This will be the shortest race report in the history of race reports. Over the last month, I have been following a strict low HR training plan to rebuild my endurance base after recovering from Covid and to hopefully manage and resolve my perineal tendinitis issues that I sustained in the aftermath of my bout with Covid.
The last time I followed the Maffetone or MAF HR based training method had been 7 years ago. It basically requires runners to use a simple formula to calculate their heart rare training zone, which is rather low to ensure they're training within the aerobic zone to build your aerobic base (basically your running engine). In general, the recommendation is to do this strictly for 3 months before adding or phasing in any kind of higher intensity workouts.
I had run the Delano Park 12 Hour race seven times before. I've had good runs, great runs and some not so good runs. Today was a not so good run. In fact, for me it was the shortest run to date at this event. I pulled the plug at 21 miles after having walked the last 2 miles/laps. The plan all along hd been to run 50K at MAF pace. While my pace dropped after the first 15 miles, I did stick to the HR zone. However, my motivation to run the planned distance waned rather quickly.
While I missed my goal, it was fun as always to catch up with the local running community in a real race. We're all largely deprived of in person races, so this was a great way to hang out for a bit, even if socially distanced and masked whenever in close proximity to others.
When I think back about my relationship with food and my diet in general, my earliest memories center on some pretty basic rules in our family. Soda is for special occasions only, sparkling water, juice and milk was fine, but we would usually not have drinks with our meals but rather after, so we wouldn't fill up of drinks before we actually ate our dinner. I grew up in Germany, which generally meant toast with cold cuts, cheese, jam or Nutella for breakfast, open face sandwiches with deli meat for lunch and a big dinner with some type of meat, often pork or beef along with potatoes and different vegetables cooked from scratch by my mom.
I developed a sweet tooth as I got older and food in general was as much about pleasure as it was about sustenance. While I did not have a difficult childhood in general, my parents did divorce when I was 15 and I did start to eat sweets in an almost regimented fashion. Picking up a coke, a bag of potato chips and a large chocolate bar became almost a daily routine. Thankfully, I also used athletics to stay busy and active, which helped keep my weight level. In fact, the only time I dealt with a significant increase in weight was during grad school. By that time, I was working full-time, but I had also started to smoke. Suffice it to say, while I had been a competitive athlete all my life, starting with soccer at age 6 and continuing later with kickboxing and ultimately ending up with ultra running, my other habits including my diet left a lot to be desired.
Fast forward to 3 years ago. I was in my mid 40s and had decided to start to get annual checkups. I had just recently changed general practitioners, leaving a doc that preferred to prescribe meds than deal with actual root causes of disease and choosing a fellow endurance athlete, instead, who would have a better understanding of my personality and lifestyle. At this point, I have had my share of serious health scares unrelated to my diet. I figured regular checkups would both keep me healthy as well as possibly help with my performance in general, if the blood tests during the checkup revealed any deficiencies.
When the doc returned with the results, I was slightly shocked. Two things required serious attention. One, my Vitamin D levels were too low and he advised me to take a daily supplement. This is a rather normal occurrence as we age, so I took that in stride. The second issue, however, was more concerning. My LDL cholesterol levels were through the roof, in the high 150s. While my HDL levels were great as a result of my ultra running, my LDL levels were still of major concern.
My previous general physician would have immediately prescribed a statin rather than look at other lifestyle changes. My current doc, on the other hand, understood my desire to avoid drugs and pursue lifestyle changes, instead. Obviously, I was about as active as one could be. I ran every day, I went to the gym a couple of times a week and I stayed all around active. In addition, I had quit smoking for good 7 years earlier. All that was left to look at was my diet.
My mind was made up pretty quickly. My wife was both a vegetarian and the only one capable of cooking delicious meals in our household and since I already really only had the occasional chicken, it was time to make the switch to a fully plant based diet. But since cholesterol is in animal products like dairy and eggs, I had to do more than just turn to a vegetarian diet, I had to go full vegan. It wasn't easy, but I was committed and I did not stray, A year later, my LDL cholesterol level showed a 20% improvement during my regular checkup. Fast forward 2 years (no annual checkup in 2020 due to pandemic) and here I was in January 2021 for another annual checkup. Unfortunately, the results were not good, not good at all. My LDL cholesterol had risen to pre-veganism levels and actually exceeded the previous mark. Another follow up exam discovered other risk factors that were quite concerning. A battery of further tests showed that my heart was still functioning and working at normal levels, but I had to face some hard facts, if I was to believe my doc and the status quo of science as it relates to cholesterol and calcium buildup and the risk they posed to cardiovascular health.
