The Ultimate in Adventure Running Races...select an event from the list on the left for details

 24 Hours...the Run - Team Relay and Solo Challenge Racing Series

24 Hours of Utah...the Run/Moab 100  

March 27-28, 2010

24 Hours of Laramie...the Run/Laramie 100

June 26-27, 2010

24 Hours of Boulder...the Run/ Boulder 100 

Oct. 16-17, 2010

Desert RATS Trail Running Festival

Fruita, CO

April 17th & 18th, 2010

Desert R.A.T.S. (Race Across The Sand)

A six day stage footrace from Grand Junction, CO to Moab, UT

June 13th-19th, 2010

Desert R.A.T.S. Mt Bike Tour

A six day fully supported mt. bike ride from Grand Junction, CO to Moab, UT

June 13th-19th, 2010

Mountain R.A.T.S. (Race Across the Summits)

 A four day stage footrace through the Colorado Rocky Mountains

July 29th-August 1st, 2010

Copper Mountain, CO

Treadmill

by Michele Delman 

Running on the treadmill is not something I look forward to...but for a variety of reasons, I spend more than a few miles per week on the treadmill.  With the cold weather and short days, Reid asked me to share a few hints that may help you survive the treadmill and ultimately help you keep that winter base.

1.  Write yourself a weekly mileage plan and stick to it.  If weather, or child care, or odd running hours mean you need to hit the treadmill, just build it into your back up plan.  And just like you may carry your running gear with you in your car, make sure you also have the gear you would need in case you do your running at the gym
(shorts instead of pants, etc.)

 

 

 

2.  If you're using the local gym's treadmill, and you're planning on running longer than 30 minutes, you may run into anxious patrons waiting for you to be done.  And while covering the display is always an option, there are other options: ideally, you can go at less busy times and avoid the problem altogether; if that's simply not an option, you can break up your work out by running for 30 minutes, then hitting another piece of cardio equipment or doing some of your core or upper body work until another treadmill frees up.

3. If you know you have a long workout (2 hours+) coming up and the treadmill will be an inevitablility, figure out ways to make it more palatable.  I am fortunate that my gym's treadmills each have their own TV, and usually I use that time to watch TV -- maybe even a full length movie -- something I typically don't have time for during the week.  If you can't do that, consider downloading podcasts or audiobooks to your iPod.  I need music for tempo runs, but for my longer, slower distances, a story is perfect and something I can look forward to.

4.  For those shorter runs, I recommend changing things up.  Make it a tempo run one day and a hill run another.  Pushing the pace beyond your comfort zone on the treadmill is something I've incorporated recently and it minimizes boredom and ensures you're getting the most benefit for your time spent.  The best way to do this is to wear a heart rate monitor to make sure you're spending time in each of your training zones.  If you don't have a treadmill, you can simply do surges throughout the run and practice changing your pace.  Mix it up and try to have fun.

5.  Finally, running on a treadmill creates no wind resistance.  Because of that, it's best to add some incline for all your miles.  All treadmills are a little different, so try somewhere between .1 and .3 and select the most comfortable realistic feel for you.  Also, because there's no wind resistance, I tend to get pretty warm running on a treadmill - so I keep a bottle of water for those longer runs so I can stay hydrated and cool off a bit if I need to

Create Your Own Screwshoes

by Reid Delman

The Performance Manager Chart presented in this article comes from the power analysis software WKO+. It shows the last month of my training for the B-100, which includes the taper. The Blue line is the Chronic Training Load (CTL) or the effect of my long term training. The Pink line is the Acute Training Load (ATL) or the effort put forth during that day's workout by me. The Yellow line is the Training Stress Balance (TSB) or the effect of the workout on my ability to recover from it. The CTL stays fairly level over the month, just a slight rise, which means my fitness increased in this time. Another important aspect of the CTL to notice is that any time the ATL is declining so is the CTL. This loss of fitness is important because it allows for the rise of the TSB or freshness felt from recovery. The ATL high points are bigger efforts relative to where the TSB line is for that day. It can be seen that my recovery (TSB) is high for the Fire Cracker 50 on the 4th of July. This was to be my final practice race and every strategy that I planned to use in the B-100

So, what do I do after I finish 9th in my age group of 30-39 and 16th overall in a time of 10:34:39? It is time to transition to some recovery type rides and time off the bike for a couple of weeks. This will ensure that I don't overtrain and I can continue to improve for the next race or season. As much as I want to see a continual rise in my CTL, the body needs some reprieve to actually improve. This is why as a coach I build recovery time into client training and that there are seasons in cycling. The trick is to work just enough from year to year so that the movement to improvement can happen. Having a training plan to follow is the structure with which you can ensure that there is success in reaching a goal. So, whether you coach yourself or seek out a coach to help you achieve, make sure you do some long term planning and make the workouts part of your balance in life.

Hydration—What You Need To Know

By: Steve Born

At Hammer Nutrition, we’re known for offering the most complete and technically advanced line of nutritionals an endurance athlete can buy. But we don’t sell, and probably never will sell, the most important item in your regimen, water. Water is the most important substance on earth, 60% of your body weight, and the number one concern on any athlete’s intake list. For both performance and health, the importance of your water intake exceeds that of your vitamin, calorie, and electrolyte intake.

Even though we’re not in the water business, we want to make sure you have the right amount on board when you set off on your distance effort, when you finish, and between efforts during recovery. Thus, we’ve included this section on hydration in The Guide. As you read, you’ll learn how sweat loss affects athletic performance, that too much water is as bad if not worse than too little, and that you can’t replace all the water you sweat out. Yes, we will get to that key issue: Just how much should I drink? Of all the many functions water has in human physiology, we’ll focus on just a couple that pertain especially to the endurance athlete: cooling the body and transporting nutrients. Let’s look at the cooling system first. 

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How your cooling system works

When we exercise, we burn molecular fuel, mostly glycogen, but also some protein, fat, and blood glucose from ingested nutrients. The breakdown of these energy providers releases heat that builds up and raises our core temperature. The body must rid itself of this heat and maintain a core temperature within a few degrees of the well-known 98.6º F (37º C). An active person needs a reliable cooling mechanism. Actually, you have several. You lose some heat through your skin. Blood carries heat to the capillaries near the skin’s surface, removing heat from the body core. You breathe harder to get more oxygen, expelling heat when you exhale. But by far the most important part of the cooling system, accounting on average for about 75% of all cooling, is your ability to produce and excrete sweat.

Sweat, however, glistening on your forearm or soaking your singlet won’t cool you; it must evaporate. Sweat works on a basic physical premise: water evaporation is an endothermic process, requiring energy (heat) to change from liquid to gas. Thus, water molecules in the gas phase have more energy than water molecules in the liquid phase. As water molecules evaporate from your skin, they remove heat energy; the remaining water molecules have less energy, and you feel cooler. Isn’t that cool?

