Getting My Feet Wet at Western States

Western States is the race that first got me interested in ultrarunning. All of my training up to this point was focused on completing this course. Other than my recent nausea issues, I believed I was prepared to make a successful run through 100-miles of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

We were notified that an unusual amount of winter snowfall had resulted in about 10-miles of the course still being covered in snow. I had practiced running in the snow this past winter and did not think that would be a big deal. However, what I failed to consider was that this would also result in a much larger amount of water on the rest of the course due to the excess snow melting in the higher elevations.

Snow + Water + Running = Wet and Blistered Feet

Right on schedule, I started throwing up around 45-miles. I stopped at 50-miles and then again at 55-miles for about an hour each time hoping my stomach (and my feet) would recover. It quickly became clear to me that this would be a death march to the finish. The key word here is "finish". Nothing short of that would do for this epic race.

I learned a great deal about myself out on the Western States trail. I also gained a lot of respect for a course that is much more difficult than it looks on paper. I will be back again to try for a sub-24-hour finish. Until then, I will still proudly call myself a Western States Finisher.

This Makes Me Sick

It has been almost 2 years since I experienced my first episode of severe nausea during an ultra. I have dealt with it during every ultra since then. The worst was at Leadville in 2008 where I dropped at 60-miles. I walked nearly 70-miles of the 2009 Rocky Raccoon after my stomach betrayed me. I went back to Leadville in 2009 only to get sick at 40-miles and finish just 11-minutes before the final cutoff time.
These stomach issues have certainly put a damper in my love of ultrarunning. What gives me hope is that I ran my first three 100-milers with virtually no stomach issues (my first 100-miler is still my fastest). I have spent the past 2 years trying to understand what is causing this. What is different? Why can I run 70-miles per week in training with no stomach issues but start throwing up 40-miles into an ultra? Understanding this problem has proven to be much more difficult than I originally thought. There are so many variables involved that there is no single thing that will "fix" it. Plus, since I don't have problems during training, I only get to try out new theories during a competitive run.

My prevailing theory at the starting line of the 2010 Rocky Raccoon 100-mile run was that I had been over-running my training. When you run too hard for too long, your body diverts blood away from "non-essential" functions like digestion. The stomach shuts down and simply stops processing. Eventually the stomach gets too full and puts a return-to-sender label on everything in it. I had stepped up my training intensity considerably in preparation for this race, so I was hopeful that I would be able to get through it without stomach issues. I was wrong.
I started throwing up after the first 30-miles. This was exactly like what I had experienced a year previous, even though I was in better shape and started out at a slower pace. I quickly resigned myself to working through the nausea the last 70-miles in order to try and understand what was going on.
I discovered that even though I was puking all the time, my stomach was still processing stuff. This was encouraging since that meant I could keep moving without fear of severe dehydration. It wasn't very pleasant, but I worked out a system where I could drink fluid until my stomach rejected it and then fill it back up again. This would give me about 20-minutes of absorption until I would have to start the process over again.

I estimate that I puked more than 50 times before crossing the finish line with a time of 23-hours and 45-minutes.. It was ugly ... VERY ugly ... especially to those who were running near me, but I was thrilled to make it in under 24-hours despite having the severe nausea issues. Another encouraging fact was that, other than the nausea, I felt great. My pace was limited by my stomach rather than my legs, so if I can just figure out the nausea problem, I should see a huge improvement in my times.
I did quite a bit of research after returning home and I now believe that my issues have been due to a simple "acid stomach". In my first few ultras, I ate more solid food than I have been recently. It seems that solid food acts to buffer the digestive system to reduce the acidity being introduced into the stomach by most sport drinks. I also had changed my sport drink from what I used originally. I took some measurements and found that my new sport drink was significantly more acidic than my old one. Two seemingly minor variables that obviously have compounded to cause a big issue. Who would have thought that the margin for error in a 100-mile run was so small?
In just over a week I will be running a 24-hour ultra in Iowa where I am going to try out some solutions to the acid-stomach problem. First, I am planning to eat significantly more solid food during the first 50-miles of the run. As for my sport drink, I am planning to dilute everything 50% with water and add a pinch of baking soda to reduce the acidity. I have found that about 1/8-tsp of baking soda for every 24-oz of fluid results in a pH level that is just above neutral for most sport drinks. I will also be taking a bag of Rolaids to chew on as soon as the first signs of nausea begin to hit.
I have tried all of this in training, now I'll just have to wait and see if it works during a race. I really hope it does, especially since the race is on a 1/4-mile track. It will be a LONG day for everyone involved if I puke as much as I did at the Rocky Raccoon.

UPDATE:

Well, reducing the acidity of my drinks made absolutely no difference with my nausea during the race in Iowa.  I started throwing up at 50-miles and was sick the rest of the race.  I still managed to finish 1st place male with just over 111-miles but it wasn't pretty.  Back to the drawing board ...