Comrades Marathon Post Mortem
Comrades Marathon this past Sunday as usual did not disappoint. The
elite men’s race was exciting from beginning to end and in the ladies
the twins 11 year domination came to an abrupt halt with Eli Greenwood
completing an amazing final 10km split one of the fastest on the day.
Many viewers looked at the twins walking for the first time and initial
comments were that they are past their prime, they are too old and their
days are numbered. I also heard many stories of nausea and cramping.
I was supposed to run Comrades 2014 but due to a chest infection and a
prolonged course of antibiotics I had to unfortunately withdraw,
remember health always comes first no matter what. However my day was
incredibly good. I did what I do best, I got into the official Nedbank
seconding vehicle with Nick Bester and made sure our athletes were fed
& hydrated from start to finish. I work with Mr. Price Maxed Elite
and some of the Toyota athletes as well and I supported and advised all
that I could on the tough 90km route. I often get asked what did the
elite athletes use, how did they feed and what did they hydrate on. It’s
always a very interesting discussion, and in previous years when I have
seconded them I have measured fluid and carbohydrate intake along the
route to see exactly what goes into a gold medalist’s body. The day
itself was an extremely difficult one for most and I will expand in more
detail on the pitfalls and reasons many saw nausea, dizziness and
cramping on the route.
Let’s first start with the main rule of thumb. If you train a certain
way then you race exactly the same. You never ever attempt to try new
tactics or nutrition on race day. If you do you only have yourself to
blame when falling ill. Not only is race day nutrition critical, BUT the
entire week leading up to the event. Eat what you would normally eat,
don’t suddenly decide a few days before or the morning of to try a new
food or drink that you have never tried before you are truly asking for
trouble. Since Comrades I have spoken to 5 athletes who had a very hard
first half during the marathon and all 5 had one thing in common, their
pre-race meal was not something they had done before. In actual fact it
was severely impacting they tried a new beverage or meal on race day.
When you prepare so hard and long for a race and in 5 minutes completely
throw it out the window it just doesn’t make sense. Train how you would
race I cannot emphasize this enough.
What else went wrong on Comrades day?
Race day fuelling was a big factor. Many athletes take in a whopping
load of sugar during the first half only to succumb to it later on. I
have always said this and will continue to stand by it. Comrades Race is
a slower paced race, meaning you will predominantly use your fat stores
for energy. There is no need to over consume blood glucose spiking
products such as gels early on, if you do well then you are just asking
for trouble. In my buildup to the race, my 38-40km runs were done purely
on water. I would wake up have a cup of green tea and go out. I would
only have some water if I felt like it. There was no need for taking on
major fuel, my pace was around 4:45/km – 5:00/km way slower than my
marathon pace of 3:45 – 4:10. This only can mean one thing fat is king
glycogen is spared
:-).
For many however the biggest factor of the day was actually the
temperature and humidity factor. I stood at the city hall in
Pietermaritzburg at the start of the race knowing this was the warmest
race start temperatures I have ever felt. I hate the cold and I recall
2010 while seconding at Ashburton where it was so cold I had 3 layers
on, a beanie, gloves, wind proofs and I couldn’t keep warm no matter
what. Aside from that my volunteers who were injured sub 6hr Comrades
runners were also dressed in thick clothing and running up and down the
road just to stay warm. We were all in agreement it was a really cold
day.
At 2010 Comrades Marathon the average temperature in Durban was 19ºC
(min 14ºC; max 24ºC) with 63% humidity and 3 km/h wind speed. In 2012
the temperatures were around 23ºC with a humidity of around 38%.