Weather conditions greatly affect sweat production and cooling effectiveness. In cool weather, you get substantial cooling from the heat that escapes directly from your skin. As the temperature increases, you gradually rely more on evaporation. On hot days, with little difference between skin surface and ambient temperatures, your skin surface provides only negligible convective cooling, and you need to sweat more to maintain a safe internal core temperature. At 95º F (35° C) or above, you lose no heat at all from your skin; in fact, you actually start to absorb heat. Evaporative cooling must do all the work.

Humidity is the other major factor that affects sweat. On humid days, sweat evaporates more slowly because the atmosphere is already saturated with water vapor, retarding the evaporation rate. The sweat accumulates on your skin and soaks your clothes, but you don’t get any cooling from it because it’s not going into the vapor phase. Soaking, dripping sweat may give you a psychological boost, but it has no physical efficacy to cool; sweat must evaporate to remove heat. On days when it’s both hot and humid, well, you don’t need to read about what’s going to happen when you exercise in those conditions. You do need to know that under the worst of conditions you can produce up to three liters of sweat in an hour of strenuous exercise, but your body can only absorb about one liter from fluid consumption. Yes, this will cause problems before long, and we will discuss that issue below.

What happens when the coolant runs low?

Just like a car, your body must dissipate the excess heat generated from burning fuel. Unlike a car, your body’s coolant isn’t in a sealed internal system; you use it once and then it’s gone and needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, we don’t come with built-in gauges or indicators that tell us just how much coolant we have left in our system. We can’t run a dipstick down our gullet and get a reading that says, "Add a quart." We do have some physiological signs, but they function at the “Warning-Danger!” level, too late to maintain optimal performance. For instance, by the time you feel thirsty, you could have a 2% body-weight water loss, already into the impairment zone.

The chart below shows what happens to human performance at each percent of weight loss. By weight loss, we mean the percentage of your body weight at the start of exercise that you have lost at the end via sweat. If you go out for a run at 160 pounds (approx 72.5 kg) and weigh in 20 miles later at 154 (approx 70 kg), you’ve lost almost 4% of your body weight. That’s too much to maintain your pace to the end, let alone expect to kick.

Symptoms by percent body weight water loss:

PERCENT WATER LOST --------- SYMPTOMS

0% --- none, optimal performance, normal heat regulation

1% --- thirst stimulated, heat regulation during exercise altered, performance declines

2% --- further decrease in heat regulation, hinders performance, increased thirst

3% --- more of the same (worsening performance)

4% --- exercise performance cut by 20 - 30%

5% --- headache, irritability, "spaced-out" feeling, fatigue

6% --- weakness, severe loss of thermoregulation

7% --- collapse likely unless exercise stops

10% -- comatose

11% -- death likely

[Nutrition for Cyclists, Grandjean & Ruud, Clinics in Sports Med. Vol 13(1);235-246. Jan 1994]

How much is that?

As you can see from the chart, sweat loss can easily devolve from an athletic performance issue to an acute medical issue. Clearly, we need to have some quantifiable idea of our intake and output. Let’s start with converting the data on the chart to recognizable amounts. Perhaps you remember the saying, "a pint’s a pound, the world ‘round." Now that’s a convenient conversion for endurance athletes. Here’s another: one pint = one water bottle. Some bottles hold 20 ounces (approx 600 ml), but consider a regular water bottle as a pint. Two pints make a quart, which is almost a liter. So when you read "liter," think two water bottles. Losing one pound of weight (slightly less than half a kilogram) means a one-pint loss. One liter (or one quart) is about two pounds (nearly one kilogram).

Can you drink enough?

Needless to say, maintaining optimal fluid intake prior to and during exercise is crucial for both performance and health. However, as is true with calories and electrolytes, you can’t replenish them at the same rate you deplete them; your body simply won’t absorb as fast as it loses. Evaporative cooling depletes fluids and electrolytes faster than the body can replenish them. Your body will accept and utilize a certain amount from exogenous (outside) sources, and, similar to calories and electrolytes, maintaining fluid intake within a specific range will postpone fatigue and promote peak performance.

Research suggests that while electrolyte needs for individual athletes may vary up to 1000% (tenfold), fluid loss remains fairly constant. Also, we can measure fluid loss more easily than electrolyte loss; we don’t need sophisticated lab equipment, just a scale. Thus, we can come pretty close in calculating fluid loss and replacement.

The numbers

On average, you lose about one liter (about 34 ounces) of fluid per hour of exercise. Extreme heat and humidity can raise that amount to three liters in one hour. A trained athlete will store enough muscle glycogen to provide energy for approximately 90 minutes of aerobic exercise. As your muscles burn glycogen, water is released as a metabolic by-product and excreted as sweat. Researchers found that during a marathon (26.2 miles), runners released an average of two liters of sweat from muscle glycogen stores. This is in addition to sweat from other body liquids.

You can control or lessen these sweat rates by acclimatization and training for the event. Acclimatized athletes can reduce electrolyte and fluid loss up to 50%, but note that those losses cannot be fully replaced during the event. Remember the words of Dr. Bill Misner (mentioned in the Replacement Vs. Replenishment article), "The endurance exercise outcome is to postpone fatigue, not replace all the fuel, fluids, and electrolytes lost during the event. It can't be done, though many of us have tried." In other words, our hydration goal is not to replace water pint-for-pint, but to support natural stores by consuming as much as we can adequately process during exercise.

At the most, you can absorb about one liter (approx 34 fluid ounces) of water per hour, but only under the most extreme heat and humidity. Most of the time you can only absorb about half that amount, even though it won’t fully replace your losses. Repeated intake of one liter (about 34 fluid ounces) per hour will ultimately do you more harm than good.

Can you drink too much?

Ironically, while you can’t drink enough to replace all fluid lost, you can drink too much. Researchers have noted the dangers of excess hydration during events lasting over four hours. Dr. Tim Noakes collected data for 10 years from some 10,000 runners participating in the Comrades Marathon. This 52.4-mile (84.33 km) race, held each June (winter) in South Africa, ranks as one of the world’s premier ultra-marathons. Noakes showed that endurance athletes who consumed from 16-24 fluid ounces per hour (approx 475-710 milliliters) typically repleted as much fluid as is efficiently possible. He also noted the prevalence of hyponatremia (low blood sodium) during ultra-marathons and triathlons in runners who hydrated excessively. This condition can arise from several different physiological scenarios. For endurance athletes, it usually results from sweat-depleted sodium stores diluted by excess hypotonic (low electrolyte content) fluid intake. When blood sodium concentration becomes too dilute, you can develop severe cardiac symptoms leading to collapse.

