Energizer

 I've had a couple of people ask about one of my long race habits, so I figured it's time for another Seems Like Science post to talk about it.

Disclaimer: I'm neither scientist nor health professional

If I recall correctly, the first time I used vitamin B12 oral spray in a race was during my ill-fated attempt at the Foxtail 100mi in 2019. To be clear, I've used quick-dissolving sublingual vitamin B12 tablets as a regular supplement for daily life for many years due to a history of anaemia. I'm not going to discuss that application in this post: this is purely an exploration of liquid oral B12 usage in the context of a long race, which I will define loosely as 8+ hours in duration.

This is the specific product I have used, though I don't think brand is important.
This is in the form of methycobalamin, though, which may be a more easily retained by the body - but not necessarily - than synthetic cyanocobalamin

I spotted this stuff on the grocery store shelf at one point in early 2019 and picked it up with a theory that I might be able to use it during races - at the time, I think I paid about $12 for the bottle (which is small enough to easily fit in a drop bag or hydration vest. I based this on a couple of factors:

• Vitamin B12 is required to produce functional red blood cells, and since running actually destroys red blood cells (there's a real syndrome called "footstrike anaemia" - the result of footstrike hemolysis, or red blood cells being crushed by the impact of your feet hitting the ground - that can result), supporting the production of new ones is important
• Vitamin B12 contributes to the maintenance of healthy nerve cells, and running relies on a complex pattern of movements that must be relayed to the muscles via the nervous system
• Vitamin B12 also plays a major role in energy metabolism: converting food into glucose, which can then be used by working muscles to finally convert the glucose into forward motion
• Energy drinks (which I will state here that I do not use) frequently include B-vitamins due to their known role in promoting metabolism
• Symptoms of B12 deficiency - like fatigue, shortness of breath, and digestive issues - are all detrimental to athletic performance

Now, there are a number of reputable sources that state there is no clinical evidence to support an increase in athletic performance based on B12 supplementation in the absence of a deficiency, but maintaining B12 status relies on the ingestion of animal foods - fish, meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy - or supplements. Fun fact: the natural form comes from bacteria that inhabit these - there is a synthetic vegan form (cyanocobalamin, mentioned above). Animal food sources, however - whether or not you choose to eat them in daily life - are difficult to digest when running, and are thus typically not part of race-day nutrition. This may not result in deficiency for events lasting one day or less (vegetarians and vegans will be more prone to deficiency unless they take supplements or eat fortified foods), but my interest in the oral spray was more geared toward races that last more than a day and are therefore more likely to deplete the body's stores. While studies have been performed on athletes including those classed as "endurance" competitors, there is a wide range of events that are considered "endurance" sports - which may include races shorter than 1 hour, and seldom longer than 5 hours - I am not aware of any that have studied very long distance runners, whose metabolic needs and challenges vary from those in shorter competitions.

#ultrarunnerproblems

The other thing I will emphasize is that - being a water-soluble vitamin - B12 (which is also just known as cobalamin, as it is cobalt-based) is generally considered safe in very high doses, as excess is simply excreted in urine. I am not aware of any studies that examine the effects of dehydration - which can, of course, be another effect of very long races, as it can be impossible in hot weather to drink enough to match sweat losses - on the body's ability to excrete excess B12, so that will fall outside the scope of this post.

If anyone is interested in funding, equipping, and staffing ill advised labs to study this stuff, please message me!

So, being reasonably assured I wouldn't do myself any harm by trying, I started spraying this stuff in my mouth at events. It tastes like raspberry and delivers 500mcg - which is a LOT compared to the recommended daily intake of 2.4mcg for adults, even with an estimated absorption rate of only 2% for that dose - of methylcobalamin per spritz. 

But hey - why use a scalpel when you can use an axe?

(Let's not do anything silly like try to sue me for describing an off-label use of a readily available vitamin if you manage to give yourself a headache, nausea, or GI distress from taking too much, ok?)

Now, Foxtail - for many reasons - was a poor test of the possibilities that vitamin B12 supplementation might hold. I didn't really run anything particularly long for awhile afterward, so the bottle of spray lurked in with some other rather neglected race nutrition stuff on top of our microwave for quite awhile. I found it, though, just before what was possibly the perfect test event: the 2021 Three Days in the Park 72hr.

Going in with a torn hamstring, I'd take any little advantage I could get!

