The Badwater Plan

The Badwater Plan

I meant to post this the day of the race but all the details of getting ready for the race kept me from seeing if I had internet service or not.  I did have a plan going into the race and that is what made it a great race.  I did not have much of a plan after Panament and that is what slowed me down.  After blowing up in the hot sun in some workouts before Badwater I decided to spend more time training my crew and getting them ready.  This is on advantage I had over just being a runner. From my ultramans and bike races I know the value of having a crew and how to use them.  I spent more time preparing them then I really did on my training.  As I was running in the desert at the race and passing other runners in their suits with their crews a mile ahead of them I thought “what are they thinking?”   Trail runners are used to survival since they do not have crews and they are really tough.  Take this from someone who is at the back of the pack in a trail run.  I had at least a dozen people ask me what my plan was before the race and I reported it was to “take off like a cannon ball until I blew up”.  They thought that I was kidding but I wasn’t .  I did however have a plan to ease up but no one really knew when including me.  I knew that running over 53 miles was all going to be new territory for me and was not sure what would happen after I passed the 9 hour mark of running.  I did know that I was taking a risk going into the race with this strategy but I only wanted to do BAdwater once so I had to give it a shot.  I really did not think I would not finish so that was not ever an option…I just did not know when.

I did some training weekends in the desert and really got to check the fist part of the course out. I also trained in DV for RAAM and knew the landmarks and mileage until Stovepipe wells.  I really did not pay attention to the last part of the course and looking back that was a mistake.  I planned my nutrition out and even had a pace to keep track of for the first part of the race.  Yes I did pull Pam Reeds amazing time up from her past record year and look at it.  I did not look at it past Stovepipe …oops.   I remembered her splits while racing  going into Stovepipe Wells and that was about it.  I still don’t know where the other time stations really were but when I get to my actual race report I will look that up.  For now I will let you know my plan that I had and when you get my race report you will see what a great plan it was.  The reason for not planning out my nutrition and such for the end of the race is that is usually falls apart in an ultra race and we begin to eat other things.  I have this saying for ultra racing and that is the best plan is to plan that the plan will fall apart…does that make sense?  I just knew that I wanted to have as many miles under me before I blew up so that I would have less to do when I felt bad.  I knew I was going to push it to the limits and I did.  I just wonder what might of happened if I had a plan for the end of the race?  Who knows?  I don’t think I would have been the winner with Jamie and Pams amazing times but I might have had a better time at the race and felt better in the end. 

I am new to ultra running and so I had to go into this race with my own strategy and follow my heart.  I did not do much reading on heat training nor did I pick a whole lot of brains.  I did however pick some of the best and felt like people were holding back.  I tried looking like the pictures and running in that darn hat and suit but I hated them.  This was when I decided to just go with the flow and follow my heart in this race.  I used my illogical thinking for this crazy race and I do think it worked.  

I decided not to run in the suit 3 weeks out from the race and ignore some of the advice given to me.  I knew I would be bitching about this hat and suit the whole time if I wore it so I planned on wearing just my good old Zoot shorts and sports bra.  I decided to utilize the crew to keep me cooled down.  This theory worked when I trained in 122 degree heat 3 weeks out and  I was really comfortable with my plan going into the race.  WE girls have it made with this bra!!!  I planned to put a zip lock bag the sports bra and leave it opened so that I can get my own ice to wet my throat.  Training in 122 degree heat told me that the dry throat was going to want cold water all the time and I was worried about over drinking and messing with my electrolytes.  This covered keeping my chest cool and when the ice melted some I could actually squeeze the bag and cold water would come out and cool me.  This worked like a charm in training.  My crew was to change it every 10 minutes or even before then.  The other way to cool me down was using the bandanas that had crystals in it.  These things were great on my training weekend and when we set them on the dry ice they got really cold and lasted longer.  I loved the bandana and it cooled my arteries.  A cold wet hand towel that had been soaking on dry ice was another thing that I planned to use every so often for a treat to bring my temp down to normal when I was getting over heated.    I had plans on some of the hills to put it on for 30 seconds and walk.  I even knew what hills I was going to use it on and had a visual of when I was going to get to towel off.  Then there was the mist and I was not all that crazy about it but it was in the plan to use it.  All these methods were my plans of staying cooled down for the desert.  I will let you know what really did work in the race later but this was “the plan” going into the race.  It worked great on my training weekend.  The tips that went out the door was the long sleeve shirt and hat.  Simply because I like I be as naked as possible and show cleavage …just kidding.  If I wore the shirt I was not able to get to my ziplock bag easily so that is why I trashed the clothing. I figured having my crew on me every 4-5 minutes was enough and keeping me happy with a peace of ice was going to be too hard for the crew when I could just get it myself. The full hat thing also drove me nuts and running with that ice in the hat made my neck hurt.  I would try to run so that I could balance the ice in the middle of my head so I went with the good old visor.  This was the planned strategy for the icing…I know…I am a high maintenance runner.