Problems with too much or too little

Moreover, Noakes noted a pattern of hydration problems among race participants. In ultra events, the leaders usually dehydrate, but the mid to back-of-the-pack athletes tend to overhydrate. Both may end up suffering from the same hyponatremic symptoms, the former from too little fluid intake combined with too much sodium loss due to profuse sweating, the latter from too much fluid intake and relatively less sodium loss. Because most front-runners are extremely competitive, they don’t stop long enough during the race to overhydrate. In addition, it’s highly likely that elite athletes may be fitter and better acclimatized to deal with hot weather conditions. A tendency to linger at aid stations, attempting to relieve the symptoms of fatigue or heat by drinking too much water, is a fault found among the majority of the remainder of athletes, those in the middle or back of the pack. Also, these athletes may be novices who have heard the "drink, drink, drink" mantra, but who haven’t had enough experience to personally calibrate their personal needs. After the 1985 Comrades race, 17 runners were hospitalized, nine with dilutional hyponatremia. In the 1987 Comrades Marathon, 24 runners suffered from dilutional hyponatremia. These athletes had seriously overloaded on fluid intake, with the inevitable result of a totally disrupted physiology.

Tragic consequences

Hyponatremia usually results from drinking too much, especially when one drinks fluids such as plain water or a sports drink lacking the proper electrolyte profile. Training and fitness levels, weather conditions, and, undoubtedly, biological predisposition, also contribute to developing this form of hyponatremia known as "water intoxication."

Sadly, we must note that this condition has lead, directly or in part, to the deaths of otherwise healthy runners in major American marathons. It is hard for us to comprehend the grief of the families they left behind. These athletes went out to run a marathon, to achieve a personal victory. Improper hydration took away their day of glory and also their lives. They collapsed and went into an irreversible condition involving uncontrollable brain edema, coma, and death. We report this to help prevent any future such tragedies. Overhydration represents a very serious problem. Unlike dehydration, which will generally only result in painful cramping, possibly a DNF, or at the worst, IV treatment, overhydration can incite a chain of ultimately fatal physiological consequences.

So how much, how often?

The extreme cases cited above happen very rarely. Lesser degrees of impairment occur frequently from excessive fluid intake. We don’t have a chart for over hydration similar to the one for dehydration, giving symptoms for each level of over hydration. Also, you probably don’t carry a scale or have regular access to weigh-ins along your training route. So how do you know when it’s time to drink? You don’t wait until you’re down a quart. A good hydration regimen starts before you even get moving.

Noakes believes intake of hypotonic fluids of one liter/hr (33.8 oz/hr) will likely cause water intoxication and dilutional hyponatremia. He suggests that athletes may do better on 500 ml/hr (approx 17 oz/hr) fluid intake for ultra events performed in hot weather conditions. In the “10 Biggest Mistakes Endurance Athlete’s Make” article, Dr. Ian Rogers suggests that between 500-750 ml/hr (about 17-25 oz/hr) will fulfill most athletes’ hydration requirements under most conditions (One expert, Dr. Ian Rogers, suggests that between 500-750 milliliters/hr (about 17-25 fluid ounces/hr) will fulfill most athletes’ hydration requirements under most conditions. According to Dr. Rogers, “Like most things in life, balance is the key and the balance is likely to be at a fluid intake not much above 500 milliliters (about 17 ounces) per hour in most situations, unless predicted losses are very substantial.” Other research suggests a similar consumption of 4.5-7.0 oz (approx 133-207 ml) of water every 15 to 20 minutes of exercise.

Based on the available research, along with the thousands of athletes we have monitored, we have found that 20-25 oz/hr (approx 590-740 ml/hr) is an appropriate fluid intake for most athletes under most conditions. For lighter weight athletes, or those exercising in cooler temperatures, 16-18 oz/hr (approx 473-532 ml) may be perfect. Heavier athletes or athletes competing in hotter conditions may consider intakes upwards of 28 oz/hr (approx 830 ml/hr). We also suggest that to avoid dilutional hyponatremia, fluid intake should not routinely exceed 28 oz/hr (830 ml/hr). The exceptions are heavier athletes, athletes exercising at extreme levels (prolonged periods at a high percentage of VO2Max), and athletes competing in severe environmental conditions.  

20-25 oz (approx 590-740 ml) is the equivalent of the typical regular-to-large size water bottle, and that’s an excellent gauge to work within.

Remember your electrolytes and calories!

We noted at the beginning of this article that besides cooling, water also plays an important role in nutrient transport. Water consumption bears directly on electrolyte and caloric uptake. You must consider the electrolyte content of your fluid intake, especially if you exceed about 24 oz/hr (710 ml/hr). If temperature and humidity rise above 70º F (21º C) and/or 70% humidity, we recommend that you take electrolytes before and during every hour of exercise. For a full discussion of electrolyte needs, see the article "Electrolyte Replenishment."

In addition, avoid fructose or other simple sugar-based drinks and gels, especially in the heat—unless you want to deal with a gastric emptying problem, which may result in nausea and other stomach maladies. Compared to complex carbohydrates, drinks or gels that contain simple sugars (typically glucose, fructose, and sucrose) require more fluid and electrolytes for effective absorption. Because they require more fluid, you get fewer calories per unit of water. You must restrict simple sugar drinks to a 6-8% solution range, which provides inadequate amounts of calories for energy production. You can make a nice drink in a water bottle that will absorb well and provide adequate fluid, but your caloric intake will fall far short of your body’s needs, and your energy level will suffer.

If you make a double or triple-strength batch of a simple sugar drink hoping to obtain adequate amounts of calories, you’ll require additional fluids and electrolytes to efficiently process the sugar. You will need to guess how much extra water and electrolytes your body needs to handle the sugar. If you guess low, your GI tract will be forced to pull minerals and fluids from other areas of the body. This scenario can result in nauseating results as your body literally dehydrates its working muscles while bloating your belly. Why take chances like that when your performance is on the line?

Your wisest choice is to use fuel comprised of complex carbohydrates, which is the carbohydrate source of all the Hammer Nutrition fuels. Even at a 15-20% concentration, these fuel sources absorb and digest rapidly, do not require excess fluid for transport through the GI system, and provide all the calories your liver can process. For more details on fueling, see the article "Proper Fueling During Endurance Exercise."

Multi-hour bottles of fuel—A convenient way to monitor fluid and calorie intake

If you’re going to be exercising for several hours, a convenient and time-efficient way to fuel—while also helping you monitor calorie and fluid intake with greater precision—is to make concentrated, multi-hour bottles of Sustained Energy or Perpetuem. This is discussed in the article “The Hammer Nutrition Fuels—What they are & how to use them” found later on in this handbook. However, since the topic here is hydration, presenting this information now is relevant.

