Dreams Come Alive

That was Ben Pulham’s observation after my Fuel Efficiency test at Racers’ Toolbox this afternoon. Founded by sports scientist and kinesiologist Jon Fong and world ranked elite triathlete Ben Pulham, Racers’ Toolbox specialises in sports science testing, fitness assessment and crafts personalised training plans for their clients.

Today was my first appointment with the experts and I was being tested on how I am currently using my energy. In a nutshell, our body uses a mix of carbohydrates and fat during exercise (click here to read more about this) and the Fuel Efficiency test is designed to test just how much of each we burn and when.

From a starting speed of 3.5 km/hour I began walking and then running on a treadmill and watched as the machine recorded the levels of fat and carbohydrates I was burning. My fat burning stopped after 17 minutes and at a speed of just under 12 km/hr. Had I continued running I would have drawn my energy from pure carbohydrates. This would eventually lead to a situation of what athletes call “hitting the wall”. Not good.

The better news is that my body composition revealed pretty ideal figures, with my sum of 8 skinfolds (to us laymen, it means I had my fat measured by callipers on 8 different parts of my body. Twice.) reading 63.3mm. Apparently ‘normal’ people average 100mm. My body fat came up to 7.7%. While I know of many friends who would kill to have that number, I think I may need to increase that a little, just so to help me withstand the cold in Antarctica.

Following the test, Jon sat down and explained what my charts meant and how he intended to use that information to draw up a training plan based on my needs and goals. This is excellent news to me as my training has so far lacked structure and scientific basis, reduced to simply clocking up distances.

We will start off with long slow runs and build on volume. Volume here means time spent on feet at an efficient heart rate zone. Distance is immaterial here as I need to train my body to burn fat and maintain that over long periods of time. In due course this will lead to my running faster and longer. Also an initial thing to work on is my cadence and stride, with an aim of 88 to 92 strides per minute.

The exact plan will be drawn up next Tuesday when I return for my Lactate test, which determines my lactate thresholds. This is the point in exercise when our lactate begins to accumulate in the muscles. It is a physiological marker that is closely associated with aerobic endurance performance – the higher the lactate threshold, the better the aerobic endurance performance. From here we can establish my exercise intensity and increase my performance in endurance events.

So the fantastic news is that because I am simply good and not great, there is massive potential and room for improvement! Can’t wait!

Just a fortnight after my completion of the Gobi March, Braving Antarctica was officially launched on 21st July Wednesday evening at VivoCity. Graced by Mr Teo Ser Luck – Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, main sponsors Pet Lovers Centre presented The Salvation Army with an initial $15,000 cheque donation to go toward Gracehaven, home for children and youths from dysfunctional families.

Click here for more information on Braving Antarctica. Warm hearts are also needed as I prepare for this freezing endeavour, so please do make a difference now.

Now that I have had a few days to get over the daze of post-Gobi March, I shall get back to blogging. Many people want to find out how the Gobi March (GM) compared with the Sahara Race (SR). As you may know, I am working on a book to be published upon completion of the 4 Deserts (after the Sahara Race last year and Gobi March last week, I have Antarctica this Nov and Atacama next March to go) so I will be relatively brief with my lessons and discoveries here and begin with some factual experiences as per the following categories:

Blisters

SR: Rather fortunate to have gotten away with a mere 5 blisters.

GM: Ended with 3 teeny weeny itsy bitsy little blisters that are enough to be an annoyance but not sufficient to be a serious impediment to progress. Various muscle groups on both legs and parts of soles were sore, pulled and aching but early detection and appropriate TLC made sure that they did not threaten to balloon into anything major.

Weight Loss

SR: Only 3.5kg

GM: A negligible half kg, which I attribute to better food selection and moving at the right pace. What I brought gave me the appropriate levels of nutrition required for the task and I consumed just about everything bar a packet of miso soup and two muesli bars.

Pack Weight

SR: 11kg without water

GM: 9.5kg without water. Dispensed with powder electrolytes in favour of tablets for the Gobi, and in fact went the first 3 days without using any. I gather that my salt intake through food proved sufficient replacement for what I had lost through perspiration. Also left the packets of desserts at home.