First, I agreed to take a statin to lower my LDL levels to a more acceptable level. However, I wasn't willing to just resign to taking a drug for the rest of my life. Instead, I decided that day to change to a completely whole foods plant based diet with zero added sugars, salts or oils or WFPB-SOS. Through all of these radical changes, my wife has been super supportive. She's rolled with the punches and adjusted things as needed to help me make this change happen.
This lifestyle changes the average macronutrient piechart significantly. While it can often be intimidating and quite challenging when first changing to a plant-based diet, especially for endurance athletes trying to get everything needed to both "perform and recover", it can feel even more challenging when you eliminate added sugars, oils and salt. Am I getting enough fat? Am I eating too many carbs? What about protein? Protein becomes a big concern, especially as it pertains to recovery after training workouts and endurance events. Day to day, this lifestyle change to the SOS free diet calls for a super low fat diet (10-15%). However, the research that is available to this particular diet does not specifically discuss how much carbs vs. protein once should consume, especially when it comes to ultra marathoners. Once again, I started to keep a food diary to see what would naturally happen with my macronutrient makeup.
Because I also significantly reduced soy products, I was getting most of my proteins from beans and sprouted breads. I felt I needed more. Thankfully, this wasn't anything new as I had identified this gap even when I first turned vegan three years ago. While opinions and research vary on hoe much protein an individual athlete actually requires, I did want to make sure to get between 15-20% of my daily caloric intake. I generally try to get my nutrients from natural foods, so I started to look for and try out different vegan protein supplements that were both clean and hopefully somewhat tasty. I rotated to a few different ones, but never really landed at one that I stuck with.
A year into my vegan journey, I ended up volunteering as aid station captain at one of the Tahoe 200 mile aid stations. While there, I ran into a team of volunteers that offered to help out at my aid station after the runner they were supporting had to drop for medical reasons. After spending many many hours with these guys and getting to know them, I found out that they worked for a young nutrition company that developed and manufactured protein supplements among other products. Not only were these good people, but they made the stuff runners needed. My first question to them: "So, do you make a vegan protein supplement"? Their answer: "Actually, we're working on that right now. Would you be willing to try it out?", "Sure", I replied, "I would love to."
A couple of weeks later, I received a package in the mail that contained vegan protein supplement in both Chocolate and Vanilla along with a couple of rad t-shirts. I tried it...and I loved it. If you've ever tried certain protein powders, you know the issues you can encounter. The flavor is off, it doesn't dissolve easily or it creates a dust cloud in your kitchen, to name a few. The Vegan protein supplement from Silver Star Nutrition has none of these issues. I was spot on in every aspect. Even more importantly, zero stomach issues. I was hooked. Zero unnecessary additives, ingredients or calories, just what your body needs and your taste buds crave. I've even added this stuff to my morning cereal and oats, but most of the time, I just create a tasty smoothie that has as few ingredients as this protein powder: Baby spinach, bananas, frozen blueberries or strawberries and usually chia seeds and some flaxseed flakes with a splash of unsweetened almond milk or water plus Vanilla protein powder. It is the perfect post long run or post gym session fuel and has helped me recover and be ready for the next workout.
If you're looking to find that perfect protein supplement, give Silver Star Nutrition a try. You won't regret it. Yes, Silver Star Nutrition does support me by providing me with free supplements, but this relationship developed organically after I did some initial product testing for them. If I didn't love their stuff, I'd go back to trying the other supplements out there. Final note, I am in no way a certified nutritionist or dietician, but I am an experiment of one. Hopefully, what works for me works for you as well. But you won;'t know until you try. See you on the trails!
It all started innocently enough. I received a call from my buddy Vic on the westcoast, "Hey man, go to Ultrasignup and search for Moab Red Hot 55K and sign up right now. we're all going to go, the whole crew." The whole crew refers to a group of friends from around the US. So I did what every reasonable person with an ultrarunning problem would do, I signed up. I had the furthest to travel, but since it's been nearly a year of any real travel, I still decided to take the camper van instead of booking a flight to travel to Moab, Utah. And since the race took place in February, I chose to travel the southern route through Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas rather than the more winter weather succeptable northern route through Kansas and Colorado. Oh boy was I wrong with that assumption. What was supposed to be a scenic drive turned into a battle with an ice storm on the way out west and a battle with a snow storm on the way back east. All in all, I traveled more than 4000 miles and visited 10 states, 3 national parks and monuments and 1 state park in less than 10 days, but that's for another adventure post to follow in the next couple of weeks.