Each scoop of Sustained Energy and Perpetuem that you put in a bottle reduces the water volume by about 1.5 ounces (approx 44 ml). For example, if you add two scoops of Perpetuem to a small 21-ounce (approx 620 ml) size water bottle, you won’t end up with that same amount of actual fluid; it will be approximately 18 oz (roughly 502 ml), perhaps even slightly less. For some athletes, 18 oz/hr is sufficient fluid intake, but for many athletes that’s not enough; oftentimes upwards of 25-28 oz (approx 740-830 ml) of fluid are required hourly. As a result, you’ll have to drink your entire fuel bottle plus plain water from another source. After awhile it can be difficult to keep precise track of your fluid intake because you’re fulfilling your needs from two separate sources.

To make things easier when doing a three-hour or longer workout, we suggest making concentrated, multi-hour bottles of fuel. For example, if you’re going to be exercising for four hours and you know that you need two scoops of Perpetuem to satisfy an hour’s worth of fueling, make an 8-scoop bottle in a 21-ounce (approx 620 ml) size water bottle. Now you have four hours of fuel in one bottle and that provides a number of benefits:

• Because you have four hours of fuel in one bottle, you need only drink one-fourth of that bottle hourly, which means you don’t have to drink a full bottle of flavored liquid hour after hour.

• You don’t need to stop every hour to make more fuel because you’ve got four hours in one bottle.

• You can drink and enjoy plain water from another source (another bottle, hydration system) to cleanse the palate and satisfy hydration needs.

Yes, there is some actual fluid left in that 8-scoop/4-hour bottle of Perpetuem, but the amount is small, yielding less than 4 ounces (approx 118 ml) hourly over the course of four hours. Does that small amount of fluid “count” towards fulfilling your overall hydration needs? Yes, but it’s a small enough amount to not have to think about if you’re keeping your overall fluid intake within our suggested guidelines (approximately 20-25 oz/ approx 590-740 ml hourly), and because those hourly guidelines do have some flexibility built in (+/– 3 oz or approx 89 ml).

With that in mind, that concentrated bottle of Perpetuem can thus be thought of as a “calories only” bottle and you’ll fulfill your hydration needs with plain water from another source. The beauty of this, among the other benefits mentioned earlier, is that because you’re fulfilling your calorie and fluid needs from sources independent of each other, you’re able to gauge your intake with greater precision.

So when your workouts are greater than three hours in length, give the multi-hour bottle of Sustained Energy or Perpetuem a try and you’ll find that it’ll be a lot easier to keep track of both your calorie and fluid intake… it's been a winning strategy for thousands of endurance athletes.

Increase water storage capacity for competition in extreme heat

Another wise strategy is pre-event super-hydration using a glycerol supplement. You’ll want to use this method before a long, strenuous event held in very hot or humid conditions. You can increase your water storage capacity by taking a loading dose of a glycerol solution, such as Liquid Endurance, for three days prior to an endurance effort. During this loading phase, you will gain some weight in stored water. It’s like having an extra water bottle or two on board. You’ll use this extra water first, and extend the time you can exercise in the heat before dehydration. 

Other ways to cool yourself in extreme heat

Although not directly related to actual water consumption, an external water application can help cool you. A cold, wet towel, sponge, hose, or sprayer on the head and torso can effectively lower body temperature, especially during a one-minute break. If you’re running, take a one-minute walk, douse yourself with water, and take a good drink. If you’re cycling, find a spot for a good coast or easy spin for a minute. The break from heavy exertion allows dissipation of internal heat. Combined with hydration and external water, this can effectively relieve heat stress, allowing you to finish hot weather endurance events. Highly competitive athletes might scoff at walking, but when it comes to core temperature, nature gives you two choices: cool down or DNF.

Fluid intake suggestions apart from the workout or race

Now that you have a good guide for your fluid intake during exercise, we can turn to two other considerations: how much you should drink overall during the day, and how you should hydrate just prior to racing or exercise.

For your regular daily hydration needs (that is, in addition to your exercise-induced needs), no research has conclusively arrived at an RDA for fluids, but about 0.5-0.6 fluid ounces per pound of body weight (roughly 33-39 ml/kg) makes a more accurate standard than the "eight glasses a day" commonly recommended for everyone. Multiplying your body weight in pounds by .5 to .6 will give you the figure, in fluid ounces, that you should aim for daily. Metrically, you’ll multiply your body weight in kilograms by about 33-39 and that’ll give you a good estimate, in milliliters, of what you should be drinking daily.

For satisfying hydration requirements prior to a race, there are several recommendations:

• 80-100 ounces (roughly 2.4 – 3 liters) of water during the four hours prior to the start of the race; ceasing consumption about 20 minutes prior to allow the stomach to empty.

• 500 ml (about 17 ounces) of fluid about two hours before exercise.

• One liter of fluid (about 34 ounces) in the two hours prior to the start of the race (about 17 ounces per hour), ceasing consumption about 20 minutes prior to the start.

Each of these recommendations has at least some research backing. You need to determine what works best for your system and the particular logistics of the race or training session ahead.

Personalized data is the key to hydration efficiency

We offer no "one size fits all" remedies. We do offer prudent and scientifically substantiated advice. We have given you some guidelines to start your assessment and calculation of your personal hydration needs. Each athlete is personally responsible to include hydration, fueling, and electrolyte replacement regimens into his or her training program. You must find out in practice—before competition—what works for you. Most of you will find your final figures will come very close to our suggested starting points. For others, you might find that in certain instances your needs in a particular event will require substantial modification.

If you’ve spent money on a heart-rate monitor, a multi-function watch, or a body-fat measuring device, and if you use those tools properly, you already have some serious training tools. We suggest that a good scale (preferably one that can measure less than one pound increments, such as a balance scale) may well prove to be your most valuable fitness investment. Weigh yourself before and after each outing, carefully noting the time, exertion level, miles, weather, and fluid, fuel, and electrolyte consumption. Another low-tech hint: make sure you know the capacity of your water bottles and hydration packs. Once you begin to log your fluid consumption and weight fluctuations, you’ll have the data to accurately calculate your personal needs in this absolutely vital area.

Final checklist and some quick tips

1.) If you finish an event weighing the same or more than when you started, you have overhydrated. If you’ve dropped 3% or more, dehydration has occurred. Up to 2% weight loss is safe and reasonable.

2.) For very long events, such as a century bike ride, the average rider will also lose a pound or more in energy stores (glycogen, fat, and muscle tissue) in addition to the water, so figure that into your weight difference.

3.) Don’t assume that you can drink unlimited amounts of water or fluid during exercise and expect that all of it will be absorbed and the excess will be lost in sweat or through the kidneys. You will instead bloat, dilute your blood, urinate excessively, and develop water intoxication.

4.) Train to get fit in the heat. Heat acclimatization and fitness reduce fluid and electrolyte losses by up to 50%.

5.) Wear the lightest, most evaporation-friendly clothing you can afford. Cotton isn’t on the list. Many fibers today provide superior wicking and evaporation that allow your sweat to do the work nature intended.

