Vermont 100 - Listening to the Right Voice

To do the job right, it took four hands. Two to unroll the clear packing tape, which I was quickly learning wasn’t the best choice when taping nylon against nylon, and another two to hold the pieces together as the tape was applied.

I did a quick look around us. My suspicions were confirmed. Lobster and I were the only ones attempting to “tape” a tent together at the Vermont 100 mile camp site. “I wish I had my duct tape,” Lobster kept saying. I mustered all my strength just to contain my laughter. All the other runners had these really slick looking Marmot and REI tents. Ours? Well the tape job lasted about two minutes before a gentle breeze picked up and the entire thing collapsed.

“Hey Lobster.” I said. “Yea?” he replied. “What do you say we stay in my hotel room tonite? “Sure.”

The Vermont 100 mile endurance run is an old school 100 miler celebrating its 25^th year in 2013. It takes place in a beautiful part of the country known for its covered bridges, horse trails and small farms. It is also one of the few 100 milers where humans run along side horses on the same course and on the same day.

To put things bluntly, the Vermont 100 beat the hmmm hmmm out of me. I came to run the race with certain expectations, and I left with a good old whoop’n by the running gods. But I did learn a few valuable lessons along the way. 

Lesson number one - don't assume you know what you don't know.

For some reason I assumed Vermont was some easy, gentle course I would be able to cruise through without breaking my stride. Looking back, I'm not sure what it was about 14,000 feet of elevation GAIN I didn’t comprehend. There were climbs in this race that were as steep as UTMB. Sure, maybe not as long, but there was some serious hiking I didn’t expect.  

Lesson number two - don't be an idiot.

At the start I reminded myself that the real starting line isn’t until mile 70, and to take it easy so I could really run the last 30 miles. And, like an idiot, I ran with reckless abandon for the first 20 miles. There were some really run-able downhills, including one on pavement for several miles. I felt like a kid in a candy store here. It felt so easy. I kept pushing and pushing, feeling the miles tick away. But then I came into an aid station toward the end of the long paved descent. I walked up to grab some liquids, and felt a sharp pain shoot through both my quads. Uh oh....

I continued on, a little concerned but still feeling good. What is the big deal I thought? So what if I went out a little fast? My body will recover I kept saying to myself. Well I arrived at the 50 mile in 8 hours and 37 minutes, nearly an hour ahead of where I should have been.  

Then reality started to creep in. After 50 miles, I was really struggling to run down hill. If my quads were serving as my racing tires early in the race, they were now losing PSI rapidly. I could almost hear the running gods telling me I had my chance and blew it. I had a plan and abandoned it. Now it was time for me to pay the price. So they took away my secret weapon – running down hill. I simply couldn’t do it. My deflated quads rendered me to hunched over, hobbling hobbit on the descents.

What an idiot I am I kept thinking to myself. But what I’ve learned about 100 milers is that you have time to adapt as long as you don’t give up. I figured if I can't run downhill, I can at least try to run everything else. So I rallied a little and got my rhythm back on some flat sections and even on some of the climbs. Through this cycle I was able pass several people who had passed me on the descents.

Lesson number three - if you run without a pacer, be prepared to get lost without a pacer.

Runners were allowed to have pacers from mile 70 on. I decided not to have a pacer. Why? I wanted to go-it-alone to get the full machismo experience of a 100 mile race. The result of this was, well, not good. I got lost twice, the first time around mile 73 and the second time around mile 88. 

By now, after starting out like an idiot and blowing up my quads, getting lost twice, running 88 miles by myself, my mental capacities were deteriorating. I was approaching the mental fortitude of a 3 year old lost and wondering a county fair. Why am I even out here? What the #@!% do I care if I even finish? And on and on. I was yelling at the stars and the full moon. And the running gods were laughing at me!

The second time I got lost was the best. It was dark out then and I had turned a down a trail with all kinds of blinking lights and glow sticks. I knew I was getting close to the last major aid station. As I continued running I could hear voices and see a lot of activity. As I got closer my energy started to spike as I knew the aid station was just a few more steps away. There I would be able to get my final nutritional boost and begin the final stretch to the finish line.

I rounded the corner and burst into the parking lot. All the voices I heard immediately turned silent. People looked shocked to see me. Then one lady yelled out "I'm sorry son you're in the wrong place. This is a horse aid station." She quickly escorted me out of there, pointing me in the right direction. 

When I finally rolled into the final aid station I told Lobster, who got to witness my trail tantrum first hand at this point, that I was done with this race. My chance of running under 20 hours was gone. I ran like an idiot. And I was going to just walk it in. That was that. So I just sucked down some chicken soup, drank some Ginger Ale, and ambled once again into the darkness.

Lesson number four - Listen to the right voice.

By the time I ambled into the darkness one last time, there was this voice in my head that was livid and stubbornly wanted me to give up. It spoke only of frustration, exhaustion and disappointment. I continued to listen to this voice as I stumbled forward. This was the same voice I would hear whenever I reminded myself about getting lost, or making the mistakes I'd made. 

But just as soon as I looked at my watch, and believed I still had a shot to break 20 hours, then another voice spoke. This voice was also stubborn, but told me not to give up, and to keep running. Thankfully, in those final miles as I ambled along that dark trial, it was this second voice that spoke to me louder than the first. My final time was 20 hours and 27 minutes, a new PR and reminder that the journey is the reward.  

Thank you Lobster for crewing me out there. You did a great job keeping the Vespa flowing and the Petty roaring. Smoooookeeey!    