As far as nutrition goes……I had a really good plan for this.  From all the ultra cycling my stomach has become sour and my guts have been really messed up.  I do know that hammer nutrition works for me but I had to take a break from it for a while to be “wanting” it for the race.  I took myself off of the product I thought I would be using at the beginning of the year and started using perpetuem on my two training weekends before the race……talk about thinking ahead.  At my ultra cycling races my electrolyte intake has always been a bit messed up from icing and diluting  my formula.  I had fear that this would happen at Badwater but I came up with a solution.  I wanted to make sure everything was cool and so I decided to make it even harder for the crew to feed me by using the smaller 8 oz fuel belt bottles.  I had 25 of them and all different colors for each of the hammer products I planned to take in.  The crew would mix a bottle of perpetuem in a 20 oz bottle with 4 endurolytes undiluted and then pour them into the fuel belt bottles.  They also mixed all my water in the 20 oz bottles with 4 endurolytes so that I would not ever be given a solution that was watered down.  This was to make sure I was on track with my endurolytes.  My fuel for the desert was alternating one perpetuem fuel belt bottle with one bottle of water every 10-12 minutes. These bottles were cool but did not have ice in them.  The bottles were to me made a little ahead and then put on the dry ice. This meant I was consuming 2x20 oz bottles of fluid and 800mg of sodium every 1 hour and 10 minutes or so.  This was to be adjusted by the temp to less but not more.  I would take an additional endurolyte to make up for all the ice I took in.  the plan was to not take in anything that did not have an electrolyte in it.  I had a “pooch patrol” that knew what my belly looked like normally so wearing just a sports bra was for my “pooch patrol monitors”  and bad pictures.  Milk has been a race food for me but I wanted to use my hammer as long as possible and save milk for emergency and a treat. I knew what there would be time that I would ask for it but it was not to be put in the fuel belt bottles.  I planned on using the small milk containers at the convenience store and putting the endurolytes in the milk.  If I requested this then the crew was to bring the container out and I could drink half of it so that the crew could still keep track of what I took in.  Little did I know the desert would not have enough milk for me at the stores but this was the milk plan.  I intended to stay off milk and use my hammer until I could not stand it anymore.  I did plan my nutrition over the fist mountain.The plan was to walk some and drink a protein shake with milk while I was walking to recover the muscles from the hard run in the desert to get ready for the downhill run and another flat stretch until the second mountain.  I figured that by the time I was at Panimint I that I would have to come up with another nutrition system so I did not plan past this point.  Now that I look back this was mistake….oops.  Who would of thought my plan would of worked so well?

As far as the training goes I really did not do any killer runs to get ready.  I did the 50 mile grasslands run, 50k in Huntsville, and then attempted a killer 50 mile trail run in Jemez.  The Jemez run taught mea lot even though I did not finish it from a sprained ankle. I did not get much of the Jemez run done but I did attempt to run down the side of a mountain a few times in the race.  The downhill running in Jemez tore me up and I was not able to walk for two weeks or run normal.  This told me that my training weekends in the DV valley needed to be some downhill running.  I got two weekends there and ran down the mountain to Panimint each time to get the eccentric training I needed so that I would not pay the price during the race.  I figured that if I went into the race not doing some downhill running that I would pay for it at the end of the race.  The last time I did it 3 weeks before the race was very beneficial.  My big training weekends were Fri, Sat, and Sunday runs that were 2 workouts of 2.5 hours.  I don’t think I got all that time in but it was close.  There was one run that was missed due to arriving in DV later then planned. Out of those runs one was done on the hills in the morning and the afternoon workout was done in the heat on certain parts of the course.  These weekends are what prepared me for my walk parts during the first part of the course.  I never looked at the course much past Panamint and never drove the last 13 miles.  I wanted to leave that for my imagination…what was I thinking?

The one thing that was researched was how to prevent blisters.  I was told that if you taped that you should not have any problems.  I also went with buffing the calluses off so that I could treat them if necessary. I had Denis Jones “the blister queen” scheduled to come by and tape me the day before the race.  I did practice with the tape and it worked great.  Since I had not done any running over 53 miles I planned on taping the whole foot.  I did know where my blister parts were but I got orthotics in January so my pressure points were different.  The best option was to tape the whole foot.  I also had about 6 pairs of shoes in all different sizes and planned on checking the tape and changing the shoes to larger if necessary.  These were all piled nicely in the van with labels on them so the crew could grab the pair quickly.  I had 3 kinds of inserts since I am still on new orthotics.  Each of them had a little support and I was going to downgrade when necessary.  All this was in the plan.

Last but not least my music was planned.  I have this van that has some loud music and I had two boys that were going to be my DJs.  I went over most of the music with one of my younger crew members and showed him different music to use during the race and also showed him how to use my PA system.  I have this toy that says “boom Chicka Wah wah” and it always makes me smile.  I wanted to hear it often to make me think of some fun times from the Swiss Gigathlon and Le Tour Ultime.  My buddy Dirk used this method on me.  I had about 4 different ipods to choose from.  Adrain provided the best music for the race and I am not sure what I would of done without it.

Ok so there are no secrets on my strategy and if I missed something then ask and I will tell you.  I did not want to give all this info out before the race but I did want to share it.  This might not work for some people but this is what I planned.  This took forever to type up!  I am sure it took a while to read as well.  The race report is coming shortly and you will see what worked and what did not.  I don’t really like to keep secrets so enjoy the info.