My biggest ultra running experiment to date?

No, I didn't run an ultra this weekend, I didn't push the physical limits like other did for instance at the 24-hour World Championships or the California International Marathon. Actually I didn't run at all since my fast, albeit 0.1-mile short, Turkey Trot 10K. While stopping running for a few weeks is an experiment in itself for me every year, that's not new, I've followed this precept from Scott Jurek for more than 10 years now.

So what is it then? It had been in my mind for several years, I wanted to add to this running break something else which has to see with nutrition: follow a detox program to attempt an even bigger reset of my body. First, Agnès had told me about a 1-week detox program from a local yogi, based on drinking a lot of hot water for instance. Then it became the Whole30 which several of her friends have enjoyed recently. As the name implies, this is a 30-day program.No sugars, no grains, no dairy, repeat for 30 days!

I was about to go for it but I also took the opportunity to check another of these ideas which tormented since I discovered Vespa Power more than 5 years ago and heard about the great success stories of elite runners adoption the whole OFM approach. While Vespa helped me tremendously in races by allowing me to slash calorie intake, I didn't want to change my diet for this, I was so comfortable with my habits of 50 years. I love bread, I love pastas, I love dairy, great start! Besides, I travel so much that I took it as an excuse to not get on a strict diet. Last but not least, I did adopt this easy excuse for running when people ask "but why are you running ultras?": as Scott Dunlap once said, "so I can eat everything and anything!"

Change, so hard to do for most of us... The New York Time actually has an article on this exact topic this weekend, a quick and worth read for all (although I don't find the article so well written --unless the 7 yet in the text have the purpose of really making a point-- but the author is a Harvard Professor, and I not, so what can I say... ;-): Why Trying New Things Is So Hard to Do, by Sendhil Mullainathan.

Since I was going to go for a radical change anyway, I reached out to Peter Defty and he immediately accepted to coach me if I wanted to go OFM. OFM? Optimized Fat Metabolism, a state in which your body gets its energy mostly from fat, which we all have plenty of in our body, much more calories than our muscles can store of glycogen.

To be more explicit, you are teaching your body what it used to be great at: live a full and active live on less than 15% of carb. While fattier dairy is ok (cream, hard cheese) to do a faster reset I even cut on all dairy. Not a single fruit either, except avocados and nuts. The rest is meat, fish, eggs, liver, paté, and lots of vegetables. And no chocolate, yikes!

So, here am I, this is the end of day 10 and I'm proud to report that I'm holding on, I can still function, phew! First, I have to thank Peter for his guidance and motivation tips but also Agnès who got on board, is following the same diet and does a lot of the extra cooking needed to eat healthier. Not that we were eating much junk food but cutting all processed food is another level. And the hardest of all is to no be able to get a dessert, forgive the expression, that sucks... In France, a meal isn't over without something sweet, not to mention some cheese. To make up for them, we indulge a half cup of assorted non-salted nuts, but even that isn't too much to Peter's liking. Tough discipline.

As I said, I'm not exercising so it's hard to tell the effects so far. Besides, it typically takes the body to fully get adapted to this new mode of energy source, patience is required. To be honest, I would have hoped that cutting on gluten and dairy would already have more positive impacts, but this is certainly not the time to turn back, this is at least a 6-month experiment to be conclusive.

Overall, I'm learning a lot about nutrition, it was about time! And this was a big eye open on how bad the society has become about eating habits and the overwhelming presence of processed food everywhere. Also, I didn't realize how much I enjoyed eating certain things, not necessarily for their nutritional value or quality, but for the taste and pleasure I was taking. A very different philosophy of eating, which requires to rewire your mind and senses. And that takes quite some drive and will power... And some organization as well: for instance I did travel with my lunch and dinner today in order to stay on track...

That's it, no running pictures, I'll share more on the experiment, the biggest and hardest change I've experienced so far, with so many doubts popping in my mind since I don't have super strong drivers and compelling action to change. But I had been intrigued about OFM for a while, and was ready to give it more than a try, apparently. We'll see if it also helps on the race performance side, but I'm more interested in the health benefits such as the management of cholesterol levels and the reduction of sugars in the body, which represent the main fuel for cancer cells.

Overall, like we say about ultra running, this is a huge experiment and leap of faith because, although the approach is backed up by science and success stories, or even proven by the Inuits for instance, each body is different and we still need to rely on mind and guts feelings to adjust, without a full lab instrumentation. Let then see where it leads...

In the meantime, enjoy the time of Advent and the spirit of the Holidays. But please don't send me pictures of your Christmas cookies, ok? Thank you! ;-)

GU Energy: keeping the bunnies ultra running!

Didn't you have friends comparing you to the Energizer bunny already when you were sharing ultra tales with them? It happens to me often and that usually leads to great discussions about where we get our physical and mental energy to keep going after 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours...

As much as I now get used and equipped to draw many calories from my body fat while running, thanks to Vespa Power, I still rely on GU Energy a lot, first to keep my electrolytes in check, but also for a few strategic carbs to keep moving and get a burst of energy before a long and big uphill for instance. So, no, in this year end season in which you see a few athletes boasting about their sponsorship, I didn't get on Team Energizer, I don't think there is one as a matter of fact, I trust nobody is cheating by running on electric power (yet...)! ;-)

No Energizer then, but, after losing the Brooks sponsorship last year, and insisting on paying for my own Vespa, I'm thrilled that GU Energy kept me on their GU Pro program.