Terrain and Difficulty

SR: Flatter with greater expanse of nothingness, which makes for easier running.

GM: More terrain variation and absolutely spectacular and stunning scenery, combined with river crossings and traipsing through villages. The temperature swings made things more challenging; I hardly slept the first two nights and the shivering just consumed precious calories.

That’s all for now. Will be back soon with more and with updates on my sponsorship and fundraising efforts for The Last Desert – Antarctica.

Feeling completely unprepared for the Gobi March. Have spent the last month cramming as much work in as I can before I leave and as a result am feeling rather burnt out. Have not done any running at all in the past weeks and am nursing a cold and mouth ulcers. Not the best way to prepare for a 250km endurance race at all! Add to that word emerging from RacingThePlanet to expect stifling temperatures of 50 degrees celcius with no wind and heat that can boil water on car bonnets and it doesn’t make for a pretty picture.

Still, am confident that once I arrive in the Gobi there will be nothing on my mind except completing the race and doing myself and those who believe in me proud. As a matter of fact, I can’t wait to start running and have a quiet positive expectancy of this brand new experience.

As was the case in the Sahara, am looking forward to receiving messages of love and support. I find that they are a tremendous source of nourishment for the soul and would love for you to make a little space in your day and heart to send me some positive words.

You can do so by going to www.4deserts.com/gobimarch and selecting email a competitor from the Race Coverage drop-down list. Names are arranged according to surnames, so look for Lawrence Thaddeus

Thank you much from my heart.

Daybreak. Cloud silhouettes lie unstirring against a fiery red sky tinged with purple. Amidst the freshness of the morning air brought forth by the lightest of breezes, this rare tapestry evokes an involuntary gasp as I stand at the lift lobby in full admiration of nature’s awe-inspiring power.

This is the sight that rewards early risers. And I found myself among its fortunate recipients as I headed out to MacRitchie reservoir at 6:30 this morning to meet Anders, James and Catherine for the first time. We are all participating in the Gobi March commencing 25th June and had arranged for a morning run.

Exchanging ideas with fellow racers gave me an added impetus to my training. Or should I say an added alarm. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I received reminders that I need to up my training mileage, work my core muscles, buy my shoes, confirm my flights, and be a whole lot less nonchalant about my preparation.

So this afternoon I proceeded to check a few items off my to-do list: I bought a spanking new pair of New Balance MT876 trainers, confirmed my flights, made plans for another morning run tomorrow and stocked up on a few more pieces of gear.

I like.

Popped out for a 2 hour run yesterday evening with my heart rate monitor (HRT) setting a pace which Stu Mittleman calls the Most Efficient Pace, designed to train the body to burn fat rather than sugar or glycogen.

It has been over half a year since I started training with a HRT and I am beginning to get used to it as a running companion and guide. It wasn’t always this way. My earlier experiences with it were frustrating and maddening – the vast array of data and beeping alarms proving to be so bewildering that running with it seemed to hamper, rather than help, my performance training. 

According to the MEP calculations, my set heart rate zone allows for only a ten beat differential within the top and bottom limits. Exceeding either of these limits triggers a beeping alarm to remind me to either slow down or hasten my pace. This frequently led to situations where I either slowed down or sped up too much such that my heart rate crossed the other limit. It was a constant struggle just trying to maintain a consistent pace.

But the beeping – and silence – simply acts as a feedback mechanism. It is an audible reminder that what I am doing is not working and that I need to make some adjustments to my pacing or breathing or technique. This feedback mechanism gives me information and I am free to do whatever I want with it – to change something or ignore it or allow myself to get riled up. 

It is the same way in life. We are constantly receiving information from people around us – our child refuses to listen to us; our spouse gets annoyed with us; a client relationship breaks down; a colleague gives less than 100 percent to a team task; a subordinate performs the same task poorly an umpteenth time…

These symptoms are reminders that something is not quite right, that something different need to be done and we can be the one to make that adjustment. We can choose to use this information to satisfy our desired outcome or pretend it is not there or slip into victim mode and blame the other party. The choice is ours.

Learn to use all this external noise and feedback to help us grow. Just like I learnt to value the beeping from my HRT to enhance my running performance, so too we can value the constant feedback in our lives to better our quality of living.

