. It is counter intuitive, but on the ketosis diet you need more fat, and not the kind you would think. Butter, lots of butter. Bacon, too. Yum.
 
        Not to get medical, but ketosis has been used for decades to treat people with epilepsy as well as diabetics and is now even being looked at as a treatment for cancer. And, I am not the only person looking into this for athletics reasons either as cylclists and elite gymnasts have been doing studies into the effects of ketosis and endurance activities. Oh, and the long term effects are not negative when used to fight obesity. In short, it has been 'proven' enough for me to try it.

      So, in March I decided to try it myself, knowing it would take a few weeks to make the transition, and I wanted to be 'over the hump' before my next 100 mile race in mid April. I dropped my carbs to around 100 for a few weeks (so as the cut off would not be THAT harsh) by removing all sugary snacks, chips, soda, etc. That part was not that hard with my only problem being a craving for sugar, but I seem to have enough self control to get over that. Then, in mid-March I dropped below 50 g.

Initially I lost about 6 pounds the first week and felt a little groggy, that was about it. The weight loss was all water weight and is common for people making the transition and I did gain most of it back . Now, by now you might be saying "That CANNOT be healthy". Well, I am not going to try to convince you that it is ok based on studies, or that many cultures have followed it in the past with no big problems. I will only say that you should trust me. Trust me, that as a scientist I have done my homework as well as monitoring myself very carefully. I have done all the blood tests and consulted with a few doctors while I do this. This is not being done on a whim, so please, have some faith in me.

       Changing of diet, and living it everyday takes a lot of preplanning. I eat lots of salads, eggs, butter, olive oil, meat. Having a paleo-diet-following wife who is a great cook helps a lot. As ketosis becomes more well-known, the internet is a great resource for recipes. My morning fried egg with onion, bacon, shredded cheese cooked in butter is delish. Travelling is the biggest pain as you can;t stop at McDonalds or Subway for really anything. You have to haul it all with you or go to a grocery store. I will mention you can eat a big salad prepared in a 1 gal ziploc bag easily :)

     Ok, so lets get back to the why of this project. A classic training run for marathons is carb-depleted runs where you on purpose do not carb load before a long run to 'bonk' early in the run and get practice running post-bonk. You are giving your body practice burning fat. Well, now I was -always- post bonk, since I had no glycogen to speak off. My body is trained to burn fat as its primary fuel source, not as the backup.

      But since I can store DAYS worth of fat fuel in my body (as opposed to 3-4 hours of glycogen) so I can run for hours without getting tired. Three weeks after I made the below-50 switch I did my first real solid ketosis-adapted run. It was 25 miles of constant rolling hills done in 3:42. That is nothing fast, and this diet (and my minimalist transition) mean I run a little slower than I used to, but I am giving up speed for endurance. The 25 mile run is actually 3 trips around an 8.3 mile loop. Before the run I drank only a few cups of coffee. During the run I consumed water and electrolyte pills. That was it. No gatorade, no gels, no stockpile of food the night before. Ok, so I did it fueled only by fat I had on board, but I will also mention that the time for each loop were 1:15, 1:14, and 1:13. Yup, I negative split the workout (that never happens) -and- after I was done, I felt fine. I was not tired, or sore, and I really didn't even feel like I had been running for almost 4 hours.\r\n\r\nI am still in the early stages, and the real test of a 100 mile race is coming up soon. So far, everything is going the way it is supposed to. Again, I am not trying to convert anyone to this diet. It takes a lot of self-control and support, and pre-planning. I seem to have enough to do it and I have seen (at least initially) awesome results. We are all an experiment of one

Aid Station Gospel (Or: One big way to prevent DNF’s)

       It is really quite simple, unless you are having to do major foot repair, you should never be at an aid station for more than 90 seconds. DNF’s happen at aid stations because they are inviting, relaxing, and comfortable. They are filled with people who will listen to your complaints and give you anything you want while you sit there. The longer you sit, the harder it is to get up and move again. So to prevent this, you want to try very hard to keep your aid station duration under 90 seconds, which is easier than you think. DNF's at mile 92 have happened at 100 mile national championships (the people in the top 5) because people sit too long and cramp up physically and give up mentally. You can avoid both by spending as little time as possible at the aid stations. It's not as hard as you think..
   
