Thoughts on the Run

2:00:00 – 11.25 miles

Last night I was reading a book and watching tv. It’s something that I have done for a long time as my brain doesn’t like to slow down. When going through grad school, I would have the tv going and write papers at the same time. This is where my wife and I are different. She needs complete silence, sitting at a desk, and follows a process. I go with the flow of where my brain takes me as I’ve found it’s helpful to understand why it flows the way it does.

When I’m multitasking like this, I generally choose a show that doesn’t require a lot of visual connection. This ranges from a football game to a movie or show I’ve seen before. However, last night was a little different. I stumbled upon a show about how David Blaine prepares for his stunts. He’s most well-known for being an illusionist and doing magic on the street. I’ve seen those shows and couldn’t even begin to come up with theories on how he accomplishes his magic.

One particular stunt, or I will call endurance test, is when David Blaine was placed inside a box made of ice in 2000. His goal was to stand for 63 hours with ice inches away surrounding his body. He received no food, just water. 3 days of standing up, inside an ice block, in the middle of New York City. How does one prepare for such an event?

He spent quite a bit of time taking ice baths. Something I’m familiar with from recovering from running. His purpose was to acclimate his body to the temperature. This allows his body to get comfortable with the new (uncomfortable) feeling he was going to be going through. To get ready for no food for 3 days, he added on some extra pounds to have reserves.

The part I was really interested in (I even put the book down) was the mental training. For me running 50+ miles it’s a little easier on the mind as there are a variety of things to look at. Standing still in the same place for 3 days? Torture. Interestingly enough, he didn’t prepare for the mental piece very much. In fact, when they took him out of the ice after 63 hours, his wife Josie was the first to notice something was wrong. He kept saying “my mind. something’s wrong with my mind.” I have an idea of what he’s talking about.

At the end of my first ultramarathon, I crossed the finish line and felt like I was in a dream. It was almost out of body where I could see myself standing a group of people, but not remembering how I arrived there. The last 3 miles seemed quite distorted. I couldn’t wrap my mind around what I had just done. My wife hugged me and we strolled over to the grill. I grabbed a pulled pork sandwich and she had a veggie burger. We sat down and I proceeded to tell some story that I thought was funny and that my smell should be bottled into a cologne. All was good. It was the next night that something broke. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat enough, and just didn’t feel right. It took a good week of eating before I could start feeling “normal.”

Depriving the brain of fuel is bad. It’s like a PC going on the fritz until one point it just shuts off. That’s a scary point to get to. As I look at my running, I realize I need to do a better job of fueling. There is a risk of eating too much, but the risk of not eating enough is greater. Finding the right fuel that your body will digest on the goal can be a bumpy road. I’ve only had 2 “bad” incidents and nobody probably wants to hear the details on that. Fortunately, I do most of my guinea pig testing on a treadmill. That allows me access to facilities and I know when people will be around in case something goes really wrong.

I’m glad I stumbled across David Blaine’s behind the scenes show as it caused me to reflect more on the mental training needed to conquer the 100 mile race. Slowing down the heart rate, maximizing the body’s use of oxygen, and connecting with the land are all thoughts I picked up in 1 hour.

We all have these signs around us that can help … it’s a matter of stopping to notice them.