Hey Marco, nice post, thanks for sharing. Are you wearing a polar verity sense? If so can this be used to measure morning HRV on HRV4TRAINING? I find the H10 a bit cumbersome :)
thanks Sherdil! I am indeed using a verity sense but unfortunately it cannot be used with the app as it’s good only for heart rate monitoring, but does not send RR intervals like a Polar H10 does.
What a great post Marco. Mindful about everything you do. We are all individuals, but you are running “experiments” of a sort. Essentially “I predict this or that will work”, then monitor everything possible to assess whether its an accurate prediction or a prediction error.
You mentioned the in-race gut problems, and am curious about whether you have ever tried taking L citrulline?
Have you noticed any intensity related differences?
There are a number of people in my circle who always have difficulties (albeit in races where prolonged high-intensity surges are a given). All have had semi-miraculous improvements with L Citrulline. I’ll try and track down the references that led me to run the experiment on myself.
thanks Steve! I'll have a look, intensity in my races tends to be quite even (maybe we are talking running vs cycling?). I used to have nausea and some difficulties but "bringing it home" for a marathon or 50 km, while for 100 km, I always had bigger problems (also eventually bringing it home, but the hit in performance was larger). The main difficulty with these races is that they are so long that you can never really test anything, and I can only do one per year, so it's a difficult experiment to run! Thank you again and I will do some reading about L citrulline, I am not familiar with it
Marco. Indeed. I suspect that the lower intensity and super-long intensity will be protective, because the decrease in splanchnic blood-flow is intensity dependent. If I’m going long and slow, it’s not much of a problem, but VO2 intervals, other HIT, or short races/TT’s are a killer.
Feel free to shoot me an email (because you have it) if you ever want to chat about it.
Lastly, congrats on the PB! I’m too old to ever get one again, but still love to try.
Great race! Your statement here "the idea that in 2025 I am not eating 100s of grams of carbs per hour during a race is really maddening to some." calls back to something I found on the old ultrunr website, where a Dr. Bill Misner wrote in the 90s:
"PRE-EXERCISE
Take 100-150 grams of complex carbohydrate glucose polymers 3 hours prior to exercise. Do not use simple sugars, fructose, honey, prior to or during exercise. If you must use simple sugars, use them after exercise.
DURING EXERCISE
Take 70-90 grams glucose polymer complex carbohydrate in fluid solution every hour during exercise. An energy drink may be sipped 4 times per hour for constant replenishment energy substrate flow. This should be practiced in training-to-duplicate race conditions in order to establish what individual biochemistry tolerates best. Studies show that 100 grams or above of energy drink ingested may result in gastric stress. Costill's studies using 3.5 ounces water every 5 minutes or 35 ounces per 50 minutes also encouraged Dr. Colgan's studies to conclude the need for 35 ounces fluid intake per hour. Dr. Tim Noakes, who has done recent and more extensive hydration research with marathon and ultramarathon runners, suggests that most runners should take no more than 16 ounces fluids per hour during endurance events. His findings among athletes with hyponatremia indicated they were the victims of water intoxication(too much to drink-->evidenced by excess intakes above 1000 ml. or over 30 ounces fluid per hour)
POST EXERCISE
Take up to 225 grams complex carbohydrates within 30 minutes optimal window time frame, include 30-50 grams easily digestible protein. Any more than 225 grams dietary carbohydrate intake may synthesize excess carbohydrates to body fat stores. Use of simple sugars may stimulate Insulin Growth Factor(IGF) for cellular uptake of post-exercise growth hormone...Which is, by the way-->good...as long as you do not take too much simple sugar. A tablespoon of fiber-rich raisins is ample to spark the IGF-factor mechanism from a post-exercise meal without introducing too much sugar into the bloodstream all at once."
Sorry for the long post, but why are we acting like high carbs are "new"? And, being a skeptic, why are we trusting cycling coaches that this is the only reason for performance increases? Said sport is historically the dirtiest of all!
Hey Marco, I would like to ask you about if you take into consideration the amount of g/kg you eat daily (referring to protein)? Do you think that is an important part of your nutrition, or do you pay more attention to carbs and fats?
hey Joao, I normally plan meals around protein, and then add lower or higher amounts of carbs depending on the demands of training. While I do not count anything anymore, when I did count, I saw it's hardly possibly to overdo it with protein while having actual food, hence I try to have almost "as much as possible", which ends up around the recommended 1.8-2 g/kg for athletes. For the rest, apart from a lot of veggies, I don't worry much and I do not count fat or try to maximize fat, but when I eat fewer carbs, then I will snack more on e.g. nuts, avocados, even canned fish, and have more healthy fats in general.
Hello Marco, I read your post with great interest, you are a great inspiration to me. I have a question: have you ever analyzed a drop in performance due to pollen allergy on other athletes? I ask you because I suffer from this problem as do many other athletes. Grazie 👋
grazie Leonardo! And yes, definitely pollen allergy can be debilitating in spring, I think we can see that also in resting physiology / HRV. I had a few years with mild reactions myself as well, which seem to be better these days, but it is something to account for this time of the year, and possibly adjust accordingly.
Hey Marco, nice post, thanks for sharing. Are you wearing a polar verity sense? If so can this be used to measure morning HRV on HRV4TRAINING? I find the H10 a bit cumbersome :)
thanks Sherdil! I am indeed using a verity sense but unfortunately it cannot be used with the app as it’s good only for heart rate monitoring, but does not send RR intervals like a Polar H10 does.
An alternative sensor could be this, which works with the app (ear or finger attachment): https://kytofitness.com/products/bluetooth-mobile-heart-rate-monitor-with-ear-clip-kyto2935?srsltid=AfmBOooDKyLA9qzmVo_EIUV4vMffi9G12mbG1yd-T6izbJCWUNXi7lNT
What a great post Marco. Mindful about everything you do. We are all individuals, but you are running “experiments” of a sort. Essentially “I predict this or that will work”, then monitor everything possible to assess whether its an accurate prediction or a prediction error.
You mentioned the in-race gut problems, and am curious about whether you have ever tried taking L citrulline?
Have you noticed any intensity related differences?
There are a number of people in my circle who always have difficulties (albeit in races where prolonged high-intensity surges are a given). All have had semi-miraculous improvements with L Citrulline. I’ll try and track down the references that led me to run the experiment on myself.
https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/fulltext/2014/11000/l_citrulline_improves_splanchnic_perfusion_and.1.aspx
thanks Steve! I'll have a look, intensity in my races tends to be quite even (maybe we are talking running vs cycling?). I used to have nausea and some difficulties but "bringing it home" for a marathon or 50 km, while for 100 km, I always had bigger problems (also eventually bringing it home, but the hit in performance was larger). The main difficulty with these races is that they are so long that you can never really test anything, and I can only do one per year, so it's a difficult experiment to run! Thank you again and I will do some reading about L citrulline, I am not familiar with it
Marco. Indeed. I suspect that the lower intensity and super-long intensity will be protective, because the decrease in splanchnic blood-flow is intensity dependent. If I’m going long and slow, it’s not much of a problem, but VO2 intervals, other HIT, or short races/TT’s are a killer.
Feel free to shoot me an email (because you have it) if you ever want to chat about it.
Lastly, congrats on the PB! I’m too old to ever get one again, but still love to try.
Steve
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7982409/
Great race! Your statement here "the idea that in 2025 I am not eating 100s of grams of carbs per hour during a race is really maddening to some." calls back to something I found on the old ultrunr website, where a Dr. Bill Misner wrote in the 90s:
"PRE-EXERCISE
Take 100-150 grams of complex carbohydrate glucose polymers 3 hours prior to exercise. Do not use simple sugars, fructose, honey, prior to or during exercise. If you must use simple sugars, use them after exercise.
DURING EXERCISE
Take 70-90 grams glucose polymer complex carbohydrate in fluid solution every hour during exercise. An energy drink may be sipped 4 times per hour for constant replenishment energy substrate flow. This should be practiced in training-to-duplicate race conditions in order to establish what individual biochemistry tolerates best. Studies show that 100 grams or above of energy drink ingested may result in gastric stress. Costill's studies using 3.5 ounces water every 5 minutes or 35 ounces per 50 minutes also encouraged Dr. Colgan's studies to conclude the need for 35 ounces fluid intake per hour. Dr. Tim Noakes, who has done recent and more extensive hydration research with marathon and ultramarathon runners, suggests that most runners should take no more than 16 ounces fluids per hour during endurance events. His findings among athletes with hyponatremia indicated they were the victims of water intoxication(too much to drink-->evidenced by excess intakes above 1000 ml. or over 30 ounces fluid per hour)
POST EXERCISE
Take up to 225 grams complex carbohydrates within 30 minutes optimal window time frame, include 30-50 grams easily digestible protein. Any more than 225 grams dietary carbohydrate intake may synthesize excess carbohydrates to body fat stores. Use of simple sugars may stimulate Insulin Growth Factor(IGF) for cellular uptake of post-exercise growth hormone...Which is, by the way-->good...as long as you do not take too much simple sugar. A tablespoon of fiber-rich raisins is ample to spark the IGF-factor mechanism from a post-exercise meal without introducing too much sugar into the bloodstream all at once."
Sorry for the long post, but why are we acting like high carbs are "new"? And, being a skeptic, why are we trusting cycling coaches that this is the only reason for performance increases? Said sport is historically the dirtiest of all!
Hey Marco, I would like to ask you about if you take into consideration the amount of g/kg you eat daily (referring to protein)? Do you think that is an important part of your nutrition, or do you pay more attention to carbs and fats?
hey Joao, I normally plan meals around protein, and then add lower or higher amounts of carbs depending on the demands of training. While I do not count anything anymore, when I did count, I saw it's hardly possibly to overdo it with protein while having actual food, hence I try to have almost "as much as possible", which ends up around the recommended 1.8-2 g/kg for athletes. For the rest, apart from a lot of veggies, I don't worry much and I do not count fat or try to maximize fat, but when I eat fewer carbs, then I will snack more on e.g. nuts, avocados, even canned fish, and have more healthy fats in general.
Another excellent and detailed blog Marco! Thank you!
thank you Mikki! I’ve been listening to quite a few episodes of your show recently and really enjoyed them
keep up the good work
Hello Marco, I read your post with great interest, you are a great inspiration to me. I have a question: have you ever analyzed a drop in performance due to pollen allergy on other athletes? I ask you because I suffer from this problem as do many other athletes. Grazie 👋
grazie Leonardo! And yes, definitely pollen allergy can be debilitating in spring, I think we can see that also in resting physiology / HRV. I had a few years with mild reactions myself as well, which seem to be better these days, but it is something to account for this time of the year, and possibly adjust accordingly.
In fact I noticed from my HRV from March to today this negative trend that I definitely associate with pollen allergy. Many thanks!
Thank you for sharing the details of your journey into training and racing. Really interesting and inspiring
thank you Martina!