“This study was supposed to EXPLAIN things, not make them more confusing!” I type out, ending the email to Dr. Steinach by hitting my head against the keyboard in frustration.
I had promised him to send the food diary only a few days after the Ultramarathon ended – but hey, with everything that’s been going on it’s better late than never.
Written out, I do have to say that though parts of the food diary are confusing (who eats oatmeal in starchy water from cooked potatoes?! Or 6 eggs in a single sitting?!), it did explain few things. It explained why I bonked so hard in the first few days: besides not sleeping enough (5hrs on average for a week prior to the run), I also hadn’t been eating enough a for the start of such a venture. It also explained how my body was able to repair itself as much as it had to: even though I am a vegetarian, the proteins found in the total 5.5KG of lentil soup I devoured took care of the repairs.
The diary also showed a trend towards fiber-heavy foods from the middle of the run on. We’re going to have to wait for the blood work to see if there’s anything to correlate there with stress hormones in my blood, and my body falling apart from the inside out.
One thing that absolutely cannot be explained by science is my Fanta consumption: 12.12L.
That’s approximately half a liter per day during the run. Keep in mind that I had days when I could barely find enough water to drink, and yet, somehow… always managed to find Fanta. In comparison: I consumed 88L of water during the run.
Perhaps 12L isn’t that much Fanta after all.
I do have to admit, just like I couldn’t enjoy running for a while after I came back…. I also had to give Fanta a bit of a break.
Don’t worry, in both cases, I am quite addicted again. Good relationships sometimes require breaks to get back their old spark. 😀
Oh, and if you were wondering who guessed correctly: I owe @david_art.2002 a drink. 😉 We had a guessing game of how much Fanta I drank during the run, and he won the game with his guess of 11.15L! 🥳 David….. Please tell me you live somewhere close by.