On Sunday I stood in a t-shirt with a thin long sleeved top and I was
perfect and that was Pietermaritzburg where the temperatures were 8
degrees. Immediately I advised the elite athletes I managed to chat with
on the morning to really focus on their fluid intake and drink to
thirst not more, because core body temperatures were going to rise and
so would the temptation for major fluid intake. Most novices and even
some pro’s land up drinking excessively to try to keep cool, however all
this does is overload the system with fluid and can lead to over
hydration or hyponatremia. By midday the temperature in Durban had
soared to a peak measurement of 33ºC with the humidity increasing from
38% – 76% to Comrades cut off. (see below)
From the onset I knew today was the day people would complain of bad
water on route, cramping and nutrition used. Basically pointing the
finger at anything to try to explain what happened on the day. In the
last 20km’s of the race when our elite athletes came through our feeding
zone, one in particular was complaining of leg cramping and a little
surprised because he never cramps. We assisted him with a quick
resolution to try to get him going again and it seemed to work.
Post-race analysis showed over consumption of fluid. Bongmusa the
Comrades winner took around 30 water sachets in the last 18km’s of the
race. However of the 30 water sachets, 28 went over his head only around
2 in the mouth. This was incredibly smart, he was using the water to
try to cool his core body temperature from the outside and definitely
not on the inside. At that time of day, and taking in excessive fluid,
it would have spelled disaster but there was plenty of wisdom in it.
Why should consuming too much fluid cause issues?
Its quite simple, in hot especially more humid conditions a lot of
fluid is lost in the form of water and sodium. Taking in excessive fluid
at this stage actually starts a process of what is called Hyponatremia
which is basically serum sodium concentration of less than 135 mEq/L as a
result of an accumulation of total body water greater than the body’s
accumulation of electrolytes (sodium + potassium).
In simple terms due to the heat losing a lot of fluid in the form of
water and sodium, and then consuming large amounts of water, can lead to
low plasma sodium (salt level in the blood)
I was told by one group of athletes that they had been training in
hot conditions for the race. However the hot climate they were training
in was nowhere near the humid conditions they were racing in and they
also succumbed to fluid consumption for core temperature cooling and
potentially caused major issues. Another group of runners contacted me
stating that with around 30km’s to go they consumed some gels and
immediately began vomiting. I had some news for them it wasn’t the gels.
With 30km’s to go these runners were in the thick of peak day
temperatures and had also landed up over consuming fluid after careful
analysis.
The symptoms for over-hydrating are crystal clear:
Nausea
Cramping
Dizziness
Disorientation
Confusion
Generally in athletes nausea and cramping are what is first experienced.
One of the issues with Comrades Marathon is that there are far too
many water tables spaced too close to one another. It would be far more
beneficial to space them out a little more. When running a marathon or
an ultra, one tends to forget about when he consumed last how long ago,
and often the mind just goes into a see and grab situation which leads
to trouble.
A conversation with the Russian twins afterwards had shown excessive
fluid intake. One of them landed up in hospital with close to renal
failure symptoms which were declared to be a result of low blood sodium.
What’s incredible from the majority of the cases is that at the line
they were diagnosed with dehydration, however results later showed this
was completely incorrect. Very often dehydration symptoms are confused
with hyponatremia symptoms. Athletes can perform dehydrated quite
easily, but slightly overhydrate and you are toast.
During a long event such as Comrades Marathon weather conditions play
an extremely critical role. The key elements are always drink to
thirst, don’t over drink. If you are feeling very hot then cool from the
outside not the inside. If you are taking in a lot of fluid try
consuming the water with carbs and minerals to maximize the fluid
uptake. If you train in cooler climates and then suddenly race in a
hotter more humid climate you could potentially look at additional
sodium intake to try to mitigate this from happening.
Lastly and this is a topic that completely irritates me to no end.
The runners that take NSAID’s with them. Yes you, the ones who carry
myprodol, ibuprofen or any other pain killer or anti-inflammatory with
them during the run. Its a fact that more athletes that have landed up
with renal failure, which also starts with major symptoms of nausea,
dizziness etc have been a result of consuming these types of medications
during an event. In the words of my running coach “If you need to take a
pain killer or anti-inflammatory during Comrades, then you should NOT
be doing Comrades”. If this is you then understand you are putting your
life at risk and what you are doing is absolutely nothing less than very
stupid.
Its always tough on the day especially in 90km’s of running and
anything can potentially happen. However the more prepared you are and
the better you know your body the less chance there is of having any
major issues.
