My lungs are burning, my stomach roiling. Even with monks pleasantly chanting across the valley on a weekend morning, I’m hunched over, my gut close to retching after running multiple suicide sprints up a 45-degree muddy hill in Pak Chong. I volunteered for this?
When my editor came to me with the idea of attending a trail running seminar, I was dubious. You see, I am a crusty old chunk of coal. Of the genus sub-editor, I am used to free doughnuts and coffee and the subsequent paunch that comes with it.
“Don’t worry, it’s just educational,” said my editor. Meanwhile, I learn my instructor, Vlad Ixel, never takes a day off running and in fact runs a minimum of a marathon daily in his training for races of up to 100km. But I have to admit he did make me a better runner over those two days; even my walking stride changed after following some of his tips.
While everyone in the seminar was an experienced distance runner, most of his advice could be applied to beginners too. Many of his recommendations are variations of the information popularised in the book Born To Run by Christopher McDougall that popularised barefoot running, endurance runs, the Tarahumara tribe of Mexico and chia seeds. But Ixel was not always the blond Adonis I now see before me.
“I couldn’t run 200m as a teenager without huffing and puffing,” he said. “I had an epiphany on my 25th birthday that I was wasting my life with cigarettes and booze. I decided to research running as my father was a runner, and tried to change my life.”
“At the same time I decided to make over my life, trail running became the fastest growing sport in the world, overtaking mixed martial arts. I could see that Kenyan runners, the best long-distance runners in the world, are designed to go straight forward. But trail running requires more hip movement, so I studied American football players and their diet, training and recovery. I also read ultra-marathon legend Scott Jurek’s book Eat And Run, which got me started on a vegan lifestyle.
“There’s a scientific basis for being a vegan runner, as you can recover quicker with a plant-based diet. If I eat a steak, it takes a lot more energy to digest than do fruits and vegetables. That energy can be used for recovery with a vegan diet.
“A lot of the negative information about veganism out there is marketing. People say, ‘You burn so many calories, how are you going to be able to sustain your performance without protein from meat?’. But have you ever heard of anyone needing to be hospitalised because of a protein deficiency? It doesn’t exist. You should be more concerned about vitamin and mineral deficiencies. I get all the protein I need from hummus and nuts. In the US there are only nine meat companies. How is that possible, given how much meat the world consumes?
“I’ve been a vegan for three years now and I ran 20 races in 20 weeks last year. People are surprised I don’t need recovery time, but I run every day.
“People are addicted to four things in their diet: caffeine, sugar, gluten and alcohol. I don’t want to be addicted to anything, so I cycle on and off coffee and alcohol on a weekly or monthly basis. I also recommend a ‘starvation run’, which is 30km without any breakfast or gels. Your body will start to burn fat when you don’t have any carbs. Fat is not bad, it’s just a question of what kind of fat your body needs.
“Likewise, I will do a dehydration run once a week, about 20km, so my body is not dependent on water. But make sure you drink plenty of water when you finish.
“If I don’t go to the bathroom at least 90 minutes after a race, that means I haven’t been drinking enough. Magnesium is a mineral that’s very important for recovery and I take a magnesium and zinc tablet every day.”
Ixel estimates that he finishes on the podium, a top three spot, in 95% of the races he enters. Although he can alter his diet and lifestyle for optimum performance, for extreme distance races such as 100km, a major part of his edge is his mental toughness.
“When you’re running long distances like that, don’t be surprised by the pain,” he said. “It’s going to hurt. I don’t worry about blisters anymore; our bodies are so smart, I just let them heal on their own. All of my toenails are black and I’ve lost them five or six times each. Sometimes you will get wet during these long runs, sometimes you will have lots of mosquitoes. Don’t worry about things you can’t control.”
Some 99% of the runners who start marathons in the US finish them, which is astonishing considering the pain involved. Not so astonishing, argues Ixel, who maintains a body can adapt to anything.
“Your body can adjust to cramps, which happens because you have too much salt in your diet," he said. "The cramp is your body losing the salt through water during running. Drink water and electrolytes during the run and in a pinch bring salt tablets.
“Don’t be afraid to sign up for lots of different kinds of races. My first 10km race was shortly after I started running and I finished in 32 minutes. At the time I thought if I could shave off two minutes, I’d be good enough for the Olympic team, but I still didn’t know what I liked. It’s been five years and I’m still figuring it out. I do stair races, 10km, 100km, 50km. You need to try different things to push yourself, so your body doesn’t know what’s coming up next.
“Your training should comprise at least 10 hours a week, with 70% running and 30% strength, balance, yoga and recovery work. Don’t skimp on the latter, as this will help prevent injury. You need an active recovery. When I first tried yoga three years ago I hated it. Now I do it every day.
“The only way for muscles to recover is to get blood moving through them. We have all heard, ‘Don’t eat too much before you go to sleep’, but my biggest meal is dinner because our biggest recovery period is sleep. I want fuel for that recovery period.”
Ixel then continued in a flurry, with me huffing and trying desperately to keep up. It’s good to have motivation.
Visit www.facebook.com/vladixel/
Vlad Ixel’s Trail running workshop.