It had been more than 8 years since I last traveled to Moab, Utah. The last time, I was still fairly new to ultrarunning. I participated in the Desert RATS 148 Mile Stage Race that included a couple of ultra distances stages. As I rolled into town this time around, I still remembered the places we stopped at back then. It was good to be back. I arrived Thursday night and located the King's Bottom BLM campground less than a mile outside of town and right on the Colorado River inside a beautiful canyon. Luckily, there were just a couple of other campers when I arrived as this was a first come first serve type of BLM campground. Since I owned an annual National Parks pass it only cost me $10 per night. I stayed 5 nights, working and exploring in this beautiful landscape.
On Friday morning, I explored Canyonlands and Arches NP before picking up my race packet drive thru style at a local hotel parking lot. I headed back to my campground, layed out my gear, pinned my bib on my running shorts, fixed some rice and beans and went to sleep.
I basically slept in the next morning as the socially distanced race start in waves wasn't scheduled to kick off until 8AM, a rather late start for an ultra. However, I was thankful for the extra hours of sleep and a chance for the day to warm up a bit. Race day called for temps in the 40s all day with a 100% chance of rain starting at 10AM. I chose my usual race kit, but wore a Patagonia houdini and thin gloves for the race start as well as a race vest to carry my camera and nutrition. I would normally just wear a singlet and shorts with a handheld for a 50K, but I was and still am dealing with a nagging peroneal tendonitis injury and had been training at MAF HR zone. My goal was to run within that zone for this race as well, a challenge for sure. A challenge which I failed pretty much from the start as the higher elevation in Moab (which I had failed to account for in my prep) caused my baseline heartrare to be 10 beats higher than normal, therefore making it impossible to have any chance at keeping that goal. However, I did try to keep it low by only running the flats and downhill sections, which made for a longer day for sure, but it kept me as close to my training goal for this race as possible. Unfortunately, moving and working at a much lower race HR than usual also meant that I would be significantly colder than expected. As a result, I kept wearing both my windbreaker and my gloves for the entire durarion of the race.
I had loaded my vest with a total of 6 Spring Energy gels, half of them Canaberry and the other half my new favorite Awesome Sauce. I also carried two pouches of the Pina Colada flavor hydration drink mix. Aside from grabbing a single banana and water from the aid stations, I relied solely on my own nutrition. I've been doing this for quite a while as I follow a very strict whole foods plant based (and now nearly salt, oil and sugar free) diet. There are health reasons for this personal choice of mine, but it has definitely helped with my recovery and performance.
My wave started at 8:04AM. Out of 10 runners in our wave, we were wittled down to 6 already, likely due to Covid and the general uncertainty and unease for some to travel. Thankfully, I had overcome my own battle with Covid-19 and had the antibodies to prove it, at least for another couple of months. I trotted across the timing mat at the start and less than a minute later, my heartrate was above the goal threshold. Oh well, let's just keep going and stay as relaxed as possible.
I kept my GoPro at hand and took lots of footge early on, until the rain and cold became too much, both for me and the camera. Let's just say red hot did not apply to the race this year. The course had been changed due to Covid restrictions, but it didn't matter to me since I'd never ran this race before anyway. There were a couple of out and back sections and loops, but overall I never really had the feeling of running anything repeatedly. There were beautiful canyons and desert landscapes, but when the rain started to fall and temperatures stayed low, my hands stopped to cooperate. Then my camera followed, first by throwing errors then shutting down completely.
I was able to enjoy most of the course for the first 20+ MILES, but by the time I arrived at the aid station at the highest point of the course, winds also had picked up and I had lost all feeling and control in my hands. I refilled my bottles and started to push the pace. It may not show in my splits, but I had to get the heartrate going to try to get warm. By the time I finally made it off the rim, I started to get the feeling back ever so slightly. I continued to push to keep warm. The rain continued, but with the wind having died down below the rim conditions became more bearable.
I continued to run, now even on some of the climbs to make sure to stay warm. When I started to final decent to the finish, I was feeling much better. I crossed the finish line somewhere in the bottom of the front third of the field, but my finishing time was not important today. My ankle held up, while not being any better or worse than before and I felt good crossing the finish line. Final note, this race was both extremely well organized and run and the race swag was fantastic. While I probably won't run this race again (I prefer lost of single track trails), I will be back to this area for sure, as soon as later this year...#Moab240 :-)
 |
| Can't see the forest for the trees:-) |
This year has been largely defined by a global pandemic, i.e. COVID-19 also known as the Corona Virus. Since March 2020, I've witnessed more race cancellations than your average trail and ultra runner should witness during their entire lifetime. But all kidding aside, while some states are still avoiding ANY and ALL public gatherings, some states have slowly allowed outdoor events to take place again, under special restrictions of course, in an effort to prevent the further spread of the virus. Thankfully, the Upchuck 50K takes place in one of those states allowing these events as long as they fulfill certain heatlh and safety precautions.
