Dina’s Words on the 24: You (Hopefully) Are(n’t) What You Eat
Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009
Yeah I skinned 34,500 feet in 24 hours (a new world record) at last weekend’s 24 Hours of Sunlight. And yes, I fueled some of it – but not as much as planned as I only ate two of the eight I requested my brother buy me – with McDonald’s double cheeseburgers.
Based on the incredulity this latter fact has been met by, it seems no one else has discovered the gloriously gruicy (greasy/juicy) caloric bang-for-a-buck of the McDonald’s double cheeseburger (490 calories for just over $1).
You guys do know about Hostess fruit pies, right? (480 calories for just under $1 … but less protein and more sugar … and harder to transport.)
And that Snickers really can satisfy?
I put in massive amounts of training, skinning up Snow King sometimes upwards of 20 times a week, for 24 Hours of Sunlight. (One day I did 10 laps.) I spent only slightly less time thinking about food. (Out of both boredom and an interest in my caloric needs.)
Eating horrible foods like double cheeseburgers (with Big Mac sauce) isn’t the main reason I’m drawn to ultra-endurance events and long days in the mountains, but it’s certainly one of them. But then, I’ve never before suffered from the exercise-induced gastritis that has plagued me since Sunlight ended.
Are the 10 pounds I’ve lost in the six days since Sunlight ended the result of eating too many or too few double cheeseburgers? Or maybe it’s because of the chicken broth that got me through the night? Or the ramen I’d slurp down without chewing?
During Sunlight, the skinning wasn’t the hardest part. Neither was the tedium of covering the exact same path 23 times. Eating was the hard part. Knowing that no amount of laps on Snow King can help me during a race in which I don’t eat enough, I had a goal of 200-300 calories an hour.
But that, for the first time ever, was challenging for me. Both physically and mentally.
Physically challenging because although I can walk and chew gum at the same time, I can’t consistently eat and skin simultaneously. At least not without a concentrated effort.
It taxed me mentally because, even though I majored in math, figuring out different food combinations to reach my 200-300 calories/ hour goal was a strain and also because – at least from lap 18 on — I was so bloated (from the blood that was evidently beginning to collect in my stomach – fun stuff), eating was the last thing I wanted to do. And then my taste buds went all whack. I know Ensure (another great caloric bang-for-a-buck) and chicken broth taste very different, but they sure didn’t then. Both were equally gross. I might even have described them as tasting like, “rotted, burnt poo.”
Not surprisingly, between the inadequate eating and the guy following me playing Eye of the Tiger on a mini boombox, my last laps got pretty slow.
Crossing the finish line after my very last lap (the 23rd), I distinctly remember saying, out loud, “I don’t need to do that again.”
Now that I’m (mostly) recovered (and 10 pounds lighter!), I’m remembering something else: to my initial goal for Sunlight. It actually wasn’t to set the women’s world record for most vertical feet skied uphill in 24 hours. It was to skin 37,500 feet, a figure that would also happen to get me the record (which was 33,000).
So, even though I got the record, I didn’t really reach my goal. Which brings me back to thinking about food. I really couldn’t stand to train any more. As it was, one more lap up Snow King and I think I would have lost it. Besides, 30,000-40,000 vertical feet/week is enough. I can’t dial in my gear any more (Goode rando race skis are amazing). My mental game is good. I can’t cut down on breaks during the race. (I only took one, which lasted about seven minutes and was necessary to switch socks and liners.) Food is all I can change.
But the question remains, should I have eaten more double cheeseburgers (with Big Mac sauce) or less?
Skinning 34,500 feet, Jackson-based Dina Mishev won the women’s solo division and set a new women’s world record for the most vertical feet skied uphill by a woman in 24 hours at the Fourth Annual 24 Hours of Sunlight. She welcomes most any food input (especially any input that involves increased consumption of gruicy foods).
Nice job! Butterfingers and bacon is my favorite combo!
Ummmmm. Bacon.
i think you can do a whole lot better with the quality of your calories.
how about avocado and cheese on white bread . raw honey and peanut butter on whole wheat, bananas smothered in peanut butter. acai juice.
just my .02
Dina: What about salted potatoes? This triathlete blogger raves about them (grrrliechronicles.blogspot.com). I found that Coca-cola really did it for me in LOTOJA. Then again, you were about four hours in front of me. So, maybe I’m not a good resource. Anyway, great job again. Such a badass.
Yeah, I tried the salted potatoes when I used to run ultra marathons. And PB and honey on whole wheat tortillas. the problem I ran into with them was that, towards the end of the race, my mouth would be sooooo dry, I couldn’t chew. Do you run into that? What do you do to get around it? I’ve found that no amount of drinking can help at that point. And I do sometimes do soft drinks, although I’m more of a Mountain Dew/Dr. Pepper girl. But if I have too much of either, I have to take unwanted runs to the bathroom for excretions the SheWee/Lady J is not built to handle. Lauren, did you actually do salted potatoes in LOTOJA?
Dina: I had a few potatoes, but my LOTOJA eating program was mostly peanut butter/banana, coke, one cup of soup, peanut butter M&Ms and Gu, hammer gel, water, Perpetuem. Maybe I ate too much, actually. Slowed me down. Next year, I will try to be faster. Double cheeseburgers: here I come.