Death Ride 2013 - The Natural Cycle

Last year, when my brother told me that he was training for the Death Ride 2013, a 130 mile road ride that ascends 15,000 feet through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, I didn’t know what to say. All I could muster was “really?” All I knew was this was a really a lofty goal, even for the fittest of cyclists. It would require months of training for four and five hours or more at a time on the bike, week after week.

Despite having a lot of experience on the bike, my brother wasn’t in what I considered, well, top form. His training consisted of a ride or two per week at best, and often not on a bike but on a standup paddleboard. The pounds he had put on over the years were not going to help. I told him it would be possible if he lost weight and trained properly for it. What I didn’t tell him was that he had never done anything like this before and his chances of pulling this off were slim at best.

Weeks passed. Then months. He seemed enthusiastic about his training, more so than I had seen in many years. But the work had only just begun if he was going to successfully tame this dragon. Then I received a call from him one weekend. I was on a trail run. He told me he’d just finished a training ride on the Angeles Crest Highway. He said he rode over 100 miles in the heat and wind and gained thousands of feet of elevation. And he had done it solo.

I noticed something about his voice on this call. It wasn’t the voice of an exhausted cyclist who had just finished a major training ride, someone struggling to get back in shape. It was more like a voice of a child who had just returned from summer camp. He described the ride in vivid detail -  catching other riders that appeared like silhouettes in the distance, feeling the searing heat from the black pavement, passing beneath the trees of the San Gabriel Mountains.

It occurred to me that, like a child, he had found his pleasure again. Under the big blue sky, riding his bicycle as nature greeted him. But unlike a child, he rode to regain his health. His peace of mind.

It was 4 a.m. when the alarm went off. Three of us were shacked up in a tiny, one bed cabin. My dad, who decided to join me on the trip to crew my brother during the Death Ride, insisted on sleeping on the floor. “I could hear mice scampering around the place all night,” he grumbled when we woke. My brother and I just laughed and shook our heads. Without his hearing aids, he could hardly hear us yelling at him.

Just before 5 am, my brother mounted his bike, flipped on his light, and was off. It was still dark and cold at 39 degrees, but the riders didn’t hesitate. What followed was a long day on the bike for him, and a lot of hours under the hot sun for my dad and I. I’ve never crewed for a cycling event and I found it to be a lot of fun. I’m sure my brother’s strong effort was a big part of this.

He rode conservatively for most of the day using what he had learned from his long training rides and his heart rate monitor and finished ahead of most of the other 3,500 riders. When it was over, he simply got off his bike, and I looked at him and my dad. I could see a connection I hadn’t seen in while. Then the three of us walked around the exhibitor area, ate some homemade berry pie, and talked about the event.

Some people ask, why ride 130 miles? Or run 100 miles? Better yet, why do two brothers do these things? If it is true that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, then we can only thank our dad for this blessing, or curse, depending on your perspective. He ran every single day when my brother and I were growing up, and he still works out with a trainer.

Other people shake there heads at these fitness endeavors. And I shake my head at them. We now live in a society that is experiencing an epidemic of disease and disability directly related to modern lifestyle. It is said that our kids may be the first who will live shorter lives than their parents. 

To the doubters out there, try to understand that it all starts with the fact that getting on a bike or going for a run are natural states of being that we all need. Without these or other forms of exercise, our bodies and minds will, eventually, simply wither away. A sacrifice to modern society’s vicious cycle. It finishes with the fact that as parents we are, more than anything else, role models to our children.

When a child sees a parent get on a bike or go for a run everyday, they remember it. When a child sees a parent return from a ride or run, stronger physically and mentally, they remember that too.  

But, above all else, when a parent sees a child return from a ride or a run, the natural cycle is complete, and the parent is fulfilled.

Congratulations Al. You rode an amazing ride. We are all proud of you!

Strategy. Failed.

I’m not normally a promoter of fast food joints. But every now-and-then, like when I finish a 5 hour run in intense heat and run out of water, I have to make an exception.

It all started with what I thought was a brilliant strategy. Rob M and I running Serrano Creek trail up Santiago Truck trail to Old Camp. Not a big deal, some 23 miles, but this trail gets really hot and I started (on purpose) with no water. My plan was to load up at the water fountain 3 miles into the run. The grand strategy was built around one objective: not to have to carry water for 30 minute of a 5 hour run. Ok...I’m starting to realize what I'm saying here. A five hour run. 30 minutes. No water. Where are my priorities?

We arrived at the water fountain. But why wasn’t it working?

Plan B was pretty simple. “How much water are you carrying Rob?” Three bottles! Ok, give me one. We can make it and if we get in trouble, we’ll bum some from other runners or mountain bikers.”

Rob and I agreed. This wouldn’t be a hard run. Unlike 99.9% of the runs we do together, we wouldn’t push it. How could we? Instead, we vowed to do as many rollers as possible (rollers being the launching of large roundish rocks spotted on the trail above steep mountain slopes). We delivered on our agreement. I’m estimating a dozen rollers were launched.

But launching rollers don’t make up for shrunken kidneys and withering electrolytes. We (I) pushed too hard up the final climb into old camp. Something akin to reckless abandon filled my veins. As I pushed into the final climb, I realized my water well was running dry.

Water, or lack of it, changes everything. One minute you’re feeling you can run forever, the next minute you feel everything coming apart. The power you felt at one moment, is simply gone the next. Just another element in the periodic table of ultra running.

We arrived at Jack in the Box in exactly 5 hours and 11 minutes after the start. Order? Two 42 oz cups filled with 460 calories of Minute Maid Lemonade. Not a bad reward for a failed strategy.

