Endurance (vol. 1)

VMM 2019 - 2:55am on Sept. 20th at the starting line of the Vietnam Mountain Marathon (VMM) 70km race outside of Sapa town.  I'm calm, but nervous about my most recent training endeavors.  The longest run in the last many months was a horrifically hot 14 miler in the foothills of Hanoi.  It's been raining all night and I decide to "be bold, start cold," as my mountaineer buddy Slick Nick says, by leaving the poncho in my pack.  This was my 8th ultra attempt in 5 years, having not finished the last two.  If I DNF this one, that's three failed attempts in a row.  Maybe my competitive cross fit friend was right - I should have a running coach.  My goal in all these races isn't to just finish, but finish strong.  I hoped to break my streak here.  I didn't know anyone else running VMM.  Training is often a team effort, but it was all up to me now.  

View of highest Vietnam mountains, big sky

I've been inspired by feats of physical and mental endurance since I can remember.  In High School I read the ultimate Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing, about stranded explorers surviving in barren Antarctica for two years.  Shackleton, while risking the rest of his life for his expeditions, was a dedicated to survival of his crew.  Later, I marveled over Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki Expedition - a voyage across the pacific on a balsa wood raft, retracing the (probable) steps of the Inca's journey inhabiting Eastern South Pacific islands around 1,000 years ago.  

These epic feats of endurance, exploration, and survival take a different form today.  No longer are humans looking for a new expansive lands or passages. However the drive to explore, endure, and push the limits of human capabilities lives on and continues to motivate my actions and bring balance and meaning to my life.  Here, I will share experiences from previous running adventures including VMM '19 and my associated training, a few inspiration endurance feats from professionals, and a call for a new plant-based diet training plan.

Last summer I wrote down some of the questions that drive I have about my interest in human performance.  

• Why do people seek endurance-based adventures, even when our species no longer depends on them for survival? Or are they?
• Is there still an evolutionary benefit to pushing the limits of human abilities? 
• Is our innate drive for exploration - which has led to human global domination - being transferred to an exploration of the limits of human endurance? 
• Why is it, that when we feel physical pain and we want it to end, whence the pain subsides, we actively seek out the same adventure that brings pain again? 
• How does engaging in endurance sports and physical limit-testing shape the rest of our lives?  How can we maximize both?

At this moment, I'm not able to answer any of these questions, but those of us who dedicate their lives to being closer to the answers might be mentioned here.  

VMM '19 - 3:00am start.  The rain stopped in the same moment the starting whistle blew, and didn't return for the duration of the race.  The first couple of hours progressed as they all have - strong, slow, and steadily passing those who attempted the hole shot.  Would I feel like this in the next couple hours?  This course was harder than last year, when I ran the best race of my life.  How would I fare on the extra 600m of gain?

A fellow runner pushing himself after 7 hours

Modern athletes are crushing records and setting the bar in the stratosphere.  Here are a few that continue to blow me away:

1. Mike McKnight winning three 200 miles races in 2017.

2. Sarah Thomas and her English Channel swim... 4 times nonstop.

3. Uli Steck setting the speed record on the Eiger in 2015.

4. Dean Karnazes 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days and his future goal to run a marathon in every country of the world within a year.  Whatttt?

5. Nearly anything by Kilian Jornet, most recently skiing nearly 24 kilometers in one day... did I mention these were vertical kms?

6. Paul Salopek's decade long 21,000-mile odyssy retracing the pathways of human migration, one of my favorites.  This epic journey is particularly interesting to me as I currently read Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.

When Molly and I started dating in 2015, we climbed a number of 14ers together.  She wasn't as into roped technical climbing so we hiked mountains and ran down together.  For me it where the motivation for endurance started: Sky Running.  The premise is simple: big skys, ultra distances, vertical.  That fall, I ran my first ultra - 40 mile Grand Traverse from Crested Butte to Aspen.  Three weeks later, Reid and Brett met me and BC at the trail head to Chicago Basin 14ers.  On Sept 26th, 2015 we ran to and summitted the most remote of Colorado's 14ers.  17 hours, 45 miles, 10k+ ft. of elevation gain.  So many memories live on from this day - including the feeling at the summit of North Eolus, our last mountain at 4pm, and thinking only 18 miles to go in two and a half hours of daylight.  We crushed the descent and I can still see the perfectly yellow aspens quaking as Reid speeds ahead of me on the descent through the basin. One of my favorite outdoor adventure days ever.  The following spring, I finished my first and only 100km race on the North Umpqua Trail in Oregon.  Five years later, after obtaining a Master's Degree, buying a house, owning a dog, starting a career, getting married, moving across the world, and having a baby boy, I'm still in pursuit of endurance running.

Molly scoping out the remainder of the Halo ridge to Mt. of the Holy Cross

Stoked to be on the summit of Castle Peak

First ultra - Grand Traverse

Me, BC, Reid, Bret in Chicago Basin

Two adventures in upper cirque from Chicago Basin

Sending!

VMM '19 - A thin thin layer of fog and mist hovered at the summit, also the midpoint of the course.  I changed my socks.  35km in, 35km to go.  I still felt great.  I popped 200g of ibuprofen, shoved a date bar in my mouth, and charged down the mountain, passing more runners.  Still feeling amazing, possibly better than ever before, but still hours to go.  With 20km to go, I knew I could finish as strong as I wanted.  A friend and colleague paced me into the finish.  11h 30min.  20th/326.  No broken records, no podium, but a finish that pushed me, and a training regiment that worked.  I felt more fit than any other time in my life.  What was it that worked so well this time?

Feeling GOOD on the trail - VMM '19

Well, a few key ingredients.  Firstly, soccer.  Increasing (from near nothing) my volume of Zone 3+ workouts helped my speed.  I played a few full 90-minute games leading up to the race and multiple two hour training sessions.  Secondly, 10 air squats for every mile immediately post run.  These helped stretch the muscles around my knee which get tight post run and obviously improved strength - important for the lack of hills in Hanoi, and presence of hills in this race.  Thirdly, long cycles in place of big runs the month before race day.  The rides relieved my knees and joints from impact, while helped with higher volume, lower intensity training I lacked.  Also, I tried to still put in ~70km/ week, including the soccer training.  Finally, my diet.  I ate a predominately plant-based diet the week leading up to the race, and strictly for the pre-race days.  Reid told me about this a while back and I've done it many times, and it always seemed to work for me.  It sure did this time.  

Diet cannot be overemphasized.  I've read and increasing number of articles and posts from elite athletes over the years about their switch to a plant-based diet and their associated athletic successes.  To top it all off, I wanted The Game Changers and nearly had to pick my jaw up off the floor.  To sum it up, boundless research shows that eating a plant based diet, for anyone, not just athletes, drastically decreases chances of heart disease, cancer, cellular inflammation, reduces recovery time from injury and enhances fecundity in males to top it off.  Scott Jurek and Patrick Baboumain both are showcased breaking world records in their fields during the film (running the Appalachian trail in 43 days and  yoke walk, respectively). Additionally, as I teach in my environmental class (but often then eat my hypercritical hamburger), eating a plant-based diet drastically reduces greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation rates and habitat loss, nutrient runoff, and water and air pollution all serious.  Watch the movie.

The inspiration gleaned from premier athletes will continue to spark my drive for endurance sports, sky running, and adventure.  I plan to use what I've learned from plant-based diets and vegan athletes to maximize performance and live an even more healthy and deliberate life.  I hope the resulting experiences from endurance adventures will continue to provide a necessary ingredient to the recipe of a tasty life.