On the 22nd I am taking part in the Patrouille des Glaciers, an infamous ski mountaineering race/marathon from Zermatt to Verbier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrouille_des_Glaciers
(youtube has some vids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqoQxuyJGwA)
There is a big race (53km effort) and a very big race (110km effort), I am merely doing the big race since I am not a robot or an alien.
2000m to climb up over 3 passes, 200m of ski descent, lot of running, bootpacking, skating.
I've been training all winter and think I have put in enough training, although last month bad weather and snow limited the big expeditions and high altitude training. On Saturday I did a massive training day following the route of the race with some additional km and 700 meter ascent) due to avalanche concerns requiring a different safer route. (we did about 37km and 2700m in 11.5 hours with lots of breaks due to saftey concerns, lunch, etc.)
Now I have 1 week to go and need some advice on what is best to do.
I wont be doing any hard training., aiming to let my body recover fully from last weekend. I aimed to do some general exercise (swimming jogging) and yesterday I went swimming and lightly injured my left shoulder so I might not do any more as I can't risk any injuries.
Is it worth doing some gently running, or even some interval training to force my heart rate up? There are parts of the race that have a time limit, some of these sections require a strong pace which i ahven't training much for (mostly I trained endurance).
My plan is to sleep a lot, especially in the last few days. I start the race at 4:30 am but will be at the start line 3:30 and will have breakfast at 2:30. Material check and safety instructions go on to 11pm the day before so there is just a few hours to relax but i doubt I will sleep. Since I can't sleep the night before the race any tips?
I also intend to eat loads of carbs, but have no idea on details here. Should I eat as much as possible, or just a reasonable amount. the day before, 2 days, 3,4 when should I start carb loading?
Will try to get GF to massage my muscles and back as much as possible. I still have some aches form the last weekend, and I often suffer bad back pain during such races.
What should I do in the preceding hour before the race? I need to eat food but I sometimes find that I feel sick eating early or get strange stomache acid issues. I want to really hydrate before the race start but at the same time can't afford to have to pee in the first 1hr:45m before the checkpoint.
What about energy gels/packs? I picked up some energy gel of different sorts, some with caffine some just sdium + Potassium + glucose. I take the caffine ones are best left to towards the end pf the race, or if I am really on a low? They claim that I need to drink them with 400ml of water ever 20 minutes but I might be racing for 8-10 hours, can't take that much water or gel packs! (my backpack will already be loaded with clothing, helmet, avalanche gear, rope, etc.)
I will take some bread and honey and a bag of dried fruit with 1 l of water, there is a refill station half way. AT the refill station there are lots of foods and drinks available (soup, orange wedges, tea, sandwiches). I will try to grab the sports drinks, any foods to avoid or to try to eat?
Any general tips???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrouille_des_Glaciers
(youtube has some vids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqoQxuyJGwA)
There is a big race (53km effort) and a very big race (110km effort), I am merely doing the big race since I am not a robot or an alien.
2000m to climb up over 3 passes, 200m of ski descent, lot of running, bootpacking, skating.
I've been training all winter and think I have put in enough training, although last month bad weather and snow limited the big expeditions and high altitude training. On Saturday I did a massive training day following the route of the race with some additional km and 700 meter ascent) due to avalanche concerns requiring a different safer route. (we did about 37km and 2700m in 11.5 hours with lots of breaks due to saftey concerns, lunch, etc.)
Now I have 1 week to go and need some advice on what is best to do.
I wont be doing any hard training., aiming to let my body recover fully from last weekend. I aimed to do some general exercise (swimming jogging) and yesterday I went swimming and lightly injured my left shoulder so I might not do any more as I can't risk any injuries.
Is it worth doing some gently running, or even some interval training to force my heart rate up? There are parts of the race that have a time limit, some of these sections require a strong pace which i ahven't training much for (mostly I trained endurance).
My plan is to sleep a lot, especially in the last few days. I start the race at 4:30 am but will be at the start line 3:30 and will have breakfast at 2:30. Material check and safety instructions go on to 11pm the day before so there is just a few hours to relax but i doubt I will sleep. Since I can't sleep the night before the race any tips?
I also intend to eat loads of carbs, but have no idea on details here. Should I eat as much as possible, or just a reasonable amount. the day before, 2 days, 3,4 when should I start carb loading?
Will try to get GF to massage my muscles and back as much as possible. I still have some aches form the last weekend, and I often suffer bad back pain during such races.
What should I do in the preceding hour before the race? I need to eat food but I sometimes find that I feel sick eating early or get strange stomache acid issues. I want to really hydrate before the race start but at the same time can't afford to have to pee in the first 1hr:45m before the checkpoint.
What about energy gels/packs? I picked up some energy gel of different sorts, some with caffine some just sdium + Potassium + glucose. I take the caffine ones are best left to towards the end pf the race, or if I am really on a low? They claim that I need to drink them with 400ml of water ever 20 minutes but I might be racing for 8-10 hours, can't take that much water or gel packs! (my backpack will already be loaded with clothing, helmet, avalanche gear, rope, etc.)
I will take some bread and honey and a bag of dried fruit with 1 l of water, there is a refill station half way. AT the refill station there are lots of foods and drinks available (soup, orange wedges, tea, sandwiches). I will try to grab the sports drinks, any foods to avoid or to try to eat?
Any general tips???