6.) In general, keep fluid intake between 20-25 oz (approx 590-740 ml)/hr. For lighter weight athletes, or those exercising in cooler temperatures, 16-18 oz (approx 473-532 ml)/hr may be perfect. Heavier athletes or athletes competing in hotter conditions may consider intakes upwards of 28 oz (approx 830 ml)/hr. If you feel you need more fluids, experiment with it in training, keeping in mind that you will require additional electrolytes. Regular fluid intake over 30 oz (approx 890 ml)/hr increases the possibility of dilutional hyponatremia.

7.) Use cold fluids as much as possible as your body absorbs them more rapidly than warm fluids. Know where to find cold water along your training routes. Use frozen and insulated water bottles and hydration packs.

8.) Urine color can indicate hydration level. Dark yellow urine means low hydration. Pale to light yellow is good. Don’t confuse the bright yellow urine you get after vitamin B-2 (riboflavin) supplementation for the dark yellow urine that indicates overly concentrated urine.

9.) During exercise, avoid foods and fuels that contain low chain carbohydrates. These simple sugar fuels require more fluids and electrolytes for digestive purposes. Also avoid carbonated drinks, as the gas inhibits absorption.

10.) Consider using Hammer Nutrition’s Liquid Endurance, a glycerol-based product, in a loading dose format prior to racing in the heat. The use of glycerol will maximize your fluid storage, which can be of great benefit during hot weather racing. Follow the specific instructions that come with the product.

11.) Use caffeine with caution. Used properly and sparingly, caffeine has ergogenic benefits. It does, however, act as a diuretic, which may deplete fluid stores more rapidly.

12.) During the hottest weather conditions, sponging yourself off with cold water, while taking a short periodic break from race pace, will provide heat relief.

13.) Know the symptoms of overhydration and dehydration. Stop immediately if you feel lightheaded or queasy or get the dry chills. No race or training is worth compromising your health.

Dehydration and overhydration are common problems that plague far too many athletes, some with severe consequences. Armed with the guidelines contained in this article, along with practice and testing in training, your performance and health need not suffer. Instead, you’ll be ahead of the vast majority of athletes who continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.

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Steve Born is a technical advisor for Hammer Nutrition with well over a decade of involvement in the health food industry. He has worked with hundreds of athletes—ranging from the recreational athlete to world-class professional athlete—helping them to optimize their supplement/fueling program. Steve is a three-time RAAM finisher, the 1994 Furnace Creek 508 Champion, 1999 runner-up, the only cyclist in history to complete a Double Furnace Creek 508, and is the holder of two Ultra Marathon Cycling records. In February 2004 Steve was inducted into the Ultra Marathon Cycling Hall of Fame.

© 2008, Endurance Marketing Group. This information is copyright protected. Please feel free to distribute this information as long as this copyright notice and EMG's phone number and/or URL are included. Content must remain unchanged and original authorship acknowledged.

15 Simple Ways To Improve Your Athletic Performance Right Now

Fueling Guidelines That Are Easy to Follow and Incorporate

By: Steve Born

      Proper fueling of the body prior to, during, and after exercise requires personal experimentation to find the ideal fit for you, the individual athlete. There is no “one size fits all” approach; we are all “experiments of one" when it comes to fueling during exercise. You need to determine, through trial and error in your training, what works best for you. However, there are some basic guidelines that will enable you to eliminate much of the guesswork, so you can more rapidly learn how to properly fuel your body, allowing you to enjoy higher quality workouts and better race performances.

      Some of these recommendations may seem pretty foreign to you, especially in regards to fluid, calorie, and electrolyte replenishment during exercise, where some “experts” tell you that you need to eat and drink at or near depletion rates. Before you subscribe to and follow those suggestions, consider the words of Bill Misner, Ph.D.:

The human body has so many survival safeguards by which it regulates living one more minute, that when we try too hard to fulfill all its needs we interfere, doing more harm than good. If I replace all the fuels I lose at the rate of 700-900 calories per hour, I bloat, vomit, present diarrhea, and finish the event walking or at an aid station. If I replace all the fluids lost all at once, I end up in the emergency tent with an IV for dilutional hyponatremia. If I replace all the sodium my body loses at the rate of 2 g/hour, I end up with swollen hands, eyes, ankles, feet, and noticeably labored exercise, or hypernatremia-induced bonking.

At an easy aerobic pace, the rate of metabolism increases from a sedentary state to a range of 1200-2000%. As a result, the body goes into “survival mode” where blood volume is routed to working muscles, fluids are used for evaporative cooling mechanisms, and oxygen is routed to the brain, heart, and other internal organisms. Interestingly, it is NOT focused on calorie, fluid, and electrolyte replacement, as some of the “experts” advise.

Pretty bold words (and warnings), indeed. The truth is that you don't need to suffer the undesirable maladies Dr. Misner describes; they're not a mandatory part of being an athlete. If you follow our suggestions, we believe you will not only avoid performance-ruining and potentially health-threatening consequences, you will also have much more enjoyable experiences and achieve better performances in your workouts and races. These suggestions have their roots in science and have been proven time and time again (and again and again) over the course of several years in working with endurance athletes. You have nothing to lose, and a whole lot to gain, by testing them in your training. I'm betting that the more of the following recommendations you adopt and practice in your training and racing, the fewer problems you'll run into fueling-wise and the better your performance will be.

1. Keep fluid intake during exercise between 16-28 ounces per hour.

 There's probably more misinformation on the subject of hydration than any other aspect of fueling, which is really bad because over hydration also presents the most serious physiological consequences of any fueling issue. Acute over hydration can cause hyponatremic (low sodium) induced coma and death.

In general, most athletes, under most conditions, will satisfy hydration needs with a fluid intake in the range of 20-25-ounces/hour—roughly the equivalent of the standard size of a small or large water bottle. Lighter athletes and/or athletes exercising in cool weather conditions may only require an intake of 16-18 ounces/hour. Larger athletes and/or athletes exercising under very hot and humid conditions are the ones that can consider fluid intakes at the high end of that range (28 ounces/hour), perhaps even upwards of up to 30 ounces/hour on occasion. Sure, you can sweat more than that, but you cannot physiologically replace it ounce-for-ounce.

Regular fluid intake over 30-34 ounces hourly really increases the potential for serious performance and health problems, so keep that in mind before you indiscriminately gulp down excessive amounts of fluid. If you override your internal mechanisms, you'll find out the hard way how your body deals with excess water intake during intense exercise.  Unless you enjoy nausea, bloating, and DNFs, forget advice like “drink to replace” or “drink even when you're not thirsty”—it's just plain wrong.

