Silver Rush 50 Run

Lucie had a tough day in Colorado experiencing high levels of fatigue, consistent nausea and GI distress. During the training leading into this event, she spent some sessions at a higher elevation, getting up to ~3810 metres (~12500 feet), but the altitude-related discomfort persisted and she never quite felt acclimatised. So, her race day difficulties seemed to be mostly altitude related, on top of lingering fatigue from being sick the weekend prior. Despite this, she still had a couple of ‘wins’ in her strategy, as she was able to slightly increase her carbohydrate compared to previous races by using PH 1500 Drink Mix rather than tablets and consuming PF 30 Gels even when her appetite was non-existent. This is a step in the right direction for Lucie as she’s been working diligently to find ways to increase her carb intake and still has room for improvement to reach the recommended range. If she undertakes more races at altitude in the future, she would benefit from an extended acclimatisation period, since she performed better in these conditions when she lived around ~2130 metres (~7000 feet) and was pre-acclimatised, running at ~2500-3050 metres (~8000-10000 feet) for most sessions. Continued monitoring and support for her iron levels may also be helpful, as iron is an especially important micronutrient at altitude.

Although Lucie tends to have a low sweat rate, her hydration needs would have been higher at altitude due to increased ‘insensible’ fluid losses through the skin, breathing and urination. Considering her super salty sweat and the cramp she experienced, it’s very likely that Lucie experienced some level of dehydration, particularly as she struggled more in the second half of the race. Lucie balanced her relative sodium intake to match her sweat losses, but her fluid intake was on the low end of the ‘acceptable’ recommendations. She tends to struggle to drink while on the move, and the GI distress made this even more difficult than normal. Going forward, Lucie could incorporate more targeted gut training for both carb and fluid in her training sessions at close to race intensities and environmental conditions.

Lucie’s small frame means it doesn’t take much caffeine to reach the recommended range based on body weight, but as a regular coffee drinker, her tolerance is fairly high. Incorporating three PF 30 Caffeine Gels, one before and two during the race, helped to mask some of the accumulating fatigue. She mentioned that she definitely felt a boost when she took each dose, but considering the overall levels of fatigue she was feeling, it wasn’t enough to keep steady energy throughout.