I lined up for Saturday’s Sharin’ O’ The Green 5K hoping not to have a blow out. Not my shoes, and not folding in the stretch, I was concerned about holding my breakfast and yesterday’s meals in my intestine. This was my first bicarb (sodium bicarbonate) race experiment and I lived to tell the tale.
Other than some casual ski races in January and February, on the schedule for fitness more than competition, I had only raced once since November and that was 9 weeks ago. However, I needed a rust buster and test effort for the upcoming WMA cross country event this month. I also got my hands on some Maurten bicarb, which is all the rage this year, but like anything new in running that shows success it’s hard to get. Fortunately, one of my friends knows people in the company and was able to get package with four treatments.
Last week I listened to the Physiology of Endurance Running Podcast (they’re nerdy but it’s really good), and their recent interview with Dr. Andy Sparks a researcher who did much of the work on sodium bicarbonate in sport over the past decade. He’s now a research manager with Maurten. In that interview he told tales of their earlier research where athletes had massive diarrheal outbursts or upset stomachs after taking bicarb. But that was before they developed an encapsulated formula that releases the bicarbonate in your intestine, and at a slower rate, rather than your stomach. The issue is the acids in the stomach don’t mix well with the base in the bicarbonate, and that often leads to an upset digestive system.
For years researchers athletes and coaches have recognized the sodium bicarbonate can buffer the exercise induced acidosis in blood and muscles, but the trick was to find a way to get enough into an athlete’s system while not causing digestive upset. However, recently Dr. Sparks and others have shown that encapsulating the bicarbonate and taking it with a carbohydrate gel product, it can be consumed by athletes while not resulting in digestive issues. Indeed it appears to allow greater endurance by buffering the blood.
The trick is that you need to follow the protocol. It’s pretty simple. Eat a light meal a few hours ahead of your exercise (or race), two hours before mix the gel caplets into 200 ml of water, and then a couple of minutes later add in the encapsulated bicarb, mix and then slurp down the tasteless gel in one bout but without chewing the bicarb.
How did it go?
Saturday’s Race
We decided to drive the 80-90 minutes to Fort Collins on Saturday morning, rather than stay in a hotel overnight. I was a little nervous about the bicarb protocol and timing it right while we were enroute, but decided to go ahead with the idea that we would stop about half way there, 2 hours ahead of the race.
After 45 minutes of driving we pulled off and stopped at a service station where I mixed the goop, waited 5 minutes and gulped it down without gagging anything and spilling only a half teaspoon. Two hours to race time.
We arrived in Fort Collins about an hour ahead of the race where I picked up my bib and set about with the warm up. I had planned on 3 miles, but with porta john lines (especially important on this day!) I got in 2 miles with some drills, a short tempo, and some strides. We lined up and everyone one seemed to converge at once, and I could only get as far up as the 4th row, with 30 or 40 people ahead of me in a field that did not look deep.
The plan was to run about 6:08-6:10 over the first mile and then see how it would go on the bike path over the final two miles. My goal was run about 19:00 for the 5K, which age grades to about 88 %.
We blasted out of the start and some from behind shot ahead. The pace over the first few hundred meters was faster than I had wanted (sub 6) so I eased up a little. I split the mile in about 6:02, which was a little fast. My breathing was okay.
We had a bit of a headwind as we turned onto the bike path just after one mile. I tucked into a large pack of about 10 runners and found myself near the front of the group. It was a little unnerving to hear so many footsteps right on my heals. I braked a few times because the leaders of the group slowed a bit, and also eased up once, at about half way because a guy was breathing so heavily, practically in my ear. That was a distraction and either I could pick it up and get a gap or slow a bit and run behind him for a bit.
I fell back to about 4th or 5th in that pack, trying to keep focused and in contact. By 2 miles I had moved back up some and the pack was dissipating by then. We split in about 12:10, so a 6:08 second mile. That felt about right and it felt like I could run about 19-flat or under if I could hang on.
However, I started to get the feeling that I might need to go to the bathroom. Hold on! Less than a mile to go. I got gassed (tired) at 2.5 and slowed down for a few hundred meters. Two runners went by quickly. They were younger and closed under 6:00 for the last mile. Then two more went by, but they were not moving as fast and I was able to maintain a better pace, about 5 meters behind them. We popped off the river and over a bridge at about 2.8 miles, and I was back onto 6:00-6:10 pace for the stretch. Over the last 200 or 250 m, just before the 3 mile marker (3 miles in 18:28), I threw down all I could and had a strong kick (5:40 pace). I passed those two and pulled away by 4 or 5 seconds. Officially finishing 19:17, but I think that was a little long. And my watch had me closer to 19:05+/-.
My intestines were okay, but I did seek the nearest bathroom within 2-3 minutes after crossing the line. No upsets or accidents. All was good.
Post-Hoc
This is why we do rust busters. I think my fitness is there, but the pacing was not perfect (see pace chart). The finish was crazy fast, however, and that’s encouraging.
I finished top 20 and won my age group, and pretty much achieved my pre-race goals.
Age grade was 87% for the full time for 5K, if you consider that the course seemed long (3.16 miles) it was over 88%. I probably hit that first mile a bit too fast, maybe 5 or 6 seconds, and that’s why struggled some over the 3rd mile.
What about the bicarb? I think there is something there, that was my best kick in a 5K in a long time. Usually I drop a few seconds in pace, maybe 10-15 seconds per mile under the overall pace, but this was 30+ seconds, and I felt I could have gone another 100-150 meters at this sprint effort, instead of feeling utterly spent when crossing the line. So I am encouraged.
rrunnin234 