      This "go fast at aid stations" mentality is not just for people who are trying to get fast finish times, it is about keeping moving. It doesn't matter if you are at the death march stage of the race, you still want to get in and out of aid stations as quick as possible. Once death march comes along, you are going to want to sit and relax for a while. And THAT is how most DNFs starts.

#1. Don't Sit
Your body wants to stop, it will want to stop after you have done 10 miles. Sitting is what your body wants to do, then lie down, then sleep. You can sleep when you cross the finish line. Only if you are changing shoes do you want to be sitting. Of course you are tired. Tough. Suck it up, buttercup.

#2 Prepare Mentally Before You Arrive
You will have plenty of time before the aid station to think about what you want. You want to keep your mind frosty during the run anyways, so always being keeping a mental list of stuff you want to do when you get to the next aid station. Are your socks wet and need to be changed? Need a higher concentration of liquid in your handheld? More sunscreen sprayed on you? What pills are you going to take? Whatever. You should not be waiting until someone asks you about your feet to know if you need to do something with your feet.

#3 Make Sure Your Crew Knows Your Plan
Your crew (properly prepared) should be kicking your butt to get back on the course. No excuses, no whining allowed. Get your stuff, change what needs to be changed and go. You can chat when you cross the finish line.
They should know what you need, pills, new socks, etc. They should know your drop bag contents better than you. They should not have any sympathy. They should be heartless. If they have a stopwatch, have them time you when you get there, giving you a 90 second countdown. They should be pushing you to get out. You want your crew to be cruel. Get it? Crew-L? I crack myself up sometimes…

#4 No Story Telling
There will be plenty of time at the finish to tell your crew all the fun stuff that happened. Don't waste breath in the aid station telling your story. You are allowed to say "Remind me to tell you later about the crocodile I stepped on 2 miles ago".

#5 Prepare Your Gear for the Aid Station
You are going to have your handheld refilled at the aid station. Was it water and now you want soda? If so, open the top and dump it out. You can do that while you are running, don't waste time having the aid station worker unscrew it. You want to be handing them an empty bottle with the top off and saying 'soda, please' and that's it. Are you changing out your shirt or changing your hat? Get the old one off, it will save a little time, but more importantly, will prevent you from forgetting during that precious 90 seconds.

#6 Know Your Drop Bag
You have your bag packed with all the stuff you will need. Know what is where, and make sure your crew knows too. The last thing you want is spending 60 seconds trying to find that small tube of whatever. 1 gallon clear plastic bags with logical groups of stuff is good. For example, all your bottles of various pills in one bag. 3 pairs of spare socks in another. If your crew can do it, it's best if your entire drop bag contents could be spilled out on the ground before you get there so you can quickly find what you want.

Get in, get out, keep moving.

2013 Long Haul 100 Furlong Race Results (Or:How to make the most of a DNS)

1:25:22 for 100 furlongs (12.5 miles)
1/22 overall
     You might call it a DNS, but I call it prudence. This weekend, I was supposed to be running the 100 mile race, but due to a nagging ankle issue I had to ultimately drop down the 100 furlong race. Not running the Hundo was sure to depress me, but I tried to make the most of it, and I succeeded.
By the time I realized my ankle was going to prevent me from running full Hundo (mid December), I already had plane tickets for Misty and I as well as hotel and rental car paid for in Tampa. We decided to still go through with it and enjoy the warm weather of Florida in January.