I didn't use any the first day, but finally realized it was there around 3:30pm on Friday - approximately 30.5hrs in. I had a spritz with a cup of coffee, and within 20mins it was like I'd swallowed the human equivalent of jet fuel! I used this combination again at around 3am Saturday morning, with the same effect: despite being worn and beaten, about 20mins later I'd go from dragging myself along to marching with purpose, and the effects would last for anywhere from 90mins to 2hrs.

I continued to use the B12 - which had expired in August 2020, but gave me no ill effects - in conjunction with coffee through the end of the 72hr, after which it retired to the top of the microwave once more.

I do not recommend using expired nutritional supplements, but that doesn't mean I won't do it myself.

While having the coffee + B12 combo as an ace in my pocket was great, I wondered what effect the spray might have on its own, and I've had a number of chances to experiment with it this year. I knew I was in for a rough day at the Pick Your Poison 50k back in April (because running up and down a ski hill - with 4 major climbs per 12.5km lap - is heckin' hard), so I tried some before the start, and then in between my 2nd and 3rd laps. There was no noticeable energy boost, but I was able to push my undertrained and kind of jacked-up body through almost 9 hours of reletless hills and run it in to the finish. I don't have a record of having used any at Sunburn Solstice this year, but that was also a sub-8-hour event, and the 50k I mostly walked at Foxtail this year was only just over 8hrs.

I had one more good, solid experiment opportunity left, though.

My real proof of concept came at Three Days in the Park this year, where I ran the 24hr. I started using sprays of B12 from late afternoon (around 4:30pm, or 7.5hrs in) and took 5 spritzes throughout the event. At no point did I actually have it in conjunction with a cup of coffee (though I did drink 2 of those, around 2am and 5:30am), but I believe it was a contributor to my rather steady energy levels throughout the race. Of course, steadily taking in calories and water are bigger factors - fuel and hydration will always be two of the biggest drivers in any event longer than 3 hours - but I was able to stay clear-headed and alert much longer than I expected before beginning to use the marginal amounts of caffeine that I took in, and theorize that the regular doses of B12 assisted my body in processing the nutrition I was taking in to ensure my muscles were supplied with glucose to keep me moving.

I have no way of confirming this empirically except through further experimentation

I understand that some weak anecdotal reports are not the same as evidence, but my high-demand race experiences using B12 have been positive enough for me to continue to add it as a supplement in long competitions. Even if it's a placebo effect - in the absence of any harm - why not seize a tiny possible advantage in races when I am pushing myself to my limit? My worst case scenario is likely some higher-priced pee, and even a slight improvement in mentality through the course of 24hrs can have a major ripple effect on the mileage I'm able to achieve. A happy runner has more energy to carry them down the trail than an unhappy one, and if the B12 does actually keep my red blood cell counts healthier or help me convert the food I'm eating into forward motion, I'd be foolish not to seize that advantage.

So, for anyone who has managed to make it through all that: I would absolutely be interested to hear your thoughts or lived experience with (legal) supplementation in races. This ongoing experiment has had no deleterious effects that I've noticed, and potential realized benefits with a very low up-front cost and little risk of side effects. Will you try B12 for your next ultra? Have you tried another supplement to good effect, or fallen victim to a side effect of a supplement gone wrong? Let me know!

I can't be the only one out there trying weird stuff based on wild theories!

Melting

 Y'all, it has been HAWT

Hot enough that I nearly took the "trail" on the right

The last couple of days have seen heat warnings in our area, so I figured I'd do a quick run-down of strategies for not dying in this weather.

1. Shade

If you can run a shaded route, you eliminate the additional heating effects of solar radiation, which can have a major impact on athletic performance. Pretty straightforward.

Though easier said than done in some places

2. Timing

If you can possibly run very early or very late in the day, you can avoid the worst of the heat. I used to do a lot of my mid-week running around 3:30-4:30pm, when it was typically at the hottest point of the day. It was tough, and introduced a lot of extra stress on what were supposed to be "easy effort" runs.

I'm either smarter or just lazier now, and tend to run in the evenings after 7pm

3. Hydration

When it's over 28c/82f, I don't care how short the run is - I'm bringing water, usually in a hand bottle. Hydration levels directly affect your body's thermoregulation capabilities, so it only makes sense to give yourself the opportunity to drink freely while out there pushing. I use a lightweight, soft bottle that holds enough for about 45mins of running, and add a vest with additional carrying capacity for anything longer.

