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$On Hitting the Wall$

On Hitting the Wall

by Adolfo Salgueiro | Dec 12, 2023 | Article, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

If you ran a marathon or know of someone who has, most likely you’ve heard about “hitting the wall”. And if you ever wondered why they call it a wall, imagine yourself running and hitting one. Head-on. Yes. No exaggeration. You may hit it because you ran too fast and burned out, because you’ve consumed your body’s main fuel source, carbs, because you got dehydrated or a combination of those.

What is left after such an encounter is yourself trying to finish your race or run in a depleted state. A failure after a hard cycle of hard training.

Just like this, but without the benefit of the padding

Meeting with the wall is not always a physical process. Sometimes you may be mentally fatigued, or unprepared for the task at hand. In his book The Runner’s Brain, Dr. Jeff Brown states that “your brain is a pretty awesome organ, but it\’s no magician. If you didn\’t train properly or if you starved yourself for a week, you\’re asking to hit the wall no matter how great and powerful a mental organ you possess.”

But if you have trained with diligence, most likely hitting the wall will be a physical rather than a mental event. In general terms, your body doesn’t have the resources needed to run a marathon. Yet, thousands upon thousands of runners complete one or more every year. How do they do it? They fuel and hydrate their bodies during the race, and they’re mentally prepared for the challenge they’ll face.

If you are not intentional about your fueling strategy and plan to depend on whatever they’ll serve at the race, you can’t be surprised when you start having issues. We’ve all seen someone jet-puking fluorescent green liquid, not unlike the girl from The Exorcist, because they overdid it with the Gatorade.

Of course, there is always the possibility you started too fast and exhausted yourself beyond recovery. That would be an error in strategy which will also lead you to the wall. But that is another issue for another day. Not the one discussed in this post.

In a recent interview, legendary ultrarunner Scott Jurek was talking about the importance of fueling your body for a marathon and stated: “Rather than how do you deal with the wall at mile 20, don’t let the wall happen at Mile 20. Yes, I know it is easier said than done. But when you are out there tomorrow [in your race], if it is the muscular fatigue thing, you probably went too hard, but it is usually the lack of carbohydrates.”

HOW TO PROCEED ONCE YOU HIT THE WALL

Yet sometimes you’ve prepared yourself physically, mentally, and fueled properly but still hit the wall. What to do? In “The Runner’s Brain”, Dr. Brown talks about choosing between four wall-busting mental strategies so you can deal with the issue at hand. Read again: Deal, not overcome.

INTERNAL ASSOCIATION: A total focus on how the body feels while running. Tuning into the contraction and relaxation of your muscles, the mechanics of your arm movement, your breathing, your heart rate, and so on. Internal association\’s boundary is your skin, and your focus stays inside of it.

INTERNAL DISSOCIATION: Doing just the opposite yet staying inside of yourself. This strategy distracts you by hitting the mental replay button on a great song, thinking of upcoming projects, or counting your steps. Runners around you may be surprised to learn that you weren\’t thinking about running.

EXTERNAL ASSOCIATION: Your focus is outside your body and outside the act of running itself, yet you keep track of important aspects of your run. You may pay attention to jockeying for position in the race, negotiating water stops, split times, etc.

EXTERNAL DISSOCIATION: means focusing outward but on events or stimuli unimportant to the race itself. You may focus on the scenery, cheering crowds, flowers, counting the number of times someone along the route yells the name written on your bib or someone dressed in a weird running outfit.

It would be easy to finish this blog post stating that I wish you never have to figure out if it really feels like hitting a wall, but if you keep training long distances, you will eventually figure it out yourself. It is inevitable. The key is to learn from such an experience, so it doesn’t happen again. It is only then that hitting the wall won’t be a checkmark in your loss column.

What is your experience hitting the wall? Let me know in the comments.

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Basics of Fueling Strategy

by Adolfo Salgueiro | Sep 6, 2022 | Article, Science

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

When I started running marathons back in the early 1980s, the only fueling strategy available to most weekend warriors was to drink enough water so you wouldn’t dehydrate. Yes, I know. This is not a fueling strategy. But consuming calories during a race was not a thing back then. The most calories I consumed during a marathon were when a friend handed me oranges al mile 15 or my girlfriend waited with a sugary lemonade around Mile 21. No wonder I hit the wall every time.

Carbohydrates with a bit of protein is still the pre race day preferred meal (Photo: Engyn Akyurt, Pexels)

But both science and the running consumer goods industry have developed exponentially in the last 4 decades. Not only do we know that the average body doesn’t have enough resources (beyond fat if you have trained to properly tap into it) to last you 26.2 miles, but we also have dozens of products to assist us on which calories should be consumed and when.

Although fueling consists of both Hydration and calorie intake, this post is only addressing the latter. Hydration was referred to in a previous post, “Hydration Basics for Runners”, which you can read by clicking here.

Despite the average body having enough fat stored to run over 1000 miles, and the first known 100-miler without fueling was recorded just a few months ago, most runners are not trained to run on fat as their prime fuel source. So, we depend on glycogen, of which we have a finite amount, around 2000 calories, which is needed to fuel everything, not just your running muscles, so it is insufficient to last a marathon.

When it comes to fueling, it is not just about the gels you will consume in your race. There are four distinctive phases you need to address. From the list below, the “During Race” segment is not intended for 5K or 10k efforts, as an average well-nourished and well hydrated body should have plenty of resources for those distances. While most intermediate and advanced runners should be able to complete a half marathon with no additional fuel, it isn’t required, either. But when you go for a marathon or an ultra, you must fuel the body, so your tank won’t deplete, and you won’t hit the wall. And yes, it is like hitting aa actual wall.