Three Times a Charm

Putting together a good day of training when juggling other responsibilities can make for some fun and creative running. Like yesterday. I was planning on joining a group run at 7:30 am, but I forgot about the waterpolo tournament my oldest daughter was in. After consulting with the family I quickly dispensed of any idea about a group run. Instead, I grabbed my youngest daughter and did one of my favorite kind of runs: the run ride. This is when she rides the bike and I run, and we explore our neighborhood by hitting as many parks as we can. She is keen on swings and rings...so a run ride it was...at least in the am.  

As the afternoon rolled around, before taking the afternoon waterpolo shift, I followed the 6 mile run ride with an 8 mile loop around one of my favorite trails on turtle ridge. The Tarantula Hawks were out in force which kind of freaked me out given these monsters are said to have the second most painful sting in the world. It is a little strange that I run this same trail several times a week and never see these flying beasts. Maybe they only fly in the early afternoon on weekends?

After dropping off my oldest daughter at the pool, I knew I had about an hour before her game started so I drove into the hills near Villa Park. At the first trailhead I parked my car and just started running. Before long I was high on a ridge in Anaheim Hills looking at the San Gabriel Mountains and watching Red Tail hawks circle in the wind above me. Just another day in another 100 mile week with responsibilities.  

Not Just Another Tree

Robert Frost once said that he could sum up everything he’d learned about life in three words: it goes on. I recently visited a place high in California’s White Mountains where life goes on...and on....for 40 centuries.


Not many people know about the White Mountains. They take their name from the white dolomite bedrock that dominates their deceivingly docile landscape.   They rise in the shadow of California Sierra Nevada Mountains. But unlike the saw tooth Sierras that have captured the imagination of visitors from around the world, the White Mountains exist in virtual anonymity.
 

It was two years ago when I glanced across the Owens Valley while descending from the Overlook aid station some 20 miles into the Bishop High Sierra 100k. This was the highest point of the course at 9,300’. I couldn’t believe what I saw. A few miles away and 5,000 feet below me lay the valley floor. Then, rising to over 14,000 feet in defiance of their mistaken obscurity, were the White Mountains, awash in the late afternoon sun. They looked massive, ominous.

Fast forward two years. I’m driving up highway 168, a two lane mountain road that rises to over 10,000 feet, into the White Mountains. Having finished the Bishop 100k for the second time, I decided to capture a glimpse of this solitary place on my way home.  I continued driving for 30 miles, gaining elevation nearly every mile. I’m now driving toward Schulman Grove. When I arrive I get out of my car, then step into another world.

Around me is a sprawling forest of trees that look haggard and remotely alive. These trees are more than 4,000 years old. Unlike other trees that grow from the soil of the land, these trees appear to cling to the hard, rocky mountain top with a grip stronger than life itself.

Even the dead trees remain defiant, not willing to yield their fate to the foreboding mountain. They remain standing for hundreds of years. The trees that have finally fallen and lay on the ground beneath me are said to be 10,000 years old.

Those that are still alive were born two thousand years before Christ himself. They rise, twisting from the barren landscape, into an environment that destroys all other life forms, including bacteria, insects and other predatory pests. With winds that reach more than 160 miles an hour and little if any rainfall, moisture levels here plummet to one half of a millimeter, the lowest level recorded on the planet.

I’m in the middle of a forest of Bristlecone Pines, the oldest living trees on the planet. They have survived because, where they are, nothing else can. I continue walking through these ancient grounds and I come upon one tree that seems to great me with its rich, golden trunk. I walk closer, under its claw like branches. I look up. High above my head branches reach into the deep blue sky. I stand still, trying to absorb the moment.

What would it be like to live to be 4,000 years old? To survive longer than any other single thing on the planet? How big was this tree when Jesus was born? Or Moses? All I could do was wonder. Seconds pass, and I can’t wait any longer.  I raise my hand and rest it on the ancient trunk. How many years was I touching? How many generations could I feel?

Pandora. Should We Breakup?

Dear Pandora:

When we were first introduced, you blew my mind. The sheer beauty of the Music Genome Project made me quiver in my running shoes. But now I wonder if our relationship is more akin to a teenage love affair.

I'll never forget our first several dates. I would turn you on and you would respond by fulfilling some of my inner most needs - new music sounds and genres. I was always ready to bookmark a song of a new artist I hadn't heard before. You provided a lot of those.

But here we are. Several years into the relationship. Now, instead of hearing new artists and genres, I'm hearing the same ones, over and over. Now, instead of fulfilling my inner most (music) needs, your flooding me with commercials. One commercial for every three songs!! You never used to that when we started dating.

To say the least, I'm really confused. On one hand, I don't want to just "throw in the towel" on everything we have been through. On the other hand, you've changed, and I'm the same guy you met when you were getting started. I guess it was inevitable that we would grow apart.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. I recently met another very pretty music streamer. She told me a secret. Once again, I'm quivering in my running shoes. What should we do?

Sincerely,

A Confused Music Lover/Runner

Running Out of the Gutter

I don't know why, but I've had to pull a few runs out of the gutter lately. The gutter being a place where  apathy runs roughshod over enthusiasm and fatigue makes the rules. I've learned a few things about getting out of the gutter lately. Get up. Lace up. Start walking. Jog if I can. Keep moving forward. Distance means nothing. Just keep moving forward. Run.

I started today's run knowing I could only do 5 or 6 miles, but believing I should leave my options open. I started with a few stride outs, but those didn't feel right. So I started climbing. Into the hills, then down the canyon and along the bike trail. So many people! Runners, cyclists, walkers, everyone was out. I thought I saw two people I knew! One turned out to be a false alarm, but the other? "Hey Lindsay!" I yelled. No response. So I keep running...14, 15, 16 miles, and out of the gutter.
 