I'll also add a scoop of sport drink mix for longer workouts, as carbohydrate and sodium both help with absorption and transport of fluids

4. Conductive cooling

That hand bottle? Throw some ice in it, and it becomes a source of conductive cooling against the palm of your hand - which studies have shown is an effective method to increase exercise capacity. If your bottle has a narrow, finicky opening you can pick up a stick-style ice tray (random amzn link example - I do not own or endorse that particular one) to make endless amounts of bottle ice. If you're using a hydration vest, stick some ice in it too! The conductive cooling against your chest or back will be even more effective, though the ice likely won't last as long.

You can also just dump some ice in your pockets, or your bra!

5. Evaporative cooling

You don't really need anything fancy here - I did some testing last summer, and found that the moisture-holding properties of a cotton shirt or even just a cotton bandana significantly helped with cooling, particularly if you can catch a breeze. I'd never recommend such things in cold weather, when your primary goal should be to transport moisture away from your skin as much as possible...but when it's hot, soggy can be good!

Cotton bandana around the neck, pre-soaked in water before heading out.
Wearing one around your wrist can be effective as well

6. Clothing choices

At a basic level, lighter colours will absorb less heat energy than darker ones. If you want to get all fancy, some companies - notably DeSoto (Skin Cooler), Columbia (Omni-Freeze Zero), and New Balance (NB Ice) - have developed fabrics that have active cooling technology. I have a couple of items of each type, and they do make a difference, though possibly not enough to justify their cost. Still, being made for active pursuits, the flatlocked seams on the items I own would be much less likely to chafe during long runs.

Bright-coloured NB Ice shirt on the left - generic black shirt on the right.
Which do you think is going to keep me cooler?

7. Pacing

The reality is that no matter what cooling strategies you employ, high heat and humidity is likely to overwhelm them sooner or later. In order to avoid heat stress, you'll have to slow down - please allow yourself the grace to do so, and to walk as needed. You can build some acclimatization through shorter, easier workouts, but if you push too hard during heat warnings like we've had the last couple of days, you can do real damage that could derail your entire race season. Focus on the long term, and be gentle with yourself!

Discretion is the better part of valor - you don't have to be a hero, just show up again tomorrow!

Fortunately, the weather has broken for now, and it looks like it'll be a great day for the Niagara Ultra tomorrow. Tank and I will be volunteering at the 10k aid station, so if you're racing we'll see you out there!

Bit of a pickle

 I spent last weekend in the Haliburton Forest.

Which was quite misty at first light on Saturday

I got to check out the High Falls of Vankoughnet

Which weren't exactly what I expected, but were a beautiful 5min detour

..and paddle on Clear Lake on a gorgeous evening.

Such a magical spot

Wish we'd had more time, but grateful to have the chance at all.

The wind dropped at sunset, leaving the lake like glass.

(I may have experimented a little with the camera settings on Tank's new phone)

Come Saturday morning, it was deeper into the forest to help finish the setup and man Aid Station 2 (in the same place as prior years' AS5, but on a newly designed course) until early Sunday afternoon.

We were lucky to have (mostly) lovely weather

As runners came through - especially as the day warmed - pickles were one of the most popular things on offer. Dill pickles, and their juice: the salty, vinegary brine from the jar. We poured endless dixie cups of pickle juice for runners experiencing cramps, some of whom had heard of it and requested it, others who simply had to take us at our word that it would help.

Unrelated photo from the Marsh Lake Rd bridge

Cramping in endurance sport is really quite poorly understood - there have been multiple theories advanced, but the most recent is that it's actually a neuromuscular control issue. Rather than dehydration or electrolyte imbalance, it's your brain making you cramp.

Especially when you have spent more than a day climbing hills on rugged trails

For more than 20 years now, pickle juice has been used to alleviate muscle cramps. While it was once theorized that the sodium in the brine helped electrolyte balance, the short timeframe from ingestion to the dissipation of the cramp - approximately 85sec - was far too short for any of the chemical composition of the pickle juice to enter the athletes' bloodstream.

It'll stop that cramp faster than you can get your bottle filled and grab some snacks at an aid station!

More recent research indicates that the mechanism by which pickle juice works actually supports the theory of neuromuscular control dysfunction being the cause of muscle cramping. The best idea we have so far is that pickle juice is so powerful a flavour that it literally overloads your brain enough to force it to forget about making your muscles cramp. 

I know of someone who uses mustard packs for the same effect, which may be more palatable to some

You could probably use anything with a sufficiently overwhelming taste, like a swig of Italian dressing - it just has to be strong enough to send your brain for a loop, so it essentially forgets to maintain that painful knot in your calf (or quad or whatever).

AS2 rockin' all night long!

