What’s on the other side of the wall?

What’s on the other side of the wall?
More wall!
I remember training for my first marathon. Somewhere around 70-90 minutes into those first long runs my body would crash. All energy would leave in a rush. My legs would fell like lead and my brain would start reviewing the top ten good reasons for walking home.
It was ‘the wall’. Unused to the process, my body was very bad at making the transition from free glycogen for fuel to burning deeper reserves. Instead of switching to the next available fuel source as the glycogen tank ran dry, it would just stop instead.
Each subsequent long run the wall got smaller and smaller as my body adapted and became very good at making a seamless transition. Eventually I didn’t even notice it anymore. I realized that I could use my big brain to manage the way my body reacted. I’d just say “oh that’s the wall” and keep running. After a couple minutes the reserve tank would kick in and I’d be back on track.
Then there was that other wall. The one that hits like a sledge hammer around the 18 – 20 mile mark of a hard raced marathon. This wall wasn’t so much about exhausting available energy stores. This wall was the end result of running too hard into your lactic threshold for too long. Your muscles essentially becoming incapable of processing the fuel. The engine shuts down. More like when your car engine runs out of oil. Lots of black smoke and a seized engine – all the parts incapable of movement.
Well – I’ve found another wall. This past weekend I entered the ‘ultra’ phase of my ultra marathon training. Saturday morning I ‘ran’ for 3 hours and 37 minutes. Not so bad. Then my wife decided we should take down some trees in the back yard – so load on 4-5 hours of sawing, chopping and hauling. Sunday morning I set out early for another 3 hour run. Towards the end of this one my energy stores were definitely flashing red.
The trick it seems is to find a pace that you can run indefinitely, one that is in balance with energy consumption and energy output. I’m still figuring it out, but It means keeping your heart rate low and stuffing all sorts of high calorie food down your throat before, during and after your runs.
The challenge here is that I hit my energy reserve wall sometime on Saturday morning and then kept moving forward for another 5 hours or so. It’s all wall. There is no other side. You just have to learn to run in the wall.
It’s not quite the lactic death shuffle – but it sure is slow. Your body keep s sending messages up from the engine room, “Hey dude, we’re out of gas down here, you should pull over!” But you and your big brain override those sensible suggestions and keep moving forward.
This wall is a strange one. My legs aren’t really sore and it’s not a huge effort to spend that much time on my feet – but I feel like I haven’t slept in days. I’m curious to see if my body stabilizes and learns to live with this wall of exhaustion.
I actually feel the lack of carbohydrates in my system. Just like that feeling you get on the ‘zone’ diet.
Live and learn,
See you out there,
C-,
Chris Russell lives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy. Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack. Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com. Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners. ChrisRunner@runrunlive.com