Dare to Cross

Today a routine run turned into a four legged scramble up the side of a mountain. Nothing special, until we emerged from beneath thick chaparral to the top of a ridge and stumbled upon a 70 foot cross. Three hours in got us no more than maybe 10 miles, one of my favorite kind of "runs," even though this one should be categorized as more of a hike. At one point we were forced to turn around by a "trail guide" policing the great outdoors around Blackstar Canyon. Not to worry, it turns out, as this detour led us to our disoriented excursion. What followed were bullet holes, peacocks, vultures, crags, shrub and lots of crosses.

Getting Back Up at the Bishop High Sierra 100k

Me and Race Director Marie Boyd (photo Larry Rich)
(excerpt published UltraRunning Magazine Aug 2013)

Falls on trail take many forms. One of the more common is the slow motion fall. These usually happen when you are feeling a sense of gravitas on the trail, a confidence you get from being out there for a few hours. One minute you are running along feeling like you're on top of the world. The next minute your foot strikes something other than the ground underneath you and your body begins falling like a giant sequoia. Timber! Your face, perched like a nest at the top of the tree, is now approaching the ground at an increasing rate.

Your arms begin to windmill desperately. As the nest gains momentum toward the ground your reptilian mind takes over and makes a split decision: either keep flailing your arms like an idiot fighting the law of gravity, or accept your fate and protect the nest. By the time you stop windmilling and position your arms to absorb the impact, you flashback to a time when you were the age of seven doing somersaults on the beach.

Just before slamming into the ground, your reptilian mind tells your body to tuck and roll like you used to do in when you were seven. But it is too late. You hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.  

It was 2:00 in the afternoon. I had been running for six hours. I wasn't sure which was hurting more, my body or my ego. I had fallen five times. Blood, seeping from my hands and knee a few hours earlier, had become a crusted black scab of dirt and sweat. Fortunately, trickling through my veins was a nice cocktail of endorphins and adrenalin.

As I climbed the steep fire road through the Tungston Hills, surrounded by the towering peaks of the Sierra Nevada’s, my eyes took stock in the scene before me. I was deep inside a canyon looking up to the blue sky above. Low in the sky was a half moon, rising.

This year’s Bishop High Sierra 100k was the first ultra I seriously considered cutting short, if not dropping out of all together. Early in the race, around mile 20, me knee was throbbing, my calf was cramping and a quad injury I sustained a few weeks before was starting to bark at me. I kept asking myself why not just drop out now?

But ultras work in mysterious ways. As the day progressed, I noticed another runner behind me who is running strong. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and a white cap. While everyone else seemed to be slowing down, this guy was speeding up and running away from people. I pushed a little harder, attempting to stay out in front of him. Eventually, I entered an aid station and he was right behind me. As I reached for some water I noticed he didn't stop and continued on running. I gave chase and followed him through a mine field of rocks, heat and sand. I finally relented and watched him run away from me, alone and into the hills.

Frustrated, I reminded myself not to get too excited and to remember to run my race at my pace. By now I'm in total solitude and was working my way through the final section of the 62 mile course. Across the Owens Valley I saw the White Mountains, home of the 4,000 year old Bristlecone Pine Forest, which I planned to visit the next day. With about 10 miles to go, I still had another 1,000 feet of climbing, then a long six mile decent to the finish line.  

Then I rounded a bend in the trail and saw a runner laying on the ground. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and white cap. Only now he was flat on his back. When I realized he wasn't moving I assumed the worst. I quickly approached him fumbling for my salt tabs and water. I asked him questions to see if he was conscious.  He responded, telling me he needed to rest because he was really hot. I offered my water and some electrolytes. He took both. I asked him if he was OK. He assured me he was. 

I proceeded to the Sage Summit aid station which was only a half  mile up the trial. I explained the situation to the crew and suggested someone drive up the hill and offer help. But before the crew could scramble a car I looked up the hill and saw him trotting along as if nothing had happened. Wow, I'm thinking to myself, this guy is the Terminator. I moved quickly out of the aid station on onto the trail.

I hustled down the 500 foot descent and out along the trail in the valley below to the turn-around point. Here, like everyone, I grabbed an obligatory poker chip from a bag to prove I had gone the distance. The "my race my pace" philosophy was quickly succumbing to my new found urge to stay ahead of the Terminator. I took a mental note of my time at the turn-around, and I knew that for each minute that passed before I crossed the Terminator on my way back would equal a two minute lead over him. We crossed at 7 minutes and 30 seconds, a fifteen minute lead.     

As I climbed the long switch backs I had just descended I kept an eye on the Terminator. He was was getting smaller as he headed toward the turn-around and I continued to gain elevation. Other runners were making their way down the switch backs and we exchanged words of encouragement. When I reached Sage Summit aid station for the second time I had another six miles of virtually all down running to go. It was then that I finally began to relax and absorb the moment.

Thanks to the Terminator, I reached the finish line with a new found respect for pushing the envelop. I don't know what more one can do than fall to the ground during a 100 kilometer race to show resolve. The Terminator went 120%. What would I have done without him?

I offer a hearty thanks to all the volunteers who provided exceptional support to us runners throughout the entire race, and especially to Marie Boyd for her twenty years of her volunteer service as race director. Marie is stepping down this year as RD and no replacement has been identified. There is talk that this might be the last year for the Bishop High Sierra Ultra Marathons which I hope doesn't become reality. Any takers?