This also explains why attempts to create a prophylactic anti-cramp substance have largely failed. Until your neurons have created the cramp, you can't actually apply the "cure" for said cramp. At least, no-one has yet been successful in creating anything that can stop your brain from making your muscles seize...except boring things like "adequate training" or "not working to exhaustion".

You can't buy those in a bottle.

I was thinking about this the other day, and wondered whether or not it might have other applications for neurological dysfunction. Is it possible that someone having a panic attack might be able to alleviate it with a shot of pickle juice to help re-regulate their brain function? What about someone with ADHD using it to re-focus when they've drifted from a task they wish to complete?

I'm not a neurologist, so I have no idea if there's even a shot

If anyone knows of any current (or past) studies that look at the impact of flavour on neural regulation, I'd be most obliged if you could point me in their direction, because I'd love to know if my whacked-out theory might hold any water.

Or pickle juice, for that matter.

In any case, I'm off to the woods for a bit - I'll be back to blather at you again in a couple of weeks!

Old S-cool

While I'm a big fan of modern technology and what it can do for us, I do dearly love a simple, oldschool solution when it works.

Especially if it can help preserve beauty like this

Last weekend was a scorcher - it was hot as balls from the time I rolled out of bed on Saturday, so I threw on a cooling shirt (one made by New Balance of their "NB Ice" fabric) to run down to the market.

The daisy behind my ear, however, was purely for aesthetics.

As the morning was relatively dry and windy, the shirt helped a bit - I still suffered greatly in the heat, but it was probably better than nothing. 

And of course, running through this - even with it punitively hot out - is still better than not running.

When Sunday came up even hotter - with increased humidity to boot - I decided to try an experiment. I'd recently got a free hand-printed cotton bandana with an order from Runyon Canyon Apparel, so I soaked it down and tied it loosely around my neck before diving into the woods for an evening romp.

Along with my awesome all-mesh Runyon hat
(I was wearing another cooling shirt, too)

Time for a little Seems Like Science: People are generally advised not to wear cotton for outdoor activities, because it tends to hold moisture rather than wicking it away from the skin. This makes it a terrible choice for camping or hiking, as it won't keep you warm if it gets wet - on the contrary, wet cotton will actually pull heat out of your body through evaporative cooling. This is the origin of the old saying "cotton kills" among outdoorsy folks: many inexperienced hikers, campers, paddlers, and backpackers have had nasty bouts of hypothermia brought on by wearing cotton that got wet and failed to keep them warm. Some experiments have actually shown that wet cotton will chill you faster than being naked!

You have my word that - should I ever put that to the test - I will not post photos.

So how did it go? 

Other than really pretty, as I danced through the phlox-scented forest?

The experiment was a rousing success! The bandana felt cool around my neck the whole time, which was a first for me. I've tried wearing cooling tubular neck gaiters in the past (I actually ran with one around my wrist on Saturday), but they always seem to end up trapping warm air against my skin - basically the exact opposite of what you want on a hot day. The bandana, though, really seemed to help!

I realize this was not the most controlled of experiments, but this isn't exactly PubMed.

If you're interested in doing your own testing with cotton for its evaporative cooling properties, I'd love to hear about your own experiences. The best part is that these bandanas are cheap and plentiful - I have a bunch of them that used to be constant companions on my motorcycle, before I learned how much better synthetic tubular bandanas are for those applications (like covering my hair under a helmet, or to cover my face in rainy weather; easier to put on, and the knit polyester isn't as difficult to breathe through when wet!). If you don't have one and want to try, you could do a lot worse than the excellent ones offered by Runyon Canyon Apparel in a multitude of colour combinations; they'll even toss you a free one if you order more than $50 of stuff, and will donate $1 from every item sold to preserve wild spaces! 

Also suitable for post-run wades in the river - beer optional

So rather than placing my faith in the latest, greatest fabric technologies to beat the not-even-summer-yet heat, sometimes it pays to try an older, simpler solution. I'm sure there are generations of cowboys and farmers all laughing at me and my pricy, delicate cooling fabrics - they've known for a century that a simple square of cotton will do the trick.

Stay cool out there - however you choose to do so!

Note: I have no affiliation with Runyon Canyon Apparel, and receive no compensation from them for this post, nor any sales arising from referrals. They're just an awesome company that deserves a shout out!

Don't wait up

 There are multiple schools of thought on when the best time is to run in a day.

Most of which are not based on when the sky looks the prettiest.

Sometimes it seems like the entire world runs first thing in the morning - the dawn patrol, as it were.