2.  Restrict caloric intake to 300 cal/hr during exercise.

 If you want to watch your race go down the drain fast, follow the “calories out, calories in” protocol that some “experts” recommend. Fact: your body can't process caloric intake anywhere near your expenditure rate. Athletes who attempt to replace all the fuels they lose—which can be upwards of 700-900 calories per hour—will most likely end up with bloating, nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea. Sound like a good strategy to you?  We didn't think so.

If you want to achieve your best performance, replenish calories in “body cooperative” amounts, allowing your fat stores to make up the difference, which they will easily do.  For most athletes, 240-300 cal/hr will do the job. For lighter athletes, 180-200 cal/hr may be just the ticket, while larger athletes can consider hourly intakes of slightly over 300 cal/hr.

Far too many athletes think they need to match calories out with equal amounts of calories in. They're usually the ones on the side of the road or off the back, waiting for their stomach to stop rebelling. If you follow a more sensible caloric intake, you'll be blowing by them, not joining them.

3.  Avoid simple sugars in your fuels; use complex carbohydrates only.

 You've heard the phrase “garbage in, garbage out,” right? Guess what—simple sugars (glucose, sucrose, fructose, and dextrose) are garbage. They're inefficient fuels for exercise, and they're health hazards when consumed regularly in typical dietary quantities. They have no place in your body.

This leads to the question, “Why do companies include these types of sugars in their products?”  Most likely because simple sugars are cheap, they sweeten the product, and they allow the label to read, “Packed with XX carbs per serving.” But just look at the side panel to find out what you're really getting.

Simple sugars give you energy peaks and crashes, and they also have a severe limitation on absorption. They need to be mixed in weak concentrations for efficient digestion, which means you can only intake about 100 cal/hr. You can consume more, but you can't absorb more. You'll only get sick trying. Complex carbohydrates, however, absorb at about three times the rate as simple sugars. That covers the 300 cal/hr we just mentioned. Plus you get smooth, steady, reliable energy-no peaks and valleys. Yes, complex carbohydrates do contain, as part of their naturally occurring structure, a small percentage of 1- or 2-chain sugars. There's a big difference, however, regarding how your body responds to these sugars when they are “part of the whole” rather than when they're isolated and added to a product as a separate ingredient… big difference.

As far as the fairly recent “multiple carbohydrates” studies are concerned—the research that found that a blend of carbohydrates increased oxidation rates, indicating higher energy production—take a closer look at the studies before you jump on the bandwagon. What you’ll notice is that most of the studies’ subjects (cyclists) exercised at low intensity, only 50-55% maximum power output, which I think we’d all agree is very much a recovery pace, if that. To be blunt, at a leisurely 50% VO2 Max pace, athletes can digest cheeseburgers and pizza with no gastric issues. So the issue isn’t whether the results of these published studies are disputable, but rather if they apply to faster paced, longer duration bouts of exercise. We do not believe this to be the case, which is why we do not recommend the use of multiple carbohydrate sources during exercise.

Look, we're not going into a long physiology lesson now; we just want to save your body, your health, and your performance. If you take the “garbage in, garbage out” concept with any seriousness you'll avoid the glucose/sucrose/fructose/dextrose products and stick with complex carbohydrate fuels.

4.  Exercise in the 2-3+ hour range requires protein, too.

 Carbs alone won't satisfy all of your energy requirements once you exceed two hours or so. Protein will have to satisfy roughly 10% of your energy requirements. You have two choices: 

1.)      Use a fuel such as Sustained Energy or Perpetuem that contains both complex carbohydrates and soy protein.

2.)      Allow your body to literally feed upon itself (that is, digest your own muscle tissue) to make fuel.

Did you pick #1?  Good call!

5. Use soy, not whey, during exercise.

 Whey protein is a superb protein when it's used at the right time:  after exercise. Do not use it before or during because the added glutamine quickly degrades to produce ammonia. Ammonia build-up is a primary culprit in muscle fatigue, and you're already producing ammonia when you exercise. Don't make it worse.

Now, there is some confusion regarding glutamine and ammonia that we'll clear up. Yes, glutamine does eventually scavenge ammonia. The key word, however, is "eventually." When glutamine metabolizes it increases ammonia initially, but then scavenges more than originally induced systemically, taking approximately three hours or so for it to accomplish this. Again, since you're already producing ammonia during endurance exercise and since ammonia is a primary culprit in fatigue, it seems logical that you'd not want to increase ammonia levels. However, that's exactly what you'll do when you consume glutamine supplements or glutamine-enhanced whey protein during exercise.

Soy or rice gives you the protein you need with minimal extra ammonia production. After exercise, when ammonia production is not an issue, glutamine-enhanced whey protein is great for immune system boosting, muscle tissue rebuilding, and enhanced glycogen synthesis.

6.  Use liquid fuels as your main energy source, even during prolonged training and races.

 There's nothing wrong with consuming a little solid food on occasion during prolonged exercise as a pleasant diversion from the monotony of liquid fuel consumption, but you must:

·         Make wise choices.  Choose foods that have little or no refined sugar and saturated fats. Don't think, “I'm a calorie burning machine so I can eat anything that I want.” What you put in your body greatly determines what you get out of it. Remember: garbage in, garbage out!

·         Make solid food consumption the exception, not the rule.

Solid food is harder to digest than liquid, and it requires more time, water, and electrolytes. Relying too heavily on solid foods can leave you feeling lethargic, bloated, and nauseated. Liquid fuels digest and absorb readily, so you avoid those unwanted maladies. Most of all, avoid all junk foods, which contain lots of saturated fats and refined sugars, at all times. Believe me, when the latter stages of the race are upon you, you'll be thanking yourself that you took a pass on that sugar & fat laden pastry earlier in the race.

7.  Remember to replenish electrolytes during exercise.

 You can get your energy fuels (“gasoline”) dialed in right, but if you neglect the electrolytes (“oil”), the dash light comes on-except your body doesn't have a dash light. Instead, you get cramps, spasms, muscle revolt, irregular and rapid heartbeat, and major bonk. Don't wait for the light to come on; those are the final symptoms of increasing impairment. If you don't respond well before your body's oil light comes on, you can pretty much kiss optimal performance, and probably the whole race, goodbye.

8.  Don't rely on salt tablets to fulfill electrolyte requirements. 

• “Electrolyte replenishment” does not mean “sodium or salt replenishment.” Sodium chloride (a.k.a. “salt”) is indeed an important component of electrolyte replenishment but it does not fulfill the entire requirements. Calcium, magnesium, and potassium should be replenished as well as all these minerals play key roles in the maintenance of many important body functions.

• Most of us obtain more than enough salt from our daily diet and most athletes have a reservoir of upwards of 8,000 – 10,000 mg stored in body tissues. In other words, when you start your race you’ll most likely be doing so with a huge reserve of sodium chloride “on board.”