With all I consume in races and training runs, that discount really helps. To avoid surprises during races, with other flavors or brands, I even carry my own GU2O and GUs during races instead of relying on what is provided at aid stations. And with all the racing I do, I need a lot! Here is what I got in the mail this week to get me through 2016:

A few tips on how I use these products:

1. GU Drink Mix (ex Brew, which I still use the original Gu2O in my blog posts for). I stick to Lemon Lime, that has worked well for the past 10 years and makes it predictable. I typically drink 20 oz of it per 15 miles (2-2.5 hours), more on super hot days, a bit less on cold ones. I have a few Drink Tabs in case, for long travels, but, most of the time, I carry powder doses in snack-size ziplocs. By the way, I got a big upset when the dosage changed but I think I'm mostly back on my feet now (can you tell I don't like change, especially when things are working?!).
2. GU Roctane Energy Drink Mix. I know this will disappoint running elite Magdalena Boulet, GU Energy's VP of Innovation, Research & Development, but I still have mix feelings about the different composition after trying it for a year on training runs. Anyway, glad the simpler brew works for me.
3. GU Energy Gel. This is a no brainer, compact packets of pure calories to sustain very long runs, and not requiring any digestion effort. I typically take one gel every hour, starting after 1.5 hours of racing to give the fat burning enough time to kick in. I use mostly the Tastefully Nude (ex Just Plain) flavor, a neutral flavor which I believe helps keeping nausea at bay, but I don't mind trying other flavors from time to time, although remaining with classical ones: Vanilla Bean, Chocolate Outrage, Lemon Sublime, Tri-Berry (as opposed to salty or stranger associations).
4. GU Energy Chews. I haven't consumed too many of these yet during races, but there are easier to pack when flying since TSA restricts the number of gels we can have in our carry-ons.
5. GU Recovery Drink Mix. I started using the recovery brew super rich in proteins after tough races and training runs, 2 years ago, and I definitely saw a difference. I really love the Orange-Pineapple flavor in the summer and I regret it isn't available right now on the web site, I hope it will come back. I like the Chocolate flavor in the winter so I'm all set for now. I typically use the brew (3 scoops) in a smoothie with water, milk and vanilla ice cream. So delicious that just the idea lifts up my energy level at the end of challenging long runs! :-)

With that, I pretty much use all the products GU Energy offers, except one: I don't take the Roctane Electrolyte Capsules as I got so used to the S!Caps since I started running ultras 10 years ago. 

GU Energy is such a wonderful supporter of our ultra running sport, as well as other endurance ones like triathlon and cycling. Not only by providing these great products but also sponsoring most of our races, very grateful to them too. It's also cool to know this is a local business based in Berkeley, CA, and run by local athletes, with the manufacturing happening in the US. Way to go, GU Energy, keep us ultra energized and going, going, going, ...

Vespa: power from the good fat

I cannot resist talking about the benefits of Vespa Power again, after seeing this article in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month.

Here is how to read the chart: the author looked at the energetic power of various sources, using the volume of the Apple iPhone 6S battery as a reference. And, guess what, body fat comes in second position, close behind diesel fuel! But, with body fat, you don't even have to stop by the pump...! ;-)

Many of you have heard me talk about how Vespa has changed my (ultra racing) life these past 4 3 years. How does that Japanese magic potion work? It accelerates the metabolism to burn fat and use body fat as a source of energy during a prolonged effort, instead of carbohydrates. I'm not a specialist of the field but here are some basic nutrition maths which are part of the theory: while our muscles can store between 2,000 and 2,500 calories (or rather kcal), during a marathon we burn about 100-120 calories per mile. With that, you run out of fuel around 20 miles, which corresponds to the famous, or infamous, wall. To avoid hitting the wall, and if you want to only run on carbs, you then need to ingest and process 600 or more calories to stay afloat, 6 GU gels for instance.

Meanwhile, a pound of body fat corresponds to roughly 3,500 calories. Even at a 10% body fat ratio which is already low even for athletes (lower than 6% is considered as unhealthy), that's 15 pounds for a weight of 150 pounds, and 52,500 calories which could sustain more than 500 miles theoretically, quite some distance! Of course you don't want, can cannot fortunately, process all your body fat at once, but the point is that you can run 50 or 100 miles without much else.

While Vespa triggers this body fat burning, you can also teach your body to naturally use body fat as the main source of energy by cutting on your consumption of carb. That's what Peter Defty labels as 'Fat-adapted metabolic state' in the Optimized Fat Metabolism (OFM) program.

And, yes, this works as you can see through the transformation and performances of not only elite athletes, but regular ones as well, and not only for running, but other endurance sports as well such as cycling, swimming, skating, triathlon. At the 50-mile road Nationals last week for instance, the top 2 males, Zach Bitter and Anthony Kunkel, are avid adepts of OFM and Vespa.

Now, I must admit that, although the Vespa maths make a lot of sense, you have to believe in this approach: it's not going to work if you just drink one pouch of Vespa randomly during a race when you are bonking. The way I'm using Vespa in races is one pouch 45 minutes before the start, one at the start, no calorie intake for 90 minutes, one pouch every 2.5 to 3 hours depending on the pace and intensity of the race (e.g. 3-hour intervals for 8-10 min/mile pace 100K+ races, or 2.5 hours for 6-8 min/mile pace 50-mile and under races).

Ironically, I'm writing this post on the day of Halloween when the whole country is going to go high on sugary treats! Oh, well, not everybody is interested in endurance sports... But, for those of you who are, then enjoy some fat and, since you are carrying it anyway, learn how to use it as a super powerful and natural fuel! You'll be amazed at your now power! ;-)