bjeanes@Maccy ~ $ > sudo diskutil rename /Volumes/Drive .Drive
.Drive does not appear to be a valid volume name for its file system

What does it means?

I’m going to use it.
It would be better if it doesn’t have the dot, but is good enough.

Anyway I have a masters in Ex Physio, but am really dumb about using the knowledge I once had. HR is probably one of the best ways to keep track of the most important thing (energy usage) albeit not directly. It’d be great to have real time blood sugar (glucose) readeings and real time percent of fat v. carbs v. protein. you are burning.

By going out hard and maintaining a high HR (& breathing rate) you are forced to burn carbs…both blood glucose and its constant fast feeder—muscle and liver glycogen stores. Since the human has about 2000calories of stored glucose. If you take no calories in and run at a fast enough pace to ONLY burn carbs. you blow through these 2k of calories in…you guessed it the magical 20 mile marathon wall.

This is what makes ultras so fun. The game is to be in good enough speed shape that you can run a FAST pace at a realatively LOW HR (which is indirectly) letting you know you are burning a bit of fat for fuel and sparing your stored glycogen.

For example Aaron can run a 2:33 marathon. He can therfore likily run 7:00 pace in an ultra without breathing whicked hard and burning SOLEY glycogen the way you and I would at this same 7:00 pace since we can only sustain 7:00 pace in an all-out flat road marathon.

In summary the key is to both monitor how hard you are working in terms of YOURSELF (not paying too much attention to the competition) and running at a pace that allows you to spare glycogen…..and lets enough blood still be able to flow to your stomach allowing digestion of what you do eat/drink—-and at the same time diverted away from working leg muscles. Since if you are running at 85%+ of max HR- not enough blood will be allowed to flow to the stomach to allow any digestion to occur.

secondly…….and you have figured this one out for sure!!!!!! ( I remember when you used to be slow and I fast….now the tables have turned!) 2ndly you need to continue to do faster training runs to allow your body to become effiecient so that same 7:00 or 9:00 or 11:00 min/mile pace in a race is not so high a percent of your max that you are only able to utilize glycogen/glucose for fuel.

Ideally you coulg eat straight sugar (drink coke,eat gels/ect) and match output with imput…but the stomach lining will only absorb 300cals an hour max so this is impossible……unless your output is only 3miles an hour 20:00 min mile. You can absorb glucose straight thru the gums and mucous membranes in your mouth…..but only certain folks have been able to do this and you need pre broken down maltodextrin or glucose. The GREATEST of all time Yannis K was able to absolutely match intact calories to his output in a 6 day 640 mile effort world record run. He supposedly had a handle feed him home made special candies every lap around a 400m track. so his intack of calories was litterally ever 2-3 minutes for 6 straight days and was totally absorbed through his mouth.

I gotta try that!

anyway amazing MMT 100 run…and good luck at OD and Hardrock.

I agree with your approach of starting easy for longer races. Considering how I run 100-milers, and how much time is spent at very low heart rates at the end, it is pretty dumb to start at or near anaerobic threshold (like I have) in those extremely long events. (I still believe in going reasonably hard, however, since the best time is made during the first half a 100-miler. “Get while the gettin’ is good,” so to speak).

But for shorter events (50K and shorter), it is possible to go all-out and succeed. Like Sean, I agree that it is easier to maintain a very high intensity if I go out hard and then try and hang on, rather than magically trying to pick up the pace in the second half of a race. The adrenaline of realizing a win/PR can usually carry me the last hour of a race if I start to bonk.

I didn’t really care about Terrapin, and I just wanted to have a good time. I also wanted to experiment in running a little easier for a change. While I had a fun time, you can’t expect to run easy and finsih in the top five. At least I can’t.

Don’t take my recommendations as the literal truth. I just report what works for me (keep in mind that I have no formal training in this stuff). I am not necessarily saying that you are “doing it wrong.” You should do what works for you.

I can saw with certainty, however, that periodic intense workouts will make you faster. These will also make the easier efforts — and racing — seem easier. Running with people slightly faster than you also helps. Quite simply, you have to run fast to run fast.

Enjoy experimenting and finding what works for you. I myself am continually learning. It’s what makes this hobby fun.

-Keith

Great report, Keith!

I love your reports. Thanks for sharing!