• Keep in mind that “too much” can have as many performance inhibiting-to-ruining consequences as “not enough.” Over the years we have observed that far too many athletes “over salt” their bodies during exercise, with a variety of maladies such as bloating, water retention (edema-like symptoms), and stomach distress being the usual and undesirable outcome.

When it comes to sodium/salt replenishment the key is to provide an appropriate dose to support the maintenance of normal body functions without overwhelming the body with too much, which will override and neutralize those mechanisms.

How much salt is enough? Electrolyte depletion is widely variable—you can't rely on a “one-size fits all” bottled drink or drink mix. You need to experiment and find your own range for any given weather condition and duration of exercise. That being said, 200-400 mg of sodium chloride (salt) per hour, as part of a full spectrum electrolyte replenishment product, is a good starting point for most athletes under most conditions. That’s the amount you’ll receive in 2-4 capsules of Endurolytes. Certainly there will be occasions when 100-200 mg of salt (1-2 Endurolytes) will be completely adequate; on hot-weather workouts or races, it may be necessary to consume 500-600 mg/hour (5-6 Endurolytes).

9.  Don't use any new supplement or fuel, or supplement/fueling protocol, in a race without having first tested it in training.

 This is a cardinal rule for all athletes, yet you'd be amazed how many break it. Unless you're absolutely desperate and willing to accept the consequences, do not try anything new in competition, be it equipment, fuel, or tactics.  These all must be tested and refined in training. 

Because all Hammer Nutrition fuels are specific and formulated to easily combine with one another, you have all the flexibility you need to ensure that you can tailor a fueling program for any length of race, regardless of conditions. You'll never have to guess or try something off the table in hopes of trying to keep going another hour.

10.  Be flexible with your fuel consumption during a race, keeping in mind that what may have worked in training may not be appropriate under race conditions.

 Caloric intakes that worked during training may not be appropriate during a race; you may need to consume slightly less in a race than you did during training. Why? Increased anxiety, increased pace, and increased potential for dehydration all contribute to the possibility of a less-than-optimally functioning digestive system. In addition, at the increased pace during a race, more blood is diverted from digestion and directed toward maintaining muscle performance.

When you get to the race it's great to have a caloric “game plan” in place, but don't be a slave to it. You may need to alter that game plan (which may mean a slightly lower hourly intake of calories) to accommodate the possibility of a less-than-optimal digestive system.

11. Replenish your body with carbohydrates and protein as soon as possible after each exercise session.

 Here's a statement to remember: “When you're done training, you're not done training, at least not until you've put some fuel back into the body.”  Equally important as your workout (muscle exhaustion and nutrient depletion) is what you do immediately following your workout (muscle repair and nutrient replenishment). If you neglect to refill the tank, you'll never get the full value out of all the work you just put in… and what a waste that would be.

Increased fitness simply won't happen, at least not efficiently or effectively, if you ignore your body's cries for fuel replenishment. Give your body what it needs immediately after exercise, when it's most receptive to replenishment, and it will respond wonderfully—recovering faster, efficiently adapting to physical stress, and “learning” how to store more and more readily available fuel in the muscles.

An ideal and easy-to-use post-workout fuel is Recoverite, with its 3:1 ratio of complex carbohydrates and protein. Mix a couple of scoops with water, drink, you're done… simple. You've just put the best “finishing touches” on your workout that you possibly could, and you've given your body a great head start on tomorrow's workout.

12. Don't over-consume food the night before the race in the hopes of “carbo loading.”

 It would be nice if you could maximize muscle glycogen stores the night before the race, but human physiology doesn't work that way. Increasing and maximizing muscle glycogen stores takes many weeks of consistent training and post-workout fuel replenishment. Excess consumed carbohydrates are only going to be eliminated or stored as body fats (dead weight), so don't go overboard during those pre-race pasta feeds. Eat until you're satisfied, but not more.

13. For races over 60 minutes in length, finish a pre-race meal three hours prior to the start of the race.

 Let's assume you've been really good—you've been training hard (yet wisely) and remembering to replenish your body with adequate amounts of high quality calories as soon as possible after each and every one of your workouts. Great! You've now built up a nice 60-90 minute reservoir of premium muscle glycogen, the first fuel your body will use when your long race begins. Don't blow it now by eating something an hour or two prior to the start of the race!

Do you know what happens when you eat within three hours of exercise?  Your muscle glycogen stores get burned much more rapidly… in long-duration events that’s definitely not performance enhancing! For workouts and races lasting longer than 60 minutes (perhaps up to 90 minutes at the most), refraining from calorie consumption for the three-hour period prior to the start is crucial because you want to preserve your glycogen stores, not accelerate their depletion.

During shorter distance races, however, accelerated rates of glycogen depletion/utilization are not problematic so following the “three hour rule” isn’t a necessity. You don’t need the calories for energy (muscle glycogen stores will take care of the majority of that), but the presence of carbohydrates will elevate glycogen utilization. That’s what you want for a short race. If you eat something 1-2 hours prior to the start of a short-duration race, thus causing the insulin "flood gates" to open, yes, you will be depleting your glycogen stores at maximum rates. However, at this distance it’s a beneficial effect, as glycogen depletion is not an issue when the race is over within, at most, 90 minutes.

Bottom line: Fast three hours prior to the start of a longer-duration event (60-90+ minutes). For shorter events, consuming a small amount of fuel an hour to two prior to the start may enhance performance.

14. Don't sacrifice sleep to eat a pre-race meal.

 OK, you're convinced that it's a good idea to eat at least three hours prior to the start of your race. “But wait,” you say. “My race starts at 7 a.m. Are you telling me I have to get up at 3 a.m. or so just to eat?” Well, you could get up to eat if you're so inclined, but you don't have to. The fuel you've got stored in the muscles? It's going to be there, full strength, even after a night-long fast (really). In the morning your brain may be saying, “I'm hungry,” but your muscles are saying, “Hey, we're good to go.”

Bottom line:  do not sacrifice sleep just to eat. If you've got an early morning race start, the best strategy is:

• Eat a high quality meal the night before (topping off liver glycogen stores)

• Get an adequate amount of sleep

• Have 100-200 calories of easily digested fuel (Hammer Gel is ideal) 5-10 minutes prior to the start of the race

That's right, 5-10 minutes prior, not one or two hours prior. The key, in terms of muscle glycogen depletion rates, is in the timing. If you must eat before the start of your race, you need to complete consumption three hours prior. If that's not logistically feasible, have a little something 5-10 minutes prior. Do that and you won't expend your hard-earned glycogen too rapidly.

15. Consume appropriate amounts of high quality food for your pre-race meal.

 The goal of the pre-race meal is to top off your liver glycogen, which has been depleted during your sleep. Believe it or not, to accomplish this you don't need to eat 600, 800, or 1000 calories or more, as some would have you believe. A pre-race meal of 200-400 calories—comprised of complex carbohydrates, perhaps a small amount of soy or rice protein, and little or no fiber or fat, and consumed three hours prior to the start of the race—is quite sufficient. You can't add anything to muscle glycogen stores at this time (you'll just be topping off liver glycogen stores), so stuffing yourself is counterproductive, especially if you've got an early morning race start.