     We took off in the sub freezing weather of Detroit Friday morning and landed in 60 degree weather in Tampa. Oh, so beautiful. On Friday night, we met up with a handful of local ultrarunning folk who were racing whom I met last fall at the Beast of Burden in NY. It was conversations with them that convinced me to come down for this race in the first pace. I also invited along one of my running friends from Michigan to join us for pre-food and drinks as well.

     It really was fun conversation talking, swapping stories, training strategies, race plans, as well as giving friendly grief to one another. I love the ultramarathoning community. All good people who are laid back and friendly. No meanie heads.
   
      While the Hundo started at 7 am, Misty and I woke up about 7:30 and took our sweet time arriving to the site about 9 am for the 10 am start of the 100 furlong race. I had thought about coming to the start to cheer people on, but I was told the night before ‘The start will be boring, sleep in’, and so I did.

     My right arch/ankle had been sore and tender for weeks so I had been babying it for a while trying to get better, but I wanted to have SOMETHING to show for my trip, but I was still a little scared as I have not done any sort of ‘run’ on my ankle in over three weeks. I decided to start it by running and go as long as I could and if I started walking, no problem. I would walk and finish and earn the t-shirt I received at check-in the night before.

     The real races this day were the ultras, the 100 mile and 100 K. My ‘race’ was very low key, with maybe 25 runners. I was not sure if this was for friends and family who were here to support the ultra folk or actual runners trying for fast times. I am guessing the former as I won the race, however a few of the runners looked like speedsters.

     I knew I want to be as gentle as possible on my feet for my ankle’s sake, I decided to run in my new pair of Vibrams to force me to make short, quick strides. The race started and I took off like a bolt dropping my first mile in 6:44. I had obviously not done a real run in 3 weeks and the adrenaline was coursing through me. The ankle was tender, but not that bad. I paid very close attention to it, and it never got worse. In fact, I would say it felt better after the hard 12 miler than it did before I started, which was way cool.

     The ultra runners has been running for roughly 3 hours by the time I started so it was obvious when I came whipping by them that I was a (lazy) 100 furlong runner. I gave a thumbs up and/or verbal encouragement to every runner I saw, which was most of them due to the nature of the course. A huge out and back with a couple of loops inside that. I actually like such courses for ultras so you never feel alone no matter what your pace is. Point to point races, while visually diverse, have long stretches sometimes hours where you don’t see another soul, which can be depressing.

     I kept looking at my watch (a rarity for races) as I was feeling strong and wanted to keep the sub 7 pace I had started as long as possible. At about mile 5, I tripped on a root, stumbled a few steps and then gave up the ghost, rolling over and crashing down pretty hard. I was back up in a few moments but it took at least a half mile to unkink everything I kinked when I fell. Most of the race was on trail but the few sections on pavement helped me keep my pace right near 7 min/mile for the entirety of the race. I felt awesome all the way through the finish, coming in just over 1:25. No bad considering my injury and lack of real running recently.

     After the race I was met by my lovely wife with a nice sandwich from a local place and we chatted for a little while before we offered ourselves up as volunteers. We were stationed at the aid station that wasn’t. It was an intersection that the runners run by 4 times each 14 mile loop and where the spectators/crew spent a lot of time but the only aid was water and Heed. Our job was to keep an eye on the station (crewed by other people) and help keep an eye on the runners. I was sent there to be a set of ‘ultra eyes’ meaning, someone with some experience in case something went wonky. As a last minute volunteer, you get put where they need you, and that’s where they needed me I guess.

     Somewhere in the mid-afternoon I was tasked with putting out some reflective markers along one stretch of the course and whilst doing that I came across another runner friend, Ed, whom I met at Beast of Burden last August. I biked next to him for a few miles which was great fun. We chatted, me biking, him running gently but strong.

