Training Log Archive: Tundra/Desert

Training... hmmm... not quite sure whether this one fits the description. If you are easily disturbed by graphical descriptions of body functions, DO NOT READ.
Otherwise... It should be most properly classified as a Bill Gookin Gatorade experience. If you still insist on details, here we come...
I went out on the same run I did a few weeks ago, through Almaden Quicksilver and Sierra Azul to Los Gatos. The run has about 2400' elevation difference, total climb is not much over that. Last time, I made it through nearly 4 hours with only 500 ml of Gookinaid. This time, it was in the middle of the day but not any warmer; the air was cool and the sun was vicious. I went through about 1500 ml of water and 700 ml of bug-juice (ancient) flavor Gatorade and ran out of liquids about 2.5 hours into the trip. I would normally not worry about running dry for an hour or so; the only problem I have with early-stage dehydration is with the brain overheating, and I can usually counter that by keeping the hair wet and drinking immediately after the run.
Things went great until about the middle of the descent (3 hours into the run including 30 mins or so of rest), at which point I started walking the remaining uphills. Still, with a quite steep drop-off, running did not feel too painful. About 3.5 hours into the run, things started to get interesting. The last 1 km through the village of Los Gatos was all walking in pain. The downtown's fountain surely was a welcome sight, as the drinking fountain next to it was where I got water last time.
As soon as I got to the fountain and tried to drink, things started to get much worse. My body was refusing water! I knew I was hot and dehydrated and had to drink but I could not. After forcing about 200 ml of water in, I had to sit down. Vision became blurred and my head felt so heavy I could not lift it up. After about 15 minutes of sitting there, I felt an intense, needle-like sensation in the fingertips, then finally threw up.
The revelation came as I witnessed nearly all the 700 ml of Gatorade make it back out. I instantly felt better but still could not drink. After another hour of rest I finally felt well enough to put myself on a bus home.
The bus ride was a miserable experience, as if the driver made a plan to stop at every darn traffic light in the cities of Gatos, Campbell, San Jose, and Santa Clara, and intentionally slowed down in-between so as not to miss the red. I drank maybe another 200 ml on the bus, but every sip felt like it was ready to get reflected back. The company building is a lot closer to the transit than home, so that's where I went.
There, I tried whatever was in the vending machine in the lunch room. The first can was apple juice, and it felt good (and there was much rejoicing), although I probably should have paid attention to sodium content (which was low). After 10 minutes or so, I tried a glass of water, and it came out right away.
Then came a can of V8, with just under a gram of both sodium and potassium. It was like instant relief. I went through a good percentage of what there was of V8 in the vending machine over the course of the evening.
This next morning, I feel just fine... I had to rack up some memory to recall when was the last time I felt that bad after running; probably back to the 1994 Long-O or the 1993 Team Trials. The moral of the story is, the little K+ guy is your true ionic friend! Give him the due respect (and Bill may just be a genuis... if only that mattered...)

Got some donuts.

Silicone Valley hash through downtown Sunnyvale mall and some used car dealerships.

Stretching... [no, not the y-word kind]

6 x 400 m on sand at Wilcox school in Santa Clara, 200 m rest. 1'11 1'15 1'20 1'18 1'21 1'25. Got a headache.

And stretch.

4 x mile or so near home, 100 m rest. Very late at night. 5'57 6'04 6'04 6'10.

Cooldown.

Some hills running in Cloverdale. Skipped the wine crawl.