DAY BEFORE RACE – By this time you should know what works and what doesn’t work for you. As healthy as a big bowl of salad may be, consuming all that fiber right before a race may not be a clever idea. Complex carbs and protein are usually what work best. Fatty foods should be avoided, same as simple carbs. The carbs in a bag of Doritos will be burned way before you need them at the race and are crap. It is obvious that your pre-race fueling strategy is not just a dinner thing, but a full day affair if not a full week one. Also, please, you need to dine at a time that will allow enough time to digest it. Last thing you want is compromising your digestion within hours of the starting gun.

PRE-RACE – Your body consumes glycogen and other resources just by being alive. The brain, the liver, the beating heart, etc. need energy to perform their duties. So, to get to the starting line with your tank topped off you need to replenish whatever was consumed during the night, if you have a morning race, or during the day for an afternoon affair. You can certainly run short races in a fasting state, but when it comes to a half and beyond, why would you start with your tank at 70-75% when you can do so at 98 or 99%? Carbohydrates and a touch of protein is the way to go. And, as usual, this must be perfected during training. Don’t wait until race morning to try it out.

Chocolate milk is the post-race refueling product by excellence. This is my favorite brand.

DURING RACE – Fueling strategy is as personal as your choice in running shoes. It is what works for you, not for your friend. Your fueling strategy on race day is the execution of the plan you’ve already perfected during training. So, apply it! Mile 20 is not the time to figure out a caffeinated gel will send you to the port-a-potty, or that you can’t stomach a 5th serving. Fueling also includes replenishing electrolytes either though a product you already know, trust and you carry yourself, or through whatever your race is serving. Personally, I don’t advise relying on the availability of Gatorade in a race. After you’ve invested so much time, money, emotion and effort on your race, better carry what you’ll need and know works for you.

AFTER RACE – Once your race is over, it is time to splurge, sure, but don’t rehydrate with alcohol and junk food. That comes later. Both carbs and protein need to be consumed as soon as possible to replenish and start the muscle repair process right away. Chocolate milk is the recovery drink for excellence. This is the day to go crazy. Have all the extra beer you want, that fatty burger you passed on during training or go for the entire pizza instead of just a couple of slices. But please do so after you’ve taken care of your initial post-race care recovery.

Now, go for that half or marathon PR!

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Avoiding Bathroom Issues While Running

by Adolfo Salgueiro | Nov 30, 2021 | Article, List, Science

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

Not to be super graphic, but we runners behave like little kids when it comes to bathroom issues and bodily functions related jokes. A fundamental truth of our sport is that if you haven’t pooped your shorts while running, you just haven’t run enough. Keep running and you will.

We even have a term coined to describe that inescapable moment when we will inevitably have to face nature: “Code Brown”. Descriptive enough.

Make sure you know where is the best place for a pit stop, before you may need it (Photo: Pexels)

I do believe that gastrointestinal issues in runners are as unavoidable as falling. Still, we must do our best, prepare as thoroughly as we can, pray for the best and eventually both fall down and poop our pants, anyway. But for that part that we can control, the key is to get intimate with your gastrointestinal system’s nuances. To build a relationship with it, so you can learn to listen to each other start working together.

But, as with any best friend, a spat here and there are part of the package. So, here are a few things you can work on to avoid unpleasant, running GI issues for as long as you can hold them at bay:

1 – Befriend the trial-and-error method: Make sure you take notes, mental or written, of what works on your behalf, and what doesn’t. This will allow you to know what is best to eat, when to eat it and, how much of it to eat. At the same time, it will let you know what to avoid and how far in advance to avoid it.

2 – Plan ahead: Even though GI issues may happen at any time, the most dreaded time is in the middle of the long run, when most likely you’ll be farther from home but hopefully, close to a stinky port-a-potty. Most of us have a solid idea on when we will be hitting the road, so we should time our food intake based on the best practices we have developed through time.

3 – Map out the bathrooms along your route: Hopefully, you won’t need them, but it is always good to know where they are, just in case. Gas stations, drug stores, supermarkets or isolated bushes will do the trick, but only if you know where they are.

4 – Time your pre long-run/race dinners: Some runners swear by the night-before pasta, others go for a burrito or a pizza. Regardless of the nutritious value of your meal, the key is to make sure it has been digested by the time you go to bed and/or start running. The timing of such meal, as well as pre-run snacks, is key to avoid unscheduled and unpleasant stops.

You need to get intimate with your GI system so you can manage unpleasant stops as much as possible

5 – Try various fueling products until you find “the one”: There are hundreds of in-run fueling options in the market. Gels, powders, chewables, drinks, you name it. They also come in unnumerable flavors, concentrations and with added stimulants. After awful experiences with a certain brand of sugary gel, I found my favorite and I know what works for me. The time to figure out you can’t stomach a fifth gel should not be in the 22nd mile of your marathon.

6- Figure out how fiber, sugar and caffeine affect you: While all these substances are useful when consumed in the right quantities and times, each runner has its own level of tolerance for them. A bowl of oatmeal may be good for someone’s pre-run breakfast while it will have others running to the bushes. Same with caffeine. Sugar can hit your stomach hard if you consume too much of it during your run, especially as an ingredient of energy gels. Know what is best for you.

7 – Stay hydrated: This doesn’t mean only during your run, but in general, throughout your day. Dehydration can lead to GI issues such as constipation, bloating, nausea, ulcers, and acid reflux, among others. Remember that consuming alcohol sucks the moisture out of you, so avoid it, especially on hot days.

Any tips or horror stories you would like to share with my readership?

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