Insanity is to do the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result – Albert Einstein

Was invited to give a talk last Saturday on my desert adventure. Toiled for quite a while pondering over what the key message was to give the audience. Felt that it was important that not only are they entertained, that there should be an element of education and a lot of value to be gained which they can apply to their daily lives.

Decided on Lessons from the Desert: The SAHARA Way to Making Your Dreams Come Alive, heavily influenced by the myriad of lessons I picked up in the desert. In a nutshell:

Self

Know your strengths, values and beliefs. What is your best self like? You have whatever you need to achieve your goals and you are what you think, so focus your thoughts on those aspects you would like to see more of.

Aspirations

It all starts with having a dream. If you had a magic wand, what would your life be like? What is your vision of who you are and what you have? See it, feel it and believe it. You create your own reality.

Hardiness

Life is an ultra-marathon, not a sprint. As you take action toward your dreams you will likely meet with challenges and obstacles. Learn from your past mistakes and develop your resilience to better bounce back from setbacks.   

Appreciation

You cannot have more without valuing what you already have. When did you last stop to smell the roses? What are the things you have and who are the people in your life that you are grateful for?

Relationships

The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our relationships. Who are your travelling companions in this journey of life? Are you surrounding yourself with positive, supportive people? Whom are you making a difference to everyday?

Adventure

Life is an adventure. When was the last time you did something for the first time? What are you truly passionate about? You’d be surprised how energised you become when you are clear about your purpose in life.

It’s rather uncanny how the number ‘6′ featured so heavily in my Sahara adventure.

26 December – my birthday
36 – my age when I set off on the race
6 – the number of stages in the Sahara Race
66 – my race bib number
86 – my finishing position
126 – the number of competitors
6 – the final number of people in my tent
36 – the finishing position of a tent mate, Micheal
56 – the finishing position of another tent mate, Charl
65 – the finishing positon of yet another tent mate, Steve

And all too soon, the adventure is complete.

A single blog entry will never do justice to the marvellous experience that I have just gone through. That is why it’s taken me 5 full days to compile my race report. The difficulty lies in determining what to leave out – so much I have to say and share; and my mind is a whirlwind of introspection and contemplation.

What is absolutely essential though, is a shout-out to all the wonderful people who wrote on my facebook wall and sent me email messages of encouragement. It absolutely lifts my spirits to read and re-read them and gives me joy that so many others are along for the ride. You people are tremendous!!

Out on the course, it sometimes feels as if the next checkpoint will never materialise, the mind numbing trek seemingly endless. And yet when we sit around the campfire reviewing the day’s events, we struggle to recall even the different types of terrain and landscapes that we had just trudged through.

And as I sit and type these words onto my computer, the happenings of the weeklong footrace are fast becoming hazy. And yet I know that deep down inside, in the depths of my subconscious and in my heart, the entire experience lives on forever.

Over the next weeks I will blog about those nuggets of experiences. In the meantime I am busy making plans for the what’s next?

For those who would like to read my race report, do contact me at thaddeus@dreamscomealive.com and I will email you a copy.

At the Dusit Thani and met with several other competitors. What a bunch of chamnpions. Looking at the competitor profiles, everyone seems to fall into one of three categories. There are the high achievers in business and career, with managing partners, CFO’s, venture capitalists and company directors making a presence. Then there are high achievers in the sporting arena, with past race winners, seven summiters, adventurers, Ironman triathletes and ultra endurance racers making an impact. And there are the high achievers in life: a 73-year old Badwater veteran and a blind man among the list of notable individuals.

There is an air of respect and mutual support that everyone holds here. I do suppose endurance racing is such a niche sport, and it is a sport where everyone goes through pain and suffering. Voluntarily. Which means we all have fast track entry into an asylum. But it is that pain and suffering that pulls everyone together. The true measure of a team mentality is when the mind and body is under stress, not when the team is winning. What do you do when you are being beaten? How do you think when you are being broken?

Ask me again in a week’s time. Right now I just can’t wait to get started. We had a briefing this morning and were told the temperature out there is 51 degrees centigrade. No danger of frostbite then.