 |
| Anxiously awaiting the race start after enjoying yet another most entertaining pre-race roll call from "RayJay". |
Initially, I was going to drive my camper van to the location for the race finish on Friday evening and spend the night right there in the parking lot of a municipal sports park. However, those plans were squashed shortly after 11PM, when an indescript maroon SUV pulled up right behind me (the ONLY other vehicle in the entire parking lot) with his headlights shining straight at my van. After sitting there for about 10 minutes, clearly trying to decide whether my vehicle was occupied or not so they could proceeed to attempt to rummage through my van for valuables, I decided to let them know my vehicle was indeed occupied by shining my cell phone screen into their direction.
 |
| Can you spot the trail? |
While that did the trick and they pulled out of the lot, it also ended my "desire" to boondock. Instead, I drove down the street to a nearby motel to finally get some sleep. While I'm sure car camping is neither encouraged nor allowed in that particular park, I had hoped that I would be ok to do so. Anyway, lesson learned:-)
 |
| Cool rock overhang. Am I the only one worried about these things collapsing on you when passing underneath? |
I pulled into the parking lot once again on race morning to pick up my race bib and catch the shuttle to the race start of this low key point to point 50K on the Cumberland Trail. While there aren't any mountains in the area, this race still features more than 6000' of vertical gain. Add to that the limited number of aid stations (one at mile 7 and one at mile 18) and you have yourselves a true old school trail ultra.
 |
| Blue sky + Fall colors = Beautiful trail run |
Matt Sims, the RD for the Upchuck 50K, limits race entries to 75 total, which not only adds to the low key feel of the event, but it's actually what attracts many of us to this event. I have only done this event twice now, but it already feels like a trail family reunion. There are always "new" runners from all over the Southeast there to participate, but you will also recognize many of the faces of local and regional runners, who return to this event year after year after year. Granted, the sweet Patagonia swag definitely doesn't discourage participation either. However, if you are looking for big fanfare or any handholding then this event is not for you. Pay close attention to the trail flagging or be ready to run some extra miles on limited fuel. This is not a deterrent for many of us but rather the attraction.
 |
| The water was flowing along the entire course. |
Due to Covid, race packet pickup had been moved to race morning to minimize the number of gatherings. The race shuttle AKA school bus AKA "Covid Capsule" (RayJay quote) left promptly at 7:30AM for a 8AM race start at a trailhead 15 minutes north of Soddy-Daisy, our current and race finish location. This year, runners were shuttled in two busses rather than the usual single bus in order spread runners out more as another Covid precaution.
Upon our arrival at the trailhead, runners slowly assembled for the traditional pre-race roll call by "RayJay", but not until being called out and embarrassed for peepeeing in the woods. After another memorable roll call, runners were sent off onto the gnarly Cumberland Trail to complete this year's Upchuck 50K, a point to point trail race, where runners cross multiple streams and rockhop across leave covered single track trail wjhile climbing more than 6000 feet. But runners do get the luxury of two aid stations along the way, one at mile 7 and one at 18. This means you better pack enough calories and fluids in your pack to avoid bonking or getting dehydrated.
After both falling and having my shoes go untied (rookie mistake not to double knot the laces) less than a mile into the race, I caught up to Ryan Meulemans and a group of runners, whom I would stick with for the majority of the first 18 miles. Once we rolled into mile 18, 3 hours 8 minutes into the race, it seemed the group finally stretched and just like that, I was on my own. I moved pretty well up until this point. However, it seemed running 3 ultras in the previous 8 weeks may have started to show some residual fatique.
 |
| Bright fall colors. |
I was able to run a good bit over the next five or six miles, but by the time I had a measily 10k to go I was done. I slowed to a shuffle and soon after I just walked. I started checking my watch every minute. It was a struggle. Calf cramps started to rear their ugly head. I popped SCaps like gummy bears and eventually gor them back under control. However, I had slowed so much that I had now run out of fluids as well. What had looked like a massive PR at mile 18 now looked like I may not even match last year's time. By the time I finally popped out onto the final road to the finishline with 1.5 miles to go, I tried to pick up my pace. In the end, it just wasn't enough. I missed last year's time by exactly one minute.
In the end, I got exactly what I came for. A good laugh at the pre race roll call, a fantastic time in the woods and more laughs at the finish line BBQ with my trail family. I can't wait for registration to open again to be out there to run hard and laugh even harder. Until then, check out my race video here to get a better feel for the race:
