19 August 11: Dooder talks Western States, Part 3

Today we have our final installment of my interview with my super-pacer, Dave Easa (Dooder) about his first Western States 100 experience. This time, we are going to talk about daily nutrition and race fueling for such an epic adventure, the race’s aftermath, and how Dooder emerged from a motivational slump to pull out such an impressive 100-mile debut.

In case you missed it:

Read Part One here.

Read Part Two here.

Mini wanted to know about food! Her questions are here:

What did you eat, and what ended up being the food that was most palatable during the race?

I remember feeling guilty during the race because of how good my stomach felt.  I ate a bunch of pb&j squares, but pretty much ate everything under the sun.  I carried a small ziplock bag with me in my pack and tried to eat progressively between aid stations.  However, I found I was gasping for air or intently focused on the trail so I got precious little food down while in motion.  I ate a fair bit early on: cookies, chips, brownie bits, an orgasmic popsicle at Devil’s thumb, and plenty of soup once it started getting dark. 

I burned my throat really bad on my 2nd cup of soup which was served to me way too hot, and without paying attention I threw it down the back of my throat.  I wound up burning my uvula which swelled to maybe double it’s normal size and made eating an excruciatingly miserable experience for the following week.  I had to use a spray anesthetic to be able to choke down food.  Once I burned my throat, I switched to mostly liquid calories because it was so hard to choke down solids, but not because my stomach wouldn’t handle them anymore. 

I did bonk pretty bad on two occasions, both entirely preventable, as I mistakenly started cutting corners towards the end of the race.  I skipped the Cal 1 aid station after skimping at Foresthill, which put me into a bad spot at Cal 2.  I didn’t eat much at ALT or Brown’s Bar which necessitated a fairly lengthy pit stop at Highway 49.  I think the general plan of solids till Foresthill (62) and liquids after is a good strategy for me.  I should have had more baggies of maltodextrin with me for the last 30 miles because that is a great way to keep getting some calories in after the point at which eating is no longer enjoyable.  Jeff’s secret recipe as a pacer is DiGornio’s pizza, and while I had a little of that, I am not sure the cheese was all that smart or well received.  I would have loved a turkey burger if one had been available, although perhaps divided up into 2 or 3 portions.

Going in, I expected to spend a lot more time at the aid stations, relaxing, eating, and soaking up the experience.  Instead, I felt like I made pretty decent time through most of them, all except Highway 49 and Cal 2.  I probably could have used a bit less of a sense of urgency, particularly at Foresthill and Cal 1.  I think I got a bit too amped up when Rod started pacing me and my ego got the better of me.

I also had planned to switch from my hydration pack to 2 handheld bottles at the Poppy aid station at mile 20 and to do one water + one sports drink through the canyons.  But my drop bag went missing which left me with only a hydration pack, so I only had water until Michigan Bluff.  I think the pack was great for the snow, but once it heated up and we got off the snow, I would have much rather had two separate handheld bottles.

All of the food seemed palatable, but I guess I’m odd because I enjoy eating almost all of the foods commonly found at trail ultras.  It’s sort of comforting to see them on the table, because I don’t usually eat oreos or boiled potatoes.  Sometimes I wanted salty, sometimes sweet, sometimes fruit, sometimes sugar, sometimes potato, sometimes sandwich.  But I probably could have eaten just about anything and been happy with it–that’s how good my stomach felt.

Did you have a target number of calories per hour?

The only math I did was keeping track of how far under the posted 24 hour pace splits I was and how many miles I had to the next aid station and to the finish.  I paid no attention to caloric content of what I put in my mouth.  The two times I bonked were so obviously predictable that I pretty much laughed at myself both times; I didn’t need a calculator to figure that out.  I did wind up slightly dehydrated early on, when I dropped to 3-4 pounds below my initial weight, but after some focus on drinking I got back up to weight and stayed there the rest of the day.  I think eating something semi-substantial at every aid station worked well, but only because there are so many aid stations at Western States.  On other courses, with more 7+ mile distances between aid stations, I would have needed to be more on top of my eating in between.

Did you stop to eat, and if so, for how long?

I felt like I made good time through the aid stations, which was where I did most of my eating.  I think the ziplock bag idea was a good one, but it only worked well on the gradual descents where I had the ability to chew and run at the same time.  I couldn’t climb and eat and I couldn’t go down rocky/technical sections without my eyes and hands being dedicated to the task, so there weren’t many sections of the course where I felt like I could be eating.  I should have spent more time eating at a few of the aid stations, or shoved down a few more gu’s in between aid stations.  I took a long break at Highway 49 during which time I had a few cups of soup and some bacon.

If I hadn’t cared about my finish time, I would have spent more time at the aid stations eating.  But it’s hard for me to disconnect from the clock.

Dooder and I got off on a couple of random tangents….

Here he sounds off on race weight: 

I went into Western States at 175-176 lbs (I’m 5’10”).  One year prior I was racing at 162-165 lbs.  I felt much faster at the lighter weight, but it took tremendous discipline to control my eating to that degree and I haven’t been able to reproduce that level of insanity.  I was closer to 170 before I tore my MCL and was hoping to go into Western States somewhere in between those two ranges, but wound up very much at my average weight from the past 10 years.  Interestingly, I’ve dramatically changed my diet over the past 2 years, focusing on fruit, vegetables, salad, and whole grains.  I’ve cut out a lot of fat, sugar, and empty calories, and yet my overall weight seems very consistent.  Body composition certainly changes as training picks up, but I am endlessly amused at how much my body wants to retain mass.  It’s one of my unique crosses to bear and one that irritates me almost all the time.

On finding motivation again and working with one of the most accomplished ultra-marathoners of all time, Krissy Moehl:

I’d say the biggest hurdle I overcame before the finish line was my physical and mental state in January.  I was in a horrific funk, not training much, not wanting to train, feeling lost, scattered, and without purpose.  I knew what type of training I wanted to get done, and I know how and when I’d have to do it, but it wasn’t until I reached out to Krissy Moehl that I started executing and being accountable for this race.  Without her, I am certain it would have been a completely different day.  I know I am a tremendously difficult athlete to coach because the basis for how I train is derived from my continual self-evaluation of my body and mind.  And yet Krissy managed to pull off all of this with a smile and grace that exceeded my extremely high expectations of her.  While my race day experience was closely tied to the hours I spent alone and with Rod, my overall preparation and the grand sum of what Western States 2011 means to me is overwhelmingly linked to the interaction I had with Krissy over the first half of the year and before/after the race itself.  I was blown away by how dramatically affected I was by her positive energy and unwavering confidence.

How did you feel immediately post-race? A day later? A week later?

At the finish I felt great for a few minutes, then my core temp dropped and I got really cold.  I was disgusted with how filthy I was, so I showered in the gym and that made me even colder.  I bundled up in fleece and crawled into my down sleeping bag which solved the temperature problem, but the next morning all of my rashed up skin was stuck to my fleece which was a nice new world of pain to wake up to.  When I woke up, my throat was on fire; I first realized how bad I had trashed it when I tried (and mostly failed) to eat breakfast that morning.  I had planned to drive home that day but pulled over in Sacramento and went to sleep at 5pm.  I felt drained and weak and out of sorts.  I had a few different plans for training, pacing, and just general running, and I wound up bailing on just about all of them over the next 4 weeks.  It was the first time since 1999 where I felt completely spent for such a long period of time. Although my burnout after Chicago in 2010 had a somewhat similar effect, it was just more mental, whereas the fatigue after Western States has been so decidedly physical.

My CPK levels were measured at 10,400 which seems to be about the expected level for a hard effort in a race like this.  

I find myself scratching my head at how Rod (Bien) pulled off 38 miles of pacing only 2 weeks after his 18 hour 2nd place finish at SD100.

What’s the next project?

I’m going to be coaching for Team Challenge targeting the Las Vegas Half Marathon.  This is my first attempt at coaching and it should be a great learning experience for me.  I’m also exploring my yoga practice a bit more now that the pressure to maintain 100-mile weeks is off.  I’m easing back into my running and I actually felt good for the first time on all 3 runs this week (editor’s note: this was 5 weeks post-race) which is a welcome relief.  I am hoping to pace a friend’s sister to a 2:45 qualifying time at Chicago.  I’m hoping to find a cheap flight to Hawaii so I can run the Honolulu Marathon in December with a few friends.  And I might dabble a bit in the Dirt Dog cross country races, though there’s a lot of conflict between that and the Team Challenge coaching.

As far as 2012 goes, I’ve got 4 races on my radar: Chuckanut 50k, Way To Cool 50k, Where’s Waldo 100k, and Vermont 100m, but I’ll see how the Western States Lottery goes before planning a schedule.  I’ll probably do a lot of the same local races that I usually do: Carlsbad, San Dieguito, PCT50, etc.

As far as long term goals go, there’s one that I haven’t met yet:  sub 16 in a 5k.  My PR is 16:07.  It’d be nice to cross that off the list at some point.  And sub 8 hours on the PCT50 course or sub 20 hours at any 100 miler.  But I think I could die happy without any of those.  I always thought I’d be raising a kid by this age, so to some degree I feel like I’ve had more time racing than I ever intended to. So even if I never race again, I would say that I feel very fulfilled.  Emotionally, I’d really like to put my energy and effort into a family, but I know that is not something I can control or plan out.

DOODER YOU ARE AMAZING—AN INSPIRATION! WE LOVE YOU!