    

Burn Fat for Fuel? An Interview with Peter Defty of Vespa Power

I recently had the opportunity to talk on-line with Peter Defty, General Manager of Vespa Power Products, LLC, the manufacturer of the all natural Amino acid supplement Vespa CV - 25. Vespa supplements are made of naturally occurring ingredients that help tap the athlete's ability to burn fat for fuel and reduce the reliance carbohydrates during prolonged training and racing events. The objective of this fat burning approach is to provide athletes with steady energy levels, less bonking and intestinal issues and ultimately a competitive edge. Many elite and non-elite endurance athletes are reportedly experiencing strong training and race results by incorporating Vespa into their nutrition program.

Will: Peter, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Before we get into the specifics about Vespa, can you tell us a little about your background and experience in the area of sports nutrition?

Peter: Thank you for the opportunity Will. I have a BS in Plant Science from UC Davis so I have the university level biology which gives me the science background necessary to read and objectively assess peer reviewed journal publications, human nutrition and physiology textbooks and all kinds of other related material.

I also have been fortunate enough to surround myself with people of varied science backgrounds not necessarily tied to human nutrition and sports nutrition. I have found it critically important to seek out really sharp people and information even if their perspective  or the information given is not aligned with your own and listen, really listen and consider what they have to say.

In conjunction with all the reading I do, as an empiricist, I work with several athletes, including myself. These athletes are mostly all endurance athletes and their ages and  performance levels go from the super elite athletes who are setting course records to back of the packers who are chasing the cutoffs.  This gives me a great amount of "real world" results and information I can utilize to help others consistently get the phenomenal benefits we are seeing.

Will: Many athletes still believe carbohydrates are the holy grail of sport nutrition. However, there is another school of thought that says fat, or the metabolism of fat, is a superior energy source. This “fat for fuel” concept is foreign to many athletes. Can you explain this concept?

Peter: Yes, but before I start discussing the scientific plausibility for the "Fat as your Fuel" concept, I would like your audience to consider a basic few facts which the sports nutrition "experts" have largely ignored and so many athletes have paid the consequences of  not heeding nature.

To start with the human body has VERY limited glycogen storage capacity yet has virtually unlimited stores of fat, more than enough for even the leanest athlete to run 100 miler, complete an Ironman or ride a double century.  So why shouldn't fat make up the vast majority of our aerobic energy source for physical activity?

This is intricately interwoven with the second thing I would like the audience to consider which I will go through below. This is that for most of human existence we ate concentrated sources of carbohydrates 3-5 times a year, NOT 3-5 time a day!, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, DECADE AFTER DECADE. So when fruit was ripe or berries were ripe or we came across honey, brief periods during the year where these food sources were available, we gorged ourselves on carbohydrates and went back to where the main source of calories were from animal fats (including grubs).

So, while we are uniquely adapted to being able to consume concentrated forms of carbohydrates in their various forms this adaptation was not necessarily meant to be utilized constantly because there are "unintended consequences."

We have been led to believe carbohydrates are the answer and eating loads of carbohydrates is necessary for performance and vital health. What the nutrition "experts" missed (or have failed to tell us) are some  basics of human physiology. Let's just start with diet and the complex interplay of carbohydrate ingestion and the hormone, insulin.

When you do the math regarding fasting blood sugar in a human this works out to amount to 1 teaspoon of sugar, as glucose, in circulation, one teaspoon! This is normal and this is where your body prefers your glucose levels to be. Blood sugar is VERY tightly regulated.  So, say someone eats a whole wheat bagel. Basically they just dumped 8-10 teaspoons of glucose into their blood stream when the body likes to have 1 teaspoon. The body deals with this by secreting insulin so this toxic level of glucose can get back down to fasting levels and do so quickly.

But, just as importantly, to help promote glucose use high levels of insulin suppress fat burn via beta-oxidation in the cells and production and use of ketone bodies for brain and nervous system function. On the receptor sites of adipose (fat) tissue insulin functions to promote fat storage and strongly inhibits the release of fat. These are the immediate "unintended consequences" of concentrated carbohydrate consumption. There are many other possible "unintended consequences" that can crop up over time like intestinal issues, insulin resistance, weight gain, energy swings, heart disease, cancer, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome etc.

The alternative is optimized fat metabolism, or OFM. By focusing on optimizing fat burning capacity (which is aerobic only) not only does the athlete tap into the virtually unlimited energy source but even the "strategic" use of carbohydrates becomes a much more powerful and sustainable part of the OFM equation.

Generally carbohydrate sources contain 3.5-4 calories / gram while fats, especially saturated fats can contain up to 9.6 calories / gram. But because the pathways to unleashing the tremendous energy stored in fat is so much more complex and not as well studied for sports nutrition, lipid metabolism has only been considered for low intensity physical activity for most athletes and, at best, moderate levels in well-trained endurance athletes.

Phil Maffetone was one of the pioneers in fat metabolism as a competitive tool with his Maffetone Method of HR training which happens to be an important part of the training component of OFM. Phil, via Mark Allen and others, demonstrated pretty clearly from a results/observational evidence perspective that fat does, indeed, play a vital role. If one follows Phil's writings you can see his shift more and more into the camp of carbohydrate restriction as another means to enhance this ability to tap into fat at higher and higher levels of physical activity.

So,  if consuming lots of carbohydrates induces a strong insulin response, then sharply restricting them obviously brings insulin levels down and increases insulin sensitivity. When this happens at the level we are doing with the VESPA/OFM program the body makes a profound metabolic shift in which it prefers to burn fat aerobically, especially saturates. So now the saturated fats, the ones we have been told are harmful, become our most potent source of base energy.

This level of carbohydrate restriction is termed "Nutritional Ketosis" and the goal is to get an athlete at or near this level for a prolonged period during their base building or off season so this fundamental shift can get set. This is the foundation for the program. Once this occurs the hormones and enzymes necessary for the various pathways of fat metabolism are up-regulated and insulin levels get down and in metabolic balance only then can the true power potential of fat be truly realized.

