The Marathon des Sables

There have been some comments on the complete lack of calories I am taking and it’s true, there really isn’t a lot. But this is OK, we can dip into some of the amazing mechanisms that evolution has provided us with, and in this instance it’s body fat reserves.

If you have 15% body fat (’average’ for a male) you have enough energy stored in your body to run at marathon pace for 3 days straight … everything else would give up long before you ran out of energy! This energy store was of course to help people when times were lean.

So, how do I work out what I need?

Firstly I worked out my Basal Metabolic Rate using the Harris-Benedict Equation, using the heavy excercise factor I my BMR is normally

3394 = 1.752 * (66+(6.23*180)+(12.7*73)-(6.8*26))

For the purposes of this I am going to use the average factor (moderate excercise) and add the estimated use on, the BMR is now a nearly average
3003.

Lets add the excercise on to that. Running on the road with no pack burns approx’ 1cal/kg/km. So, 1*82kg*250kg = 20500 cals for the weeks running effort, lets conservatively add 40% to that to account for sand/backpack/hills, thats 28700cals for the running. Lets add the daily BMR for the 7 days (7*3003), 21021, so total calorie consumption is 49721.

So I need to find approx’ a whopping 33000 calories from me…

In terms of energy stored body fat holds around 3500 per lb, which means I need at least 9.2lbs of body fat to serve my needs during the race. 9.2lb = 4.2kgs. 4.2kg is about 5% of my body mass. So provided I have the base level of around 4% & and extra 5% body fat I should be fine.

Realistically, total energy consumption could be even higher so here is hoping I have at least 9% body fat, because although there will likely be a little bit, muscle catabolism is painful and inefficient!

Isn’t the human body amazing?

Speed training in some form or another should be a part of every ultra runners training toolkit. As pointed out in the physiology tests I have had, it is certainly something I should be concentrating on more, at least more than just a tempo session most weeks.

The virtues of hill reps, intervals, tempos etc have long been extolled by experts, professionals and amateurs alike but they do still remain ignored by a good percentage of runners.

Finally, for various reasons I am now able to attend the Monday night speed sessions with the running club. So I popped along in what felt like the coldest evening of the year (it wasn’t it was just icy, wet, windy and felt that way) I ventured out to start some speed work. How I coped wasn’t a surprise to me in that I recovered quickly but couldn’t maintain my fastest speeds beyond the 3rd rep or at the end of a long hill sprint. What I was surprised at was that my top speed was actually … well, not bad. So with some continued commitment to the sessions I am certain that even at this ‘late’ stage in the game the benefits will be reaped come March.

After a slowish 20 something miler (road … uck!) on Saturday today is a rest before a nice run with the club tomorrow, a recovery run on Thursday and a walk in the Peak District on Saturday.

I have been using a few bits of new gear so I think it would be prudent to place some of my thoughts on them here:

Under Armour Heat Gear Compression Shorts
Not for the shy, these are silky smooth very tight shorts with an ultra strong waste band and claims about keeping you cool in the heat and preventing sore bits.
I have now used these on two ultras in the cold so I cannot comment on the ability to keep you cool in the heat, I can however say that they stay firmly in place and aren’t a problem even after 50 miles and have kept the rather sore point of chaffeage to a minimum. I can say this comfortably as someone who has has blood running down the insides of his legs and (even worse) from between the buttocks! Neither of the ultras has seen me use any Vaseline or lubrication products so they must be doing a good job!
The compression element isn’t just designed to ensure that you can’t hide *anything* it’s also supposed to suppress Delayed Onset Muscle Syndrome. I didn’t suffer in my legs, but I also didn’t suffer anywhere else so i can’t fully comment.
They are comfy, don’t move, the waistband doesn’t dig in uncomfortably so these get the Ultramarathon Mike thumbs up.

Toe Toe Socks
Despite taking an age to put on I am all for these, anything that gets me through two tough 50 milers only 7 days apart with only two tiny blisters gets my vote. They are very comfortable and the toe compartments even fit my elongated monkey toes in. The only problem is that they are not very long lasting and mine have no heel after just 100 mile. That’s about 7.5p a mile so I can’t complain too much!

Nuun - Various Flavours
So far I have tried “Tri-Berry", “Kona Cola” and “Lemon & Lime". At first try I find they are a bit salty but otherwise palatable and quite refreshing, they are very convenient in in tablet form. Kona Cola has that cheap “Rola Cola” thing going on.

Swiss Army Card
Don’t know - lost it 3.5 seconds after unwrapping it up. Bugger.

Here’s the deal. You sleep (if you want) in a giant hall with the lights on all night and a host of other runners/walkers fartin’ and snorin’ all night (me that is, not them) and get up at 5am to start at either 6am or 7am in the dark, the rain, wind and sleet… sounds like fun?

No? Well it wasn’t bad actually! I managed to get a few hours kip and woke early to the sound of people scratting around and the wind an rain. The others where off and I hooked up with a few people I know and prepped for the race.

After setting off in the dark and rain I felt OK and fell into a nice pace running with Jo Kilkenny who was good company. We fell in and out of pace with Rory Coleman & co (Andy who I already knew and Diggers, Robin and Thrubbers) who makes good company for a long run.
The rain didn’t stop, staying warm meant staying moving, after a problem at CP1 me and Jo got held up and slipped behind the rest of the group, we pushed on to CP2 where Jo’s knee, and probably the endless “tree plastic” and weather helped make the tough but ultimately sensible decision to call it quits. It was a shame as her company was excellent but on the plus side I got her comprehensive set of laminated maps!

I dug deep and slogged on to CP3 managing to catch up with the rest of the chaps a little before. A push I was probably going to regret a little later! With the weather still rubbish we simply slogged on with wet feet and well, wet everything else…

With much of the terrain resembling the trenches of the somme, ankle deep mud and wet and a few groaning bodies the 30 mile checkpoint was a welcome site with a drop bag of warmer and fresh clothes. My chances of completion without this changer were minimal. Gromit dropped with a stuffed knee at this point. Here it was warming to meet a few new guys off the MdS forum who are also training for next years MdS (and Rab Lee who beat me round the Beacon Ultra last week). We ploughed on through the killing fields getting muddier and wetter. The rain had finally stopped but the temperature plummeted.

Darkness came early under the overcast sky but at no point did the water, mud and ploughed fields seem to stop and at this point I think everyone was having their ups and downs. The only answer was to keep moving keep warm and don’t think about it!

After more of the same the final 5K couldn’t come fast enough but once they had arrived I had run out, or not, the last couple of Km left me for dead and the others managed to keep going and sneak in just under 12 hours. I came in at 12hrs02 feeling physically shot, emotionally shot and covered in mud. Brilliant!

Today I don’t feel too bad in general but I expect some DOMs to kick in tomorrow, not too bad that is apart from my ankles which are a bit swollen, don’t like to move or suddenly bear wait (they have improved greatly over the day). I guess I couldn’t expect no fall out at all from two ultras in a week!

Time to rest.