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More detailed information about proper fueling and all the Hammer Nutrition products can be found in The Endurance Athlete’s Guide To Success. You can download a free copy at

http://www.hammernutrition.com/guide

Steve Born is a technical advisor for Hammer Nutrition with over a decade of involvement in the health food industry. He has worked with hundreds of athletes - ranging from the recreational athlete to world-class professionals regarding their supplement/fueling program. Steve is a three-time RAAM finisher, the 1994 Furnace Creek 508 Champion, 1999 runner-up, the only cyclist in history to complete a double Furnace Creek 508, and is the holder of two Ultra Marathon Cycling records. In February 2004 Steve was inducted into the Ultra Marathon Cycling Hall of Fame.

Boulder 100
Perspective from Michele Delman

I saw this year's Boulder 100 from an entirely different perspective.  Because Reid, my husband, is the Race Director, I typically spend the weekend doing racer packets and timing, and juggling that with taking care of our five year old daughters and to do anything else I can to help out. 

This year I was fortunate enough to be able to run the race.  We put on six events per year for five years now and this is the first time I've run one.  We thought this might be a good first hundred for me.  Last summer I made my first attempt (unsuccessfully) at Leadville followed shortly by a try at Javelina which was also unsuccessful.  But I took all my learnings from those two races into my training for the Boulder 100.  

The day of the event was glorious!  The sky was clear and blue.  The wind was calm and the temperature was a very comfortable 60 degrees at the start.  The fall foliage was at its peak -- there were plenty of trees full of bright leaves in red, yellow and orange.  Thirty four of us in the 100 mile category, started the race along with all the teams and individuals competing in the 24 Hours of Boulder...the Run.

There were 14 laps of just over 7.1 miles each and they were out and back laps.  That gave us the opportunity to see all the other runners and to get back to our gear regularly.  There was also an aid station half way through each lap, and both the aid station and the base camp had lots of great food and friendly, helpful volunteers.  

The day time hours went by quickly and by the time evening was falling I was wondering how I could possibly still be running when the sun came up the next day.  I tried not to think about it and just kept moving.  I wasn't keeping track of who I was in front of and who I was behind.  Also, I wasn't sure who was doing the 24 hour solo and who was going for the hundred.  It didn't really matter, I just wanted to stay positive.  The truth was that my quads were throbbing and the blisters on the bottom of my feet were getting unbearable.  

When the sun came up, I could finally see who had made it through the night. Team RC (Ryan Cooper), who was going for 128 miles in 24 hours was still going strong.  Obama ‘08 (Nick Pedatella) had also finished 100 miles in 18 hours, 41 minutes!  The teams were still running strong, too.  They ran by effortlessly as I labored on my final lap.  

Twenty four hours and 44 minutes after I started the previous day I crossed the line to be greeted my husband who informed me I was the first female finisher.  It didn't mean much to me at the time.  I was just so happy to crawl into a chair while a very good friend helped me off with my shoes and socks.  

Is Mountain RATS the Ultimate Adventure?

Submitted by Scott Jamie on August 23, 2008 - 4:30am.

As seen in Colorado Runner Magazine.

 Date: 

08/22/2008 - 08:09

What is your definition of the “ultimate adventure”? Is it running on single track via the Continental Divide trail above 10,000 ft? Maybe beautiful high mountain lakes cold enough to make you hyperventilate? Maybe camaraderie with fellow adventures runners? Or could it be high alpine meadows littered with 6 or 7 different colored flowers? Better yet, trying to run with a backpack stuffed with 4 days worth of everything you need to survive? If any of these strike you as the “ultimate adventure” then Mountain R.A.T.S. must be put on your list for 2009.

24 men and women from as far away as Alaska took on Mountain R.A.T.S. stage race July 31st-August 4th in Steamboat Springs, CO. This stage race consisted of 4 days of running through some of the most beautiful terrain I have ever seen. The exact course was not revealed until the start, preventing even the locals from any sort of reconnaissance or stashing of luxury items. Everything that was needed for 4 days was to be carried on your back (minus sleeping bag). The minimum amount of calories allowed was 6000, but in order to recover 8,000 seemed to be a little more practical. Do I go with more calories (i.e. more weight) or go with the bare minimum in hopes of going faster? The race quickly turned into a strategic race for many of the top contenders but many participants just wanted an excuse to spend the weekend in the mountains.

The morning of day one the course was announced: Day 1 - 7.6 miles, 2200 ft. of vertical, day 2 - 24.4 miles, 3900 ft. of vertical, day 3 - 24.4 miles, 5300 ft. of vertical, and day 4 - 17.6 miles 2800 ft. of vertical. In all 74.1 miles and 14,000 ft of vertical in four days all while carrying 15 pounds on your back. Spot checks at aid stations throughout the day prevented anyone from abandoning any of the required equipment to reduce weight.

At the end of each stage, camp was set up amongst the pine trees with lawn chairs spread throughout the shade. Along with a big bath tub (lake) to ice the muscles and remove the one inch layer of dirt. Besides the swarming mosquitoes, the company was great! People came from all walks of life and were eager to share their story every day and night. The amazing new people I meet each and every time during these adventures continually fascinate me. Gemini Adventures provided reading material, cards, hot and cold water and a special treat the last night – SMORES! We had been scraping by with minimal calories, which made those smores much tastier - even for those who don’t like chocolate.

Reid Delman (RD) for Gemini Adventures did a great job organizing Mountain R.A.T.S. as he has done for all his other races. I participated in Desert R.A.T.S. earlier this year with a great experience so I was very happy to see the same support staff put in place for this race. This is a top-notch event that will spoil you for any and all subsequent events.

In the end, if you are looking for that “ultimate adventure” while being taken care of yet feel totally free then I suggest Mountain R.A.T.S. next year. In addition, this turns out to be perfect training for that fall 100 mile mountain race you’re planning. You will not be disappointed with the race organization, spectacular scenery, solitude, and camaraderie. I’ll be back for sure!

For more info on the Mountain or Desert RATS races, please visit www.geminiadventures.com.

You can also read more on this race from Scott's blog: http://teamfasteddy-fasted.blogspot.com/2008/08/mountain-rat...

Scott Jamie is a member of the Pearl Izumi ultrarunning team. He lives in Highlands Ranch, CO. In 2008, Scott has finished second in the Hard Rock 100, second at the Desert RATS Stage Race, first at the Mountain RATS stage race and fifth at the Leadville Trail 100.

Photo by Glen Delman

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A trail half-marathon and trek in lush green hills of Nepal.

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