Unfortunately almost all the studies done in the past 60 years utilize a diet which prevents fat metabolism to be fully expressed because there are too many carbohydrate calories in the baseline diet for an athlete to get themselves into nutritional ketosis or a "fat adapted" state. This, by definition means the athlete is going to get a carbohydrate response because the athlete is much more dependent upon carbohydrates for aerobic fuel no matter how much their training has helped them to burn fat.

There are several benefits to a high rate of fat metabolism. First, it is much more efficient from a standpoint of ATP production, producing 4 times the ATP per molecule. Due to this efficiency of oxidation the RQ is lower. When you make a shift toward higher fat oxidation then you have less oxidative stress and less lactate load. In real world terms this results in less muscle soreness and the much faster recovery VESPA/OFM athletes see.

More interesting is that VESPA appears to keep athletes in high levels of beta-oxidation / ketosis even when they take in carbohydrates, so the carbohydrates work even better because they are being used on top of the this huge aerobic fat burning base for threshold aerobic and anaerobic effort levels.

Will: Vespa is not a  fuel, an electrolyte replacement or an energy drink. What exactly is Vespa and how does it work?

Peter: While every ingredient is important the key fat burning ingredients are the Wasp Extract and Royal Jelly which are Peptides from the Asian giant wasp and European honey bee. You can think of VESPA as a fat-burning catalyst which triggers a significantly higher rate of beta-oxidation in the muscle and ketosis in the liver.

Will: What is Vespa made from? How does it differ from other branch chain amino acid supplements that can be purchased over the counter at your local pharmacy?

Peter: VESPA is a synergistic blend of naturally-occurring, minimally processed ingredients. VESPA is not just another Amino Acid supplement composed of a mixture of synthesized amino acids in their various forms. Naturally-occurring peptides and proteins are very different than a product composed of free branch-chain amino acids that are formulated to mimic the composition of the naturally-occurring substance. It would be like hydrolyzing meat and getting the amino acid profile of the proteins and then trying to make meat synthetically. It can't really be done. This makes the cost to produce VESPA ridiculously expensive compared to other products and there is no scalability in site.

Will: Do you recommend using Vespa in training? Or just in races? Please explain.

Peter: If the athlete is really serious about their performance and health then using VESPA in training is vital. Because of the lower oxidative stress and lactate load etc. the recovery is phenomenal which means the athlete can withstand a higher training load whether duration or intensity and be able to recover and adapt quicker and at a higher level.

A couple of caveats to make this work well: Always do a long slow warm-up to prime the muscles with oxygen so you can burn fat at a high rate. This takes patience and time but pays huge dividends. This includes and is especially important for fat adapted athletes before doing a workout that is high on intensity rather than cardio.

Use VESPA as directed for all training except for easy shorter recovery workouts.  The exception would be if you were doing a recovery run during the morning or day and you had to work after. Then I recommend you use it so you are not dragging yourself through the day and having to resort to caffeine, sugar etc. to get through.

Stretch out both your VESPA use to 3-4 hours along with trying to minimize caloric intake to help train your body to stretch itself in terms of fat burn for your long duration training.

Hydration: When you shift toward higher fat burn you need to be more on top of proper hydration. This means loads of water and electrolytes, mainly salt, while exercising.

In terms of cost, while VESPA seems very expensive on the shelf on a per unit basis, most long term VESPA users actually comment on the value and that it really does not cost that much more than the conventional approach (some believe using VESPA/OFM saves them money!) because when using VESPA you are dramatically reducing intake of calories of other supplements like gels or shot blocks and you are not needing to take a ton of supplements and not eating nearly as much. This is separate from how much better they feel, that they no longer bonk, get sick or are sore for days after an event.

Will: What other food/nutrition, if any, should be taken when using Vespa?

Peter: VESPA/OFM makes "Strategic" use of concentrated carbohydrate calories in the diet and fueling for that synergy translates into game-changing performance. So what we find for many is to sharply restrict carbohydrates in the weeks leading up to an event, especially in the taper then, depending upon the type of event, "sneaking" some carbohydrates in with the pre-race meals. This is what we call our "Carb sneak."   It is not a carbohydrate loading per se but enough to top off glycogen levels without wrecking your insulin sensitivity and fat burning capability. The night before a race many of us eat a medium rare ribeye, NY or T-bone steak with a baked potato buried in butter, sour cream and salt. The fat from the butter and sour cream not only serves to provide loads of fat calories but, more importantly serves to sharply blunt the glycemic load of the starch in the potato. This way you do not get a sharp and rapid increase in blood sugar thus no huge insulin response.

Now when using VESPA and being OFM fat adapted athletes are advised to use concentrated forms of carbohydrates during their competitions and hard workouts which simulate race conditions. Since the athlete generally takes in significantly less calories using VESPA and being fat adapted and  we want to make this as  easy as possible we recommend the athlete use whatever calorie sources work best for them whether it is gels, shot blocks, fruit, potatoes, aid station foods, etc.

The only thing we do say is to never take in a large slug of food at a time when exerting significant physical activity. This keeps the digestive tract working despite down regulation of blood flow to the internal organs during exercise and prevents any significant spike in blood sugar. During exercise there is an insulin "muting" response so insulin sensitivity is higher and less insulin is secreted.

When hot we recommend focusing on hydration and restricting calories to simpler sugars and as a "sugar drip." This is because at high temps the body sharply down regulates blood flow to the internal organs and sharply increases blood flow from the muscles to the skin surface to sweat to cool the body.  The capacity for digestion is simply not there.

During the cool temps we advise higher intake, especially if cold and wet to maintain core body temps. The athlete is also able to process/digest more complex foods that would have higher levels of fat and protein under these conditions.

Will: Who are some of your more notable athletes that are using Vespa? How has Vespa helped them achieve success?

Peter: Naoko Takahashi put VESPA on the map in 2000 when she won the Sydney Olympic Marathon and set the world record at the time in Berlin. She then got sponsored by a Japanese company who made a synthetic version and never did do anything after. VESPA has had several athletes win Olympic gold medals and other world class events that get a lot more press than ultra-endurance. Sammy Wanjiru used VESPA. In the last 2 years of Pro Cycling VESPA can compete because the policing for banned substances has really gone up. Tour du France leader in 2011 and "King of the Mountains" Winner in 2012, Thomas Voeckler uses VESPA. These big name athletes do not say anything because it is their competitive advantage and we do not pay big money sponsorships because we cannot afford to due to the cost to make the product and keep the price point where it is.

In ultra-endurance there are several notable athletes / performances from VESPA/OFM athletes. These include last year's (2012) winner and course record setter of Western States; 2012 USATF 50 Mile Champion, 2012 Mad City 50K Champion, 2012 Ice Age 50 Mile Champion, Zach Bitter. More recently, Mike Morton did the unthinkable and ran weekend to weekend back to back 100 milers, won both and set a CR on the second. Mike started on the VESPA/OFM program in December and has noticed the difference. Jon Olsen and his performance at the World 100K (Second US Male) and winning North Coast 24 hour 13 days later coming within 7 miles of the US record at that time. Elite Women like Nikki Kimball, Devon Yanko (formerly Crosby-Helms), Caren Spore, Jennifer Benna and Jenny Capel are all on the program

But, just as important as elite level performances there are VESPA/OFM athletes who are doing equally phenomenal performances. Betty Smith, age 61, finished The Bear 100 Miler in under 30 hours. She was the first female over 60 to ever finish The Bear.  If you look at the finish times you can see that finishing The Bear under 30 hours is quite an achievement. Bill McCarty, age 65, finishing weekend back to back 100 Milers (Razorback 100 & Beyond Limits 100) this past March. Compared to Mike Morton's back to back 100's Bill took twice as long for each. Bill is set to run Keys 100 in early May and has 6 100 Milers on his schedule for 2013.

Our goal is to get people of all ages and abilities back to burning "Fat as your Fuel." Not only for optimal performance but, more importantly, for optimal health. VESPA/OFM is a fully integrated, cutting-edge program which, observationally, is getting those results. VESPA is one crucial component of the larger OFM picture.

Will: Peter, you have provided some very thoughtful responses and have given my readers an important perspective when it comes to nutrition and ultra running and endurance sports in general. Thank for sharing your insights here and for taking the time for this interview.  

Post Script: I need your help! As you can see, I don’t write this blog for money…hence no annoying pop up advertising. However I do write to encourage and inspire others. My only way to know I am succeeding is getting feedback from and building a following of readers. If you have found value in this blog post, please leave a comment below and follow my blog by entering your email at top of page or on Twitter by clicking here. 

Running and Hypothyroidism

Imagine this. You go to the doctor for a physical. You tell him you are feeling really tired. Worn out. Beat down. The energy that you once relied on to get you through your tough training periods is MIA. You’re confused and a little worried.

So the doc says “lets take a look at your hormones.” More specifically your TSH, or thyroid stimulating hormone. He explains that TSH triggers the release of thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) which, in turn, stimulate the metabolism of almost every tissue in the body. When TSH is abnormally high it usually means something is wrong with the thyroid gland, the little gland just below your neck that is responsible for secreting these powerful hormones.

I don’t have to imagine this, because this was my world several years ago. My doctor sent me to get my blood tested for TSH level. The news that came back wasn’t good. My TSH level were off the charts. I don’t think I will ever forget the voice mail the nurse left me. It went something like this: “your thyroid gland is in bad shape, but don’t worry because if you take a pill everyday for the rest of your life everything is going to be OK!” Wait a minute. A-pill-everyday-for-the-rest-of-my-life? Everything-is-going-to-be-OK? Delivered by voice mail no less. Bedside manner at its best.

After listening to the message for the 7th or 8th time, reality started to rear its ugly head. For me, the thought of being dependent on a prescription drug made by a multinational pharmaceutical company was, well, a little revolting. I researched my options. What I learned wasn’t pretty.

I continued to inquire about the cause of the condition. My doctors responded like the well trained lab rats they had become: we don’t know what caused this, but it doesn’t matter because we have a treatment for it. A pill. In other words, forget what caused your condition, and just swallow a pill everyday for the rest of your life and we can treat the symptoms. God I love western medicine!

I chose to write this post because the Wall Street Journal recently published an article on elite runners with hypothyroidism. The gist of that article, unfortunately, is doping. The author alleges that many elite athletes that have been given thyroid medication to improve their athletic performance.

The message in the article conflicts with the fact that there is no evidence that thyroid medication enhances athletic performance. These medications are not banned by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) . According to Dr.Borenstein, an endocrinologist who works with hundreds of thyroid patients, the article misses a key factor - that “thyroid medication replaces  something natural to the body that's missing, something that is essential for basic functioning."

I’ve spent years of asking doctors and health experts what causes hypothyroidism, and I’ve never been given a logical answer, until now. Borenstein is saying something I have suspected all along - that intense endurance training could be a contributor. According to Borenstein, “endurance training can cause adrenal depletion and weaken adrenal function, and this in turn can inhibit thyroid function."