Or - in my case - more like the "tennish, after a cuppa" patrol

..you know, after the sun has had time to get up and stretch its legs a little.

Many of these folks cite the satisfaction of having their run out of the way before they start the rest of the day, so that nothing can get in the way of them getting it in. I grant that it can be nice to already have run, but since I generally don't let anything stop me from going for a run (except on Fridays), I usually just find that it ends up pushing other things I need to do (some of which I am less dedicated to than running) later in the day, or perhaps to that indeterminate "sometime, when I have time" that is a black hole for all the stuff like cleaning and yard work and generally being a responsible adult.

"Aww jeez - getting late, gonna have to postpone the weeding"

Some people also cite the fact that races are held first thing in the morning (sometimes literally), so training their body to run well early in the day is important. On the surface, the reasoning is sound, however since body temperature for most people drops overnight (with its lowest point around 5:30am) this can leave your muscles and connective tissues cold and more susceptible to injury. Furthermore, the overnight fast may leave you inadequately fueled for a morning run, and some runners have digestive issues if they try to eat before a morning run. Speaking of eating, I always find myself hungry for the rest of the day after any run of more than an hour or so, so that leaves more time for me to over-indulge (though I recognize that's not necessarily a widespread issue; I'm sure most people have better-regulated appetites than mine!). 

On the right: normal person's stomach after a run.
On the left: the nigh-bottomless chasm that resides south of my ribcage.

Time can also be an issue, too - if you're trying to make sure you're at your place of business by a certain time, need to care for other humans' needs in a timely manner, or have some other appointment, you may either end up being late or having to cut a run short if it's taking longer than you anticipated.

THEY SAID IT WAS RAIL TRAIL

If you have the opportunity, running in the afternoon can be a great compromise - I used to run around 3:30pm a few days a week on my lunch break at my old office, and tried to continue that when I changed jobs and began to work from home. It does make a nice break in the day, with fewer of the disadvantages of morning running: I'm better fueled, my body temperature is higher and tissues have had time to loosen up, and I'm generally wider awake.

The sunshine is quite nice, too.

Afternoon runs, though, still have their disadvantages: if I'm not done work yet, I'm still on a schedule to try to get back to my desk on time, and in summer this is frequently the hottest part of the day. It's lovely right now, as the warmth has time to build from a chilly morning - there are loads of days in shoulder season that on my weekly Saturday morning run I am freezing in tights and long sleeves to start but ready to overheat with everything zipped down by the end - but when the temperatures soar in June through August (and sometimes outside those months), running at 3pm can feel like a penance for your sins. 

Lately, though, that hasn't been the case - more longsleeves than tank tops this week!

I've honestly been having a lot more trouble tearing myself away from my desk recently, too, until my workday is done. I'm not sure if it's a result of working from home, or it being very busy at my company the past couple of months, or simply not having my daily appointment to have coffee with Tanker and run back to my office that I had for years.

Though I've been finding some interesting new places to run around my neighborhood

In any case, I've come back around to running in the evening. It may just be an effect of the sun staying in the sky later, so it's not miserably cold and dark yet when I get out at 5 or 6 or even 7pm.

Ok, it was almost 8pm last night, but who's counting?

I know many people don't enjoy evening runs - I have heard that it makes it difficult to get to sleep afterward for some, and for others they find their motivation wanes once they've already put in a long day at work or doing other things. For whatever reason, neither of those is a factor for me: I actually like knowing that I already have everything else done, and all I have left to do is run, eat, and sleep.

There are some rather scenic perks as well, sometimes.

Of course, I know I'm blessed with a wonderfully accommodating husband (who doesn't mind having dinner later than most people go to bed, or waiting at a dark trailhead for my idiot arse to emerge) and very little in the way of time-sensitive responsibilities. I also know that running in the evening can pose additional challenges, like knowing when you'll need to bring a headlamp along.

I've not always judged that 100% correctly

There's also the fact that I'm running at almost the polar opposite time of day to the start of a race, but perhaps even that in and of itself has value for ultrarunning: if you're still able to go have a pleasant romp after every other tiring, frustrating, energy-demanding thing you've done that day, aren't you slightly better trained to keep pushing yourself in a race that has stretched on longer than the daylight?

Learning to disobey your circadian rhythm can be a powerful thing.

So I ask you - what's your favourite time of day to run, and why? Now that I've spent years running at all different times of day, I know I prefer to do so later - once I've shaken off the morning stiffness and sipped something caffeinated - but I'd love to hear others' experiences and preferences.