     Misty and I left about 4 pm to head back to hotel and get ready for dinner with a High School friend of hers. Dinner and a few drinks along with fun conversation was great fun, and then I left them about 7:30 to their girl talk and I headed back to the course to help out some more. I returned to the aid station that wasn’t and hung out there for many many hours. I tried to help the runners with suggestions when it was warranted and wanted. Tips for stomach issues, how to walk faster, etc. Simple things that when you are at mile 70 of a Hundo, you will forget until someone (me!) reminds you. It really makes a difference. Damn, I need to write a book…

     A little before midnight, the eventual winner asked if I was available to pace him to the finish, as he feared 2nd place was gaining on him. His wife took over my aid station watching duties while I motivated him the last 4 miles, frequently looking back to make sure nobody was sneaking up on him.

     Soon after I returned to the aid station that wasn’t, Mike Morton, famed ultrarunner stopped by to see what was going on. Mike is a quiet, but very nice guy who is also just a kick ass ultrarunner holding the US men’s record for 24 hrs, winning Badwater 2012 (missing the course record by 76 seconds) and a few Western States victories. Oh, and he was selected as the 2012 Ultrarunner of the year. Suck, he not.

     All day long people had been coming up to him and telling him congrats on his 24 hr record, how he’s awesome, etc. I knew he needed no more accolades and I also realized this might be the only time I ever get to chat with him in person, so I made the most of it, talking shop.
We chatted about training (food, mileage) and racing (USATF and race frequency) and at one point I gave him an idea and he said ‘Wow, thats a great idea! I’m gonna try that.’ That was freaking cool. He also told me about he had recently to switched to a nutritional ketosis eating plan. Basically, it is a ‘smarter’ Atkins (low carb) diet. Not for weight loss, but for endurance. Trains your body to run of fat only and your long runs become very sustainable as humans carry enough fat stores to run for days on end. I have since done much research, and I will be trying my hand at it as well.

      At about 2 am I talked to the volunteer chieftan asking her if there was something else she wanted me to do. She asked if I was willing to play golf cart driver running supplies up to the far flung aid station as well as cart (dropped/finished) runners and gear around the course and to the parking lots (~1/2 mile from start/finish). No problem, but by now the temperature was in the low 40’s and I did not bring THAT many clothes so driving an open air golf cart made me a little cold. I suppose it did help keep me awake.

      At about 5 am I knew I had to pull plug since I had a 30 min drive back to my hotel and knew I had to get at least a few hours sleep before I got on my plane back home. I thanked them for a great race and the opportunity to give back to the ultra community that I love so much.

      With a scant 3 hours of sleep, which seemed to be enough, Misty and I were on our way back home. It truly was a great weekend where I thought I would be depressed for not racing the Hundo, but ended up having a great time running a solid 12.5 mile race and helping other runners. A great and unforgettable experience, as usual.

Hundo Stairstep Week (Or: My 100 training schedule, sortof)

      So this running blog started out as personal diary of sorts for me and almost nobody read it except my late Aunt Nancy and my mother. Slowly, a few other relatives started reading it and life went along just fine. Then I started down this ultramarathoning (specifically the 100 miler, known as a ‘Hundo’) path and I seemed be quite successful. More and more people started asking me for advice on what I did since it was working, and so this blog is now my test bed for my specific training advice. While my race entries give a hint as to the work I do in between races, I thought it time to start explaining in a little more detail what I do day to day to achieve the success I have have found.

     I have no silver bullet for hundo training, and many people who train for hundos do so in a very different way than I do. I also know many people who have DNF’d hundos by following some other method of training. As with any training schedule or advice, I subscribe to the ‘to each his own’ theory. I will simply say that as of this writing I have completed seven hundos with exactly zero DNF’s. What you are about to read is the core training piece of what helped go from a career personal worst (PW) 100 mile time of 21:02 in January of 2012 to a personal record (PR) of 15:27 in August of 2012. Feel free to take or leave it, but I promise, if you can do this workout. your chances of finishing a hundo go way up.

     First, we need some motivation. The DNF is the worst thing to happen to a distance runner, not for only the immediate dejection of the resultant race but because of the more permanent damage: the memory of a DNF and how great it felt. I talk more about DNF’s and its negative connotation elsewhere, but at this point just trust me, DNF’ing is a bad thing. Recovering from one is really tough, so lets just avoid it in the first place, m’kay?

     There are two basic reasons that people DNF. The first involves something tragic that happens race day such as breaking an ankle. Urinating blood is also a good reason to stop. These DNF’s do not count (in my mind) as the ‘bad’ kind as they lie outside of your control. The other reason DNFs occur is because of lack of preparation. Leg cramps, exhaustion, and upset digestive system are three of the most common reasons people bail in a hundo, and all three are completely preventable in my opinion. It simply requires better training and this 1-week training schedule will help because it will prepare you physically and more important mentally for the journey that is a 100 mile race.

     Let me give you the punchline first. This is called the Hundo Stairstep Week or HSW, for short and it is a simple 7 day script for daily mileage, 0 - 30 - 0 - 35 - 0 - 45+ - 0. That’s it. Now go do it.

     Ok, if your jaw just hit the floor because the thought of doing 110 miles in a 5 day stretch scares you, then I assume you will have a hard time doing 100 miles in under 30 hours. If you are wanting to run a 100 mile race, marathons should be very easy to you at this point and doing a 30 mile run should not even make you flinch. This is not something you do 4 months before the race nor is it something you do every other week for 3 months. You must have a solid 60-70/week base before you pull this off and doing it only one time 4 weeks before the race will make a notable difference. As with any hard workout, the more often you do it the better. I can’t handle it much more often than every 3 weeks myself.

     Many people in preparation of ultra events will do the ‘back-to-back long day’ workout where they do a 20ish mile day followed immediately by a 30ish mile day. I think these are a great idea, but still too short. The crux of the HSW is the 6th day, the long day. But before that, we must get through days 1 through 5.

   Day 1: Rest. Don’t run. How hard can that be? Well, this week is gonna be long, and days off are when you get the rest (pun intended) of your life in order. Most of us have personal lives, family, and work that takes up time. On the 0 mile days (1,3,5, and 7) is when your ‘real life’ takes precedence. You might be carbo loading and planning for the running days, but rest days are when you run (more puns!) your errands. You make dinner for your family, you get caught up on work. You are getting rid of any excuse you might have to cut your actual workouts short. Run days should be as clear as possible. I am happily married and have 3 kids and not a one of them complains about how I don’t spend enough time with them because I am out running. I take good time management skills of course.

   Day 2: The 30 miler. This short day is meant to just be another long run. You carbo load, take your electrolytes and fuel during runs, and do it gently and relaxed. You should use run as a test case for new things, beit clothing, location, pace, or whatever. This is the best day to try completely new things. These can also be specific types of long training runs such as carb-depleted runs or sleep-depleted runs. You want to pay very close attention to problems as they come up, including (especially) mental ones. Did you get mentally tired at mile 20? What did you say to yourself to get through it? Leg cramps at mile 15? Did you take anything for them or did you just try to gut it out? Did that work for you? When you get home, write what you learned down or you will forget it.

  Day 3: Rest. See day 1. Remember, your family wants to see you too. See a lot of them today.

  Day 4: The 35 miler. This one will be a little tougher as you will not have recovered completely from your 30 miler just two days beforehand but that is a good thing. When you hit mile 20 you will be darn tired, but you have been thinking about this workout for a while. you have the route planned out, got your ‘aid stations’ system set, etc. You have little excuse but to ‘finish the darn workout’. Nobody said anything about fast. This is not a speed session, this is a time-on-feet exercise. Listen to a book-on-tape. Run a new scenic route. Embrace the difficulty by focusing on the benefits you are reaping. As with day 2, you need to be focusing on problems that arise but more importantly the solutions you implemented. Did they work or fail? If they failed, why did they fail? This is training where you work out these issues. No crew member in the world will know as much about your body and its issues than you do. Listen to the good and the bad. Do not ignore the bad news, or it shall be your undoing.

   Day 5: Rest. You might want to get a lot of sleep. Maybe spend the evening sitting on the couch relaxing with a loved one. You are going to need it.

   Day 6: The real long run of 45+ miles. This is obviously the most crucial part of the whole week and everything is focused on this day. I look at the day 6 workout as I would a serious race of marathon(ish) distance. This includes what you do the night before (what to eat, when to go to bed, etc.) when you get up and what you do immediately upon waking (shower, eat, poop…) Your clothes were picked out, route already planned, and fuel ready to go the night before. You are preparing your mind for the task ahead. Mental preparation and focus here is vitally important. . On day 6, you are doing nothing new. You are using proven techniques for clothes, fuel, routes, everything. You want to make your running conditions as perfect as possible because you are going to be out for a long time. Line up running partners to help you for part of the work out, stagger them if you have more than one. Load your .mp3 player with your best motivational tunes. This is your ‘race’ day of the week.
The first HSW you do will be tough, but each subsequent one will be easier. The distance for day 6 is 45+ which mean you want to do at least 45 miles, as it won’t start being hard until mile 30ish. Be open to going longer. I have had many a day 6 where I was planning on doing 50ish and ended up doing over 60, a decision that was made at about mile 47. The speed of your day 6 workout is the last of your worries. You are just trying to get through the day. Survive it, and don’t cut it short unless you have a really good reason. Your body will give you plenty of excuses to stop, many of which you will think are completely legit at the time. Your stomach might get upset. Your legs might cramp. When they do, solve the darn problem. Or more importantly ask yourself this simple question “Well, if this happened now in my run, it stands to reason it would happen in a similar place in the 100 mile race. What are you gonna do then?” Whatever your mind tells you, do that here, in training. Build up the confidence that you can run on a slightly sore muscle or upset stomach, or mentally exhausted.

    Day 7: Rest. Hard. You deserved it. You should not be so beaten up that you can’t walk up stairs for days, but your legs should be rough. It will take you a few days, but that is ok. After your 100 mile race, you’ll be pooped then too. The first time you do any new workout is the hardest time. Each subsequent workout of the same ilk will be easier. The first time you do a HSW it will hurt, but so did you first marathon. So did you first 15 miler. You’ll get over it. the more you sweat in training the less you bleed in battle.

  Answers to anticipated questions:
Where does my ‘base’ have to be before I try this workout? I think this would kill me.
Ideally you should be able to be doing 60-70 mile weeks comfortably before trying this. Work up to it if that help you mentally. Do a 0-20-0-25-0-35-0 week to test out the challenge.

I have small kids and a FT job, how can I find the time?
Great question. I have a solution for people in just such predicaments. In fact, you will get even better Hundo training than us people who can do our runs during the day.

What is I fall and sprain my ankle?
Stop. Call in the cavalry. There is a fine line between tough and stupid. Touch, even caress that line, but never, ever cross it. Blood in urine? Stop, no matter how good everything else feels.

I can do 100 miles a week, but only if I run 15ish miles per day. Isn’t that enough?
I will answer your question with a question. A friend comes to you who is training for a marathon. They tell you that they run (dutifully) 6 miles every day. Thats over 40 miles every week. They ask you if they can run a marathon on only that training. What do you tell them?

Do I really have to do 0 mile-days? How about some cross training?
I rarely take days completely off myself. I might do some light cross training or a long walk to work out kinks. Just be light.

Is it ok to walk during my ‘runs’?
Power-walking? Heck yeah. You need practice walking anyways as you are going to be doing that in your Hundo. Don’t worry, everyone does. That (along with why skipping and lying on your back every once in awhile is a good thing) is another blog entry.
I welcome your comments, but at my facebook page. Feel free to ask any questions!

This concept copyright Dec 2012 by Mark E. Ott. Feel free to re-post and give credit, but don’t steal it, that’s just un-cool.