The 50-Mile Experiment

Noah finishes 50 miles.

On July 4, one my athletes, Noah Moore, completed the Qu’est-ce que c’est? 12-Hour Run. Noah has made some remarkable progress in the last few years, having lost nearly 100 pounds and turning into an accomplished runner. I love working with Noah. His enthusiasm is contagious, infecting those around him. This enthusiasm has also changed his family’s approach to health and fitness.

When running his marathons, Noah has struggled with finishing well. He starts out great and by the time he hits 20 miles, he’s crumbling. We started our coach-athlete relationship as he was tapering for his first marathon. He was very dissappointed in how he finished the race. His refueling was good - he just cramped badly in the final miles of the race. The same thing happened to him in the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon.

As we began looking at training for this year’s Monumental Marathon in November, we reviewed last year’s training and racing. We agreed that our plan of attack would include several 20+ mile runs. Noah recovers well and I felt that going the longer distances would not only help improve his time but that his body would also adapt well to going longer. Now, as a result of his 50-mile run, I think he’ll finish faster but that going longer will only help minimally in the cramping department.

Every runner is an experiment of one and Noah is no different. We talked through a plan for his 50-miler that included fueling and hydration. I couldn’t crew for him the whole day but he did have someone there in the morning while I was a work. He had everything in place. I met him before the race, snapped some photos and headed to work with a plan to return that afternoon.

When I returned, Noah was past the marathon mark, at mile 27 or 28. When he came through the checkpoint (The run course was a one-mile loop.), he was not in great shape. I could tell he was having problems forming thoughts - he was a bit goofy. As he took off for the next loop, I started asking his crew about what he had been eating, his rest, and his hydration. Based on that information, I was certain he had not been drinking enough.

Next time Noah came through, I took his water bottle and filled it 3/4 full of Bana and topped it with Powerade. I made him stop long enough to drink about 2/3 of the bottle and then sent him out again. The next time in, I made the same concoction and this time made him sit down. I told him he couldn’t go out again and until he drank most of the bottle. When he finished half the bottle, I topped it off and sent him out again. By the time he came back, I could tell he was feeling much better. Noah later admitted that, in his delirium, he thought I was trying to drown him. Seriously. Dehydration can really do you in - people talk about the physical aspects but when you’re losing electrolytes as well, you don’t think properly and muscles don’t work well.

By the time Noah finished 31 miles (50K), his family had arrived and he had made a 180 degree turn around. He was lucid and feeling good. He was weary but wasn’t cramping. From that point forward, Jen, his wife, Peyton, his son, and I worked together to ensure he was staying well hydrated. He eventually finished 50 miles by the cutoff time.

The following week we reviewed some of the things we learned. I made mention that in the Marine Corps Marathon that I drank at least one cup of water and one cup of Powerade at each water stop. He admitted that he did not drink at every stop and only drank two cups at a couple of the stops. We have similar sweat rates in the early morning heat and humidity - about 64 ounces in an hour. Folks who sweat heavily cannot replace everything they lose in an hour, so having a good hydration plan is essential.

We also realized we would have never learned that it was electrolytes and hydration that was the issue in his marathons. Only when he recovered quickly once he started drinking well did we learn what the real culprit was in the poor finish in the marathon.

Lessons Learned

• Create a hydration and fueling plan.
• Follow the plan. Don’t abandon the plan because you start out well.
• Account for fuel, fluid, and electrolyte loss.
• Practice the plan. You need to know what works.

What do you mean when you talk about hydrating?

DRINK!

Question:

What do you mean when you talk about hydrating? How much should I be drinking? What should I drink?

Answer:

Summer in the lowcountry is tough on marathon runners. Dehydration is when the water in your tissues is depleted below normal levels. Your performance is affected when you lose as little as 1% of your body weight. For a 150 lb man, that’s 1.5 lbs.

Water is absolutely your best fluid to combat dehydration. The best way to tell if you’re dehydrated is to check your urine color. Here’s a good explanation of what to look for. Scroll down to see the urine color chart. (Yes, Boot Campers, I know it’s from the Army but it really is good information.)

http://www.detrick.army.mil/ih/ehhot.cfm

You can come up with a rough gauge to estimate how much you should be drinking by doing a simple sweat test.

1. Weigh yourself with no clothes.
2. Get dressed.
3. Run for an hour or whatever kind of exercise your normally do.
4. Weigh yourself again with no clothes after completely toweling off.

If you drink anything between the weigh-ins, then you need to measure what you drank. Your weight in ounces that you lost is equal to your sweat rate in ounces/hour for that type of exercise and exercise conditions. In my case, my sweat rate for running in the middle of summer is at least 64 ounces/hour.  In Boot Camp, it’s about 30 ounces/hour when we’re indoors in the winter.

What about sports drinks?

Sports drinks contain lots of sugar and are useful for staying fueled during a long run but for now, stick to water. That’s what they were developed for. We’ll talk more about fueling at a later time.

How Much Should I Drink?

It’s not really complicated. I try to make sure I am fully hydrated before I go to bed and I drink 16-20 ounces first thing in the morning to replace what I’ve respired out overnight. During the summer, I am really vigilant about drinking water in the evening and I don’t really care if I need to use the bathroom multiple times in the middle of the night. Better that than to be dehydrated when I start out in the morning.

I try to consume at least 28 ounces of water an hour while running if I’m running more than 90 minutes. That’s what most sources claim to be the maximum amount your body can process in that hour. After I run, I consume at least one ounce for every minute I was exercising because my sweat rate is approximately 1 oz every minute. I try to do that within the first hour after I’m done and I’ve been known to completely consume two 24 ounces bottles immediately after running.

Coach, I have one more question: I’ve heard that cold water will cool me off quicker than tepid water. Is that true?

Yes - but not so you would notice. The cooling effect is very minimal. However, if having your drinks cold will induce you to drink more and more often, than drink cold drinks.

Do You Drink Water?

As somebody who has exercised nearly every day for the last three years, I’ve consumed a lot of water and sports drinks for recovery during that time. I can’t imagine not having clean water available to me at a moment’s notice. I whine when it’s not icey cold. Yet, for much of the world, access to clean water is impossible.

Please join me for the first five day in May in drinking just water - and tap water at that. Take the money you save and give it to Water Missions International (WMI). WMI is a local (Charleston, SC) based non profit with worldwide impact and with national support. Learn more about them. They do remarkable work.

Drink water. Make a donation. Save lives. It’s that simple.