Despite having to take a pill once per day to treat my hypothyroidism, I still live a normal life. I've continued to train for and run ultra marathons for the last 8 years, and I get to go on bike rides and hikes with my daughters. I even go skiing and ride a skateboard once in a while. I'm pleased to know physicians are looking beyond just treating the symptoms of the hypothyroidism with drugs and are now talking about potential causes of the disease. But whatever the cause, I'm thankful for my health today. 

JFK 50 Mile - I'm In!

There was no internet posting. No email. Just a self addressed envelop with a generic message inside. My "entry into the...JFK 50 Mile to be held on November 23, 2013 has been accepted." So there you have it! There is old school. And then there is Old School. The JFK 50 Mile is OLD SCHOOL. Not surprising given its status as the OLDEST ultra marathon in the United States. The first running? 1963, or the first year I saw daylight. A 50 year old race meets a 50 year old runner. I'm pretty excited to be a part of it and looking forward to establishing a 50 mile PR at the ripe old age of 50!   

Just Fool Yourself

When the sun sets, colors fill the sky. Colors we don't usually see.  If you take a few minutes and stop - to really watch what happens - you will notice subtle changes in the horizon. Every few minutes colors changing hue.

Last night when I was driving to the start of a nine mile run, I started thinking about how tired I was. How I really didn't need to do this run. How I could really use a day off. I pulled into the parking lot, turned off the car, and fell asleep. When I woke 30 minutes later I knew this run wasn't going to happen. So I talked myself into just walking up the hill a ways. It was a relief, once I decided it was ok not to run, and that just getting out and walking would be fine for today.

I put my shoes and shorts on and started moving. I could feel the cold air on my skin. I moved for no other reason now than to stay warm. My gait gradually quickened to a slow jog. I felt the fatigue in my legs from all the miles I'd run the last several weeks. My body was tired, confirming these miles would have to be another day.

I made it to the top of the small hill, then turned down a bike trial with a gentle descent. I'll just go around the block and call it a day, I thought. Then I crossed the road and turned toward the drinking fountain another half mile away. Sure, I need some water I thought, so I'll just jog up to the fountain and then turn back. That would give me three miles. After taking a few micro sips I just continued up the trail, lost somewhere between a day off and a run with no known destination or distance. I just kept ambling along, noticing the sky changing colors as the sun began to set.

When I looked at my watch 90 minutes later it told me I had gone nine miles. I just shook my head. I started this knowing I wouldn't run at all, and I finished not knowing how I ran 9 miles. I guess, sometimes, you just have to fool yourself. 

Managing My Weight: 5 Tricks

Like it or not, your weight has a lot to do with your health. And even more to do with your running. If you are overweight, you run slower, put more stress on your body and ultimately are more prone to injury.

What constitutes being an overweight runner? I believe the answer to this is directly tied to your objectives. For example, do you want to run just to be healthy? To be competitive in your age group? To achieve a personal best? 

If you're running just to be healthy, is suggest reviewing the BMI calculations. But if you're running to achieve more than just health, you need to be more precise. My experience (which, of course, can and will differ from others') when it comes to my ideal running weight is that I need to be as close to the weight I was when I was 18 years old, or when I graduated from high school. Yes, a long time ago. For me that number is around 160 lbs. I have found that I'm usually in my best shape when I'm within 3% to 5% of that number.

Getting there and staying there is another story. Over the years I've learned to a few tricks that have helped. Do I get off track? Of course. When this happens I have to rely on these tricks more than usual. Here's a sampling of these in no particular order: 

1. Don't eat breakfast. "What??! That's blasphemy," yelled the hoards. Yes, I've read all the books, magazines and listened to all the seminars. Breakfast is the most important meal! I know. I get it. However, this is why I put "my" in italics above. It works for me. Why? maybe because I'm usually not hungry in the morning. Maybe its because most of my training is in the evenings during the week. Maybe its because I don't want to interrupt the caffeine induced fat burning zone I enjoy in the mornings. The fact is if I don't eat breakfast I'm not consuming 200, 300 or 400 calories as a result.

2. Minimize Carbs in my Diet.  Again, "blasphemy!" screamed the running hoards! What about the age old notion that carbs are the most important part of a runners diet. If you still believe this you need to put down your Runners World Magazine and pick some of Phil Maffetone writings. Do this and you'll know what I mean. 

3. Weigh Myself Everyday. Call me OCD, a freak, whatever you want. But when I'm not weighing myself I'm usually gaining weight, not losing it. 

4. Increase my miles. Seems this should be as straight forward as it gets. But there is a catch, because increased miles also means an increased appetite. So if I'm not watching my calories, I can easily pack on more pounds when I'm increasing my miles from 40 to 50, 60 or 70 per week. Which leads me to the next gadget related trick...

5. Counting my calories. Now we are into the bowels of weight loss. But with technology, it really isn't that hard. When I need to, I use the app Lose It on my phone and track just about any food or drink I come in contact with. It's amazing how quickly the numbers add up!

I think this quote sums it up well...

"If you wish to grow thinner, diminish your dinner."

Henry Sambrooke Leigh      

    

  

Relevance

Relevance is when you send a message to your body, and it responds with an affirmative. This week was good. I put sixty miles of running in the book, added seven miles of hiking and many hours stretching and core. What is best is that I'm feeling good after running 25 miles in the mountains at 7500'.  I will accept this as a relevant sign that my body is slowly accepting the "envelop" I'm pushing its way.

Some stills from the trail...

PCT Trail Head at Highway 18 

Weird Fort Hidden in the trees where PCT passes Big Bear 

Overlooking the Lucerne Valley

Reportedly the road to Butler Peak

Powder is a Waiting! 

The Long Snow Road

The Mountain Is a Great Motivator